Memorial Day...

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Dedicating this post to my Dad, John E. Launius, and all our veterans ~ past and present ~ whose service to this country reminds us that our freedom isn't really free...

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The flight crew.

 My Dad was navigator (by the stars!)...

 Daddy told me about each one of the men on several different occasions; he remembered all their names and where they were from; what they did back "at home"... but they didn't all come home... He and tail-gunner James Cook (of Atlanta, top row, second from right) remained close friends for the rest of their lives, though; Mr. Cook (just "Cook", Daddy called him ~ and he called my Dad "Lonnie" ~ for Launius)  passed away a month before Daddy. He was such a nice man ~ my children and I stopped to visit him and his family a few years ago on our way to Florida...he sure did think highly of my Dad. Truly, the Greatest Generation...

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Here is my "painting spot" in the basement. I love it. You can't tell, but I have lots of light (I've always preferred painting in the wee hours), but in case I do venture down during daylight hours (as was the case today), there's a large window-well (required now in basements for an escape route) for natural light. It (the basement) will eventually be "finished", but for now I'm happy. It's "semi-finished" ~ I have a nice floor to stand on (and a nice bathroom nearby). Always did love playing in the basement...cool, quiet... bliss!

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Yesterday I went to Goodwill to look for white plates/saucers for my watercolors. I have a huge, heavy porcelain, multi-welled watercolor palette (filled with paint), but I always prefer using smaller, individual plates and fresh pigment for each painting...that way I can keep separate color palettes going for each painting. Much nicer. (And lighter!) And, I hit the Mother-Lode! I got a whole stack of orphaned white saucers, four of which have the coolest raised center ~ they look like the expensive specialty watercolor dishes sold by Daniel Smith ~ for fifty cents each! (YAY!!) I love Goodwill...



(I realize I'm probably much too excited about this...)



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They work perfectly! I put the concentrated watercolor in the middle, and am able to make lighter washes around the edge...



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Here is the start of my magnolia/hydrangea painting I'm calling "The Queen and Her Court" (kind of a play on the fact the the Magnolia is often referred to as the Southern "Queen" of flowering trees...and also on the chess table I've set the still-life up on). I've never attempted painting crystal like this, so I have lots of masking fluid saving my white paper...we'll see how it goes! (I've never had much luck with masking fluid, but now it's available in a very thin formula that is applied with a needle-like applicator.) Also, though it now has a yellow underpainting, the background will be dark.



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Here is the beginning of the first of two paintings I'm doing of some Oriental Lilies, called "After Eight"... SO pretty...similar to Stargazers...and they smell heavenly! They will both be on full-sized sheets of watercolor paper (22"x30"); and again, this one has a yellow underpainting to give it a nice "glow" ~ :^)



I think doing florals like these, in a natural setting, is my favorite painting subject matter...you can have some really abstract areas, and it still looks completely correct.



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Okay, I was about to brag that my kitties never get on things, that I didn't have to worry about little paint-y pawprints going across my paintings now...(yes, this happened often with my Angel-Kitties...and, yes, to have them all back I would welcome some ruined paintings, but...) ~ ♥

Then I came back down the stairs just a few minutes ago, and there is Leo, and I know what he's thinking...

Can't you just see it in his face?

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Don't do it, Weo-Weo!...(didn't I tell you about that name thing I have?)...I moved the paint-plates and water just in case...though Leo maintains his innocence...



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I hope everyone has had a safe and fabulous holiday weekend...school is behind us now, until August...I wonder what's next??

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Anne

Oh, I almost forgot...when looking through my art/clippings file for a dragonfly reference photo (that I may use in the "After Eight" lilies paintings), I found this postcard I've had...circa 1905, back when Memorial Day was referred to as "Decoration Day"...(my grandparents always called it that)...

A reminder of such a gentler time...



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A Little of This, A Little of That...

Is it just Wednesday?

It seems there's been so much going on this week, too much to be just Wednesday!

This is the last week of school here...tomorrow is the last "half-day", actually, and tomorrow night is graduation.  My oldest grandson, Cody, will graduate...

He and Jonathan are only from June to November apart in age...but because of how their birthdays fell, Cody is a year ahead in school.

Seems impossible...

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My week started off wonderfully, though, receiving this amazing package in the mail on Monday...

Back in January, my artist friend Wendy Dewitt (aka Golders) posted a "pay it forward" suggestion on Facebook...the first 5 responses to her post would receive something hand-made from her within the year...providing they re-posted, offering the same to the first five responses, and so on.

I'll admit I already knew that anything from Wendy would be fabulous...;^)

(My Leo was already in her Art for Critters 2012 Calendar (see the calendar on my sidebar), "Mr. April" and "Cover Boy", actually...we were so proud!)...so, I jumped at the chance!

(I have fulfilled two of mine so far, sending off flower seeds and painting a gourd-doll for a friend...)

What I got from Wendy was a delightful tablecloth, (designed by the Artist herself), in my favorite watercolor florals and crisp blue and white stripes...a vintage ME Home Companion magazine (one of my favorites ~ Halloween ideas ~ mine being lost in the fire), and last but not least, notecards of Leo's calendar page art...SO beautiful, all of it!

Thank you again, Wendy...you made my week!

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When I went out to the mailbox late this evening, the sun was shining so prettily through these petunias (and they smelled so good)!...

Of course, by the time I got my camera and got back outside, I had almost missed the moment...but there were a few golden rays remaining...

These are hold-overs from last year, by the way...not "volunteers" from seeds, but the entire plant is from last summer...it just didn't get cold enough this past winter for them to freeze...

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Cyrus is checking out some flower-heads from the catnip in my herb bed...

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Here comes Tallulah ~ "Woo" ~ to look at them, too (Woo is all healed now from her spay-surgery, thank you all for asking!)

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Leo decided to eat his flowers.

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Do any of you have "heirloom rocks", or is it just me?



This chunk of quartz crystal was left as a doorstop in a house my Grandpa and Grandma Collier bought in the 1940s...

I latched onto it early, evidently, as I remember always having it...being the little "sparkly rock" girl that I was (and am), it was the ultimate prize!



It has traveled with me from house to house, for 50 years! It lives in my herb garden, now...;^)

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This big chunk of petrified wood was brought to me from the Petrified Forest in Arizona by a family friend who knew how much I loved rocks ~ (I was about five years old)...back before things like that were frowned upon...(I'm sure it would get you a huge fine, now...)

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This chunk of marble (I think) was one of the many rocks that were in my Grandma Collier's flower beds...after Grandma passed away my Mom had them, and now I do.

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And finally, a pencil-portrait I did of a friend's three-and-a-half year-old grandson, Levi, who passed away suddenly in March. I didn't know little Levi personally, though I have know his Mimi since I was sixteen...

This Friday Levi's family and friends are holding a fund-raiser for an addition to his favorite place to visit and explore, the Discovery Playhouse in Cape Girardeau, Missouri; my portrait of someone's child (or fur-baby, or house, etc.) will be in the silent auction...this drawing of Levi (to be shown as an example) will go to my friend. I knew it would be difficult to do this drawing, but I didn't realize how much so...

They will also reveal an artist's concept of what the new wing of the Playhouse will entail at the event. I wish them much success!

Bless you, sweet Levi...it was an honor to do your portrait ~ ♥

And that, my friends, has been my week so far...

How about you?

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Anne

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Catching Up...& TGIF!

Linking to

My 1929 Charmer's "Sunday's Best" ~ Take a look!

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I have been busy painting watercolors this week, and now need to catch up! (Thank you so much to my friends who continue to check on me even when I haven't posted! ♥♥)...

This is Peter the Toad...so named by my son Jonathan...(he is almost grown but just loves these little toads around our house)...we had company on Sunday...some small boys who wanted to "catch toads"...Jonathan was so worried that they would hurt one...he immediately went to oversee the hunt and to make sure they just looked and didn't harm any...

My sweet, gentle boy! (LOL ~ he would be so embarrassed!...he doesn't read my blog, though, hee, hee....) ~

Anyway, "Peter" got his name because earlier this Spring Jonathan found him in our back yard, and he had an injured mouth...(not much you can do for a toad ~ and it appeared to be healing) ~ Jonathan named him Peter because he said it looked like he had a "hare lip"....;^)

So now, he is easily identifiable for Jonathan.  If you look on the right side of Peter's mouth (his left) you can see that it is slightly disfigured, though completely healed now. I guess our back yard is his "territory" ... are toads territorial? He seems to have decided he likes it here, at any rate. Tonight he was snuggled down under the moss in my Fairy Garden. (below)

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♥ Peter, snuggled in! ♥
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 Okay, I have been dealing with this mess in my Fairy Garden for weeks now...the kettle that I have everything planted in is located directly under some scaffolding, of sorts, that holds my big wind chimes... Birds have been trying and trying to build a nest on top of the 4x4 that supports the chimes...every day they try to build, and every day the wind blows all the would-be nesting material down in my little garden... Every night I pick all the straw and dried grass out of the garden...the next night it's back.... SO, I got the idea to use a rubber snake that we had of Jonathan's...it was in the big bag of dinosaurs we keep handy for when little folk come to visit... Mr. B draped it on the 4x4 for me... And, evidently, it is working!  No straw or other dried-nesting-material on my little Fairy Garden plants for the last three days! I don't know how smart birds are, or if they'll figure out that the snake isn't real eventually (maybe we need to resposition it periodically), but for now I am happy... ♥
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 A mess in my garden!! ♥
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 A slithery salvation! ♥
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 Would you look at this?...My Lemon Balm is humongous...you really can't appreciate the enormity of it in this picture...anyway, I had to cut it back, as it was completely encompassing the pepper plants that share that bed...(that is Max and Ruby and Warren's (the rabbits) house in the background)...:^) ♥

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Aren't these gorgeous? They are from my daughter Mandy's retail shop ("Enchantments"...isn't that a great name?) of long ago...(the one that made me realize I did not need a shop to be fulfilled in this lifetime...;^)

They are "Witch Balls"...the threads of spun glass inside them are supposed to catch and hold evil spirits....



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My gorgeous hot pink petunias of March/April finally began their decline (they looked like most petunias do in late August... except in May)...since they were hold-overs from last year, I wasn't surprised, or upset ~



I was anxious, actually, to get the pots replanted with new vinca and vinca vine, with a few pink and white cypress vines in the middle...



Mr. B refused to just discard the spent petunias though, so now they are re-planted at the side of the house...



Typical...



"American Pickers" needs to contact me, seriously...;^)



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My Butterfly Bushes are beginning to bloom! These were Mother's Day gifts from last year from daughter Katie...♥ They have such a unique fragrance...kind of like honey...kind of like wine...a sweet"boozy" scent that bees love, anyway!



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"Sweet Annie" ! No, not me, this wonderful aromatic herb!



I have thought about this plant for years (ever since having a dried wreath of it ages ago), and just this year got some seeds from an eBay seller and planted them (good thing I read that the germination period is LONG or I would have given up on them and planted something else in that pot!) The seeds themselves were almost microscopic...and it took a good three weeks for them to sprout!



She's growing well, now and will hopefully reseed...she is of the Wormwood family (Artemisia Annua) ~ the same herb family that is used in making absinthe!... I also got some seeds for that particular herb, Artemisia Absinthium, which I will plant this weekend, along with a whole row of flowers/wildflowers in the garden.



(I will not be brewing up any absinthe; I just think it is interesting...;^)



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Aren't these snow white petunias pretty? I have them in a pot on the patio steps with vinca vine...every once in a while you catch a whiff of that lovely evening fragrance!



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Plumbago...I got this plant when my younger daughter Katie and I went to visit older daughter Mandy in St. Charles a couple of weeks ago (when we got the cool statuary photos from Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries)...

It is tropical, but supposed to be non-poisonous, so I can try to winter it over inside...it looks a lot like Sweet William, but has the most heavenly blue flowers!

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Anyone that has anything to do with naming a product, no matter what kind, has to be aware of their power over most of the buying populace...

I can't understand companies that have products, colors, etc., just numbered.

I don't think I am alone.

I am such a sucker for a name...

This coleus is called "Alligator Tears"...

I would probably not have purchased it otherwise!

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One can never have enough Vinca Vine! It is perennial, so you can justify buying lots of it, right? (It winters over in pots just fine)...only thing is, I just keep getting more pots..

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Daughter Mandy dug this moss up for me for the Fairy Garden...not sure if it's going to make it; it gets quite a bit of morning-to-mid-day sun...but it's hanging on for now...

(I love moss!)

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♥ My hydrangeas are in bloom! They range from cerulean blue to a soft lilac hue, all on the same plant...I'm really pleased that I have one little area where I can grow my familiar shade plants, here in our re-purposed cotton field...;^) Have a wonderful. productive (or relaxing, as the case may be) weekend, everyone!  ♥ ♥ ♥ Anne Linking to Beverly's Pink Saturday 

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Happy Mother's Day (Belated!)...♥

Finally! My Mother's Day post...(Thank you for all your sweet comments already!)

Here is my Mom, Betty Lou Collier ~ her first "studio" photo...

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This one is my favorite!

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So pretty!

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I think these are so elegant! Mom had them taken when visiting New York City in the late '40s...

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My first Christmas, 1957 ~ Mom was 31.

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Mom and me, about 1961...

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She stayed beautiful all her life...

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I think this is so sweet; it's something Mom got for her Mother, my Grandma Elphia, for Mother's Day in the early '30s...I accidently broke the glass on its little frame not long ago, and decided it was a good time to scan it before replacing the glass.

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Now for my Mother's Day...(here's just a small portion)...

Beautiful roses from daughter Katie...

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Such a cute card from daughter Mandy!

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Pretty Gerbera Daisies from son Jonathan...

My oldest son Mark is making me a wonderful swing using the same pattern as one my Grandpa Launius built around 1920 ~ really a unique design ~ photos of that to come!

I hope each and every one of you had a fabulous Mother's Day!

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Anne

Linking to The Tablescaper's Seasonal Sundays....

and to

The Brambleberry Cottage's Time Travel Thursday...

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