The Worst Summer of My Life

As the title says, it has been the worst summer of my life! I wish I could start over again, but have it end with different results. My husband and I had been looking forward to a really nice vacation starting with a scenic train ride from Chicago to San Francisco, then spending four days in San Francisco in the beginning of summer. Unfortunately, he became ill, so we flew home. He passed away within 18 hours of getting home. He passed from pneumonia. It all happened so fast! One day he was fine and working in the yard, traveling and enjoying the scenery. In just a couple of days later, he was gone. 

So, my life is in a complete mess right now. It's the absolute worst thing I've ever been through in my life. Fortunately, I have an amazing support system with family and friends. My kids have talked me into moving closer to them, which I agree is a good idea since I do spend so much time with them and I now feel so alone out here by myself. It's really not that far (about 30 minutes) but now I've found a house a mile away from my son. In the summer it's not so bad, but we are known to have some brutal winters with a lot of that Lake Michigan snow. And driving can be disastrous. And it will be so nice to be right there with them. My granddaughter and my son timed their bike ride from their house to mine, five minutes and 15 seconds. My subdivision is across the street from theirs. She is really excited. I've even given her the task of decorating the guest bedroom since she will be the one to use it the most.

This is why the blog has been neglected. Between keeping the business afloat, grieving, moving, and trying to get my life back in some kind of order, I'm overwhelmed. So, hang in there with me and I'll be bringing some more informative articles, tutorials, and other fun things you are used to seeing here. I might just be moving a little slower at it than usual.

Photo above: One of the photos I took from our scenic train ride which was the last time and place I saw my husband's beautiful smile.

Choosing the Perfect Color Palette

Did you ever notice that the most beautiful color combinations come from nature? Sunsets, flowers, the oceans, and fall foliage are so beautiful, why not think about them when planning your next project? Just use a photo, then take it into a photo editing program and pick colors from the image. You can't go wrong when you choose colors straight from nature.

When my kids were small, we would drive about an hour to my parent's house on weekends. On one weekend I looked at the trees along the highway and pointed them out to my kids. I told them to soak in all that beauty because you won't see them looking that beautiful for another year. They were at their peak, and it was beautiful.

A couple weeks later I took that same drive. I was heading to my mom's house to meet all the ladies in the family for our annual day after Thanksgiving shopping trip to Woodfield Mall in one of the Chicago suburbs. Yes, malls were a big thing back then before the big box stores and Amazon. Anyway, just as I was approaching that area of trees that I pointed out to my kids a few weeks prior it looked really different but in a good way. Since I was driving in the early morning, the frost was still on the ground and the trees. I look over and I see deer surrounded by the glistening tree branches and ground. It looked like it would have made a beautiful postcard or painting. I kind of felt like something was telling me to never underestimate Mother Nature because she will come right back at you in a magnificent way!

So next time you need some inspiration for a color theme, just look outside.

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Shelf Ice - The Beauty and the Dangers

 

Unless you live along one of the beautiful Great Lakes, you probably aren't familiar with shelf ice. It is absolutely beautiful. My granddaughter had never seen it before so we took her over the weekend to see it. She was amazed at the difference it made along the shore. In the image above you'll see our lighthouse in the summer. Next to it you'll see our lighthouse in the winter. Quite a difference! If you are ever traveling along one of the Great Lakes, I think it would be worth a trip to the beach to see its incredible beauty. But NEVER walk on it or climb it! It's extremely dangerous. 

The shelf ice is formed when the waves crash to the shore in the freezing temperatures. Several weeks of this can create some pretty high ice. The danger is when you are walking on it. It looks thick, and it is, but not everything is completely frozen. You can be walking on a section that might look solid but under that ice can be (and many times is) a hole. Once you fall into a hole, you will never be able to come back up. The water under the ice is still moving and will take you with it. Can you imagine how cold that water would be? Yet every single year we see people walking on it.

I added some links at the end of this post that explains the danger in detail. So, if you ever get a chance to see it, definitely do and take your camera. Enjoy the beauty from a distance.

https://www.wndu.com/2025/01/22/hidden-dangers-shelf-ice/

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=shelf+ice+lake+michigan

Old Cemeteries

I hope I don't lose my people on this one, but I have a whole other side to me. I'm still crafty, family-oriented, and love my baking and cooking, but I also love to visit old cemeteries. The older, the better. I have a partner in crime on these missions so I'm not alone in these adventures. I didn't have any interest in them until I moved out to the country. Up the hill, tucked in the woods right behind my house is an old family cemetery. One day I decided to take a look. I was fascinated by the old headstones, some of which the wording have completely faded away. I was curious so I researched the family and found some interesting reading. There are three headstones that have military markers. Two are from the War of 1812, and one from the Civil War. For such an old cemetery, I was surprised and happy to see that someone has been taking very good care of the property. They just recently put up new fencing, a new sign, and mulch on the hill leading up to it. I hope to talk to that person if I ever see them.

Another thing about cemeteries is that it's a great place to get your steps in! Not the one on the hill, but the bigger ones. We have so many trails near our house yet the big cemetery in town is always full of walkers. One of my favorite things to do is look at all the military graves. I just started carrying pennies with me so I can place them. If you like to leave coins on the headstones, here is an article on how to do it, what it means, and how it all began.

https://dma.mt.gov/MVAD/MVAD-Images/Coins-on-headstones-meaning.pdf 

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Are You Ready for the Three Dune Challenge?

The photo on this blog post is one I took while hiking the dunes. Long before the park became a National park (was just a state park) they didn't have the "3 Dune Challenge." They had the three big and steep dunes, but they didn't call it a challenge. We locals just thought of it as "Trail 8." And it's a tough one! When I first started hiking that trail, I thought I was going to die. I had this vision of DNR arriving to my aid on their 4-wheel vehicles. By the end of that sumer after going about two or three days a week, I had them mastered. I can even say that I never had to stop and rest, just breezed on through! 

The hubster and I were talking about getting our season pass and making it a regular activity once again. It has been about 15 years since I've climbed those dunes and I just know that I'll be back to near death again the first time. Between age and added weight, it will be rough but I'm bound and determined to make it happen. That is my goal for 2023.

If you want to see what I'm talking about, I've dropped a few links below so you can check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XZK2mWxljI

https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7013463/trail-8-3-dunes-challenge

https://www.indianadunes.com/explore-the-dunes/indiana-dunes-state-park/3-dune-challenge/

What will you challenge yourself to do?

Enjoying the Fall Colors

Is it just me, or are the Fall colors more vivid and beautiful than they've been in years past? My usual 25 minute drive home today took about 45 because I had to keep stopping to take pictures. But I did manage to get these beauties! Oh how I love the Fall! Are you enjoying the beautiful Fall colors in your area?

A Walk in the Country

I love weekends! One of our favorite ways to spend quality time together is by taking our hikes and walks. We didn't feel like hopping in the car and driving to the Dunes or other trails, so we took a walk on one of our favorite routes near our home. This particular one is about a four mile walk. It takes us an hour to complete which is exceptional since some of the roads take us up some steep inclines. We live in a tiny little subdivision surrounded by country roads. This walk has lots of greenery and barns. There are also some beautiful properties where you see rolling hills between and behind the homes. 

If we take the roads to the west side of our home we will walk past farms where we will see horses and cows. Maybe we'll do those next.

Wordless Wednesday - Beautiful Lake

Wow! What a stressful day! Instead of sharing all the details, I thought it would be fun to participate in Wordless Wednesday, and share a picture of something that reminds me of a happy time.

Above is a photo of a lake that we passed on our drive through the mountains. We were leaving Yosemite National Park (for my daughter's wedding) and heading back to the airport in San Francisco. I couldn't get over how blue it was.

A Morning Hike

One of my quests for good health involves hiking the many trails at the Indiana Dunes State Park which sits along the shores of Lake Michigan. If you are ever in my area, I highly recommend spending a few hours, or even a full day there. I am so lucky to live so close. I've probably been there a thousand times in the past 10 years. There are so many trails to choose from, or you can just walk the beach. It's so worth getting the annual pass. I always take my camera because there is always something new and interesting to see.

Brian and I took our weekend hike today and picked up our annual pass. The weather was perfect. This is the first time we've been there this year so we stuck to the easier trail. We normally take one of the more rugged trails, but we need to work up to those. A few years ago I was an expert at mastering Trail 8. That's the KILLER of the trails. You hike up the three highest dunes and back again. I plan to do it again very soon.

So to my extremely beautiful daughter....if you are reading my blog post today, I WILL be ready for Trail 8 when you come home next Spring!

Yay for Summer!

Summer is definitely here. We've been in the 90's and the sun is shining. We have the pool open, lots of flowers are in full bloom, and it just feels like summer!

I'm also still on that mad creative streak. Since my pattern shops have been doing so well I've been doing a lot of pattern designing the past few months. After I bought my computer, I came to discover that my graphic shops have been terribly neglected. I've been having so much fun on my new (speedy fast) computer designing graphic and clipart sets. In the past few days I've added six new sets to my shops.

I even freshened up my blog topper using images from my two new sets, Crafting Fun, and Painting Party. Both sets can be found at my website (instant downloads), and at my Etsy shop.

I hope you like the picture above. It was taken from flowers in our yard. That particular flower bush (or whatever you call it) blooms more flowers every year.

The Hazards of Gardening?

My body hurts, the backs of my thighs feel like someone is sticking me with pins. I have come to the conclusion that gardening is hazardous to my health!

Or maybe I'm out of shape?

Photo Above: My garden during the summer months.

Are You Tired of Mushrooms Yet?

I didn't plan on another mushroom post but here it is. We were clearing the branches from our yard today from the awful windstorms we had yesterday and apparently all that rain brought something else, mushrooms. Back behind the trees that line our property were HUNDREDS of them. Yep, the white ones in the picture below. I haven't seen that many mushrooms in the same place before. I tried to take a picture of the entire area but the bright sun was washing our my mushrooms.

In the picture above are a group of them I found in the center of the yard. I like to get the underside of them because I think that is a cool shot.

There is one more picture that I haven't shown you yet. I've been watching the tree in our front yard because last year it had three great big mushrooms on the side. I was hoping to get the chance to see them again but this time I want to photograph them everyday to see how they evolve and how fast. Right now they are only about 1/2" in size. They don't look anything like the ones that were there last year though. Maybe they will grow into them?

Mushroom Hunting

I had the day off and I decided to take a little break from crafting. I put on my hiking shoes and hit some local trails to do some mushroom hunting, while spending quality time with my husband. When I left, my hope was to find one or two interesting mushrooms to photograph. Imagine my surprise to find six different mushrooms! It was like hitting the mushroom jackpot.

Now don't ask me what they are because I have absolutely no idea. They just make for pretty photographs. But I am going to research them because I'm just curious if any are poisonous. Doesn't the puffy white one on the upper right look like a smurf? The white things in the top center picture are just weird! I have no idea what that is but it was growing all over the place.

Is it Art or is it Just Rundown?

Ever since I got my first digital camera I take pictures of everything! I was just looking through some photos I took a few years back and I came across this one. It's the back side of a turn of the century building in the tiny and historic downtown where we used to have our family's business.

It's just a simple spiral staircase leading up to the roof of the building next to ours. It got me wondering if that staircase had been there since the building was built in the late 1800's, or was added on at later time? Did it lead to something other than a roof? Why would you put such a fancy staircase that leads to a roof? Maybe there was a rooftop patio. And what was that building used for back then? Some said it was a rooming house, some say a hotel, and some say something else, questionable I might add . At Street level it is a bar. Upstairs there are lots of tiny little rooms. What was the upstairs of many rooms and who visited or lived there?

When I see something like that I like to imagine it back in it's day. My imagination goes wild! Does that happen to you when you go through old down towns, or drive past old farm houses in the country?

So, is it just a rundown old staircase attached to an old rundown building or is it at artistic photo op? One thing is for certain, there are probably many, many stories attached to that old spiral staircase.

Hiking at Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Park

We woke up Saturday morning and took a two hour drive west. We went hiking (we LOVE hiking) at Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Park. Both parks were beautiful and nothing like hiking the sand dunes that we are used to. Between the two, we really liked Matthiesson much better. Some of trails were quite rugged in my opinion. There were a few other things I wanted to share about this trip but I'll save that for another time.

First we went to Starved Rock and hiked about 2 miles, which a good part of was up! Then we found an awesome picnic table under a huge shade tree where we ate our picnic lunch. I marinated and grilled some chicken breasts the night before and sliced them really thin and piled on some delicious bread, some fruit, and iced tea. The best lunch I've had in a long time.

STARVED ROCK STATE PARK

We got to enjoy this beautiful view after hiking up the giant rock. So worth it!

 This was down in one of the canyons. I thought it would be nice and cool down there but we were amazed at how humid it was. All the moisture just gets trapped down in the canyon. We were sweaty from head to toe!

 OK, so I searched for mushrooms too. Well, you knew I would!

 

MATTHIESSEN STATE PARK

This was down in the lower dells (that's what they called it there). We felt so little, and so sweaty again!

This was one of the waterfalls we walked to. It was quite challenging at some spots but it was fun! There were people on horseback on the trails above the fall.

 These were tree roots that were growing down the side of the canyon. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but it was so humid down there I seemed get a grey tint since I was so close. Brian loved this part and wanted to make sure I got a picture.

So that was our awesome day trip. Next time we'd like to stay in one of the lodges and make a weekend of it. We got a KILLER workout and a had great time.

So to my beautiful daughter: If you are reading this, I'll be working out and getting in shape because by the time spring break arrives, we are going to dominate our very own Trail 8! 

Photo Wall

Since yesterday's post I've had a couple people ask about my photo wall so I decided that I'd make that my next post before you all forget about it. I think it's a cool idea and can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you want to make it. The photos were uploaded to WalMart for $3 a piece so I had $36 in photos. As for the frames and mats, you can choose to your creative heart's content!

We chose the black mats with the black frames because we have a lot of black in the house as we have more of a contemporary look. This one measures about 34" x 55" and if fits perfectly in this space. If you don't want to make it as big, you can make it to any size you want. You can even find some awesome collage frames that holds several 5 x 7 or 4 x 6 sized pictures and you can set the theme on those.

We obviously chose a nature theme for this room but after 2 years we've become tired of these images. We're thinking it's time to change the pictures. I'm thinking maybe the next theme will be structures and architecture, or bridges, or beach scenes, or Yosemite, oh heck, I can't decide!

A photo grouping would also be cute in a kitchen or dining room and you can use a cooking and food theme.....

Photos, Photos, Everywhere!

If you are anything like me, you have thousands of pictures you've taken with your digital camera. Oh how photography has changed through the years. Now you can go to google and find an image on absolutely anything, in fact, you can find thousands of images for what you are looking for!

Exactly what do you do with all those pictures you take? Do you print them out on your home printer or do you upload them to your photo department at your favorite store? Do you look at them on your computer, on your big screen TV, or do you put them in a "physical" album? Do you scrapbook with them, turn them into computer backgrounds? Do you make enlargements and decorate your walls or just put a few favorites out on your tables? And where do you store them? And I'm most curious as to how you organize them all?

I do all the above. I don't print them out so much anymore unless I'm sending them off to my daughter. I mostly view mine on my computer or our TV which is connected to the Internet and I can view my Picasa web albums through there. As for organizing them, I find that the best way for me is to put them in folders according to the year. In each year are folders with the events that they were taken. For those odd ball photos that aren't from any special event, they are in a folder marked for that Season.

I also have an awesome photo wall in my living room with pictures from nature which I'll show you all another time.

I'm anxious to hear how the other photo-geeks like myself use and organize their pictures.

UPDATE: Our chair did not win the contest (the post below this one). But the chair that did win (Wagner's Ribs) was painted with a beach scene and I can honestly say that it deserved to win. It was beautifully done. You can see it in the picture (post below) on the upper left corner.

Playing with Textures & Layers

 I was as looking through all my photos and decided it was time to share some of my favorites with you again. I'll be doing that from time to time. Once again I'm in the mood to play with textures and layers. I still have so much to learn in this department but I'll get there.

This first photo is an owl statue we saw at Brookfield Zoo. As many of you know, I love owls, so naturally this is one of my favorites. For those of you who don't know how I started with my owl fascination, just click HERE or you can scroll to the bottom of the page and see the little video I have of our rehab owl Howard.

This next picture is the lighthouse in St. Joseph, Michigan. Brian and I like to take the 30 minute drive there a few times a year. It's a great place to get out and walk around. There's a charming little downtown with old and new buildings, and the lakefront is just beautiful! I really like the layer I used in this picture. I think it's my favorite.

Below is a hiking trail at Ludington State Park. Brian has family near there and we like to stop for some exercise when we are there. I just loved this trail with the dried up pine needles on the ground and the tree roots exposed. Just beautiful!

If anyone knows their way around PhotoShop, I suggest stopping by this great blog I just found! It's called ShadowHouse Creations and this guy is so talented and so generous to share his work with us. He also has some super helpful tutorials so you can learn how to turn your photos into artwork.

Mushroom Hunting and a New Banner

Thought it was time for a change so I created a new banner today. I've been looking forward to doing some mushroom hunting next month so I figured I'd put some pictures of mushrooms on my new banner.

My favorite mushrooms (the biggest and most beautiful) will be found in late September or early October. All the mushrooms above were photographed in late September.

The two mushrooms on the outer pictures were found on trees on my own property. I was more fascinated with the underside than the tops.

The bright orange and yellow one at the top is a "Chicken of the Woods" and was photographed at the Indiana Dunes State Park in 2004. Last year though I did find one of those, not as big or as bright as the one above, in my own yard as well.

So my new Fall tradition will be mushroom hunting. Anyone else have a tradition they do or a new one they'd like to start for the Fall?

Wildlife & PhotoShop

I was in the mood to play with the patterns and textures in PhotoShop today. I thought I'd get a theme going so I decided to use photos I took at the animal clinic where I work. Many of you already know Howard, our great horned owl that we rehabbed, but did you know that Howard also has a whole bunch of friends at the clinic besides cats and dogs? Here are just a few:

This barn owl is no longer with us. We released him last year.

 

Our tortoise, this guy weighs in at 60 pounds. That's a large bath towel he's on.

 

This crane belonged to the zoo. They have not yet come to get it. Look at the back of the head. I think my texturizing is hiding his beautiful crown.

 

This barred owl was just recently released.

 

Oh yes, one of my favorites! This is Ghost, a 14 foot Albino Burmese Python. It doesn't live with us, it was just visiting. It belongs to the zoo and we were treating it for a little skin infection.

 

These are called rheas. They stand about 5 feet tall. Doc ordered them from somewhere. Who knows where though. I think he just likes to collect odd animals. They were actually hamming it up for the camera. They have so much personality!

 

Hey! I get these in my backyard! This guy was orphaned so we have to play mom until he can take care of himself. Isn't he cute? We had 4 of them but one didn't make it. He was hit by a car and we couldn't save him  :(

 

This is our resident rooster. He lives with us and sometimes he likes to get out of the fence and I actually had to take him out of some one's car one day because they left the hatch open. Silly guy!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictures of Howard's little (and big) friends.