It's All for Paul

........well, actually, it's all for the Piedmont Park Conservancy! Paul McCartney will be appearing in concert tomorrow night at Piedmont Park, benefiting the conservancy. How grand is that? The park is just a couple of blocks from our condo, so we walked down there this evening.






the stage is enormous.........I don't think you can get the full perspective in this photo

just a few of the liquid refreshments:

what goes in, must come out:
I finished constructing this silk/linen blend dress yesterday. I had waxed, dyed, rewaxed, and redyed the fabric, and then it sat for about a month in my sewing room.


It's very comfy and the fabric (from Thai/Exotic Silks) is terrific!


since you only got part of my Barker in the above picture, I thought I'd give you a better view:

Looks can be very deceiving: Barker is the sweetest, most lovable dog I have ever known, but until he gets to know you (and in this case, the camera!) he won't give you the time of day! We are on our way to New Hampshire for a week of vacation, so Barker is at home with our faithful and most capable housesitter. They love eachother dearly, so I know that he is fine, but I am missing him tonight! WAAAA!!!

While everyone else is going to see Julia and Julie, we took in 500 Days of Summer this evening at the Midtown Promenade Cinema. It is really good: C said it would be a chick flick, but we are both now thinking that it was more of a guy flick. C and I came away with differing opinions on the sentiments, but we both enjoyed it, the soundtrack, and the different approach to the screen play.

PEACE!!!

'Been A While

Lots has been going on around here, and it seems that I haven't been making time to blog. I fear that my faithful followers have deserted me. ARGH!!! Leave a comment if you're still hanging in there with me, just to boost my morale!

The morning after I last posted, with those lovely pictures of Barker frolicking on the golf course during our evening walk, he took the liberty to totally 'besmurch' himself with all sorts of hangers on! Take a gander:


He's a funny boy: he is eager to go out and hunt on the golf course, but he hates to look bad, so he wasn't too happy to have me take that picture! He was so embarrassed!!!!

The rule in this household is that he who allows Barker to become besmurched must also be the 'desmurcher'! I am pleased to report that while the boys had walked the golf course, I had done my yoga! So, here are my boys:

take special notice that Elsie, our kitty cat, is seated on one of the ottomans! She and Barker have a real love/hate relationship, and she was totally enjoying Barker's grooming session!

We had tickets to hear Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, speak at Brenau University last Thursday evening.

It was a wonderful evening, and I so enjoyed hearing Dr. Hosseini speak about his life and his writing. He said that when he is writing a book, 8 hours can pass by and he is astonished when he looks at the clock and realizes how the time has flown. (I can relate as I feel the same way when I am working in my dye studio!) He also expressed his displeasure with the ads of the Republican National Committee where they cite that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein. Like so many of us here in these United States, Dr. Hosseini doesn't understand why the name Hussein is offensive, or why some think that a Muslim cannot also be a 'good' citizen of the United States. 'good' isn't the correct word, but I think you know where I'm going with this!

OK, enough on politics for tonight!!

We spent a hurried 48 hours in Midtown last weekend. Was it really 48 hours? We went to see Oliver Stone's "W" at Midtown Arts (there wasn't much in there that I didn't already know, but Josh Brolin did a great job and the gal who played Condalisa Rice was fantastic!) and we walked a lot, as usual! I snapped a few pictures on our walks around the 'hood. Here's how 'our collapsed house' is coming along:

I was so pleased to see that they had gotten the roof on since we last were in Midtown, because we actually had rain last week!

I love how the neighborhood decorates for the holidays! These guys always put on a great show:


I love the front porch on this house at the corner of Penn and 8th St:


Midtown is definitely Obama Country, and I feel so comfortable when we are there! Here are just a few of the many signs and bumper stickers in the neighborhood:




We rushed home to GainesVegas on Sunday morning, so that we could attend a few blessings. It seems that the last Sunday in October is a huge Blessing Day!

Our friends John and Troy were having their new shop, Occasions by John & Troy, blessed by Doug, our Episcopal Priest. Here they are after the Blessing:

John is an incredible flower designer and Troy is a fabulous baker. They also have many pieces of art on display and for sale in their lovely shop, including some of my scarves!!


Our friends Joan and Ed have recently built and moved into their dream home, and it is indeed a wonderful abode! They had invited us to their House Blessing later Sunday afternoon, and we were delighted to attend. Our church was also having the annual Blessing of the Animals at the same time, but we decided to give Barker the afternoon off, and opted to spend it with Joan and Ed, and many other of our mutual friends.

While in Atlanta last weekend, I went by Mingei World and picked up this beautiful tjap that I had ordered earlier in the week:

I just love it!! I spent several hours batiking today and will hopefully have some nice pieces to show for it. If so, I'll share them with you soon!

My usual lunch is a big salad with lots of spinach, aurugula, tomatoes, Feta cheese, sliced mushrooms, perhaps a cut-up apple, and a bit of whatever leftover cold meat we have on hand. Today's lunch looked particularly appealing, so I snapped this pic:


Well, that's it in a rather large nutshell. But, one last thing: if you are a U.S. citizen and haven't voted and you have the opportunity to vote early, please do so! I don't care which candidate you choose, I just want you to get out there and vote! It is so important!!!

Take a second and leave a comment..........I have!!

PEACE, HOPE, CHANGE:
OBAMA/BIDEN 08!!!

A Day in My Life.......well, ok, make it 4 days!

The window washer returned to the Metropolis on Saturday morning...I could tell as soon as I got up and saw the big thick ropes dangling down in front of my view of Stone Mountain. I was excited, but so was Barker: he needed to go for his walk. Well, as luck would have it, once again Spidey seemed to wait on our return:


I was sitting checking my emails and reading my blogs when he suddenly appeared in front of our livingroom window!

Now, a totally different view from another livingroom window here in GainesVegas:


I took the above pic yesterday (Monday October 20th) morning. I love it when the steam is rising off of the lake. Big Blue, our resident Great Blue Heron, is all hunkered down, trying to stay warm.....our low was 46.

Speaking of livingroom windows, I heard a loud knock on one of our sliders this afternoon, and darned if this little fellow wasn't down on the patio when I turned around.
I just hate it when that happens! Most of you will recognize this as our Northern Cardinal, a very lovely bird, but also one that we here in the states tend to take for granted. I remember a few years ago when we had visitors from Cornwall dining with us and they were so captivated by our Cardinals. I do think they are lovely. I took several pictures of this young guy, and may use them for a quilt in the future. So sorry that we lost him, but there are dozens more at our feeders every day.

I decided to take you along on our evening golf course walk. We do this every evening that we are home....mainly to give Barker a bit more exercise (one of us takes him about 4 miles on the cart paths every morning), but also to enjoy the evening just before the sun sets. It is getting earlier and earlier now that Fall is upon us.

So, here is Barker Baby playing with a pine cone. It doesn't take much to amuse him!

Barker has just turned six, but he still acts like a puppy:


Whew, he has finally settled down long enough for a photo op:


My favorite hole on the lake...it will take your breath away at sunrise:


Autumn is upon us:


Somebody forgot to tell this honeysuckle that it is about to get really, really cold here!


If you haven't already read the blog post of my friend Beverly, I want to recommend it to you. She is one brave soul: traveling from Utah to Colorado for the weekend to stump for Obama! I am so proud of her!!!

PEACE, HOPE, CHANGE:
OBAMA/BIDEN!!!

Brand New Do

My friend Bonnie has a black Standard Poodle named Michael. The twosome went on a beach vacation this summer and she had Michael clipped really, really short. She was a bit nervous about how the cut would look, but afterward she told me that she liked the short clip better: it was easier on everyone, especially since Michael loves to play in the surf. Barker isn't much of a swimmer, in fact he never goes in our pool or lake unless he falls in or is chasing the Canada Geese, but he is prone to ear infections, as are many Standards, so I thought the short clip might be just the answer. Besides, with temps in the high 90s during the day, our boy is getting hot!

Here are before (well, last December) and after shots:



Whaddaya think?????

Our Down Under friend Carol asked if Barker did ok while C and I were out galivanting around the Pacific Northwest. Barker thanks her for her concern and reports that he had a nice time staying here at home with his favorite housesitter, and that he was far less anxious this time. He sends many cold, wet and sloppy kisses to all of his friends in Bloggerland.

PEACE

Party On!

Yesterday was our cousin Catherine's birthday. She is a lot younger than we are, but was feeling 'old' at the young age of 42.......groan! Catherine is very bright, witty beyond words, loving, giving, caring, and was suddenly struck with the horrible disease MS several years back. She conducts her life with a grace and dignity that is amazing, and I hold her in the highest regard. She doesn't stop at anything: living alone, swimming daily, singing in her church's choir, etc. I consider any time that I have the opportunity to spend with Catherine to be a very special gift.

Coincidentally, our cousins from Florida and their young, hip, and good lookin' NYC chilluns are vacationing about an hour north of us for two weeks, so we all got together yesterday to celebrate Catherine's day. Our weather here has been delightful and deliciously cool, which made our get-together even more pleasant. I snapped a few candid pics and will share them with you. I hope you can get a feel for the fun we all were having.






I dyed that tee for Catherine and had a ball creating it. The colors are just wild and they make me very happy. I hope she will feel a similar exhilaration when she wears it. Here is a closeup of some of the happy colors:

Catherine's Mom asked me to dye a jacket and pants in blue for the birthday girl. Once again, I had fun with this project, but since she would be wearing it in church while performing with the choir, I decided they needed to be a bit more subdued. Here's the jacket:


and here are the pants:

the colors actually do coordinate......the lighting wasn't always the same when I snapped these pics

Here's my faithful studio dog, doing his guard duty as I worked on Catherine's duds:

Thanks to all of C's fabulous family for making yesterday so much fun. Barker was exhausted after his day with Gus and Noelle, but he was happy to have made some new friends.


My friend Barbara sent me a fun link: go here
don't hit your mouse once you've clicked the 'play' button

PEACE

WooHoo!

As seen in yesterday's Atlanta Journal and Constitution.
We've come a long way baby!

I have been redoing a few pieces that have bothered me over the past few months. Here is one:

a silk charmeuse scarf that I dyed, discharged and printed last Fall. I added another layer of dye yesterday:


I did some discharging this morning:


Here is the finished product:

I'm pleased with it now.

My buddy spent the morning in the studio with me:

PEACE