Ispirato

I’m back in Melbourne and feeling in sore need of a vacation again, in that strange way that one does after returning home from a vacation.

Here are four pairs of earrings I made at our family reunion. My sisters and I (there are five girls and one boy in my family) are all into beading and earring making in particular. This year Trish and Vonnie brought their bead collections to the reunion and generously invited the rest of us to help ourselves during our craft sessions. 

An earring fetish is much cheaper to maintain than a shoe fetish.

Here’s a last photo from my visit in the US.

That’s my sister, Vonnie, with the red hair and her best friend, Gwen, on the left. They are showing off felt bracelets I taught Vonnie to make during this trip. (She made some for Gwen. She is always doing kind things for others.)

Gwen introduced Vonnie to quilt making and wow, can those two churn out the quilts! They both have a fantastic sense of color. The quilt behind them is the first thing I saw when I walked in Gwen’s door. It is a perfect, cheerful welcome to her home. It says, “Hello! Bright, creative, happy people live here!”

I really admire the precision sewing required of patchwork. I am not so good at measuring and stitching precisely, myself, so I can appreciate the labor involved in getting it right. When Gwen showed me a quilt that required paper piecing in order to get the points of some triangles to line up sharply, my first thought was “Oh, this is so anal!” But that makes it sound like I’m critical, when really, I am jealous!

Both these gals work as surgeons. ‘Figures.

I can’t imagine my life without my own artsy-craftsy friends. It was such fun to meet one of Vonnie’s.

Look what my sister pulled out of her cupboard - It is a portable s’mores factory on a lazy susan, complete with a little Sterno-powered cooker! Gee-whiz! And as we were making s’mores in the kitchen instead of outside over a campfire, we had access to a microwave. That meant we could melt the chocolate on top of the graham crackers.

You know, I was always disappointed in the s’mores I’d had prior to this. I always felt the chocolate was too hard. But these gooey chocolate s’mores were THE BEST. Check-out our mouth-watering results:

My sister took us to the neatest place outside of Marshfield, Wisconsin. It is called Jurustic Park set up on the property of retirees Clyde and Nancy Winia. If you are in the area, make a point to visit.

Clyde welds together metal junk to create fabulous creatures in all shapes and sizes. He is a great storyteller and took us on a hilarious tour of the park - I laughed so much I didn’t want to leave.

 Nancy has a beautiful Hobbit House on the property which serves as gallery, shop and workspace. She makes beautiful glass beads and ornaments, and is into polymer clay and fiber as well - there were a few handfelted pieces (!). Together, Nancy and Clyde had constucted a couple of big, wonderful kaleidoscopes.

I was really impressed by their lifestyle. They were a couple of very creative people spending their days doing what they loved best. (There is more where this came from … )

We had our annual family reunion this past weekend. My dad, his two sisters and as many of their children and grandchildren as possible assembled at Brown County State Park. There were over 30 of us.

My dad, Ed DeJean, dressed up as Mark Twain and gave a special performance. He has been doing this for years appearing at schools and for different groups but I’d never experienced it personally. What a treat! He did a great job.

Besides the Mark Twain performance we had lots of games and family trivia tests. There were crafts too - beading and felt jewelry making, for those who wanted to partake. Oh there was talking and eating and drinking, too.

Family creative time. We don’t do enough of it.

In my previous post you saw the exterior of my parents’ building. Now check out the fireplace in the lobby. Isn’t it fabulous?

Americans are SOOO patriotic.

This mantlepiece is gorgeous no matter what time of year it is. There is an employee named Mark, and part of his job involves decorating the place. I’ve only visited in Spring and Summer, and there have been great displays in the lobby. I’d love to see it at Christmas.

A mantlepiece in any home is potentially a stage for some creative display. Historically, the hearth is the heart of a home. “Hearth” even contains the word “heart” - I wonder if that is more than coincidence?

Do you have a mantlepiece that holds an artistic display or collection? I’d be interested to hear from readers about their own mantles.

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Happy 4th of July!

My son, Chris, and I are visiting my family in Indiana. Here we are outside my folks’ apartment building in a retirement community in Bloomington.

I have not been in the US for a July 4th in over 22 years. My son is looking forward to the fireworks!