my friend...

To you, my friend

We knew we'd be friends right from the start
drawn together in a new beginning.
Like newly hatched birds learning to fly
we grew together, you and I.

Always looking ahead
for some new adventure.
Carefree and young
we thought we had forever.

But those school days flew by
those days of books and boys.
We learned; we laughed; we lived; we cried
as if we were each a part of the other.

Now comes the day when we must part
you're gone, but just for a while.
For some day ahead, I know
I'll again greet your smile.

                              april

this beautiful moth

Have more things to post, but today saw this wonderful moth on the big sign at The Center, as you enter the log cabins for the arts.

At first, I thought it was a sphinx moth or hummingbird moth, but when I looked it up in my book it may be a Cecropia Moth.

I have to look further...

it just rested there for hours.

closed it's wings...

and rested in this safe place.

A trip downtown!

Yesterday, a little group of us went down to the Newberry Library to see the calligraphy exhibit.  Always interesting to see the pieces the calligraphers have created.  And I love the Newberry, so impressive and beautiful. 

"The Newberry Library was founded in 1887 by a bequest of Chicago land developer and city leader Walter L. Newberry, who believed strongly in libraries, cultural activity, and civic engagement.  William F. Poole, the Newberry's first librarian and founder of the American Library Association, began to build the collections by purchasing book and manuscript collections from around the United States and Europe."

"Exploration 2012".  The 26th annual juried exhibition of the Chicago Calligraphy Collective.

Here we are!  Judy, Joyce, Marge, me and Kim...

and another shot!  Judy, Joyce, Marge, Barb and Kim.

I love the area, with so much history...

so picturesque...

and love taking photographs, maybe to paint, draw or collage...or just to look at.

Today's treasures

"Emma"

Bouquet picked by Danielle.

Birthday time!

Yesterday, Dan and Angel came over to cook dinner for all of us.  They made Chicken Christopher and it was so yummy!  So busy watching and eating, I forgot to get a picture of the completed dish, but here they are preparing it with everyone else bustling around the kitchen.  So nice, i didn't have to do anything but eat it!  We were also celebrating Rob's birthday. 

The glowing birthday cake!

His all-time favorite, Jello Poke Cake!  Julie cheated though and made the cake from scratch (not a mix) and made real whipped cream (not cool whip). 

His surprise from Julie; a grill for their boat. 

In the woods...

Another one of my very favorite early spring wildflowers is the Trout Lily.  They are popping up at The Center right now and I'm always happy to see them.

A member of the lily family, their leaves are speckled like a Brook Trout.  Folklore says that the Cherokee Indians would chew the root and then spit the juice into the water in an effort to get fish to bite.

Oh Henri!

The kids are coming for dinner tonight and Henri just wants to play ball!  ...ball and bunny!

an artful evening

Sandy's exhibit of her paintings last night at The Monkey Mind Art Studio was such a treat!  She is a most beautiful person, and has developed the most beautiful style.

Her exhibit runs until May 12th.

Here Bernie, Pam and Barb are enjoying the time, as we all sure did!

An exhibition...

...of poured watercolor paintings by Sandy Newell http://www.sandynewelldesign.com/ , a friend and, lucky me! - a student in my collage class.  Her paintings are breathtaking with beautiful color and theme.

The opening reception is tomorrow night, April 20th, from 6-8 pm at Monkey Mind Gallery in Frankfort, IL.  I know you would find it a treat to come and see her lovely work!

Look who's back!

Do you remember, three springs ago (May/June 2009), when i had doves nest in my hanging basket?  Well, it was quite a trauma, worrying about the basket falling when it got heavier as the babies hatched and sometimes both parents were in there too, and so I put a "safety net" underneath them on the deck rail, consisting of a Rubbermaid bin, a laundry basket, and a pile of fluffy towels!  Then, just as I finished, the chain broke and down they came.  They were just fine, and I named the babies Emma and Ernest.  Well, we moved the basket to hang over the other smaller side deck where there was less activity, and the doves were back looking last year but did not nest there.  So yesterday, when i was going to go out there to hang out some paper to distress in the rain, there was Emma sitting proudly in her nest!  Oh dear, where's that laundry basket!

a few pictures...

I have just a few pictures to show from our Thursday trip to Arthur.  The countryside and...

buggies...

I really wanted to get a picture of a clothesline.

It was a pretty and fun day though.

huh?

The week's break inbetween classes at The Center.  Where has the week gone to?  I've been in a fuzz since Easter.  Lots of ideas floating around in my head and I want to work on them all day today.  Yesterday, I went with Julie and some friends to Amish Country!  Arthur, Illinois.  Love seeing the horses and buggies and the clotheslines.  Found a great grocery store "Beachy's" to buy bulk nuts, oatmeal, gluten-free oatmeal, and popcorn.  Amish popcorn is the absolute best.  I won't buy anything else.  And a nice place for cheese and bakery; "Country Cheese & More".  And a lovely quilt shop called "Stitch & Sew Fabrics".  Oh and a nice little greenhouse/garden center that had Bittersweet plants!  I haven't seen bittersweet in a long long time. Julie bought one and we are going to share it's treasures, as she has a lot of room to plant it.  And they even had "ewe poo" that is supposed to be wonderful for plants!  I did take a couple of pictures and will post them later when Mark gets home from work and shows me how to upzip them from my ipad (a new adventure).

Easter!

On with the week, Friday was a blur - getting ready for Easter festivities.  The Easter Egg Roundup at The Center was on Saturday and it was a beautiful day!

We had tied ribbons on the little baskets and bagged jelly beans earlier in the week, and they had boiled 1700 eggs and baked 1100 sugar cookies and we were all ready for the anxious children coming to visit the animals at The Farm and see the Easter Bunny in the Magic Forest.

Mark, Lois and I filled all the little baskets with hay to hand out to the children after they each got their own egg from the chicken coop. 

It was a busy time and I hardly had time to take pictures this year, I guess.  Back home in the afternoon, it was time to get ready for our Easter dinner.  Family was coming at 4:30! 

And it was Dan's birthday party too!  Angel baked the birthday cake!  Here is Dan's guitar on the left and the beautiful cake on the right.  Amazing!

Happy, happy birthday, Dan!

A very special cake.  Baked with love.  

The detail!  I couldn't believe my eyes!

I know Dan loved it!   

Brent brought along his guitar and later gave us a evening serenade to end our very nice day. 

And then...

Thursday morning was drawing class.  I am hostess for that class, so I made peanut butter cookies in the morning to go with our coffee/tea.  My mom's recipe and beautiful handwriting.

Not sure what I wanted to draw, I decided to practice some figures.  After a while, I went next door to visit the woodcarving class and see what they were doing.

Keith, our woodcarving teacher.

And here is my hubby working on a bunny relief carving.

Wonderful "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", done by Randy.

He carved it from Cypress knees.

Perfect root with eight knees.

Audrey is doing her carving after Van Gogh's famous "Old Man With his Head in his Hands (at Eternity's Gate).

Wonderful!

Mary is doing all the figures from "A Christmas Carol".  She is working on the ghost of Christmas Present.  What a fabulous collection that is going to be.  And look at that tiny candleholder!

John, doing a beautiful lighthouse.

Marcia is carving this sleek cat from Butternut.

And Larry's beautiful relief of a flying duck.

Keith, giving suggestions to Dan about his horse head.

And here is Bob's very touching head of Christ.

The Log Cabin For The Arts.