I Am So Far Behind!!!!

I will try to catch up.

Labor Day Weekend

My daughter and her hubby had planned to come up early Friday, but family business came up. My hubby worked a short shift (eight hours) so he was coming home at 9pm. It worked out perfectly because my daughter and hubby arrived about 9:40pm. We brainstormed plans for the weekend while they snacked on some cheese. They didn't stay late because we decided on an early-ish start on Saturday.

West of the Lake Gardens

The Plan...Saturday, antiquing, this time in Manitowoc. Spontaneous stop......West of the Lake Gardens, which was a big hit. Sunday was set aside for the Wade House in Greenbush, Wisconsin, which was amazing. We paid for our tickets at the visitor center, and the guy behind the desk called someone on a walkie-talkie. 

"Your ride will be here shortly" he told us. "Go outside and wait under that window" (pointing to a large stained glass window on the other side of the room).

As soon as we got outside, a wagon drawn by two beautiful horses pulled up. Let me repeat A WAGON PULLED BY HORSES was our ride!!!!! I wanted to jump up and down and squeal like a kid but I restrained myself. 

Here are some pictures from our visit. Our Ride!

The Sawmill

The Wade House (picture from Wiki commons)

The Blacksmith Shop

The Carriage Museum

After Wade House, my hubby wanted to drive us up to Door County. We stopped in Sturgeon Bay and then drove up to Egg Harbor to eat. We were having so much fun we decided to spend the night....somewhere.....on a holiday weekend. My daughter started making phone calls. The only rooms available were $300 for the night, and we needed 2 rooms. We kept looking. We finally found a house for rent with two bedrooms, $310 for the night, in Sturgeon Bay. We stopped at a drugstore and grabbed some things, since we didn't pack anything, and drove to the house. It was good. Buggy outside (Northwoods bugs) but clean inside. We decided to go out and found an Irish bar. We had a good time.

We set off early Monday, got some breakfast, and headed north. We drove all the way to Ellison Bay which is near Gills Rock, because...family name. Unfortunately we had to head back because my daughter and her hubby had to drive all the way back to Indiana that night. 

Sunrise in Sturgeon Bay. I don't see many sunrises because our apartment faces west

The house we rented

Sister Bay, Door County

Walking around Sister Bay

The goats on the roof, Sister Bay

Gnomes, Sister Bay

Ellison Bay

Ellison Bay

Inside a gift shop, flowers and pots

Technically we didn't make it all the way to Gills Rock but we visited all the gift shops that sold Gills Rock merch. We were short of time and faced with a long drive back.

Note to ourselves...plan better next time. Spend more time in Door County. Reserve a room. Leave some time to visit downtown Ripon. There are not enough hours in a day. nor days in a weekend.

Done

 It needs to finish drying and then I need to press it flat. I worked forever on this and it has lots of mistakes.  First portrait I ever painted.

The ripple effect is because it's still damp. That's why it looks like it has weird shadows. It was really hard but I want to paint more. I know one thing for sure. I need real watercolor paint, the kind that costs a lot. And better paper.

UPDATE here it is when dry. I still don't like this paper AT ALL. It doesn't look any different. I also found out it is pulp paper and not cotton. It should be 100% cotton for watercolor. 

I'm Rusty at Painting

 I'm determined to have a painting or two done to give to my daughter when she and her hubby visit this weekend. It was her birthday recently so this will be a belated present. Today I was working on a painting of a building. Perspective is challenging. I haven't worked with it in ages. I hope to be done with the drawing soon so I can start painting tomorrow. 

I took a 2 day break from the statin. Too much pain. The pain was gone after 2 days, so I'm back on it now.

We are having a thunderstorm with lots of rain right now. I'm glad hubby is home because he didn't have his rain coat with him.

Here are a couple pictures and then I'm going to bed.

Heavy duty paper and a gum eraser. Maybe I'll ace it soon.

Purple Lightening