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Of course there is always a good supply of food all day for the three days…..thanks to the meal preparers and the family units that volunteer for kitchen duty

And newborn babies to welcome into the family.  One of my great nephews holding one of my 4th cousins.

The lodge looks out on to Somerset Lake always with wildlife around for photo ops

This is one of my great nieces who I like to take pictures of picking flowers……….

And we always have jokers in the family(me being one of them).  I shot this pic of one of my 4th cousins and I was also upside down taking the picture.  Interesting angle!!

Another one of the many activites schedule for the reunion weekend was balloon toss…….

I wished I had gotten in on this event, but was busy taking pictures.  We had use of the sport facilities at Somerset Beach Campground and we organized volleyball tournements.  I LOVE VOLLEYBALL!

More fun pictures tomorrow!!!

Let’s go back to Friday June 25th, the day the reunion started. Kim and I weren’t there. We were still stuck in Greenville trying to get our hitch installed.

My mom was this years reunion coordinator(for the past 3 years) and there are several committees that family members take part in so that everything runs smoothly and that not just a handful of people do the brunt of the work.  Committees like meals, music, crafts, demos/workshops, sport activities.  We schedule it for the three day weekend at Somerset Beach Campground in Michigan at one of their lodges. One of the activities scheduled was a bird house painting contest.  Groups select a birdhouse and get involved in the process of painting it up.  After finishing, they gather them up and get judged by popular vote.

birdhouses ready to be voted on……

Another activity on Friday was schedule by my dad(Doctor of Science and Education and Geology Professor), of a “find as many gems and minerals in the sand”.  He had the kids (and adults) dump sand that had the hidden minerals and find what they could.  Later the minerals were identified.

Kim provided stamps, ink and paints for the kids(and adults) to play with.

One of the show and tell displays was my aunt’s jewelry she likes to make.  I believe she sold some too!

My aunt(my mom’s sister) is in yellow.  My mom is on the right.  The other two are my great aunts

That’s it for today.  See you tomorrow!!!!

I know it has been almost a month since we took our vacation.  I am just now getting to organize the photos.  There is lots to show and share! I come from a very large family and you will notice this in the pictures I will show you.  My Gma(maternal) comes from 8 siblings and each of the siblings comes on average 3-6 kids, and from those kids comes on average 3-6 kid…….it keeps growing.

We arrived early Saturday morning(June 26) in time for the festivities.  First off was a watercolor painting workshop by my late Great Aunt Sally’s best friend Beth who is a phenominally good artist.  And we were honored to have her come to our reunion.

Here is the crowd looking on with her instructions.

I come from a very talented family.  Come to find out there are several artists within our family.  Here is my sister painting.

My great niece and great nephew painting…..

My great aunt painting on a card…….

Beth showing my cousin some good pointers……….

3 of my  many second cousins(my mom’s first cousins) thoroughly involved in their paintings……..

cousin getting more done on her painting.  She worked on it throughout the day…..

my third cousin(son of person in previous picture) is an awesome artist and going into college with that degree.

Putting the finishing touches on his masterpiece…..

Beths almost finished watercolor……..

There was also a birdhouse painting contest the night before and these got judged with prizes.

All for now.  Look tomorrow for more pictures and stories!!!!

Friends of ours are getting married this weekend and we can’t really afford to buy a present for them right now.  We looked at what they registered for and were not thrilled with the choices.  We like to put a little personality in our gifts and make it more personal.  More like…….”yes, that gift came from Mark and Kim, no doubt!”……….
So we tend to make gifts.  And as our usual scenario, AT THE LAST MINUTE!  So this past Tuesday I started painting a portrait of the couple using one of their engagement pictures.  I finished it yesterday.

It turned out almost true to the photo, so my mom says   I think it worked up surprisingly well.  I am always anxious during the process because I want it to be just right and any slip up could ruin it.  Like too dark or wrong color.  I have done enough of these portraits to know my own process and how to handle the brush and paint.  I am such a tight painter and would really like to broaden out and loosen up.  Maybe I will do some trial portraits in a very loose impressionistic style.  More like the essence of the person portrayed rather than every hair and wrinkle.  Doesn’t hurt to try.  I will probably go back to being tight and fiddly HAH

I just uploaded into my Etsy Shop two pairs of bobbin lace earrings that I made not long ago.  You can click on their pictures to go to their individual listings.

They are fairly quick and fun to make.

This past Sunday(11 July) I took my nephew with me to dig up some Queen Anne’s lace from a neighbor’s yard so I can transplant it into my butterfly garden.  If I can’t get hybrid flowers to grow, and only weeds, then might as well try growing pretty weeds!  Besides, we like Queen Anne’s Lace.

I have quite a bit planted in my garden, along with the perennials that decided to come up.

And with our little adventure into the weed patch, I brought back with me and unwanted present

POISON IVY!!!!

BEASTIE!!!!  Can’t remember the last time I had poison ivy.  But whenever I DO get it, it always is around the eyes.  I think it has to do with my allergies.

For prettier pictures than that, here are a couple of the lilies in my garden that are bloomed.

Since I finished that one doily from the previous post, I went straight away to pic another doily to do using the same linen thread. Found another picture I like and that only uses 4 bobbin pairs for the bulk of the doily with two additional pairs for the outside row.

Here is a closeup of what I have done so far. It goes fairly quick

That is what I am working on at home in the evenings when I get a chance for “ME” time. Besides other little projects I have strewn all over, I have started another project at work during my lunch break. My leather watch band is completely GROSS and deteriating. So I am making another one. I am attempting to create something across the lines of tatted/macrame watch band. After all, tatting is very much like macrame. But I plan on using mostly tatted elements and just a basic macrame(have to, all I know are basics, and haven’t really done macrame before).

BTW……………..

Just in case you listen to 80s Planet on iTunes or other streaming audio, I just requested a rarely broadcast song(on this station) from the Carpenters. I am a HUGE fan(to put it lightly). And after making a donation(not necessary for normal 80s songs) Steve at the 80s Planet station will be playing later today “Calling Occupants”. It is one of his favorites of the Carpenters and I am thankful that he is actually broadcasting it. So if you are listening to 80sPlanet streaming audio today, he might introduce some wacky person from Greenville, IL, USA who wants to listen to The Carpenters LOL!!!!

We are back from vacation!  And still lots to do around the house.  Wished it would just handle itself while we were gone and we wouldn’t have all this work to do……….in a perfect world!!!

I will be sharing many pictures with you over several posts of our vacation.  So please check back often!

I took several projects with me while we did our vacation.  Of course I took too many projects and really only worked on one.  I took my bolster pillow and started and almost finished a Schneeberger (?) doily that I laced up from a photo.  Didn’t have a pattern.  Just used the photo.  I got it from HERE.  Uses 6 pairs of bobbins and I used a 2 ply linen thread(22 wpcm) I got from a vendor at a heritage reenactment.    Here is the doily at the point I stopped at the end of our vacation

I just about got it finished at the end of our vacation except those last few inches and the center plaits.  Here is a close up of the last part

And here is the finished doily off the pillow!

It was a fast and fun doily to make.  And you can have a chance to own this treasure because I am selling it on Tatman’s Etsy Shop Please browse around.

I will post later with some pictures of our vacation.