I Made an Art

I feel kind of behind on this old thing these last few weeks.  Long weekends for Holidays always throw me off.  A few notable things...I am a member of some buy/sell/trade groups on Facebook and I spotted this cute medal shelf/cabinet thing a few weeks ago.  It was spotted on my hometown's site and the group includes people from lots of surrounding towns too.  I decided to let it go since the poster was not from my hometown and it would have required some arranging to get it from the lady.

A few weeks later, she bumped it up meaning no one bought it.  I said "sold" since she lives kind of on the way we take when we visit.  She agreed to drive a few miles to meet me along the highway at a golf course and I picked it up on the way to Easter.  It's not in the house right now since we didn't have room and I'm not sure where it's going yet.  It's so "fixer upper" though!  So many possibilities! 

Also seen on social media...last week was our old neighbors who lived across from us at our old house's 90th birthday and his family advertised in the paper for people to flood him with birthday cards.  He's active in the community so a lot of people know him.  I wanted to get a card sent but we didn't have any in the house and Justin was gone so I would have had to bring three kids to buy one and I didn't want to.  So I made one! 

 I drew a picture of our old house, which is his daily view when sitting in their living room.  After I was done I wrote a message on the roof in marker and a note on the back.  If you need your memory jogged to figure out what exactly is in the picture above...

 I actually had a pretty good art teacher in middle and high school and I gained a lot from the occasional semesters of art we were offered.  I used to amaze my co-workers with my Microsoft "Paintbrush" abilities during our downtime on our stripped down and highly secure computers.  The main thing is to pick a point on the horizon and go from there and to think about what you are actually looking at and not your perception.  I did a sample like this angled photo but the curved front step was throwing me off.  The classic struggle between the left and right brain!  My teacher used to make us stop talking and listen to music without words while drawing and painting so we could push out the left brain while doing art.  It sounds crazy but there is something to it.  Anyway, I didn't have time to work through it (or to find a ruler, as you can tell my by freehand lines) so I did a head on perspective. The step still looks weird but oh well. 

I added a last minute finishing touch! If you can't tell it's Allan...I have to say, that although my drawing skills are mediocre, in the eyes of two preschool age kids I might as well be a true artist.  They couldn't believe I made that!

Seeing pictures of that house made me miss those lovely irises we planted in the front.  They are still there serious need of being divided.  Good thing we have our own irises which have been growing strong for the last few weeks.  They came up early this year.  They need division too. 

We (Justin) will be mowing back there before we know it!

Finally, I love seeing a balk eagle in the wild.  They probably don't want to hear this but I think they are really cute.  I love watching Eagle nest cams and seeing their little white heads in the trees and fields as they perch makes me giggle.  Well, I am so excited to report that eagles have been spotted near my parents' farm and even in their yard. 

That is in a tree you can see from the house!  My mom saw two of them frolicking in the sky, clearly having some kind of romance.  There has to be a nest somewhere nearby.  Baby eagles...be still, my heart!