75 Day Sketch Challenge - Day 9

For Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - Day 8

For Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - Days 6 & 7

For Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - Day 5

For Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - Days 3 & 4

For Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

75 Day Sketch Challenge - Days 1 & 2

I started Brenda Swenson's 75 Day Sketch Challenge - drawing in pen and ink only every day for 75 days. The challenge can be seen here.

Coffee Shop

Scone and lemonade from my local Panera - my favorite "coffee shop."

The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates

In 1950, Ariah Erskine's new husband jumps into Niagara Falls after a disastrous honeymoon night.  Ariah keeps up a 7 day vigil, waiting for her husband's body to be found.  Confirmed bachelor Dirk Burnaby finds himself waiting with Ariah.  Eighteen days after the end of the vigil, Dirk drives over 300 miles to Ariah's hometown and proposes marriage, which Ariah accepts.  The book follows their tumultuous marriage and family life.  I found it fascinating and extremely well written.  I rate it 4 out of 5.

Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles

I read this book for a read along on the War Through The Generations blog, which is also hosting the US Civil War Challenge that I'm participating in this year.  It is the story of 18 year old Missourian Adair Colley, who is falsely accused of being a Confederate spy and is sent to a women's prison in St. Louis.  The prison commander tries to convince Adair to give him some information so that she can be released. While I mostly enjoyed the story, I found parts to be unbelievable and thought it was not very well written.  But I learned about the imprisonment of women during the Civil War that I didn't know about before.  I rated it 3 out of 5.

Keys 2 and Everyday Object 3

My second sketch for Lesson One of my On Location class with Jane LaFazio. It also fits the Sketchbook Challenge theme of Everyday Objects.

Keys 1 and Everyday Object 2

Lesson One for Jane LaFazio's online class, Sketching and Watercolor Journal Style - On Location, is keys. It also fits this month's Sketchbook Challenge theme of Everyday Objects. I don't carry a lot of keys, but this one has quickly become my favorite. I wish I had some cool antique keys to sketch, but I don't.

Everyday Object 1

Theme for August's Sketchbook Challenge is Everyday Objects. Journaling reads, "This soap dispenser just came from JC Penney, but it makes me smile. I have it and a matching soap dish beside my sink in my bathroom."

Watercolor Class

I took a watercolor class while we were in Crested Butte for the Wildflower Festival in July.

Journaling reads, "This was my piece from the class on 7/15. We went to the same garden as the day before. We used very cheap paints, but it was still a fun class. I spent a lot of time trying to get my colors right, then painted these flowers. I added the ink border and green cardstock backing today."

Sumi-e 2

Journaling reads, "Class taught by Melissa Neuner-Mason during Crested Butte Wildflower Festival. Of course, we used black ink and sumi-e brushes, while I used Indanthrone Blue watercolor paint and a waterbrush here."

Sumi-e 1

I took a Sumi-e class while we were in Crested Butte for the Wildflower Festival in July.

The journaling reads, "This was my favorite of all the pieces I did in class on 7/14. It is all about how to 'distill the essence of an object in the fewest possible strokes.' I have a long way to go! But the class was fun."

1984 by George Orwell

I recently re-read 1984 by George Orwell.  I had read it in high school, but that was, well, shall we say more than a few years ago.  I wanted to read it again because I didn't remember details of the story, and it is truly a classic.  This is where familiar terms such as Big Brother, Thought Police, Newspeak, Doublespeak, and Thoughtcrime originated.  It's a rare book that can introduce so many new words into the common vocabulary.  It's a frightening look into a totalitarian future, made all the more frightening as it becomes more and more real.  It was published in 1949.  It was my 8th book for the Off the Shelf Reading Challenge 2011 and I rate it 4 out of 5.

The Delicate Columbine

I sketched this from a photo I took of a blue columbine, which is the state flower of Colorado. We usually go later in the summer, after the columbines are through blooming. This year I wanted to go during the Wildflower Festival in Crested Butte, known as the wildflower capital of Colorado. I'm really glad we did; we saw so many more wildflowers than we usually see, and a number of different ones.

Balloon

I did a little bit of sketching while we were in beautiful, cool Colorado last month. I did this from a photo my DH took of the hot air balloon we rode in after we landed.

The page is titled "At Last" because my DH gave me a balloon ride for my birthday in 1999 - 12 1/2 years ago - and we finally went this year.  We'd gotten close when we were at Lake Tahoe in 2000, but the wind wasn't right.

Fishing Spring Creek

Journaling reads: "Glen loves fishing along Spring Creek, and he always catches trout here. I go along with him at least once each trip to take photos while he fishes."

at last!

This digital scrapbook layout is titled "at last!" because my DH gave me a balloon ride for my birthday 11 1/2 years ago, and we finally took it earlier this month!

I haven't done any scrapbooking in a LONG time - I'm so far behind it's pitiful. So here's a start at getting caught up.

The March by E.L. Doctorow

We often check out audio books from our local library when we travel.  We listened to The March on our drive to and from Colorado last week and both enjoyed it.  It is the story of General William Tecumseh Sherman's march through Georgia and the Carolinas near the end of the U.S. Civil War.  I had always heard that the Civil War was one of the bloodiest wars we were ever involved in, but I hadn't realized just how many civilians were directly affected by it.  Untold numbers of civilians were killed or wounded.  Soldiers took not only food and horses and other items needed for the war effort from private citizens, but also stole personal possessions of all kinds.  There were no rules like the Geneva Convention in those days.  Not that rules are always followed or that the rules make war civilized; far from it.  But it was still shocking to learn just how uncivilized the Civil War was.  The book was read by Joe Morton, who did a great job.  It was well written.  I rate it 4 out of 5.  It was my 4th book for the U.S. Civil War Reading Challenge.

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

View from the Balloon

What a great trip it was!

Heating the Air in the Balloon

After the balloon was filled with air, the air was heated so the balloon would be able to rise.

Filling the Balloon

This is us on the right "helping" to fill the balloon with air.

Balloon Ride in Crested Butte

Getting ready for take-off.

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

On August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit, a French high-wire artist, walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the not yet completed World Trade Center.  This actually occurred, but the rest of the novel is fiction.  Stories of various observers of the walk are presented.   Sometimes it feels like a series of short stories, but many of the characters relate to each other and come together in surprising and interesting ways.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is a character describing letters she wrote home after she went away to college:

"I told them how much I loved my history classes, which was true.  I told them I loved walking the woods, true too.  I told them that I always had clean linen in my dorm room, true as well.

"I gave them all the truth and none of the honesty."

This was my 7th book for the New Author Challenge 2011.  I thought it was very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I rate it 5 out of 5. 

Veteran Stars

I made this quilt for a Red White & Blue Patriotic Challenge in my quilt guild. All challenge quilts will be donated to our local VFW for them to distribute as a way to honor our veterans.

Waiting Room Chair

I had thought that I would be in a waiting room with other people and I would try sketching them, but instead I was in a little conference room by myself. So I challenged myself to sketch this chair at an odd angle.