Karla's Cottage

Painted pumpkins up close

In my previous post, I mentioned that I’d been painting pumpkins for the Good Juju sale  

As things tend to do with me, yep, this became another obsession.

I spent quite a few days painting one canvas after another.  I’d probably still be doing that if I hadn’t had to get ready for the big family reunion that we hosted.

I was on a roll, and loving every minute of it.  I was painting fat punkins, tall punkins, some on paint pour canvases, some on collage backgrounds.

Then I started stacking them.

And adding flowers.

Lots of flowers.

Sitting at my desk and doing one after another was pure joy for me.  Luckily, we had to harvest our honey and peaches, then be ready for guests, because I needed to get away from these, I think I had plenty.  They are all at Juju now, today is the last day of the August sale.  It would be nice if I sold a few, if not, I’ll be displaying them for fall shows too.

(All are under $50, if you happen to need a pumpkin and are visiting the Old West Bottoms)

 

My second wall at Good Juju is ready for it’s first run

This Friday and Saturday are the Good Juju sales date for August, and I am enjoying having a bit more space this go around.

Rich added the shelf up above for me.  It is higher than the one on my other wall. I’d say it’s more decorative than shoppable, although the things on it are priced.  Still, it’s more for atmosphere than selling.  

But isn’t atmosphere part of selling?  It is for me.   


Here is the upper shelf on my opposite wall.

I have painted some pumpkins to add this month.  It’s 100 degrees and humid here, a typical KS day in August, but not too soon to start daydreaming about cooler, autumn days, right?

Some of the pumpkins are done on pour painted canvasses. 

And some have flowers.

I’ve also packed in my mushroom colony and have lots of jewelry too.

 I hope it goes well, I love having a reason to make things!

 

Velvet Mushrooms

When Guncle Randy visited, we didn’t get much studio time.  But when we did, it was consumed by making these.

After he left to go back to Florida, I kept up with the shroomy construction.

Then, my pal, Beth, gave me some vintage velvet quilt squares and I doubled my obsession construction.

Oh my, look at those fabrics!

Most have felted stems, but some are glass.  This one has a tiny little mushroom world inside the glass.

And this big one’s stalk is part of an old lamp.

I could just keep at it, on and on.  But I’m afraid that it’s time to move on to the next thing, I’ve amassed quite a few of these little darlings.   

Well, maybe I can make a few more….

 

 

Scenes from the reunion and one from the past

Before our big reunion began, I decided to go through old albums and pull out Nathan, Neibaur, and Nichols photos that I could slip quickly into another album to pass around.  Not my typical style, usually I love making pretty albums.  But I was in a hurry because it was a last minute plan.  And a single, edited book was much better than stacks and stacks of books filled miscellaneous photos the guests wouldn’t be familiar with, like the kids’ old friends or our neighbors of the past.

I came across this oldie from our home in Arkansas.  I don’t know the occasion, or who took it, but I felt it like a jab in the heart.  It’s not a good photo, but it is a great picture. Adam is a blur because like his daughter, he is in constant motion.  Ryan is wearing his tee shirt from his army man Halloween costume and has the “Footloose” haircut that he always insisted on.  I have on a matching tee and shorts that my mom sewed for me, the wallpaper behind us was some my sister helped hang in this very first house we ever bought.  

So many memories in one snapshot.

And so much love, too.

I love this photo and will never tuck it away in the dark again, this one goes on display.  But it also started the reunion on a shaky note for me.  The people coming to visit were all favorites of Ryan, he enjoyed hanging out with this group, and I sure felt his absence when I was with them.  

Also, Ry died at 42, and was my good buddy, we had such fun together.  But this picture reminded me- he was my baby.  My little guy. The majority of my grief is about daily things I miss about my grown up son and best friend.  When it hits me that I lost my baby, it’s a death blow to my heart, so I don’t dwell on that aspect of it.

When people started arriving to the party, my sister-in-law wanted to sit with me in Ryan’s apartment and reminisce about him.  I have to admit, that was the highlight of the week for me.  It means so much when people honor my Ry that way.

He is not forgotten.

 

 

Rainbows and Fire Dancing for Pride Night

On Randy and Kevin’s night to cook for the family reunion, they wanted a Pride Night theme.

They had rainbow everything to go with the grilled chicken and salads.  I don’t know why I didn’t get more pictures, it was quite the festival and the decorations were bright and fun.

Our Hippie Chick brought rainbow, glitter face paint and many partiers got all sparkled up. 

There was even a fire dancing show.

Featuring our professionals.

And crowd members could take a quick lesson too.

There was a great view from the balcony.  These two were on the lighting committee and did a spectacular job with it.

The night ended with a few 1am stragglers sticking their forks directly into the rainbow cake.  

We had different events throughout the weekend, but I think pride night was the best.

I am going to leave all of those lights strung across the courtyard, and possibly add more as I find them at garage sales for a very pretty reminder.  Thanks, Guncles!

A reunion

It has been so busy around here.  This could be the first time since I started my blog that I did not have a spare moment to post anything for this long.

I was busy getting ready for our Nathan, Neibaur, Nichols family reunion and while making up beds for 20, yes, 20 people, to sleep at our home and preparing to feed about 30, we saw our peaches were ready to harvest.  And those beauties couldn’t wait, we needed to get them done before everyone arrived.

Then we realized the honey also needed to be gathered.  Luckily the Guncles came early to the reunion and helped out.

I figured that I’d have time during the get together to do a couple of posts, but I was much, much busier than I had expected to be.  

Truly, I don’t know if I have ever been busier.  I was up by six every morning and then stayed up late for our parties.  We had a dance party, a Pride Night fire show, karaoke, boating, ax throwing, BB gun competition, tie dying shirts, plus all of the cooking. 

So much cooking!

Individual families took turns with meals.  Did I mention there were lots of meals?  Three big ones each day along with snacks and desserts.

It was all quite special. 


And fancy.

I’d set up tables outside, but we were in a heat wave, so seating for 30 was squeezed into the cottage.

We made it work.

There were plenty of hugs too.  My dogs were happy to have extra people around for lots of petting.

In their opinion, there is never enough petting.  A crew of twenty sets of hands almost satisfied them, though.

Now that the festivities have ended, I hope to get caught up soon.  But first, we will be disassembling all the extra beds and putting the house back together.  

And before that?  We have to deal with a issue I am calling Adventures in Sewage..

See the waterfall?  Well, actually, there were a few waterfalls.

It  required a weekend, emergency plumber.  We thought the clog that caused the flooding was fixed and all was well.

Uhm, not quite.  Adventures in Sewage, Part Two, was a second clog that caused an even bigger flood.

Wish us luck, this one is a bit more complicated.  We will be tackling it tomorrow, and then, the resting up will begin.  And I need that rest.  I think that the weekend finale of fighting floods put me over the edge.