Sherrill 1 Studios: August 2013

Hello, my friends.

I hope you are well. It's Monday again.

It seems like those Mondays come faster & faster.

Today, I am bringing you photos from the

event I attended this last weekend.

This is Bob Auth. He is one of the people who put on this event. You have to love this hat.

My parents and I

were at the

WINDING CREEK BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

outside of New London, Indiana.

This is my mom and her first cousin Alice Daily.

Because the festival is so close to Russiaville,

it was like old home week.

I feel like I knew more people than I didn't know.

This is the big "O" meeting...Oberholtzer, that is.
Cory Wentz and Wayne are sitting in the back of the ambulance.

I didn't set up a booth this year.

I brought a few paintings

to represent my work, an easel, a blank canvas

and some business cards.

I spent the day painting

and talking to people about

anything and everything.

There was a nice crowd.

The stage was set up in a shady spot.

Read & his Grand-dad had a nice visit while he set up the tent.

I need to publicly thank Read (my son) for the
"put up" and "take down" of the tent that I loaned my folks.
I could not have done either without him.
Sons are wonderful people.
Especially mine.

There were people with instruments everywhere.

A breeze kept the temperature down.

There was even music wafting up out of the woods.

I sat in the sun to begin with.

It got to be a little much.

I took a photo of my progress before I moved to the shade.

Dad spent the afternoon working on a guitar strap made of Elk hide

and making sales.

There was machine cranked ice cream. Pretty interesting operation.

I remember hand cranking ice cream. It seemed like it would never be done.

These are the folks who made the ice cream.

What a lovely instrument. I wish I could play one.

Another great hat. I'm a sucker for men in interesting hats.

There were a nice assortment of vendors. This one came in
from Kentucky for the weekend.

Doesn't get any better than this.

I saw a few of our four legged friends there.

I have no idea what the discussion was here, but I liked their body language...and the hats.

As the afternoon wore on I started to notice

the children who were there.

I admire children who can just curl up and sleep through anything.

I wish I could do that.

Some slept...

some found technology....

and some just.....slept some more.

I wanted to show you some of my Dad's set up.

As you know he sells some unusual things.

He is a leather worker,

but he also buys things to "refurbish".

I would say that for the most part his dealings

are in the Western/Americana trade.

My dad is quite the wheeler- dealer.

He could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo.

I love taking these shots.
I never really thought about how I held my hands

until I started taking these mirror photos.

Who doesn't need a spittoon?

Or, for that matter a Bowie knife & sheath?

Spurs anyone?

It amazes me how much of this stuff he sells.

Tools of the trade.

I had a really nice time at Winding Creek.

I look forward to being there this time next year.

If you would like more information about the Festival,

check it out over on Facebook

or contact me and I will get you in touch.

The path out of the festival area.

Well, back out into the real world.

Monday's comin' ya know.

Thanks again for reading.

Have a good week.

Hello

my friends,

I hope all is well with you.

Al and I made a "whirlwind"

trip to Chicago this last weekend.

What a trip it was.

We drove to Chicago and back in about 24 hours.

Our reason for the trip was to watch our son graduate from college.

Of course my camera went along for the trip.

I am always looking for things to paint

and my camera

is a very important part of that process.

The shore line view from the Navy pier.

On our way up 65 we stopped at Fair Oaks Farms.

It is a large dairy operation that invites

visitors to have a look at the business from the inside.

This is part of the herd going for a ride on the carousel.

It was really pretty interesting.

The cows get on and off the carousel by themselves.

While they are on their ride the workers stand at floor level

and attach the milking machines.

They wait patiently to get out of the holding pen. That bar across the top either keeps them back or moves them forward as needed.

I have never seen so many cows in one place in my life.

We watched a cow have her calf. This worker was ready to

pull the calf out of the afterbirth. Now, THAT's a job.

What a miracle to watch a new life being born.

Freshly born. Look at that eye seeing the world for the first time.

We stayed for a few hours and then we were on our way on to Chicago.

__________

Could you hear the screams?

That was me as I drove over the Skyway.

You see, I don't like heights.

No, not at all.

And I was driving.

But, we made it.

We shelled out around 8 dollars

in toll fees to get to the hotel.

Four dollars of that were on the Skyway alone.

BUT

we made it to the hotel.

We were ready to get out of the van, so that was nice.

After dinner (twenty bucks a piece) and a little rest

we traveled down to Navy Pier

for a look around.

Al having a "session" with Bob Newhart.

We parked in a parking garage about a half mile away

and walked into the pier area.

To say there was a lot of people would be an understatement.

Wow.

So many people.

People of every shape

and size.

I am sure that I looked quite the small town bumpkin, as I walked and stared with my mouth hanging open.

We could have just sat down and watched the crowd go by and that would have entertained me for the night.

This gentleman wore his pants so low that he had to hold them

on his body with his hands in his pockets.

His entire underwear covered rear

was out for the world to see.

That was new for me.

Granted, I live in Kokomo,

but I had never seen them worn this low.

Dinner cruises were available. There were three boats at the dock that night.

They advertised dancing, dinner and a cruise.

The lines of people waiting to get boarded were long, but happy.

It was obvious that a good time was ahead for these folks.

This young man drives a

bicycle "taxi".

For a fee he will drive

you around the city.

There were a group of about 15

of these guys waiting

on fares by the

entry gate to the pier.

What a wonderful view.

We discussed riding this.

We decided against it due to fear of heights.

We ate gelato instead.

What a show.

By the way, parking for an hour and a half was $24.00.

Oh.... life in the big city.
It just seemed that every time we turned around
we were shelling out at least $20 for some goods or service.
Maybe all big cities are like this.
Or, maybe it was because we were tourists
and didn't know how to "survive" in that environment.
How do people live were things are so expensive?
It makes me appreciate little old Kokomo.
Little old boring, cheap...Kokomo.
But it was nice to get out and see new things.

___________

The next day it was time to get ready for Ian's graduation.

I know that I have already discussed a lot of these things on Facebook, but I think this bears repeating. As I stood there and ironed my husband's trousers, I thought about how many of the women in my family before me had ironed their husband's pants. BUT

I think that I am the first to do it with a view of the lake. My life better in many ways.