Mark, back home again, in Indiana

Well, Mark Roberts has made it safely back home.  

He is on the ground (the dry, parched, arid ground) of beautiful Indiana.

He left us a year ago to go find himself and I have missed him.

Here are a few pictures:    

Mark as a MUCH YOUNGER teacher (with hair).

I have known Mark (AND all of these kids) my whole life.  Here we are in 3rd grade.
He is in the second row down, third in from the left.  Can you find Ronnie, Anna & I?
GOD, I hated that dress...

Here we all are again.  Mark is in the second row up on the end.  I am in the third row between Joey Swartz and the famous David Goad.

OK, Mark isn't in this one.
He must have gone to kindergarten in the afternoon.  Although, Gary Bunce could pass for him.  I telling you, I have known these people all of my life.

Mark & I were thick as thieves in school.  

He is my "other brother".  What else can I say?  

I love him to pieces and I'm glad that he's home, if only for a few weeks.  

I look forward to having our friends over this Saturday to celebrate his homecoming.  I love catching up with everybody & having good conversation.  Please consider coming to help us celebrate.  We'll plan on meeting at my house about 5ish and go until we are all tired.  Given our age, who knows...that could be 7:30.

OK, now on to my business stuff.

I had a good art business day, yesterday.

Fred & Buster

Fred Barber came in to pick up his photo disc.

I always enjoy visiting with him.  

I have met some really nice people in this business and Fred is one of them.

We have our next dog shoot coming up in August.

Stay tuned for the basset hound.  It should be fun.  

I love the way that they are built.  They are sturdy little guys.

Last summer's orange rose in the front yard.

My card lady came in to pick out her card designs.

She ordered 35 cards!  I have decided that I love this lady.

It's nice to have a place to use the pictures that I am always taking.

I came home from working at the Gallery chomping at the bit to paint.  

So, in the last day & a half, I have "spit out" this pretty baby.

Isn't he pretty?  He's for sale, oh course...aren't they all? 12X16 oil

I really like this little man.  This was just so easy to paint, because I love the subject matter and I wanted to do it.  Gosh, this was fun.

Welcome home, Mark.  

Enjoy the weather while you are here.

See you tomorrow. 

     

Wally Cat the Annihilator

It has been a busy, busy artist type day.

Balloons on the dining table

Some of the grand-baby toys from the toy box 

I have spent the day working on the card designs for my one of my clients, to be delivered for tomorrow.  

I really liked the way that the sun was shining through the dining room window, so that is where I shot these photos.  

Wally stood there and watched me tape balloons together.  

I had no idea that he was plotting....  

Shot post being Wally-fied

Wally annihilated my set up when I left the room to check the shot on my computer.  How does he do this stuff so fast?

I finished cleaning Buster & Sable's pictures for delivery to Fred tomorrow.

Sable & Buster hanging out

Sable

To finish out the day I painted the name on the Marilyn Monroe painting.

So, to sum up...

a bunch of ends to tie up....

done & done.

Come on over & see me at Artworks Gallery tomorrow.  

I'm there from 10 until 2.

Father's Day, Temby style

Happy Father's Day to all of you daddies out there.

Wally slept in too.

We slept in until 9 this morning.  

While Al started his day at the computer, I went through my usual routine.  

My routine is coffee, newspaper...then check out Facebook.

While Al was eating his cereal, Ian called to wish him happy father's day.

That made Al's day.  

While Al was talking to Ian, I laid out a new cow painting.

After the call we went out to J C Pennys & shopped for my dad's gift. 

I waited way too long to buy him a card.  

There were only two cards left in the rack at the store & they were not good cards at all (that must be why they were there, huh?).

After lunch I drove out to Russiaville to see my dad.

My dad & his dog Curly Bill.  He is so ugly, that he's cute.
(The dog, not dad)

These two are like peas in a pod.

I think I have been replaced.

It was nice to have some quiet time with my folks.  

Dad liked his colored t-shirts that I brought him.  

We visited for a while in the living room.  

Cucumbers, I think.

He & I went outside so he could show me his garden.  He always has a nice garden.  I hated picking beans when I was a kid, but I didn't mind eating them in the winter.

As I stood there listening to my dad talk about his garden I realized how beautiful the view was from there.  As a child, I couldn't wait to leave the country and go out into the world.  I thought about how he had been a constant in my life & how lucky I had been for that.  Many of my friends no longer have a dad to call & ask advice.  I am blessed, yes, I am.

The front field

Dad & I talked a little while more out in the leather shop.  

I am learning to treasure these times, I won't have him forever. 

My brother & his family pulled in, so I said my goodbyes & 

started out for home.  

I decided to live recklessly and see how far I could get down 26.  For those of you that don't live here anymore, they are widening State road 26.  

It is tore up from Russiaville on East to 31.

(Or one would think so based on the signage)  

I really feel sorry for the people who live on that road.

Bret Kirkendall's barn.

I drove drove around SO MANY road closed signs.  I knew that I would have to turn off at some point, but it kind of became a game.  

How far COULD I go?

I made it ALL THE WAY to 31!

Childish?

You bet, but fun for sure.

 

Good verses Evil....the cholesterol game begins....

Well, I survived yesterday.

Very little pain, not a lot of blood, good drugs.

The take away statement for the day was the doctor saying 

"Well, Mrs. Temby, your cholesterol was surprisingly lower than I expected".

Does that mean that 

it is stamped on my face 

that I can't walk past a potato chip?

(No, it's stamped on my hips, thank you)

No stint for me. 

BUT,

a heart healthy diet and some Lipitor.

THANK YOU GOD. 

Am I excited about this?

No, but it is nice that I didn't have anything more serious.  Let the cholesterol war begin...

So, a weekend at home is on the docket.  I am on house arrest due to the artery thing-y.  It has to have several days to heal over or I might squirt across the room like a balloon.

I took this photo out at Bob Auth's place in the fall.

I have learned some new things on Photo Shop.  

I can insert color shapes and then put text on top of the shape.  

That helps with the photos that are "busy" and it is hard to see the text. 

I plan on painting today & working on cards.

I have Mary & the kids coming over to visit, later.

No pool for me.  I have to be out for a week.

One last thing for the morning...

Rock of Ages

This movie intrigues me.  

I know, call me silly, but every time the ad comes on the TV 

I stop and sing along with Pour Some Sugar on me (what a great intro) 

Is it because it is music from my "era"?

Is it because it's a kick #@** song?

I certainly isn't because Tom Cruise is in it. 

(I didn't know that until a day or so ago) 

if someone goes & watches it, 

let me know if it is any good.  

Then, I can decide if I am going to spend the $40 to go see it myself.

Oops, wait...no popcorn allowed....make that $20.

See you at the end of the day.

________________________

This day did not go exactly as planned.  

Not that it wasn't a good day, just different than I had planned.

I did make it over to Staples to get my cards printed. 

I do have that going for me.

Look at this tongue

My grandbabies, daughter & almost daughter in law 

came over for lunch & time together.  

We all ate lunch & then Read left for work.

Since they won't let me get in the pool for a week, 

 I sat on the deck & took pictures.

Good LORD, it was hot today.  

Isn't he handsome?

Leia started out with her floaty ring 

and a while later moved onto her water wings. 

She is growing up so fast.  

She gets braver every time she gets in the pool.

She is very proud that she can travel down the ladder 

& put herself into the pool.

How can she be mine?
Look at that little bitty butt.

I want to say at this point that I certainly 

appreciate Dave Hawkins building us a gate for the deck.  

Although we have talked until we are blue in the face about being 

with an adult in the pool, I feel so much better with a gate up.  

Heck, sometimes I forget how to open that latch.

When the storm clouds rolled in we all got out 

of the pool & took down all of the outside stuff.  

I just KNEW it was gonna rain.

We had thunder & dark clouds...it was gonna rain.

It did not rain.

After we dressed the kids and settled in the living room, 

I realized that I was completely worn out.  

Everyone went on home & I became a couch potato.

And so the second half of the day went.  

Not a lot of work accomplished, but time with the people I love. 

Good night everyone.

Hope it rains.

Kiss my behind, Kelly.

Good evening.

It has been a day here at the House of Temby.

Al has had two sing outs with his barbershop group, today. 

He looks so handsome with his tux on.  

He is noticeably thinner, by the way.

Still working on Marilyn's hands & getting ready to put the text in.

I have been able to be home most of the day.  I have been working on the occasion cards with scripture verses on them.  

This was at the Flower & Patio show.

I think I have mentioned in the past how I grieved over the "death" of Picnic.  They shut off my post-processing-easy-peasy-free-as-the-wind program on April 20th.  

I just kept myself in denial until the very bitter end.  

My Al had given me Photo Shop for Christmas, 

but of course, I put off learning it until the VERY end.  

It was been a bumpy ride. 

I took this picture standing in my Grandma Scott's yard.  That there's a Russiall-tucky cloud.

Peonies that Anna brought me last year

When I started this day, 

I didn't understand about 

inserting, manipulating & moving text.  

I am getting better at it.  

After a few 

emergency calls to 

Chad McCarter & Madeline Hoffman, I know just enough to be dangerous.

So, I have sent the prospective customer some examples by e-mail.  Let's keep our fingers crossed, shall we?

I called to check on Chad West.  He is my friend that had to have his arm "set" today.  He had the larger bone in his lower arm broken in such a way that they had to put plates & screws in.

Ewwwwwwww.....

All for hitting a curb with his bicycle. 

Chad, you are in my prayers.

Out at Bob Auth's place

Al gives me a hard time about having my camera with me all the time.  

I think that doing that gives me a varied catalog of pictures.  

I take pictures of everything.

Congratulations to my friend Kay on getting a new job today.  I am sure that you will enjoy this job much more than the old one.  

It seems that a lot of my girl friends from high school hit a giant life adjustment around the age of fifty.  

Life is funny that way, isn't it? 

I said to a person in his twenties last week, that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  

He said, I kid you not, "yeah, I've heard that Kelly Clarkson song".  

I told him that I had heard that bit of wisdom since I was a child.  

Kelly doesn't have that one cornered.

You may not hear from me tomorrow.  

I am going down to 106th & Meridian for my "procedure".  

They tell me that I am going to get some good drugs that are going to make me not care a whit about anything.  I look forward to that.

They called today to offer me an earlier time.  

I asked how early?  Six am, she said. 

I didn't know they still made that time.

I told her no, 

I wanted all of my nurse & doctor type people 

to be fully coffee-d & awake & on their game. 

See ya soon. 

Grandma..I'm hungry

Today is the day that Grandma watches her Grandbabies.

I sounds so sweet doesn't it?

Honest to GOD, I don't know how my daughter & son in law do this.

I obviously was much, much younger when I had children to take care of.

Breakfast this morning was cereal & toast for Leia.  

Asher ate fistfuls of toast chunks and "rained" his milk on the floor.  

He was grinning ear to ear with crumbies stuck all over his little head.  

When Asher is happy he just radiates unmitigated joy.   

As always, I brushed Leia's hair at the table, 

because that is the only place I can keep her pinned down to get it done.

We have spent the morning in the living room.  

I think of it at a giant playpen for our Asher.

They certainly have had fun.  

These were in my front flower bed.

I am working on a new project here with the kids in the living room.  

I am designing cards for a lady that I met yesterday in the Gallery.  She would like to have cards with scripture in them to send out to the folks in her church.  I told her that I have an entire catalog of cards.  

AND that I could make some cards up just for her purpose.  

CAUSE I DO THAT

You tell me what you want on your thank you note size card & I go take pictures of it and make them into printed cards. 


Catalog - facebook
Click on the above,  
and you can view individual pages from last years catalog.
(By the way I had Read do the linky thingy.  
There is no way that I could do that.)


_______________________
Evening has come.  
The kids have gone home.  
I am working on cleaning old photos to use for cards.  
Here are a few:

Aren't they beautiful?

Pink Tulips

Seiberling Mansion - early spring

Grace Methodist Church

I am currently cleaning the photos I took at the 

Flower & Patio Show, this last spring.  

What I plan on doing is cleaning several hundred photos and then adding text to them (or not) later.  

I plan on adding them to the card catalog that I already have.  

I've been at this for several hours & I am just plain tired. 

This Grandma gig can take it out of you. 

I think it's time to call it a night, folks.

See you tomorrow. 

My first parking ticket

I worked at Artworks Gallery today.

 I had a nice time with great people.  
I got my first parking ticket

AND 

I picked up a few new jobs.

More on this later....

As I mentioned yesterday, 

we had such a big weekend here.  

I think that first I will share some photos with you,

before we go on.

My Leia on the prowl.  She loves to shoot me in the ear.

Asher & his Grandma in the pool

Chad before he broke his arm

My little Lee Lee having a pop-a-sicle 

Asher & his Momma

For some reason, he loves Easter eggs.
This is a left over from this last Easter.

Dad & I

I put a lot of store in what my dad has said to me in my life.  That's not to say that my mom hasn't been there for me, but my dad & I have a special bond.  I hold him up on a pedestal that is pretty high up.  I have mentioned in the past my father's great "Joe Scott-isms".  

When I had to call my dad & tell him that I am going to have a heart cath this Friday, he told me that it was all gonna be alright.  He said that if he had a choice between going to the dentist or have a heart cath, he'd choose the latter.  I love my dad.

I am going to take his advice and not sweat this one.  

He hasn't done me wrong before.  

Am I scared?  

No.  

Do I need to eat less potato chips, cookies & mayo ?  

Dog-gone-it, yes.

And that, folks, is the part that is not gonna be pretty....for anybody involved.




And now onto painting.  
Have a good evening.  
See you tomorrow. :)