And we are off!!

Chicago OHare

Countdown to Alaska!

Not one more thing will fit in my suitcase!!   Warm clothes are really FAT!!!   We leave in 4 days from today and are very much looking forward to the trip despite the chilly wet weather.  Hoping that it is only spotty rain  and not downpours.    After all, this is how the glaciers got there in the first place!!

Keep watching...Denali on Friday.

A slow spring.....

The weather here has been unusually chilly and this week, very wet.  Eventually the warmth will arrive and we can enjoy the outdoors here.  Although I like looking at the lake...it is nice to actually be on it!!

The calendar is filling up with dog sitting, BB games, a workshop, and trip planning.  I'm looking forward to the activity.  Right now..piles are started for the Alaskan trip.  Rain gear and layers are the watchwords.  The cruise will be more casual as who can take much when you need to pack hiking boots and raincoats!!

My art plan is to make collage cards and practice my sketching with pen and wc pencils.  I must have left my little paint box in FM as it is no where to be seen here.    I am missing it for sure.

"My Orchid"   I brought this one back to MI...sadly it is all wilted and gone now.  A beauty while it lasted though.

Testing

Going north...

Spent the day packing our closets. Sorting for donation and thinking about upcoming trips, it took quite a while. Now the nice fat bag of things for others to use is waiting for me to deliver. I was pretty ruthless!

Last spring we were tired from our trip and left too much down here!!!

Rainy weather prevents us from leaving early so Wednesday it is! I look forward to seeing my dear family soon.

My art for the Big Arts exhibit in October sits waiting for delivery. Another artist and I are displaying our pastels.

Catching up a bit......

Wow!

After the cruise we packed up and headed south for the winter.  As always we hit the ground running with meetings and fun as well.  Paint the Beach came up fast in early November keeping George busy with the accounting and me with participating.  I painted all three days, not all day , but enough to create two nice paintings to enter.  The Sundowner on Wed. evening was fun and my painting was vivid and unusual for me.  Painting on docks was an experience.  Didn't like the floating one so much!!

 Bliss

  At Rest   Sold

  Sundowner painting

  Painting on the dock

 

 

As soon as Paint the Beach was over, and the judging for the Fall Show at FMBAA, we hoped on another ship for a quick cruise to Cozumel and Belize.  The fare was a bargain and it was fun to unwind though I'm afraid George paid for the time off when he returned to his treasurers job.

 

 

We returned in time for me to pick up an award at the reception for my pastel "Live Oaks"  The Maya Bryant Award for Plein Air.  This painting won another, merit award at the Big Arts Plein air exhibit currently on display as well.  Guess that one is a success!!   Not all are.

 

 

Christmas found us in Michigan then Indiana to celebrate the season with family.  We are so blessed to have happy, healthy and successful children and grandchildren.  They do us proud!!  But where are my photos of the days!!  

 

 

And yes, another bargain cruise!!!  I know, I know!!  It was such a deal and we were able to persuade our dear friends Nick and Mary to join us on the Royal once again for a 10 day southern Caribbean trip.  We mostly just enjoyed the company and ship since we have visited the ports so many times.  Much conversation centered around our upcoming trip with them to Sicily.

 

More art time and today we met old friends Phyllis and Roger for a chatty lunch at Fisherman's Village.  So nice to see them and learn what they and their family have been up to since we last saw them.  Phyllis was our neighbor at the cottage for many years and we had some great times together.

 

And this week we will be hosting the Menz's here while Dale and I take a collage class.  The guys will amuse themselves, pickle ball and beach, until it is time for dinner.  We will catch up with them and finish the last minute plans for the Alaska trip in June.  

 

 More to follow......

A few more photos!!

We met these nice folks on the first day for dinner and shared a taxi ride into Bruges the next day.  It was fun spending the day with them. 

 

 Coming into Port Royal in Bermuda

  St. Peters in St. George, Bermuda

  interior St. Peters.  oldest continuously used church in hemisphere if I remember correctly!

  View from ferry going from St. George to Port Royal..before we got out into the open water