Scott was here to do some wood stuff

Vince came today to get the shower floor ready for tile…

the big question now is paint color…???

MEANWHILE…outside we’re getting a new deck surface as the old deck was in tough shape…

FIRST though, Ron dismantled the wonderful wheel chair ramp he built for me last fall…

and removed the lattice to slide it under the deck…

it rained all day today, but the deck is nearly done…

this time around we chose to go with man-made material…in this case the color is about the same…just no holes to fall through!

And while it was sunny and beautiful yesterday I was doing a little garden work, finally sitting and noticing how beautiful the garden is this time of year!

but quickly jumped in the car, and headed home to get ready for Harry’s 84th birthday party.  LUCKILY I can sew in the car (…and no, I wasn’t driving…) I’m still working on the spring quilt…trying to finish before summer gets here!

The sky was so beautiful today….

We arrived home and I rushed off to a uke jam, while R fixed asparagus to take up to Harry’s party (oh…and we got rear-ended on the way home…)…we then jumped back into the only-slightly-damaged car with our offering in the “catering wrap” (hi Randy…)

and headed north.  After hugging and eating there was singing to the birthday guy…

and a tour of the new studio finds…Mardy recently found some crates in the garage that she thought were empty, but in fact they were full of these lovely wood sculptures Harry made in the 1970′s…

Harry is deeply into Alzheimer’s now, but the reassuring thing to me is that although he can’t remember us (though he doesn’t mind a hug), he is STILL making and arranging things…things he finds around or outside…and these are poignant and beautiful.

The studio remains full of energy and life, Harry’s life.

…and here’s an idea I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to use…Thanks Harry, and Happy Happy Birthday.  XXOO

Three Corvallis artists (Claudia Cave, Ella Rhoades and Cynthia Spencer) joined us and invited us to tour each of their studios … a nice inducement for us to drive down!

First we went to Ella’s house.  Ella Rhoades is a mosaic artist currently involved in a huge civic project…making mosaic panels for insertion in the utilitarian cement trash receptacles around town…

Over 900 volunteers (including the 4 of us) have helped fashion the mosaic panels which will soon be installed and grouted in place…

and after a tour of Ella’s studio and projects…

we plopped onto her deck in the beautiful garden for our lunch…

On we went to Cynthia’s.  Cynthia works with clay, hand-building all manner of items both functional and not.  She’s having a garden/studio sale this weekend, and also has a beautiful garden…

and a house full of wonderful ceramics pieces from a variety of artists…

We checked the garage seconds shelves (ready to move into the garden for her sale…)

and headed down to her basement studio…

including her ingenious set-up for photographing her work…

and finally on to Claudia Cave’s studio.  The group got side-tracked at her floors though…sanded and painted floorboard revealed when the carpeting was taken up in 2000.   Rag rolled paint, sealed…gorgeous…

We were all amazed at Claudia’s wonderful adjustable table…

We headed to Coffee Culture for a rejuvenating coffee to discuss our day…

and we were off home where my new cup from Cynthia’s sale looks pretty good with a couple of small Heidi pieces…

Thanks to the Corvallis crew for a great day full of good talk…and great images to carry home.

Check this out people…every Tuesday in May conservationist Tom Fuller will be working on the Hallie Ford Museum of Art’s native basket collection in the lobby so you can watch him work and it IS fascinating….

Friday artist Rex Amos and his wife Diane brought the remainder of Rex’s archival material to the Northwest Artists’ Archive at the Willamette University library where archivist Mary McRobinson, Rex and curator Roger Hull conferred…

Rex explained…

and the deed of gift was signed, allowing the library to index and publish on-line a list of general contents….

and today is Mother’s Day…making me think of my Mom…

after enjoying a lovely mother’s day brunch with Zach and Ashton…

Happy day to the Moms among you….

Kellie is an experienced natural dye user and agreed to not only “help” me out, but to do the dyeing at her house where she has all the right stuff.  We used 4 color baths…onion skins…

coffee grounds…

black walnut…

and cochineal (insect parts…)

…guess you can probably guess my fave…

I also dyed some unbleached muslin which had to first go into an alum soak in order to retain the color…

…and not only did Kellie show me creative kindness…she also made a great lunch!…

and eventually I rinsed all my squares and fabric, packed them up and headed home…

My THANKS to Kellie for her instruction, extreme generosity and a day of just plain fun.

Now to do something with these things, so I’m sitting on the porch this morning thinking about it…

Wisteria’s in bloom….

hmmmmm…..????

Meanwhile the last two street tees are still there, though the stumps of the others have been removed so no more “altars” for floral tributes to our lost “soldiers.”

and back on the homefront, the roof was finished today and I TOTALLY recommend Mike’s roofing…really amazing work, total clean-up, fair price…

It was NOISY tho so we took off to Portland for one night…saw some art, dinner with the adorables…

and, of course…

roll on weekend…yard work ahead…

Have you been to Maven yet…??  Good food, good ambience…State Street.

for Salem-ites it’s right across the street from The Wild Pear…which will be open for dinner on first Wednesday through the summer, and has pushed back it’s regular closing to 6:00 for happy hour and food on the early end of things…

later on in the summer we can look for two newcomers…stand-by Amadeus is moving downtown in May…(where the Coffee House cafe used to be…or if you have REALLY been here a long time, where Brice’s dress shop was…on Liberty)

and Nate Rafn is opening a restaurant on Court Street (where the Big Town Hero used to be)…

AND…keep your eyes peeled for something exciting happening here this summer…opening in September!!??

When everything is up and operating it will be time for a restaurant review maybe…?  Think Local!!

and then the plywood sheathing went on…and here’s Mike himself (hint: he isn’t 20, 30 40 or 50…)

…the crew was well-supervised at our end…

and by the end of their work day the front was ready to get the shingles (which were delivered as the crew left…)

The job will be done by Thursday and the week promises to be warm and sunny…

Meanwhile Scott has started inside on the bathroom which used to look like this….

but now looks like this…(the plant room is becoming a new shower!!!)

PHEW!!!!  And I put the lace curtains in the Goodwill box…my lace curtain days are over…stay tuned…

Of course I WOULD say it’s a nice show because I have some drawings in it, but actually…it really is a nice show!

the opening was fun and well attended…

Here’s artist Yoonhee Choi looking at a Jim Adams drawing…

Dan May on the left, Michele Liccardo in the middle, me on the right…

…and last week a few of us spoke in a brown bag panel discussion at noon in the gallery…l to r  Ellen Goldschmidt, Andy Myers, Elaine Green, and Clint Brown…

here’s my drawing “Tron”…surprisingly, one of the few abstract pieces in the show…

Go take a look and let me know what you think?