Relief

A week of camping on the beach in South Carolina and a weekend in Southport was just what we needed to start the summer.  Elisha graduated from college on May 18th and Andrew and I left that evening for a nice relaxing and much needed vacation.

 She did it. BA in Art (Visual Communications) Art History minor

 Celebrating our anniversary on the beach

 Nolan meets the ocean

 Our 73 pop up camper still doing the job

 Edisto Beach

 2nd turtle nesting site of this season on this beach

 Fishy Fishy Restaurant in Southport, NC with my uncle and cousin

 Cyndi and me 

Nolan modeling the snazzy neck tie I bought him at a doggie specialty store in Southport. Isn't he a handsome boy?

Senior Show

Elisha is graduating this Sunday.  She is an Art major with an Art History minor. As part of their graduation requirements she had to have a senior exhibit to show her work.  Her show (along with two of her classmates) was on May 4^th in the art gallery. 

Her works were all done with repurposed items. Her 3-D piece (the double doors) contained 36 panels with each side representing a family member in her family tree. One side was her mom’s family and one side was her dad’s family. All of the individual tiles were hand lettered.

Her other works were framed 6 word memoirs.  She asked 16 of her closest friends from throughout her life to participate. Each of the memoirs is also hand lettered and the fabric behind the lettering was submitted by the person for whom she drew the memoir. (We think these could be good sellers if she did custom orders). All of the frames here were repurposed as well.

The event was very well attended and all of the artwork was really well done. We are very proud of all that she has accomplished in the past four years.

 The gallery

Six word memoirs

 3D Genealogy Doors

All of us

Elisha with one of her favorite professors and his wife who also happens to be our University's President.  We were honored to have them in attendance.

And while Elisha was in the lab working on her doors I was next door making a ceramic Nolan which I painted and she glazed for me the following week. Not bad for a first attempt if i do say so myself.

Vintage Dolls

A friend dear friend of mine, who is in her mid 80's and a part of our ladies wine group, recently gave me a couple vintage dolls. One is a little 6 in tall French or German girl and the other is German or French marotte.  The music box in the marotte does not appear to be original and it is also not functional so I am searching for a replacement and then would like to put it back together. The head is an Armand Marseille.  There is very little information on the internet about marottes. There are lots of images for them however. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term- a marotte " is a prop stick or sceptre with a carved head on it. The word is borrowed from the French, where it signifies either a fool's (literal) "bauble", or a fad/craze.Typically carried by a jester or harlequin, the miniature head will often reflect the costume of the jester who carries it. Modern marottes typically have music boxes or other machinery built into the head. Older marottes may utilize swivel heads with bells." I've been having fun researching these dolls and hope to learn more about them. I'll post an update on the marotte once I get it back together.

 Side view of head

 Head with no markings

 Hat and Dress Outfit

Music box and stick; note that tines on music workings are broken.

5K for K9 Cancer

Our Sport Management students held a 5K for K9 Cancer to benefit our local veterinary emergency medical hospitals charitable foundation that funds canine cancer research.  The event was an overwhelming success and participants and vendors were already talking about "next year".  I served as the event photographer for the university. Nolan did not come with me as he is recovering from his boy surgery but I bought him a present that he was quite delighted with and commissioned his portrait by a very talent doodle artist (pictured below).  The final numbers are not in yet but I would guess there were around 400 participants, another hundred or so other visitors, a dozen vendors, and some media personalities from WCMH 4 Columbus who served as MC's.  Since this was the first time for the event and it poured down rain from 7:30 am to 10:15 am prior to the 10:30 am start the turnout was fabulous.  People love their dogs! And they love running... An estimate of $16,000 was raised, but again the final tally could go higher as donations are still being taken.  It is likely that our own Little Daisy died from complications due to cancer. I'm just glad she didn't suffer long and that we were blissfully unaware until almost the end.  We would not have wanted to have to decide on whether or not to treat her for cancer. Thankfully we were spared making that agonizing decision. By the time we discovered hers it was to late to treat. That might seem selfish to say but at least she got to live her life until the very end and enjoyed a vacation with us to Michigan the month prior at which time she was able to enjoy a dogs perfect day.

Did you know...
Dogs get cancer at the same rate as people. Dogs are living longer so we are seeing more prevalence of cancer. Twenty years ago, most dogs died of trauma from being struck by a car. Our dogs are more home bound now, with leash laws and more urban living, we are more likely keep our dogs indoors. Cancer is the major cause of death in pets greater than 10 years old. 45% of all dogs older than 10 years of age die of cancer.

Did you know...Some of the most common cancers diagnosed in dogs include lymphoma (or lymphosarcoma), hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma (a tumor of bone), mast cell tumors, melaonoma, squamous cell carcinoma, mammary carcinoma, anal sac carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma and soft tissue sarcomas.

The first ones out

And the tail end

 A present for me

 Nolan's portrait artist

A present for Nolan

Easter

We had my parents and brother over for Easter lunch and then I took Nolan on his first ever bike ride.  He enjoyed it.  The weather was perfect and we got to enjoy some time outside. In the early evening Pip's baby,who is all grown up, was lounging near the rabbitry. She's not nearly as tame as Pip and she fled when Nolan got too close. We're not eating candy so that's why we have a pineapple.

Another Canoe Trip

Another wild ride down Little Darby. Not for the faint of heart. The creek is totally impassible requiring a portage in two sections. Saw a barred owl and found a couple of treasures including a muskrat skull and a jar from the American Crayon Company in Sandusky, OH which has long been shut down. Bluebells, bloodroot, spring beauty, cut leaf toothwort, coltsfoot, hepatica, snow trillium, dutchmen's britches, and trout lily all in bloom. 

Wild Turkeys

A crazy rainy Monday just got a little crazier. Spring has sprung. A turkey wants in the gymnasium. Really?!

On Saturday at the park they were really strutting their stuff.