Happy New Year!!!!

 

 

I have so much to blog but I'm still not up to it. The Holidays are hard on shut-ins like me and Aaron. It's the one time of year when socializing is a must. We're so used to closing the blinds, locking the door, and working 'til the wee hours. But this socializing and lazing around is probably just the recharge our artistic brains require. Come January 2nd it's full steam ahead and no looking back. We've got tons of new paintings to finish and artistic mounts to conquer.

 

   I said two blogs ago that the next entry would be a give-away and I've not forgotten...this entry and the Christmas entry don't really count. So next real entry is a give-away. Right now I just wanted to pop on here to let all of you know that you've made this past year a waaaaaayyyyy better year than the previous! And I really really mean that! We've all talked so much, so many new friendships, contacts, sources etc... It was a very creative year, and not just for me. Lot's of new blogs were born... Lot's of brand new creative outlets for so many simmering talents. A bunch of online front doors opened up and invited in the masses to come see the artful wonders that had been blooming in obscurity all the while. And a great capper for this past year was Silver Bella! The experience of getting to meet so many like minded gals in one place is nonpareil! 

 

  Tonight we've got plans that go all over the place. We're gonna hit a movie...probably Juno. We're gonna drive all over Jersey with the Weird New Jersey book in our laps looking for all sorts of haunted, abandoned, freaky, and scary stuff. (yeah, it's a weird New Years tradition of ours.) We're piling into a minivan with little bro Walt, little sis Missy, her man Charlie, some plastic champagne stems, some sparkling cider, flashlights, maps, GPS, and maybe some snacks. We'll tune the radio in to hear the ball drop. No black ties and ball gowns but maybe some pushing the van out of a muddy rut in the woods...sounds glamorous! I'll let you all know how it goes. We're still contemplating our dinner options...cheap? or semi spensive? (yeah, that's how we say it...in a southern drawl) I've been saying cheap but Aar's now leaning toward semi spensive. And the "semi" is key...because we never ever go full blown spensive.

 

 Well, like I said. I'll most probably be posting for real on the 2nd. And I'll recap a ton of stuff and great gifts and art. Happy New Year to you all. I love ya's to bits!!! xoxo, Jenny

 

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A special Man

Marge's dad has finally given up the fight and passed this last Friday. He was born 92 years ago and was known all his life for being a kind and generous gentleman who was well thought of by all.

We will miss him!

Albert H. Kress

Merry Merry Christmas!!

 

 

Despite the demanding deadlines and the overall hectic lead up to this day, it still tops my list of favorite times. Me and Aaron split our day between our two families, which is easy because they live three minutes apart. We've done it this way for a dozen or so years, way back to when we still shopped at Toys R Us for my little bros. Now after we leave my parents and head over to Aar's parents we bring my littlest brother Walt along and he's all grown up in his argyle sweater, leather jacket, and hundred forty dollar limited edition sneakers (yeah I know, he's extravagant!)

  This year Christmas day will be double the fun because our little nephew Adam is a big boy of One and a Half, and therefore will be opening big boy gifts and tearing all his own wrapping paper! Me and Aar have 14 people to shop for now, and it's daunting but at the same time we feel very lucky to have that many people to shop for. We were walking around the mall the other day, our feet were tired, we were sweating in our coats, our arms loaded with shopping bags, and we felt Lucky to be there! Selecting the gifts can be difficult but it's a thrill to get someone something that they really like. Especially Walt, he's a clotheshorse!

  Anyway, gotta get going. We got a bit of a late start this morning because I was wrapping gifts into the wee hours and needed at least some sleep. I want to wish all of you the Happiest of Holidays! And now that the Holiday rush is officially over I'll have time to get back on here and recap the last month! Thanks so much to all of you for all of the Holiday Wishes you've been sending my way! You've made my year! I cannot thank you enough!!

 

Big big hugs!!

xoxo Jenny

 

Aaron sends lots of love as well!

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Merry Christmas from Collier Seminole State Park

We have been at Collier Seminole State Park in Florida now about a week after leaving the Corps of Engineers Park on the Caloosahatchee River. We have been here a week and have used the boat to do some exploring and have driven around the area checking out possible camping sites in the future and of course all the local sites. Collier Seminole Park is located about 16 miles East and South of Naples along the Tamiami Trail otherwise known as US 41. We have always driven past this park on the way to the Keys and wondered about it. The land itself was owned by a man named Collier who had a great deal to do with development in South East Florida and the construction of the link between Ft Myers and Miami. Mind you he was trying to develop the land as a Southern Paradise to live in. A great deal of the park is mangrove with tidal salt flats mostly populated by a variety of bird life with a river that starts at the campground and drains out to the Gulf of Mexico. Parts of this river appropriately named the Blackwater River have been dredged but it still very shallow for any motorized boat

This first picture is of our campsite which has full hookups…not a common thing in this park! When we checked out the park a week or so ago we realized that they had assigned us a tent site which we could not fit on and they were kind enough to assign us one of the campground host sites for the two weeks we are here.

These two pictures are of the boat basin and of the riverhead leading toward the Gulf. This is right at the campground where you can launch boats and from where all travel on the river emanates. They have a variety of programs to some areas of the back country with canoes and kayaks ..day and night… to see what these mangrove swamps are like. The most important thing for us was the tidal changes as we had to be very aware of when low tide was when using the boat.

Our first trip down the river was like being on the African Queen with the sides narrowing in on us then expanding out with islands everywhere with lots of open very shallow water. Our GPS was the only thing that kept us abreast of where we were at all times. Actually, before you are allowed to leave the basin you must file a travel plan with the rangers making them aware where you expect to travel and when you will be back. You have to check in and out as a safety precaution.

One of the attractions here at the campground is one of the original “Bay City Walking Dredge’s”. It’s really quite unique….tracked dredges could not navigate the swamps of the everglades so they devised a method having the dredge walk forward about 10’ at time. This was all powered by a single all fuel diesel two cylinder engine that was quite interest to see also.

Ok, time for the wildlife report……We saw a lot of the usual birds which I have shown above….the Great Blue Heron, a unknown hawk, a pileated woodpecker and even a Burmese Python!!!!! Apparently lots of people have turned their pet snakes loose in the everglades and this is one big snake….Marge almost stepped right on it as we were hiking on a remote trail through the swamp. It was somewhere around 10’ long or more with a girth of about 15” to 20”. Scary!!

On another note Big Al (92 year old father in law) is having a hard time. He will be going into Hospice after the 1st of the year as things are failing. He is a good man who has survived a lot. Please keep him in your thoughts this Holiday Season.

Lastly, we have been busy and unfortunately our connections with the internet have been limited. After next weekend we should have broadband again and I will try and keep up a little better. Most of all may you all have the best of the Holidays!

Back with a BOOM!...Sis Boom that is!

I always catch myself saying "we got out of retail in 2003.", which turns out to be soooo untrue. Sure, that's when we closed our actual, physical storefront...but "out of retail" ?...no way! We are still so totally in retail. Only now, we work from home and there are no set hours of operation.

  So just like everybody else who works in retail, the Christmas season is not a "holiday" at all. This is the time of year when work triples and deadlines become much more solid and demanding. And it's not the 25th that we're worried about. Because besides gifts, we make Christmas decorations. That means we gotta deliver with enough pad time so that our cherished collectors can put our work on display for at least a few days prior to Christmas day!

  I guess I'm trying to explain my extended absence from this blog. We've been sorta buried! And grateful for it...but still, it's no holiday! haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sis Boom event was like a week and a half ago but I still have to recap.  Jennifer Paganelli's neighborhood is so quintessentially Connecticut... and for those of you who have never been to Connecticut, I mean : winding, wooded roads of old beautiful homes with classic architecture and century old stone walls twisting and turning over hillsides of rich moss green lawns. Just as we arrived a cottony snow started to fall and accumulate, which made this perfect setting even more so...and then we experienced the winter wonderland indoors!

  The explosion of color hits you first. And then your eyes take in the glitter, and then the pattern, and then the abundance of amazing stuff, and then the rapturously scented candles...and then you realize that all of this stuff is for sale!! Really, SO MUCH STUFF! The vintage ornament wreaths are show stoppers, but the star is her fabric line, which adorns all shapes of clothing, accessories, and handcrafts.  And Jennifer happens to be our great friend so the trip is allllll frills! I've posted here only a tid bit of what you'll see at Sis Boom. That one pic is Jen's daughter Katie holding our Dreaming of a White Christmas kit that she completed after Jen brought it home from Silver Bella. She's flanked by a cute duo of "Connecticut  girls", as my brother Walt refers to them. We came home with a lot of stuff, some of which I cannot show because they are gifts for my sister Missy and although she's not an avid blog reader, I just know she'd end up seeing her gifts!

But check out the "sweet girl" banner, revamped "angel" and my vintage Christmas card basket!! They all are right at home here in the apt.!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the bounty I received from the vintage Christmas stocking swap, hosted by the mega cute Mary Ann McKeating. She's been really patient with me. I got so tied up with doctor appointments and post Silver Bella catch up work. I send to Mary Ann, and Analise sent all this to me!

  I was incredibly spoiled by this endless box of holiday cheer. First off...the stocking is outstanding!! Made of vintage summer sheets, which match the tote bag I already own from Analise!(which I've posted here.) Awesome vintage ornaments, how cute is that 'lil lollipop!? An assortment of holiday scrapbooking papers, some magical snowflakes,  and a bag full of super sweet bits and bobs for crafty projects. And probably my favorite of the lot is this ritzy piano ornament! Great swap! I'll put up pics of what I sent Mary Ann soon.

 

 

I received this vintage dollhead from my sweet sweet friend Kim over at Dear Daisy Cottage. If you know her then you already know that her blog is a story book and an ode to her incredible 1922 Bungalow. Her design skills are off the charts (or chain, for you youngins') . Just to be able to follow her room to room, season to season is a gift in itself. She's got a tight color palette...sunny yellow, bright red, and classic black and white. Love her style...and her pup Maggie just makes me melt! It's soooo nice that Kim thought of me while at a flea market where she picked up this little guy. He'll be right at home here along with his other adopted siblings.

 

  Soon to come will be pics of our own Holiday display and tree! Two years ago, it was pink walls, Last year was tan,  and this year an antique aqua so it's a BIG change!  Can't wait to see the photographic evidence myself!

 

Tomorrow night we're going in to NYC to celebrate my sister Missy's birthday a day early since Tuesday night the 18th is Walt's big big hockey game. We're going down to Little Italy for dinner at Vincents and then heading up to Bryant park to shop the holiday tents...wait'll you see pics of this temporary shopping village and ice rink they put up each year at Bryant Park...it's magic! Jacques Torres hot chocolate! Which will be very necessary in the predicted 24 degree windy weather. Afterwards we babysit her pup Jack for the night because she's staying overnight in the city to go to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. I'll have pics of whatever I can manage, though none of my sure to be wind bitten pink face! Don't you just hate how the cold will give you a rudolph nose?!

 

  Next entry will be a give-away! Just not exactly sure yet what we're giving away...but be on the lookout!  

 

Video Experiment

Something new Blogger offers is the chance to add video to the blog. This is the first experiment with doing that and its obvious we need to work on it but this is our first try. The wind caused some problems and we need to learn to time our speech or description better, but I think its kind of neat that a little hand held camera can do this.

We are still at the locks here at Ortona and the weather has been beautiful. We have not used the boat as the snook fishing season is closed now and Lake Okeechobee is so low you cannot see the water from the rim. The rim canal has water as does the center of the lake (1' deep) with the navigable portions at 4'. We decided it wasn't worthwhile this year and will try next year assuming the rainy season fills it up somewhat.

We leave this beautiful spot on Saturday for Collier Seminole State Park right in the western part of the everglades. Will update after we are there.

Ortona Locks and Corps of Engineer Campground

Once again we found a campground that is absolutely fantastic!! We have stayed in a couple of Corps of Engineer parks and they are always really something! Clean, well located and always on water. This particular campground is again located on the Caloosahatchee River, but further East from the Ft Myers area. Located in an area of beef ranches where we are occasionally serenaded by the cattle in some of the adjacent fields. There is quite a variety of wild life which I try to take pictures whenever we can. Below is hawk that must have staked out his territory just across the street from our campsite. Not sure what kind but large and fun to watch every morning.
Turtles seem to be everywhere and some are quite sizable for fresh water turtles. This one was probably 15" across and just one of many that seem to be congregating around the locks and in the still backwaters nearby. I know the fisherman get upset with them because they tend to go after the live bait being used.

There is an otter family that has chosen to make the locks their home and each morning you can see them nonchalantly moving about, aware of the people around, but not too worried about anything. These are relatively large animals and amazing to watch. I have only seen them in the wild once before while traversing Highway 41 in the Everglades.
I took this picture because it shows our friendly Alligator at the bottom of the picture resting and soaking up the sun directly across from our campsite. That's our motorhome with the flag flying in the near distance
Not really sure what was going on in this photo. The picture was taken at dusk when the bugs, which are an issue here, come out. There were a lot of swallows or purple martins flying about over the water obviously feeding on insects. I assume that there must have been a hatch of insects of some kind coming off the water, and at a tremendous rate, as the birds were swarming above and in the water causing it to appear to be almost boiling. The picture was taken at a distance but you can see the swarm of birds.
This last picture is our friend the alligator that has staked the area near us as his own. When not sunning himself on the rocks out front, he snuggles down into the water hyacinth waiting for a meal to come along.
Ortona is really quite a distance from any major civilization and that has to be the reason there is so much wildlife. Others in the campground have seen a Bobcat with two cubs, Sand Hill Cranes and the campground host even has a snake living in a palm tree next to their camper....Marge is not too please to hear that though. We are here until the 15th, Then on to Collier Seminole State Park which is just south of Naples.

Experiment

This is an experimental post to see if I can get things to work.....by the way those are two eagles that kept an eye on us at the W.P. Franklin Locks during the two weeks were there.

Continuing problems with posting pictures

I have lost some of the pictures on previous posts and tried a number of things to resolve the issue with the latest being an upgrade to the template. Hopefully, this will work for new posts. Will add a post on our newest location soon.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

Sometimes we'll do a piece of artwork, stand back and look at it, and kinda feel like we aren't the artists who painted it. Like we like it better than our own work. This is one of those pieces. I feel like this sign already existed...and I don't mean that we got the idea from somewhere else. I guess I feel so familiar with it because I had an exact vision of this finished product in my head for a week before even starting it. It sort of painted itself. I hope I'm not talking artsy fartsy mumbo jumbo. I guess I'm just trying to say (in a round-a-bout way) that I really LOVE how this one came out. And I LOVE having a blog so I can share my enthusiasm. In the days B.B. (before blog) I'd finish a piece of artwork and I had no way of sharing it...no opportunity to say: 'look what I did!' 

For me, that's the whole point of art. It's an act of sharing. And while I'm on this subject I want to thank all you gals who had such nice things to say about my little trio of houses from last post. You made my week! I loved doing them and I am hoping that  Cerri  will offer more soon,  so that some of you can do them up fab...and more importantly, show me when you're done!

So anyway, this new sign. ( now available on eBay and etsy!) Our little tribute to our beloved collection of Shiny Brites, Mercury glass, bottle brush trees, and cardboard Putz houses. It also brings to mind the gigantically fantastic vintage Christmas ball wreaths  that Jennifer Paganelli so expertly assembles. Her Sis Boom Holiday shopping event is this week and WE ARE GOING! Friday, I believe. Me and Aar cannot wait. She fills her house with magic and people come from all around and grab it all up FAST! I wish we could make it there on the first day so we can get while the gettin's good, but Walt has a hockey game on Thursday and Saturday so our only open day is Friday.  Go to Jennifer's blog for the info if you're in the tri state area. It's worth the trip, we drive 2 hours for it! We might see you up there!

 

 

Oh yeah, I want to mention that we're having a big holiday sale on all our stuff on ebay. Everything is 10% off, and some stuff was already marked down, so that means some stuff is real cheap right now. Old faves, new designs, personalized stuff...everything is on sale for the holiday shoppers out there. We're doing the sale through Sunday so check it out. And if the item you"re looking at is not coming up as 10% off for some reason, just contact us and we'll adjust the price.

 

Ok, just wanted to pop in and say "look at our new painting!" I'm currently painting a cowbell black because Walt's big season opener is tomorrow night, so I'm painting this bell black and orange (team colors) and I'm gonna decoupage a pic of Walt's head on one side. Yes, a bit obnoxious...and wait 'til I'm ringing the thing when Walt scores...super duper obnoxious! But it's his senior year and you only live once so I'm gonna make some noise for him while I have the chance! I'll let you guys know how it went.

Thanks again for the excellent feedback you send my way. And thanks to you Flickr gals! Don't you just ADORE Flickr!

xoxo, Jenny