Unmitigated

New Shoes

I just purchased my third pair of Payless Shoe Source twin-gore slip-ons in white canvas for the summer. 

Why so shoey-ous? you ask, in your most Joker-like voice. 

I also happen to have bought a set of 36 Bic Mark-It permanent markers (fine point). Along with all the typical color wheel shades, there are also colors like peach and lavendar and olive and midnight blue and aquamarine and golden yellow. And many more.

I was inspired by this post:

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2012/05/how-to_marimekko-inspired_snea.html

(The source page is linked from there, but it gets covered with a full-page sized ad, which I found was impossible to click away from. It literally would not let me scroll to where the "Close" button was!)

So, I searched for some more Marimekko patterns, and came up with this one first, Marimekko's Melooni:

Simple and cool, and the best part is that it matches about 50% of my summer wardrobe. So, I came up with these...

"But, Unmitigated You," you find yourself saying to me, "what about the other half of your summer clothes?"

Fear not, intrepid asker of questions. Of course one pair would be insufficient. 

Another Marimekko pattern?

Check. This one called Lumimarja:

I know what you are thinking. You are thinking that if I were to add some coral to this design, I would have shoes that went with the rest of my summer clothes.

How right you are.

Now I have a third pair. A blank canvas of...canvas. Not sure yet of the design. I will need to sit with it a couple days and see what happens. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

 

Thoughts from the North Country

Last Thursday night, we drove north with Leslie and Larry, for our annual 4th of July trip to northern Michigan. The weather has been spectacular, kindly doing all the raining after dark, dappled sunlight coming through the trees every day. Temperatures have been 75-80 degrees, although today is just a bit cooler. 

The only drawback is that I have had a cold the whole time, and even though I wore a mask in the car on the way up, I managed to pass it on to Larry. He's on Day 2, which I can attest is less than pleasant.

Otherwise, we have had a lovely time reading, relaxing, golfing, shopping, and enjoying the annual events in Harbor Springs for the 4th of July: art show, parade, and fireworks.

This afternoon, I am enjoying a Tigers' game, especially as it appears they may win. The others are golfing, and later we head into Petoskey to Bayfront Park ball field to watch some softball with a backdrop of Little Traverse Bay.

I may have spoken too soon about the Tigers.

One of my favorite things to take pictures of is flowers, and Harbor Springs is lousy with 'em.

And I feel sure I have posted this before, but the sky in this shot of the Ephraim Shay house is too beautiful not to include...

I HAVE to Post This

So, today is Buddy's birthday...as always, about two weeks after Fathers' Day. There have been years when I have totally dropped the ball on either or both occasions, yet the man is still married to me.

This year, I feel like I hit a home run.

In March of this year, Buddy's beloved Grandma Alice passed away, shortly after her 100th birthday. He has always been very close to her, so it was hard on him when she passed, even though he knew she was more than ready, and had lived a wonderful, long life.

So, I was inspired. I sent this...

...to Michele. It's a photo from 1929, when Alice was only 17 years old (her birthday is March 1st, so she was almost 18), which had been water-color enhanced by the photographer. After a few weeks, Michele sent this...

 

It's 16 X 20 and it still needs to be framed, but, oh, my goodness, is it beautiful. She took a picture a couple times during the process, and I was really excited by what I saw, but I have to say, it's just incredible in person. 

A Day of Rest

That's where we have spent the last two days, pretty much. First at an art fair on Saturday, then Sunday for the Dog/Owner look-a-like contest, the annual parade, and Sunday night's July 4th fireworks display, Harbor Springs' best ever according to Leslie, the arbiter of all things explode-y.

Today, there is a gentle rain, and we are relaxing, as vacationers are wont to do. Later today, we will visit our friend's mom, who is recovering from a recent illness, and take her ( if she's feeling up to it) and her husband out to dinner. He's living the bachelor life for six weeks, while she is in an extended-stay nursing facility.

At the art fair, we saw a favorite of ours, Jeff Condon, who had a primo location this year: a corner booth right at the entrance to the fair.

Here's one of my favorites from his website...

1940

I love getting a chance to talk to the artist. Ann Arbor has a huge art fair (really, a collection of three different fairs, all at the same time), but it's very well-attended, so the opportunities to chat with the artists are slimmer. I also spent time with Gary Stretar, who does things like this...

and Marie Lamothe from Interlochen, Michigan, who I can't really find on the web, but I bought an original of hers last year, and this one this year:

She is an architect turned artist, and I think she made a fine choice.