Saturday before Easter, Marc had driven to Appleton to do some shopping and attend a couple hour wood workshop. Around 2 p.m. I heard the back door open and got up to see if I could help, asking “Can I bring some groceries in?” to which he replied “No, I’ve got it.” By this time I was across the room, rounding the corner into the laundry room where the back door enters when out pops my son, Neil! Talk about the surprise of a lifetime; I was dumbfounded I was so shocked as I kept hugging him tightly. It had been since mom’s death in September ’21 since I had seen him and his wife—way too long.
Neil was due to leave early on Tuesday so we didn’t have a lot of time to do much beyond a tour of the local area; a visit with some of our best friends and meeting our favorite neighbor; a good luncheon out at an old restaurant on one of the chain of lakes; and a special homemade enchilada dinner for Easter—his favorite.
Marc took advantage of his help to make further progress on the kitchen island by lifting the long, heavy butcher block pieces onto the top for measuring and cutting. It’s still coming along; he’s waiting for weather to warm up so he can spray additional pieces rather than brushing them. It’s functional as is but no where near being finished.
Our weather finally shows some signs Spring won’t be far off
and we managed to get the lawn fertilized for the first time in years. Due to
off and on rain, we’re still dealing with trying to get the garden soil in
shape for planting but our last frost day is May 13th so I’ve not
yet bothered about putting out flowers. I’d say the next week we should be
making huge strides on that if our backs can take it.
I’ve been producing quite a few art pieces to hang in the shelter surgery center.
My new tangent is working with a gelli plate to do pulls of acrylic paint on paper which I then use as backgrounds. It’s great fun but often hit or miss. Looking at a background often gives me ideas of what I want for the art pieces, as in this first one of the bird. The marks lent themselves to suggesting simple flowers.
I’ve also been coloring my own pieces of fabric to use in more abstract pieces.