Molly Bee's Attic

This has been a hectic summer, but a fun one. Took a lot of trips, Northern Sky Theater, Jefferson Sheep and Wool,  and a trip back home to Maine visit family. Mum and I voluntarily stopped into the Bangor Police Station to see the Duck of Justice. He was taller than he looks on the interwebs. We feel fortunate to be among the last to see him before he went off for his big surgery. Apparently his tail is damaged. Who fixes that, a proctologist? Just hope he's not a quack! Best Wishes on a speedy recovery, DOJ! On the home front, I turned my black thumb towards a little gardening with Jurassic results. Here you see cucks, summer squash and chard.   I ate cukes until they were coming out of my ears for a while but alas, this is the last of the summer bounty I owe my unusual success to Fluffy, the Cat Faced Spider who set up shop in the corner of my patio over the veggies. She did an excellent job keeping the pests away. She was very friendly and non-threatening ...

This is just a quick drive-by entry to put my Diva Challenge up for the week. I haven't done one in I don't know how long. Although many blog-worthy things have happened this summer, I been living it rather than blogging it. Hopefully now that autumn is here, I can get back in the swing. The Diva Challenge this week is to post a piece you've done while you were using Zentangle as a meditation tool. Luckily I have a whole notebook of these as I try to do one each night before bed. Here is the one I did last night. I've taken a lot of Zentangle classes that teach it as an art form. The meditation and mindfulness aspect is touched on by way of description but the classes are not taught in relation to that. They are basically how to draw certain tangles and ways you can use them to decorate things or make art. I took Connie S.'s class on 'Going With The Flow' at Expo and that was the closest I've seen; quiet class, calming background music, and the t...

I went to Door County last week to attend a couple of shows at Northern Sky Theater in Peninsula State Park. I went alone as a gift to myself-some down time to explore and reflect, and of course see Doug Mancheski in 'Lumberjacks in Love' and 'No Bones About It'. I stayed in Egg Harbor and the view from my room was stunning. You can't really tell from the pics but it's on the top of a high cliff. The terns were flying below my balcony at times! To the left Straight ahead To the right.  Yep! not a bad seat in the house. I spent an hour before I had to get ready to go sitting out here and just watching Lake Michigan. Bliss The plays were so good! Really funny musicals. I felt bad for Doug and the other actors because it was so hot and humid and they all had on long-sleeved, flannel costumes and were dancing and running around.  I got to visit with Doug between shows. He is a kind, gentle, intelligent, soft-spoken guy off the stage. On...

This week's Diva Challenge was to use circles as a string. I'm not sure if this qualifies or not (it's not a typical string and the tile is large-6"x6") but I'm claiming it anyway. It's kind of a two-fer because our Challenge tangle for next month's Wisconsin Tangle Artist's Coalition meeting is 'Reticulated' which I used to fill in each outer circle around the doodle-jewels.  I had a great time making it. Very relaxing compared to last week when we had to tangle while moving and I made myself motion sick! TMI?  Without further ado...Diva Challenge #277: Thanks for another great challenge, Laura! PS-Loved your vacation pics!

Imagine my surprise when I peeped out my front window the other morning and saw the new neighbors out for a walk.  I guess they've been around all summer-living large on the backyard bird feeders.  They pulled this little stunt and got a lecture from me about the proper use of crosswalks. No self respecting 'crane' would want to be accused of 'jay' walking!

This week's Diva Challenge was to tangle while in motion; in a car, on a bus, plane, swing, etc.  Since I am the primary driver at our house, don't own a horse (how cool would a horseback one have been), and I don't have any flights to exotic destinations planned, I fired up my old rocking chair and set off.  This is a pan pastel stenciled background that I did at Zentangle Expo a couple of weekends ago. I kind of wish I hadn't wasted it on a tile I knew was going to turn out wonky, but if you squint, tilt your head sideways and view it at a distance of precisely 12.6 meters, it looks alright...sort of. It was a fun challenge to do even though I got a little motion sick! You can see the background below among some others we tried at Zentangle Expo. The ones that looked like I blew ink around with a straw were made by... blowing ink around with a straw. The two colored ones are made with pan pastels and stencils and the black and white is a Japanese method...

Last night, I had another one of the amazing adventures the likes of which only I, Molly Bee, can get herself into.  I have a couple of spots on the tattoo that I got in November that I would like touched up, so I called the place where I had it done and asked for my Tattoo Guy, Jake. The reception lady said that Jake had moved to another parlor, was kind enough to tell me where, and said that I should contact him there. I called the new place and they told me to just stop by and Jake would take a look, so off I went. As I got closer to where Google Maps said the place was, I noticed that I was not in Kansas anymore. The neighborhood got dodgier  and dogier until I arrived at a sketchy-looking bldg with even sketchier looking clientele loitering around outside. It was getting dark and raining a pour which didn't help the ambiance a bit. But I parked the car and took a deep breath. I tried to remember how well it went with the 'gangstahs' I met in Target a few weeks back. ...

Still catching up a little on my blogging.We had a great WiTaC meeting a couple of Saturday's ago. Katie demonstrated Chameleon Markers which I'm still trying to wrap my mind around. They are alcohol based, start out light and go to dark as you use them so you don't need 12 different hues of each color marker to create shade and  depth. She gave us each a chance to play with them and they were amazing! If I used a lot of color, I'd definitely go for these.  Tess did a presentation on watermarking your artwork. I've never really done this but guess I should. Folks were talking about finding their artwork on Internet sites for sale as posters, tee-shirts and what not, without their permission. That is a risk of posting your work on the computer. Everyone has access and some people's motives are less than pure.  She gave us several tips for either manually or electronically watermarking that I definitely will play around with. Our tangle of the day...

It's been a while since I've been able to do the Diva challenge , but the stars aligned on this solstice to I tackled this week's. It was to include a splash of red in your black and white tile. So much fun to add a pop of color! Thanks again for a great challenge, Laura!!!

Earlier this year my workplace awarded me an opportunity to work at the charity of my choice for one week without using any vacation time. It's an amazing program that they offer each year to two applicants from the Operations group. I was thrilled with the award and immediately contacted Heartland to tell them that I was available for whatever project I could be most useful doing. I envisioned building sheds, repairing fences or stalls; things of that nature. It was a pretty big surprise to me that it all shook out for me to help out with one of the weeklong kid's camps!  I showed up on Monday and surveyed my 'office' for the week. The view from the boardroom was amazing. The meeting rooms were fantastically decorated. My coworkers were definitely adorable.   The only thing I was apprehensive about was the kids. You know me....Miss Worst Case Scenario. If I can envision the whole thing going up in flames, I will be prepared to do something abo...

While I was in Paris a couple of weekends ago, Sister Shiela asked me if I had seen the biggest knitting needles in the world. Me, being wise in all things knitting and stuff, was astonished to have to tell her' no'-never even heard of them. Seems they were just down the street from the campground so we jumped in the car and drove over to Casey, IL to see them. They were in a charming yarn shop on Main street. As a bonus, they also had the world's largest crochet hook! I would have paid to have been there the day they worked up the sample on them.And I complain about working on anything bigger than a size 7 needle! After we came out and got looking around, I realized that Texas has some 'splainin' to do!  They always bang their 'everything is bigger in Texas' drum, but I'm here to tell you, there is something in the water in Casey! Casey is home to: The world's largest wind chime. You can even ring it! It makes an awesome deep ...

On Friday, I drove 5 hours south to my brother's house in Paris. He and SIL Shiela had invited me to go camping with them in Martinsville near their home.  They have this beautiful camper permanently parked in a campground there. It was like camping in the Taj Mahal, two queen-sized beds, bathroom, shower, microwave, sink, stove and oven. Someone suggested that I wasn't so much 'camping' as 'staying with folks'. We really did rough it though. Shiela had mistakenly taken the satellite/cable box home so...no TV! (Which I LOVED!) This is the hideous view from the camper. Look at all that lake and green and freshness! And the essential part of camping...the fire pit. I love the smell of wood smoke.  They brought their three dogs down with them. Ellie is the wee Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. The little mop dog is Max. He's in constant motion and so you'll have to use your imagination on that blurry picture.  And this is my bestest ...