Well, it is done. The ad is in the paper and the permit is ready to hang on the wall. Our garage sale is tomorrow come strong wind, heavy rain or snow.
With the weather the way it has been for so many weekends, we thought we should gamble on this un-rainy Saturday. The weathermen have agreed that tomorrow is cool and sunny, but I forgot to think about today’s conditions of wind and rain. That means we will be up late and up early to get everything onto the porches, as most of our things are stacked inside to keep them dry.
Most of our items are collectibles. There are a few left from our days selling on eBay, but most are things we have collected and loved. We just need to make room for our new loves picked up from all the garage sales this summer.
The prices are reasonable and we do think ‘to bargain’ is an infinitive with fun attached to its definition. Look for our signs on the high street and we will be ready come strong wind, heavy rain, snow or sleep deprivation.
The highways are narrow on the way to the Dunes, but the view is pastoral.
Lynne: The drive to the dunes was much easier than I thought it would be. The roads are mostly two-lane highways through wilder countryside than we normally have here. Photos did not seem to do the roads justice, so I did this drawing to indicate the crowding of the trees and the narrowness of the road. There were few other cars and we were in no hurry. The miles just slid by in good conversation and interesting countryside.
I can throw that ball as well as any boy squiggle.
This squiggle has an interesting story with it. I like to watch the softball games at Riverside Park during the summer. There is always talk among the guys about ‘throwing like a girl.”
One day they had lost all their softballs over the fence and called to the concession stand to send one over. The woman inside handed it to a girl standing at the counter and she calmly threw it to the pitcher. That is a very, very long distance. Go check it out for yourself. Complete silence filled the ball park and there was no talk of being ‘a girl’ for the rest of the night.
This squiggle is all marker with most of the colors blended with a light blue, light pink, and yellow marker.
It looks peaceful but a party is getting ready to erupt!Halloween Party!
Cheri: There is something about hidden picture games. I just have a great time trying to find hidden objects in pictures. I think that is probably why I am so drawn to making dioramas.
When I decide to make a diorama, I go through this process of thinking about what I would like to relate to someone. The piece must be relatively calm on the surface and a shocking surprise below. It must use very basic materials, like a box and cardboard, crayons, markers and glue.
When I decided to make the Halloween diorama, I knew that I wanted the surface to be a grave yard and what in my “wildest dream”, could possibly be going on under that surface. I spent quite a bit of time dreaming and thinking about what I wanted the lower level to look like, I also wanted some fun surprises, like the coffin in the back acting as a buffet table, or the ghosts that are transparent and seem to float.
When I make a diorama, I am able to connect with the child-like imagination I used to experience when I was a kid. That makes all the painstaking detail worth it.
The back of the diorama. Rest in Peace.The skeletons are happiest when shaking their bones.The ghosts choose pumpkin-head masks for their costumes.The ghosts are transparent so they can play above the ground without being seen. Unless they want to scare you.Trees with ghosts and spiderweb decorations.Side view of cutouts and how they are placed.The other side view.
Lynne: I just wanted to add that this diorama is all Cheri’s doing. She draws and colors the pieces, cuts them out and glues them in. We’ve tried to do a lot of photos to show the amazing detail, but they are so much more in person. There is something new every time you look.
This was an exercise to make a squiggle look like the style of a famous painter. You add eyes; turn it and add paws; turn it and add the tail and so on. It was interesting to see that putting the elements of the dog in different planes really made the squiggle look similar to Picasso’s work.
This squiggle is a marker base with colored pencil shading.
Lynne: Kristin and I spent a week camping at the Indiana Dunes State Park. I will try to chronicle our trip in the most interesting way possible. I am never bored camping with Kristin or talking about camping with Kristin, so others will have to let me know when they have had enough.
The photo above is the accumulation of things that we feel we must have with us to both survive our trip and make us feel cool camping. As Kristin says: “We love our camping bling.” Give us a Coleman catalog and we both go giddy.
Much of the stuff has accumulated over time. The yellow bags are waterproof as usually we have to float the river to a campsite. The bags take easily to being packed in nooks and crannies; and your clothes and bedding stay dry no matter how hard it is raining when you set up camp. The coolers are super cool and keep ice for 5 days. We use the 5 gallon buckets for dry goods and there is the new lantern and well, I could go on, but I won’t.
Well, just a little more. We were able to add cots to the bling and my knees are very thankful. The cot puts us at seat height off of the tent floor and I no longer have to be embarrassed; as I have to roll off an air mattress to make it to my knees so I can begin to stand up.
We usually camp on the river with no amenities like water and electricity. We rely on a large number of batteries and carry our own water. There is little human distraction and you gradually adjust to living a little more wild. Time is not meaningless, but it has less significance. You eat when you are hungry and you rise and sleep with the sun. And while that has a magic all its own, we were willing, this year, to be wooed by showers and an electrical outlet. I mentioned the Dunes and Kristin made it happen.
But can she make everything fit into her Subaru? Well, of course she can. Those are special packing genes that my daughters have inherited and the photo below proves it. The Subaru is full and we are on our way.
Everything did fit in and there is even room left for us.
the crafty sisters 