Nearly every Summer morning since I began my walking regimen in 2011 and, especially after discovering Council Point Park in 2013, you’d find me on the move, camera in one hand, peanuts in the other, while capturing all the images that Summer has to offer. Those nature walks and photos were what I longed for during the cold and snowy Winter months.
The Summer of 2024 was hot and humid, but, newly retired with all the time in the world, I went out as much as possible, walking on many trails, making memories and packing images galore onto the photo card.
But this year is different … and not in a good way at all.
First, I’ve not been to Council Point Park since Memorial Day, May 26th, when I visited with one squirrel, zero birds and a few fellow walkers who asked me “where are the squirrels?” Well I didn’t have an answer for them, though it did and still does weigh heavy on my mind. We decided that not only was the ambiance lacking at this nature nook, but our furry friends were as well. Huge concrete sewer pipes were deposited around the walking loop, heavy machinery filled the parking lot and it was noisy. I occasionally do a drive-by to see if the project is finished … it is not as of this writing.
So, I made the difficult decision to distance myself from Council Point Park until the work was completed. I will resume walking there in the Fall, when hopefully, more than one squirrel will be clamoring for peanuts. Meanwhile, a 10-pound bag of sunflower seeds and a dozen bags of peanuts sit gathering dust here at the house.
Pounding the pavement in the ‘hood hearkens back to my roots, when my walking regimen took me on the same routes daily. There was no joy in that journey, but yes, I got the steps/miles in. Long excursions have been few this Spring and Summer of 2025. Yes, I scurried to my favorite local parks in search of “babies” which was fun. Up until then, my most memorable walk in 2025 had been photographing waterfowl on the ice floes down at the Detroit River on March 13th. I shucked off most of my clothing when it got very warm, but happily I returned home with a treasure trove of photos; unhappily my face and bare arms got sunburned.
“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!” (Or so they say.)
I have been collecting memes to share sometime about how Michiganders are melting away in this Summer of 2025, with dew points often off the charts. We are, of course, not the only humans whining about the heat. I “get” it. In fact, I’m sorry I whined for months about the wickedly windy days because now the ever-present searing heat, sultry humidity and constant predictions of severe weather are my present whine. We’ve had a few bad storms come to fruition, but yes, I worry equally about the PREDICTED storms as I do the actual storms. Then there was the wildfire smoke and particulate matter in the air which could damage the camera lens and/or my lungs.
I’ve found a way to muddle through these bad weather days.
Because July is World Watercolor Month, a social media event now in its 10th year, it is only fitting that I share some of my paintings I’ve done the past three months.
I am taking online classes with Julia Bausenhardt, a German artist who specializes in nature art.
To date, I have finished 37 paintings, but I’ll just share my favorites in slideshows and singly below.
First, I embarked on a four-week course in sketching and painting botanicals:
I followed that course with sketching and painting garden flowers:
I’ve painted lots of flowers so far. 🙂
Next was a course in sketching and painting butterflies:
Currently, I am immersed in learning how to sketch and paint birds.
Here are some of those sketches, along with the finished paintings:
My next painting will be a beautiful Blue Jay; the pencil sketch of it does not do it justice.
As to the featured image, it is a White-breasted Nuthatch. I am undecided whether to paint it or leave it as is. Julia did her sketch in fountain pen, but ultimately finished that watercolor painting using black, bluish-gray and white.
For my drawing I used a fine-line marker, but toyed with the idea of using my mom’s fountain pen, a gift she received from a friend when she completed Shaw Business College in Toronto in the late 1940s. I opened the pen to see if I could buy some ink to fill it. I remembered seeing Mom filling the pen from a bottle of black ink to use for correspondence through the years, but unfortunately the ink reservoir was stuck and I couldn’t twist it to remove it … alas, the fine-line marker worked well.
It’s been fun and a hobby I promised myself I would start when I retired. I first took a charcoal sketching class as a teenager in the late 60s.
These are the courses taken or in progress to date:
Some paintings, like this Flax and Snail …
… or this Skipper on a Thistle …
… or especially this Blue Hairstreak …
… admittedly are a tad whimsical, but they fit right in with my blog title, right?
I hope you think so too.
Terri has no Sunday Stills Challenge this week.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I’m not a artist but suspect 51% of being a artist is believing in yourself and the rest is simply the 10,000 hour rule!
You show great promise Linda! The great naturalists would study their subject closely and sketch it.
The Park/nature will rebound, humans can alter it but nature is always dragging it back to the forest. If humans were to disappear and you could use your Acme time machine, you wouldn’t recognize the place in 50 years time let alone in a thousand!
We are all castles in the sand.
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Thank you Wayne! I really like the instructor and she inspires me because, if you look at her sketches and paintings on her blog you can see how well she is able to capture nature. I hope Council Point Park returns in some form – the way it is now is horrible. I can’t bear to go there, having enjoyed it since 2013 up until the destruction in May 2024. I miss all aspects of how it was before, including and especially my furry and feathered friends. We just had a bad storm come through here with flash flooding – I am not affected, but they got almost five inches of rain at the airport in 40 minutes. P.S. – I like “We are all castles in the sand.”
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Charles Dudley Warner said “Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it”.
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Yes, if only we had some “pull” with Mother Nature, whom I believe has a bee in her bonnet the last few years.
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She’s pissed that we are ruining her garden!
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Yes, I can’t blame her! I wanted to go out today as it was low humidity and cooler, but the weather forecasters (all of them) said the wildfire smoke was bad so I didn’t. I could wear a mask, but I didn’t want to damage the camera and I figured it was too hazy. Late this afternoon the weather report was “the wildfire smoke plume is gone for today, bad Saturday and Sunday, maybe even Monday.” It was over 80 by then, so no thanks. Then we’ll have some rain by mid-week and it will get hot again. Mother Nature is on a tear – sigh!
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wildfire smoke makes fantastic and surreal sunsets!
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I follow a blogger here on WordPress and his site is called Michigan in Pictures. He has some of his own photos, but mostly features other photographers, on various topics. Monday night’s sunset taken at Belle Isle, in Detroit, was just incredible. I know what you mean – it was very surreal looking.
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Wonderful sketches, Linda. I’m glad that you’ve finally found time to hone your skills. I know you are looking forward to the day that you can get back to hiking at Council Point Park.
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Thank you Rebecca! I really am enjoying the courses I have been taking from Julia and like all the very realistic sketches and paintings she features on her site and also her blog, so that prompted me to take the first four-week course with feedback from her. I am going to go back to Council Point Park in another month, probably Labor Day, when, hopefully they are done with the sewer construction. Unfortunately, I am not sure how many squirrels will be there as they destroyed their habitat and many were lost over last Winter. I hope there are enough there by now that maybe there could be a family or two, but I fear they likely moved to the neighborhood by now.
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Your paintings and drawings look professional to me! They are very, very good.
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Thank you Anne! I am enjoying the courses I am taking with Julia very much. She has inspired me with her realistic nature drawings and I’m looking forward to doing a lot more bird sketches and painting.
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Your painting are wonderful. You are professional artist. I like. They’re colorful painting.
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Thank you Raj! I am inspired by the instructor who is an artist that does nature-related sketches and paintings.
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But your paintings are perfect. I like. Good job. Linda
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Thank you very much Raj.
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Most welcome ,Linda ☺️
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These are quite lovely Linda. I am happy you found something to keep you occupied
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Thank you Brian! I am enjoying the courses very much and looking forward to doing more sketches and watercolor paintings of birds and more critters, especially over the Winter when I won’t be outside as much, although quite honestly, the weather has really limited my walking regimen this Summer. We had severe weather and flash flooding this afternoon.
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Maybe get a treadmill to keep up the walking fitness
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I have been riding an exercise bike in the basement, but a treadmill would be a good idea … I’d have to clear a space for it downstairs – upstairs I have no room as it’s a small house.
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Exercise bikes are good as well. Treadmills can be big for ones that do more than walk on a flat surface
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A fellow blogger got a compact treadmill and really likes it. I know you have to set it up near an outlet. One thing this house needs is more outlets. I would not need one with a lot of bells and whistles on it – in fact, the less things to go wrong with it the better. I once bought a stair stepper with bellows in it. It was portable and I thought it was handy, but it drove my parents crazy with the noise and the bird was scared of it. That ended that idea.
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One with an adjustable incline would be good
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Yes, to give you a better workout. I am going to ask the blogger about hers. If I could clear some things away downstairs, I’d like to have one. I thought when I was retired, I could go out mid-day or afternoons to walk in Winter. I worked from home and could only go before work (I started at 11:00 a.m.), but climate change and our cold, icy and snowy weather, especially the ice was not good for walking at all. I made a path to the garage to go out and run the car every morning and that was about it.
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This post is inspiring – well done to you!
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Thank you Anne! I am trying to get more “in the groove” with my retirement hobbies this year and this was one hobby that I was excited to start. I hope to be taking more courses after my bird sketching and painting courses are done, especially in the Winter months.
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Your artwork is wonderful! You’ve been busy but I miss the stories about Parker and friends.
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Thank you Kate! I followed Julia’s blog for a long time before taking any of her classes. Her artwork reminds me of the Dutch artist Marjolein Bastin whose artwork was often featured on Hallmark items. My mom and I usually had greeting cards and Christmas ornaments made by Marjolein Bastin. I hope to learn how to draw/paint squirrels one day, but I would much rather go to the Park and interact with them and take photos. I hope one day the Park returns to some semblance of how it used to look, but my hopes are fading for that. I also fear the squirrels, what few there were (three to seven, but one the last time), likely movid to the neighborhood, but I hope when I try for a visit around Labor Day, I’ll find at least one family to spoil. 🙂
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It’s a shame that they haven’t finished whatever they were doing by now. We are having a nearby interstate widened and there is a lot of construction work going on. It has scared the deer off. The worst part should be done in a few weeks. Maybe we’ll see them hanging around again. I’ve only seen them twice this summer.
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I can’t imagine what is taking so long for this sewer work at Council Point Park, unless it is complicated by all the rain we have had. They already were working there before I asked what the work was for and that was the end of May. That’s too bad the deer near you were scared off and hopefully if they were in unfamiliar territory, they were not injured or killed. I follow a wildlife sanctuary on Facebook called Nottingham Nature Nook. I wish this place was closer to me as I’d love to volunteer there, but they are 100 miles from here. They are in a rural area and every day they are getting orphaned fawns that have been hit by a vehicle and usually their mothers have had a similar fate so the fawns wandered off. This time of year they have volunteers there to bottle feed the fawns, plus the rescued opossums, fox kits … all of them are so cute. We have nothing like that around here.
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I’m so happy to see your art! Your skethching and paintings are beautiful. I have such a hard time with sketching. I need to practice more of it. In fact, working on cleaning out old bins that will be going back into our basement (or maybe they won’t if I can throw enuogh stuff away) I found a big pad of sketching paper. So I should try some of it more. I wish you lived closer I bet I have spare supplies that you could use! I also wish you lived close enough so that you could feed my squirrels! I have plenty to spare. Your painting project should be really handy when we’re back into the cold and ice stage of Michigan’s annual weather cycle.
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Thank you Dawn! The sketching classes will help when I have to sketch “from scratch” and can’t rely on seeing one of Julia’s tutorials on how to sketch, then paint on my computer screen I’ve been concentrating on sketching the last few weeks, rather than painting, then we had that few days of nice weather, so I got out to walk and take photos for the first time in weeks, so that meant photos to sort through because like you, I take way more photos than I need.
When I met the plein air painting group three years ago, I was inspired to paint like them, but one member said “well, you can come join the group now and try using charcoals or oil pastels, then move on to watercolor or acrylic later.” But I had/have to learn how to sketch too. So I got some charcoal pencils and oil pastels back then. But I’ve been using a #2 pencil to draw now for the sketches here and what I’m doing now is trying to do a sketchbook journal like Julia uses.
I do miss my squirrels at the Park. I enjoyed interacting with them as well as feeding the birds there. I will try and go back and hope that one day it will be more like it was, though that likely will take a long time. Winter will be a good time to sketch and paint more. Julia has a landscape course with feedback coming this Fall. She said she was going to put it together this Summer. We had a bad storm roll through this afternoon – it rumbled and poured for hours. It is just drying up now, but Metro Airport got 5 inches of rain in 40 minutes. I’ll be so glad when Fall gets here, though I understand it is already predicted to be warm.
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I’m glad you’re having fun with art! Maybe you’ll be able to draw and paint something from one of your own photographs!
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That would be fun too Dawn. I have a few I wouldn’t mind to try, including a heron or two and some squirrels. I bought some watercolor books from Amazon on woodland animals and flowers after I met the plein air group – yes, I was gung ho to join, but I was still working, so I had to ensure I could get out on weekends to take photos for my blog. I actually have not looked at any of those books though as these video tutorials seemed easier to me. Several years ago I wrote a post about going on a “Walk and Sketch” event at Oakwood Metroparks. I thought there would be instruction of some sort since it was a two-hour event, but we just went out with one of the interpretive guides and she said “okay, draw what you see” and we paused about five times to sketch things. Needless to say it was a bit of a disappointment, but I did a post about it and took photos of a book my mom bought for me many years ago. It was all about sketching birds (” A Sketchbook of Birds” by Charles Tunnicliffe). So when I finish these two bird courses, I’d like to try sketches from that book which has sat on the coffee table for a few decades now.
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I think video tutorials are easier to follow along with too, most of the time. It’s obvious you’ve had an interesting in sketching and painting for a long time if your mom bought that book decades ago. I’m glad you’re having a go at it now!
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That’s probably why I’ve not cracked open any of the books yet. I connected with a childhood friend on Facebook a few years ago. After she retired, she began taking different art classes at a nearby college, first pottery, then some drawing classes. She recommended a book they used in the drawing class “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” which I had heard of and ordered from Amazon and I’ve not looked at it either. Once I discovered the videos that was it. I always look for videos on YouTube if I have to do/learn something. My mom joked for years that when I retired, I would stay busy with the hobbies I started and never finished like taking guitar lessons and drawing. She passed away before I began a walking regimen, or had a renewed interest in photography, or even started blogging. I spent today sketching Kingfishers which was fun. I have one more in the series of six to do and that sketch will be using colored pencils.
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I remember someone recommending that book…Right Side of the Brain. Years ago, I think. I kinda remember buying it but I don’t remember reading it! 🙂 I’m starting to give a lot of my art books to the library to sell at their fundraising booksales because I know I’m never going to use them. I wouldn’t give away the book your mom gave you though. That one is special.
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We are two of a kind aren’t we? 🙂 I put it in a box with the other books I ordered from Amazon back in 2022. I would prefer those art books were spiral-bound so it would be easier to follow any diagrams. I know I’ve seen weighted book page holders that you lay across a book to hold it flat on Amazon … hopefully I’ll get something out of those books down the line. Yes, that book from my Mom is special and a keeper. I did more Kingfisher sketches today – I’m finished with them now, there were six and she did one in colored pencil. I liked my drawing and wasn’t sure I wanted to do it in colored pencil, so I did another identical drawing to try it out. It turned out okay, but I think I prefer the pencil or watercolor.
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Your art is wonderful, perfectly whimsical but not twee. I am impressed and hope that as you progress you’ll share more of it. You have a gift.
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Thank you Ally! (And I had to Google “twee”.) 🙂 I am enjoying Julia’s courses a lot and she has several other courses, plus many YouTube videos on sketching and painting, so I won’t run out of inspiration for a while. I liked the idea of a few whimsical paintings so decided to include them in this post. I laughed at myself with the one butterfly that resembles a Martian. Maybe I was wise to reserve that extra domain name “Walkin’ and Whatnot” a few years ago, because, between this unpredictable and volatile weather and ticks aplenty messing up my woodsy walks, who knows how many picturesque walks I will be taking in the future.
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I am impressed with your artwork!! That is a talent that seems to have eluded me.
My grandfather took up oil painting when he retired and did some wonderful landscapes and still lifes.
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Thank you JP! I really like my instructor who does lovely nature art. I have followed Julia’s blog for several years now, intending one day to take some courses with her. I am enjoying the courses so far and they filled that space that normally I would be going on long woodsy walks, then hours of sorting through photos taken on those walks. But Mother Nature and an abundance of ticks have pared down those enjoyable walks for me. I feel the same way about Summer that you do. Your grandfather is like Joni’s mom who started painting (I believe in her 80s) after being inspired by Bob Ross and his tutorials she watched on TV.
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Wow Linda….those are amazing! Especially for a beginner! You definitely have some major talent there so keep at it, and you’ll soon be having your own exhibitions like mom! I like the whimsical look – you should do squirrels next., then you could illustrate a children’s book on Parker and his friends
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Thank you Joni! I just mentioned your mom to JP as he said his grandfather took up oil painting after he retired. I remember you said your mom was inspired by Bob Ross tutorials on TV and took up painting in her 80s! I am glad you like the whimsical pictures. I have to admit her finished paintings did not look whimsical however. 🙂 My whimsical-looking butterfly has a certain Martian look about it. I am enjoying Julia’s courses a lot. I want to do some squirrel sketches/paintings over the Winter, maybe for Squirrel Appreciation Day in January and see how that goes … I’d rather have the “real deal” as to squirrels and hope there will be at least one family that I can spoil and take photos of again. I am hopeful – I will wait. I will still think about the idea of “Parker and Pals”. The last few weeks I have just done some sketches only as I finally got out for several days and got some pictures, then sorted them, then finished another book. I wanted to do some sketching today, but did stuff in the house as I knew we were having this bad storm, which we did – it lasted forever, rumbling, lightning and torrential rain. The airport got five inches of rain in 40 minutes. It’s just drying out now but still nearly 90 degrees. I am very ready for Fall!
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It was so humid here today I couldn’t go out…..went out for supper but just got in an out of the car. I sure hope the heat wave breaks soon as I’m sick of it too. I don’t ever remember another July like this one….
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Yes, here too, plus today too. A few hours ago it was 90 degrees with a real feel of 100 degrees. No part of late Spring, nor Summer has been a joy so far. We have cooler weather starting Friday for three or four days. The dew points are in the 50s – Monday, the dew points were in the low 70s.
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It’s a bit cooler tonight, with a storm coming in. I’m praying it doesn’t blow away and that we get some rain otherwise I need to water tomorrow. I should have done so today but I spend an hour this morning deadheading the geraniums and fertilizing to see if I can resuscitate all the things in pots and window boxes and it was just too hot out!
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I’d be happy to give you some of our rain Joni – it has been raining steadily since mid-afternoon. The weather alarm has gone off twice for flash flooding, but that is just because it is in my county, not in my immediate area. But some cities have gotten 3 to 5 inches of rain already since this afternoon. I remember those days of keeping everything looking perfect and always at the mercy of Mother Nature. Too much sun, even when watering them makes them look sad by August sometimes. I used to water before work, but some of the needy plants like Gerbera Daisies and those hanging bags of impatience had me going out again after eating dinner. We are supposed to have four coolish days (well around 80 to 82 and low humidity) over the next four days and no rain/storms. Thank goodness for that nice break.
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We hardly got any rain….a bit overnight, and it doesn’t look like it today….so that means watering. I don’t worry about my plants looking perfect, but when people point out -that pot needs watering – I know I’ve been negligent! I’ve got some bad mosquito bites on my legs again which are like welts which reminds me of the summer of 2022 when I had that reaction to them or to no-see-ums, so I hope that isn’t starting up again. It’s because I sat out on someone’s deck Monday and Tuesday nights until after dark, but the damage was done!
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I went to bed and it was raining and then woke up to rain – just a slow steady rain this time, not torrential. It finally stopped raining here about 1:00 p.m. The grass is so green, but it was last Summer too, despite the heat, as we had a lot of rain then too. I remember when you had the no-see-um bites and if you have bad reactions, maybe you are allergic to the bug bites, more than just having an annoying mosquito bite. Our ticks are out of control here and so the rest of the Summer I’m just walking on the asphalt paths. The ER docs say they have 61% more cases than last year and it’s the worst year since 2017. Last year I had a tick in my outer ear but thankfully it didn’t attack and I just pulled it off. I will miss the extra woodsy trails and getting pictures, but it is not worth getting Lyme Disease from a tick bite. Besides, with all the rain we’ve had this week (we also had torrential rain on Monday), any rustic trails would be muddy.
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I think my neighbours pond and lush bushes have brought out the no-see-ums. And you’re right it’s an allergic reaction as I’m sensitized to them now. One bite produces a big red welt, terribly itchy….which lasts for 4 or 5 days, and is worse by exposure to sun. Sigh….hating summer…
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Wow, that’s rough Joni – can you burn a citronella candle when working out in the yard or sitting out after dark like you were? I have never used one, so I don’t know if they work, except for mosquitoes. You have to be in long pants, a long-sleeved shirt and socks … then they’ll bit you on the face unless you wear one of those hats with built-in mosquito netting! I’m not happy with this Summer at all. All week the weather folks said “Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be perfect weather days – cool and refreshing, no humidity.” But then yesterday they said “the wildfire smoke will be bad through Saturday night.” So I did not go today – likely not tomorrow either. I can put on a mask so I’m not breathing the particulate matter, but what about the camera? I Googled and it’s not good for a camera or a phone, especially the camera lens. So I walked, but didn’t go anywhere but the neighborhood. Now they say Sunday will also be bad. We have rain Wednesday through Friday next week.
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It was nice today, cooler and refreshing, with no air quality statement. I can go out during the day but not near the plants, just on my deck. I don’t usually sit out that late at night but I was visiting with my neighour on her deck and it was 9:30 and the damage was already done. I don’t think citronella candles work that well. I have tried lavender spray, ditto. The thing with the no-see-ums is they can bite through your socks and clothing and you don’t even see them or realize it until later….they are like biting gnats, which Dave blogged about a few weeks ago….gotta listen to the news…
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The gnats are irritating and I sometimes have brought them inside on my hair. I remember Dave’s post. Insects should have been left off the ark! Our air quality is bad in some places, not so much here, but at the Mackinac Bridge it looks like the bridge is enveloped in fog. They advised against sleeping with the windows open or running the A/C without a special filter. I’ve not had the A/C on – it’s 77 in the house, but not humid, so not bad and I have a tower fan which I use if it storms and I shut the A/C off.
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I couldn’t live without my A/C! Did you not run it even on the hottest days? My upstairs gets really hot without it. But I have Slim-Line wall mounted A/C not the central air duct type as I have rads and hot water heat. I’m not sure how it cools, but I’ve not heard that about having a filter on your A/C? It looks hazy today, not exactly a blue sky day, so I think I’ll shop and run errands. Jays game on this afternoon at 3 I think, they are now on a losing streak…
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Hi Joni – oh yes, I have run the air conditioner a lot this Summer, but didn’t actually need to turn it on until early June this year. I have not run the A/C in three days though as we’ve had this bad wildfire smoke. It was recommended not to open windows or run the A/C without a special type of filter (your furnace filter). I looked on my filter and I didn’t see the criteria on the side, so I haven’t needed the A/C until about 6:00 p.m. as the sun is not strong due to the hazy skies. I have a four-inch filter because it is a high efficiency furnace. It only has to be changed every three or four months, but I check it once a month anyway to ensure it is still clean. I always shut the A/C off during severe weather to avoid a lightning strike on the condenser. I take no chances. I like the tower fans. I bought two of them last year to use in the bedroom and kitchen. I especially like them as they don’t move anything around but just circulate air. You can use the oscillating feature or not and it has eight settings and a timer in 15-minute increments, plus a remote control. I don’t use the timer or remote control – less to go wrong with it. It is a “Quiet Set” by Honeywell. It looks like the Jays won today. Your Jays were doing so well last year – I remember they were in playoffs.
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It was a good game. They were doing great on a winning streak, then lost a few, now it’s a mixed bag….
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That’s what happened with the Tigers recently – they are back on a good streak, but they lost 10 of 11 games, starting just before the All Star Game.
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I saw the Blue Jays – Tigers series last week. I think the Tigers won one out of 4 – the last one? Not many people in the stands, as Canadians are not going over to watch the way they used to, (due to the exchange rate and the tariff boycott) although the Rogers Centre in Toronto has been packed with 40-50,000 each game.
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The Tigers were in a real abysmal streak there for a while. Detroit is very loyal and “all about” their professional sports teams, but they show them no mercy once they start tanking. It was not nice that few weeks the Tigers did so poorly with lots of disparaging remarks going on. When the Detroit Lions started doing so well after they hired Dan Campbell as their new coach about three years ago, fans really liked all the wins, but then when they were in the playoffs and didn’t make it to Super Bowl 2025, they blamed Dan Campbell and found out where he lived because they were mad … his family had to leave the house due to angry fans and then they moved to an undisclosed location (I’m sure people have figured out where they lived by now).
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Wow….that is really brutal. I don’t think that would happen in Toronto…..the most that happens is poor ticket sales if the fans are displeased….we really are two different countries but I don’t know why that is?
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I know it is brutal. And that news story did not become public until months afterward when Dan Campbell and his family had already moved. I always notice when one of our local teams is slumping, they are no longer “our” team name, but “the” team name. And they always blame the coach … I think that is a bit unfair too. We are only across a border and there should not be that much disparity. Look at Europe – you have traveled there. People travel from country to country, enjoying themselves. Sometimes going to another country for a day trip. I wish it was like that here.
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they need to do well in this part of the season, so they’re up in the standings and assured of a playoff spot, instead of all the nail-biting tension of will they or won’t they make the playoffs!
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Same with the Tigers … they have some kind of ritual because one of the players shaved his beard, left the moustache and after that, they started this new winning streak, so the players all touch his moustache before each game … yes, a bit weird, but they do it so they don’t jinx themselves.
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PS. do those tower fans work? Are they noisy?
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I forgot to answer if they are noisy – no, not at all. I can’t even hear it and it is right across from me now. I suspect the “power cool” setting would make noise. I just have it on “whisper” or “sleep” mode and it is enough of a breeze.
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I’ve seen them in offices etc, but didn’t know much about them. I could have used those years ago at work when the A/C was often broke. I used to wear sundresses to work, with my lab coat overtop!
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We have had so much severe weather, or I should say a lot of predicted-to-be-severe weather, which is also as bad if you’re a weather worrier like I am. So, once it starts thundering, I shut the A/C off immediately and use the fan and if it is supposed to storm overnight, I do the same thing. Yes, bad enough to have the heavy lab coat on, without lots of clothing on underneath. For years I took the bus and back in the 70s and 80s we often had no A/C on the bus a lot of the time as it would break … the windows did not open, designed like that so people would not have windows open making the A/C have to work harder. So that did not make sense really.
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Back then you could never wear anything with bare sleeves at work – it wasn’t considered professional, no matter how hot it was, and nylons always. When I see some of these female news broadcasters with their bare arms in the middle of winter I just shake my head? And you could never go on the floors without a lab coat on and a name tag. Now I see people in golf shirts and capris, no lab coats, no shirt and tie for the guys? It’s a bit too casual IMO – or the multi-colored scrubs, so you can’t tell if the person is a doctor or a cleaner? The one female who helped me reposition mom when she kept sliding down the bed during one of our many ER visits for falls, turned out to be the doctor – how could I tell – no name tag, scrubs with cats on them – no introduction. I thought she was a PSW? It’s a bit too casual now….
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I agree with the too-casual look. I often see interviews at hospitals/E.R. room docs related to videos I see online of TV news stories and yes, everyone is in scrubs. I once read years ago that in an office, bare arms and big florals were a no-no, as was jewelry that did not stay in place, like a bracelet that dangled, like a charm bracelet. I had to give up wearing a charm bracelet as it got caught on the typewriter and never went back to wearing it after we went to computers.
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I’m dating myself but when I worked in hospital, the only people who wore scrubs (green) were the OR staff. Nurses wore white, dietary wore blue, housekeeping wore burgundy etc. So you could tell what dept. people belonged to at a glance. Now half of them wear their name tags backwards so they don’t get complained about…
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Well nowadays perhaps the hospital personnel would see it like a caste system to differentiate like that. That would have been more practical the way you remember it. I liked your comment about wearing the name tags backward.
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It was a caste system! If you went to medical school for 8 years and had all that responsibility would you want to be confused with a cleaner? It was an honor to wear the OR scrubs or lab coat or nurses uniform and it garnered respect.
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Oh I agree with you Joni. There should be a system to distinguish between them – they should be treated with respect after all those years of training. But I think lack of respect for professionals has gone down the tubes anymore
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Agree…..doctors, nurses, teachers, police….etc none of them get the respect they used to. It’s sad when most of them are so dedicated, but people are rude these days…
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It is terrible – all groups. There was an annual event nationwide, either last night or the night before, where police officers get together with the public, just to visit, on a casual basis, still in uniform, but just to get out into the neighborhoods. We actually have a lot of events like that throughout the year with police and picnics, or they meet at a MacDonald’s for a meet-and-greet.
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I researched before I bought the tower fans and the brand I wrote you about got high marks because it was reliable, was sturdy and not prone to tipping over.
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How fun for you, and you are quite talented, Linda. Keep up the great work!
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Thank you Pam! I am enjoying the courses immensely and finally I am fulfilling one of the hobbies I always wanted to do when I was retired. I also planned on a lot of nature walks, but Mother Nature’s weather and abundance of ticks is not making that hobby as enjoyable this Summer. I do plan on taking more courses, including one in landscape drawing this Fall.
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Well, do share when you’re done, Linda. xo
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I do plan to sneak in a few now and then with my photos if possible Pam, or maybe do another post like this one.
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I love your art! I hope you will share more of your work with us. Have you ever thought of incorporating your more whimsical drawings into a simple children’s book.
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Thank you Janis! I am enjoying all of Julia’s courses this far and hope to take more, including a landscape drawing class this Fall which she plans to offer. A fellow blogger has been encouraging me for awhile to write a simple children’s book about the squirrels at the Park and to call it Parker and pals, but that was using photos, not drawing/paintings. This was long before the destruction at the Park and loss of critters. I think it would be something fun to do, once I got better at drawing/painting, but I will definitely think about it. The whimsical drawings were fun to do, but honestly, Julia’s artwork of the same subject were much more lifelike, but then I am still learning. 🙂
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Every artist needs to find his or her style. I liked the whimsical ones because they were playful.
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That’s true too Janis. I included them as I did think they were fun. A few years ago I reserved another domain name for my blog “Walkin’ and Whatnot” just in case I wanted to try some new things and the way the weather is going these days, not to mention our abundance of ticks, I worry a little that my long woodsy walks in the Summertime, might becoming fewer and few as time goes on. Sigh.
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I like Walkin’ and Whatnot. Sometimes I find the Whatnot of the most interest.
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I figured the “Whatnot” could encompass a lot of things and be just as whimsical and fun as my current blog name.
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I love your sketches/ paintings, very very nice 💕. I’m sure by the Fall the park will be back to normal. Fingers crossed ! 😊
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Thank you Susan. I am enjoying Julia’s courses and she is planning on having a Fall course about landscape drawing/painting and I will likely take that course too, though I prefer nature-type courses. I included the whimsical paintings, even though Julia’s paintings were not so whimsical. 🙂 That last butterfly looked a bit like a Martian. I’m hoping once they finish the sewer project it will get back to semi-normal. One side will still have trees, all Maples, which always look beautiful in the Fall. They were supposed to be planting native plants along the shoreline where they ripped down the trees and bushes. I was skeptical how that would look, thinking it would take years to look like something, but last week I was at Lake Erie Metropark and that park previously had many drainage ditches which looked bad. They were filling them with pea gravel or river rock and I thought “well it’s better than all the flooded areas” but then I didn’t get there for six weeks due to the bad weather and then last week those ditches are filled with wildflowers, Black-eyed Susans, wild Bee Balm, etc. I admit it doesn’t look half bad. That this pollinator garden grew that big in six weeks amazed me as I always park in one spot and they weren’t there on June 1st. I saw some butterflies, of course while I was in the car, but they flitted away once I had the camera ready.
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I love the pollinator gardens, I try to plant a lot of pollinator type flowers at home in my gardens too. We are always trying to attract the bumblebees and the butterflies. I actually like wildflowers growing like that. We are still in Newfoundland and both sides of the roadway when you’re driving down the highway are just nothing but wildflowers up and down the road, it looks really pretty.
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That sounds so nice. The volunteer gardens in a park near my home are all pollinator plants and they have a lot of Coneflowers and especially Butterfly Weed which attracts butterflies like crazy. I’ve not been over there this year as I drove by and I don’t think anyone from the garden club is taking care of the gardens this year as a big pile of mulch has been in the same place since Spring. It’s too bad, but the City doesn’t take care of it, just our local Garden Club. They need the ladies from Trenton’s gardens to come help. 🙂 (They have enough maintaining two huge gardens – where do they get the energy?)
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I am impressed, Linda. Before long you will be venturing to parks with art supplies instead of camera. I wonder if some of you squirrel pals will pose? 🙂 Did you get any of the severe weather this afternoon? It all went to the south of us. We just had a few drops of rain.
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Thank you Ruth! I’m glad you liked the drawings and paintings. I do hope one day I can sit in a park and draw/paint. I hope one day I could paint a squirrel at the Park too … I think I’d have to hold some peanuts in one hand, the pencil or paintbrush in the other and balance the sketchbook on my knees to get him/her to pose. 🙂
We did get some severe weather in our area. I had been checking on the site “Michigan Storm Chasers” as their meteorologists stream live for any severe weather. I wanted to monitor the storm just as I just got online and it seemed it was not happening for a while. But I put on the 3:00 p.m. news on WWJ as there is finally a different meteorologist (the other one is on from 5:00 a.m. and still playing his reports until 3:00 p.m.) and before the news was done, there was a terrific crash of thunder and then torrential rain – the weather alarm went off three times in a matter of five minutes, first for a storm watch in Wayne County, then for a storm warning in Wayne County, then for a flood warning in Wayne County! It rained and rumbled for two hours – Metro Airport got five inches of rain in 40 minutes. We had no issues in our City though. I wish I could have given you some of this rain.
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It sure would have been nice to spread that rain out a bit. Well, like I always tell my husband we can’t change the weather.
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Yes, sadly we are not the “administrators” of the weather, but I wish we were sometimes. It was nice to have a completely storm-free day today, even though it was hot. A couple of hours ago, the real feel was 100 degrees. The next torrential widespread rainstorm has shifted from Wednesday night to Thursday morning/mid-day, so hopefully you’ll get a good soaking then. We will get a nice break from Friday through Monday they say – low dewpoints and a high of barely 80 and I’m looking forward to it.
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I enjoyed seeing your paintings, Linda, whimsical and realistic both. You have a good eye for the telling details. The tiger swallowtail was my favorite. Too bad about your mom’ fountain pen. Can it be loosened and fixed?
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Thank you Eilene! The tiger swallowtail was my favorite too and I almost used it for the featured image. I think I improved from the first group of wildflowers. I included the whimsical paintings because, they turned out whimsical when I painted them, even though Julia’s were of an ahem, more artistic nature. 🙂 I enjoyed doing all of the paintings though. I’m sure that fountain pen hasn’t been opened in quite a while – my mom has been gone for 15 years now. I didn’t want to force anything, so I capped it and put it back. The part that you fill with ink was still pliable though and had not disintegrated … that pen would be at least 75 years old! I would not have even thought to use the fountain pen and just use the fine-liner marker, but Julia was drawing in a tutorial and mentioned that she was using her grandmother’s fountain pen and so that made me think of my mom’s.
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Maybe a soak in warm water? If it’s worth keeping, it would be nice if it was usable.
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That’s a good idea Eilene – I never thought of that. I will try that tomorrow. It couldn’t damage it since I can’t use it this way anyway.
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Wow! You have a real talent for this, Linda. 👌 Your sketches are beautiful. 😍My favourites are the iris and the butterflies, including the whimsical ones, but they are all terrific! I hope your favourite park will be restored by the fall, so you can enjoy going there again.
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Thank you Debbie! I’m glad you liked the sketches and paintings and have favorites. I liked doing the butterflies even more than the flowers and now I am enjoying doing the bird sketches. I’m just doing sketches for now and will paint later, or maybe just leave them as sketches. I’m glad you liked the whimsical paintings too. I hesitated about putting them in the post because Julia’s paintings were NOT whimsical – that was just how my paintings turned out, especially the Hairstreak Butterfly that looked like a Martian. 🙂 I hope Council Point Park returns to some semblance of its former self before long. It was bad enough when the habitats and ambiance were destroyed, but the construction and loss of wildlife is just too much to bear. But I walked there since 2013 and it was such a big part of my daily routine that I do hope when I return I will find more than one squirrel to eat my stash of peanuts.
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Hi Linda, I enjoyed this post SO MUCH.
This is my last blog visit before I go to bed and I might just dream of flowers and birds in sketch mode. Hope so!
Also, it seems like you found a great art teacher with a good variety of courses. That is wonderful.
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Thank you Yvette! I really like my teacher, Julia, a lot. I subscribed and followed her blog for several years before taking any courses with her. I like her style and all her nature sketchings and paintings. This is a hobby I dreamed of having for many years, something enjoyable to do when retired, long before I ever began blogging. Speaking of dreaming, I hope you did dream of flowers and birds after this last blog post visit of the evening.
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Well Linda, you seem to have a natural talent with this art and I am so glad you have been able to spend time on it.
And I slept well but do not recall any of my dreams from last night – so maybe I will skim the post again and plant some seeds – haha
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Ha ha – well thank you Yvette and I hope to spend more time on it as time goes by. I have to re-align my “pie chart” I did at the end of last year, substituting studying French with focusing on sketching and painting instead. Well good luck with planting seeds for pleasant dreams. 🙂
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Linda, if you only knew how many hours I spent studying French over the years – oh my goodness – and while I can sometimes decipher some french writing – my speaking it was never very good – and so best wishes with yours!
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Yvette, I took it in Canada from Kindergarten through Grade 5 as it was mandatory, then never studied French again until community college. I had a great teacher who spent her Summers in France. I kept in touch with her with Christmas cards for years. The last two years of university, a tough-grading professor and we spoke no English in the classroom. I foolishly thought French would come back to me. Now the “tu” form is for everyone, not just family and close friends and so many new words, tech and the like, that were not around 50 years ago. I started Duolingo last October and my subscription is until this October, but when I started the art classes I had less time to devote to French and when we got into reflexive verbs I said “I’m all for brain training and such and I remember memorizing vocabulary word genders and verb conjugations, but the reflexive verbs are tough, no longer fun. I don’t need the class for a job or school and I highly doubt I’ll travel again” … so now I do one lesson a day to not go down in flames. 🙂
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hahah – to not go down in flames.
That was funny – but your daily lesson sounds perfect – so you can do your art and other things.
Also, there is a different approach to learning when we do not need it for a job o for a grade. I was just sharing with another blogger how many times when I took a course – I was so driven for what it took to get the A – that I often did not explore side trails. I usually wanted to know what the teacher wanted and what course objectives were – etc – sadly, it was all about a high grade for me and getting done. It is sad but that is how it was – ha
but now when I research a topic or do misc. – my approach to learning has been way different.
and guess what? I keep in touch with my french professor too.
Mary Romano from Colorado – and I still have the stuffed bunny she brought over for my son – we only stopped sending cards at Xmas in the last two years – and I need to look her up.
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Well Terri Webster Schrandt is also studying at Duo – I mentioned studying French and she asked me what language platform. She has been studying German for about five years and decided for the new year (2025), she would try French. She was laughing and commented to me she did a few lessons and there were multiple ways to write/say the same thing and she said “no” and she switched to Spanish, which I believe she said she studied in high school or college. She is motivated to stay at the top tier, which I was for a while, but with Duolingo, it’s so competitive in that you must invest “X” hours of time to achieve “X” number of points to stay at that level – there are ten levels. So every Sunday night to stay on the leaderboard, you’d have to push to stay in the non-demotion area. I decided I wasn’t keen on that idea either. One lesson a day to keep my streak until 365 days and then I’ll leave. But I did enjoy it for a long time and would go over my vocabulary and verb conjugations in my head while walking at the Park and to/from the Park.
That’s something that we both stayed in touch with our French professors. Miss Chrobak (and she wanted to be called “Miss” not “Ms.”) was kind of stuffy, old-school and very strict. But she put her heart and soul into teaching the classes. It was her life. She lived alone and except for school and her annual trip to France, teaching French was her life. I know she passed away as I Googled around when I got a computer. She was older at the time I had her for class. I like Google for tracing long-lost friends, etc. I’ve found a few that way.
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That was nice to read about Miss Chrobak – sounds like a dedicated teacher especiallyas it was her life.
That leaderboard stuff would not be for me either – no way! yuck – and so I like your approach to finish the streak for 365 days – and it will likely feel rewarding to finish that way.
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In thinking about Miss Chrobak after mentioning her to you, I was thinking how adamant she was not to be addressed as “Ms.” – I know I mentioned that earlier in these comments, but the use of “Ms.” was becoming popular and she really wanted no part of it. I can picture her the first day of class saying “You will address me as ‘Miss Chrobak’ – Mademoiselle Chrobak is not necessary.” No, I did not like that leaderboard – I am not that competitive and you could turn it off if you wanted and just as I learned that you could do so was when I decided to just let the subscription lapse. A friend of mine and his wife travel quite a bit and he has learned some languages on Babbel. He says “just enough to get by” but concedes that now your phone will translate anything, so the need is not so great as before and they often travel in a tour group anyway, so their tour group leader is bilingual.
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well your note about how the “Ms.” was emerging – reminded me of The Glorias movie – you might want to check out – it was so good!
“The Glorias is a 2020 American biographical drama film directed and produced by Julie Taymor, based on Gloria Steinem’s autobiography “My Life on the Road”.
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Yvette, I just looked on Amazon Prime and that movie is available to rent so I put it on my Watch List. Thanks for the recommendation. I want to read Norah O’Donnell’s new book “We the Women” which is about all the overlooked contributions of women from 1776 to today. It does not come out until next February.
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that book sounds really interesting!
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I thought so too Yvette. I liked Norah O’Donnell and was sorry to see her leave the CBS anchor desk in January.
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I am off to sleep – sweet dreams when you go and I will check in mañana…
um, I mean “demain” – hahah
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Yes, I am late going to dreamland myself. What happened to my 10:30 p.m. rule of hopping off the computer? Yes, a demain.
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good morning to you – and maybe the 10:30 rule has more flexibility because of retirement mode? Or the stupid heat? For me, I am still in summer mode – so the schedule is off a lot – but I am rolling with it. Oh hope you have a great day –
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Unbelievably I am saying “good evening” to you. The 10:30 p.m. rule was enforced more when I was getting up early to walk when it is lighter in the morning to beat the heat, but I’ve been bending the rules as it’s been so extremely hot and humid, so I have not been walking as much. One night I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. and slept through two alarm clocks going off, right in the bedroom until 9:00 a.m. I never do that as I am an earlybird, always have been. Even with the A/C on, I think the heat saps your strength and then there is the “sameness” of the routine for all the days when I’ve not ventured out at all. I hope you had a good day. I was sketching Kingfishers a good part of today … I am ignoring the dust bunnies.
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Oh Linda, you are so right that “the heat saps your strength” and there is a weird type of draining that comes with the heat.
We did walk the dogs tonight – barely a mile – but enough to let us all stretch the legs a bit –
oh and sketching Kingfishers sounds like a wonderful way to spend part of the day!
For me, I brought some stuff to donate for the “Log A Load For Kids” which is a fundraiser for Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Our neighbors sponsor a table every year and invited us in 2023 and 2024 – and it was a lot of fun. In the silent auction, I “won” goat milk soap and misc the first year, then last year I also won some small items, which included a small bird house with a license palt for the roof.
Anyhow, last summer I specifically bought some clearance items to donate for the silent auction (so nothing too major but feel like I am helping out and that fuels me) – and then my husband will make a brisket – and the food items do well. There are two bothers who donate racks of ribs – oh and some sour dough bread loaves sold for more than $150.00 each!
anyhow, I mention that because it was so HOT loading the goodies and dropping them off – blah
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That sounds like such a good cause Yvette. I like that your neighbors participate in this worthwhile charity and I like that the food donations rack up that much money – sour dough bread loaves going for $150.00! I am keeping the kids whose parents were murdered while hiking in Arkansas in my prayers … I am glad they got the killer, but I can’t imagine how those poor girls must be feeling. Thankfully they have family to be with. I know your temps/heat situation is much worse than ours. A fellow blogger who now just pops on here from time to time due to eye problems, lives in Arkansas and every year they’d be picking blueberries in this never-ending heat. They had a huge patch and her and her husband, both retired, picked blueberries for days on end as they always ripened in the hottest part of the Summer. We finally have less heat and humidity, but now have the wildfire smoke to contend with – it is high in our area and the alert has been extended from just yesterday and today, now through Saturday.
I did three more Kingfishers today – they were part of a series and different poses for them, while perching as well as catching fish. It rained all morning until early afternoon. Ugh to this Summer.
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Hi Linda, we had a much cooler walk tonight and so glad we were able to do two blocks! double last night.
and guess what – the incident with the hikers – well both the couple that died and the crazy criminal that killed them – well they just moved the the state of Arkansas and had been in the state less than a month!
And very tragic and I just prayed for the two girls after reading your comment.
***
I will let you know how the auction goes. They sure are some kind people – in fact, our experience with Arkansas is that it has some of the nicest people around!
also, our neighbors have blueberry shrubs and her supply ended early July. She shared a huge bag with us. mmmmm
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We finally had much cooler weather too (today) Yvette – it was nice to walk. I did have plans for today and the weekend due to the cooler weather, but we had haze from the wildfire today and all weekend, which is not good for the camera. I can put on a mask, but I don’t want to damage the camera. So I just walked in the neighborhood.
I read more about the Arkansas hiking murders today and did learn everyone just moved to Arkansas and that he was to start teaching school in the new term and had done so in the past. Those poor kids. Their mom took them to the car so she could return to her husband and was killed then. I hope your neighbors do well with the auction. I think all Southern people are nice. When I worked at the diner, most of the customers were from Southern states and moved up north to work in the automobile factories. They came into the diner because most of the employees, including my manager and his wife, were from down South – Alabama. They all would talk about “back home” and I thought they all were genuinely nice people and never met one I didn’t like. Fresh blueberries – how nice!
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Hi Linda – such a tragedy about the couple – who are also heroes – and how scary that the guy was in the classroom – yikes – well not anymore –
also, I have met a lot of rude people in (or from) the south – but will spare any examples right now – hahah –
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Yes, such a tragedy Yvette, but at least those kids knew their parents were heroes and can you imagine how they felt waiting on their mom to return to the car when she said she was going to see their dad and she never got back? Poor kids. Well, I am sure there are a few rude people in the south; I guess I was lucky not to meet up with them! 🙂
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I’m so pleased to see you fulfilling your promise to yourself to pursue drawing and painting in your retirement. I like your whimsical offerings as well as your lovely bird, butterfly, and flower paintings. And this is something you can enjoy no matter what the weather gods are dishing out on any given day. Hopefully, when you do get to go outside, you will continue to find inspiration for your nature art. I hope Council Point Park will be ready for you in the fall.
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Thank you Barbara! I am really enjoying this hobby and it was something I dreamed about doing when I was much younger and long before I began blogging. I like the instructor and how she does her tutorials, both sketching and painting and in general. I always figured it would be a great Winter pastime but now, as you say, it’s become a great Summer pasttime due to this horrible heat, humidity and often stormy weather. I am going to hold off until Labor Day to visit my beloved park and hopefully the construction is over – I hope there is more than one hungry squirrel there. I am hoping if there are squirrels, I’ll be there to help them “squirrel away” their peanut treasures for Winter. They got such a bad deal last year with habitats ruined, then whatever peanuts were buried, they could not access them due to snow/ice/brutal cold, then the thaw which waterlogged the entire Park. The new normal is as scary to them as it truthfully is to me.
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Good for you for having the courage to show some of your paintings and drawings on your blog, Linda. I see a lot of very positive comments about them!. You have a real talent. I hope you continue this new pastime.
So sorry that your favorite park has been a disappointment this summer. You and I discussed the missing Parker earlier this year. I hope when you return in the fall, more of your critters come to greet you.
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Thank you Laurie! You know what … I did debate whether to share my artwork with everyone, or wait until I had more experience under my belt. In fact, it was similar to when I began my blog in February 2013 and only shared the link to the blog with a few long-time friends. Then, I never even interacted with bloggers here at WordPress until November 2017. I am enjoying this new pastime, especially as it fills the time I would normally be out and about taking lots of photos and going through them to spin them into posts.
I do miss my favorite park because it was small enough to know all its nuances, to interact with the critters and know what seasons brought what changes and when. Life at the Park was predictable yet enjoyable. Big parks can be enjoyable, but too vast for the same experience. I hope it will rise again and become the nature nook I enjoyed for 12 years, along with the critters returning.
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What a fun post Linda! You did a fantastic job painting and I know I really enjoyed them. Be patient you will see your squirrels again.
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Thank you Diane! I am glad you enjoyed the post. It has been fun taking these courses and I’ve really enjoyed myself. We had a lousy weather day again (still going on with torrential rain right now), so I sat and sketched for most of the day. I wanted to do more sketching, then return to painting, (painting some of the sketches), but this course is all sketching. I’m still on birds, (I did five sketches of a kingfisher today, just in pencil), but the course also has some small mammals, reptiles, insects and more butterflies. It will keep me out of trouble for a while. 🙂 I hope one day that I can tell you that I was able to go to Council Point Park, sit on a chair and sketch a squirrel – it won’t be Parker, but I hope that happens one day, but for now I’ll just be happy to go there and see more than one squirrel and zero birds.
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Aww, Linda – I love this post so much. I’m glad you’ve found a way to give life to the drawings/paintings, meet a retirement goal, and to enjoy the summer’s heat in a way that brings joy to you and your followers. Your gift of giving your character’s character is heart-warming! PS…maybe you need a treadmill to walk on while you paint/sketch? 🤔😉
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How nice to see you here Shelley! And I’m glad you picked this post to read since I told you about drawing and painting and I finally posted about it after starting the first course on April 28th. I am really enjoying sketching and painting and yes, it is helping to fill the void from not walking as much due to the extreme heat and a lot of storms. A treadmill sounds perfect – I have been using the exercise bike over the course of the Summer, but yes, a treadmill to keep my miles goal, which I don’t think I will make this year for the first time since 2011. I know you read while on the treadmill (if you still get a chance and/or have the energy to use the treadmill) and Mister made you a holder for your book. Hmm – if I paint a picture of the basement, it won’t be pretty!! Take care Shelley.
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I’m glad I picked this post to read too. I smiled the whole time looking at your creativity. I do confess that I wondered about all the critters who probably miss you too. The weather is crazy, and I think of you too – when it’s too hot, too stormy, to hazy! Especially think of you when the sirens are going off hoping you’re safe. I haven’t walked since last summer…but trust me, I’m getting exercise. I could eventually get back on the treadmill this winter, I hope. Thank you for the warm welcome back here to your blog – I’ll likely be that random actor who shows up and then disappears again for who knows how long 😉 You take care too and know I’m thinking of you even if I’m not here staying in touch! Hugs to you dear blogging friend!
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I’m glad I picked this post to read too. I smiled the whole time looking at your creativity. I do confess that I wondered about all the critters who probably miss you too. The weather is crazy, and I think of you too – when it’s too hot, too stormy, to hazy! Especially think of you when the sirens are going off hoping you’re safe. I haven’t walked since last summer…but trust me, I’m getting exercise. I could eventually get back on the treadmill this winter, I hope. Thank you for the warm welcome back here to your blog – I’ll likely be that random actor who shows up and then disappears again for who knows how long 😉 You take care too and know I’m thinking of you even if I’m not here staying in touch! Hugs to you dear blogging friend!
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Shelley, this Summer has been brutally hot and walking in the neighborhood is not very fun. I do miss the Park immensely and hope one day to return, but with habitats destroyed and the ambiance gone, especially with the critters no longer there, it’s hard to go back, but I plan to at Labor Day, the anniversary of my walking regimen, that is, if they’re done with the sewer construction. I have no doubt you are getting lots of exercise, more than on your morning walks you used to take with Mister or on the treadmill on all the cold and snowy Wisconsin Winter mornings. The weather alarm has gone off twice today for flash flooding – it’s been raining for hours on end and rumbling a lot, but thankfully no severe weather today. Please take care and I’ll try not to be a stranger as well. Hugs {{{ }}}
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Wonderful work Linda, keep it up. I love this new art adventure you are on. Creativity is a beautiful thing. 🙂
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Thank you so much Sandra! I am enjoying myself immensely with this new hobby. We’ve had two days of bad weather (again) … yesterday’s heat and then constant rain until this afternoon. So I’ve been sketching Kingfishers in different poses like perching and fishing. So that’s been fun. Now, it WAS supposed to be nice for about three days, cooler, but the wildfire smoke has returned and there is an air quality alert through Saturday night. I HAD planned to get out for a few days, but maybe not … bad for the camera and me.
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I absolutely love your paintings, Linda. You probably could guess that my favorite is your Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Second place favorite is the Blue Hairstreak Butterfly. So glad to see what you have been indulging into to deal with the summer heat. What are you going to do with 37+ paintings?
The feels like high temperature here today was 111 F. I’ve been doing a little bit of interior painting, too. But not on paper. I started painting my extra large utility room walls “Sailor Knots Blue. My utility room 17’x7’ was the back porch when the house was built in 1941 and some previous owner enclosed it to make it part of the house. II is white washed with primer now. I’m only spending about 2 hours painting every once in a while because of my health issues and low income. It may take me at least a year of my indulging. I love the blue color!
Sorry that your spirits are low regarding your most favorite neighborhood park. Some of the things that humans do don’t make sense and leave us feeling bewildered. Lots of the things that the humans are doing to our city is just making a big nasty mess of things too.
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Thank you TD! I am really enjoying this new hobby and spent quite a lot of time the last two days working on new sketches. We’ve had heat and rain galore, so it was nice to hunker down and sketch. I am not surprised you liked the Hummingbird picture best because of your own hummingbirds at your house. The Blue Hairstreak is a bit whimsical and all three of the paintings I deemed whimsical were not really supposed to be – Julia’s paintings are natural looking, but it added some fun to this post, so I put them in there. 🙂
I have a painting project in the house, but have lingered over “thinking about it” rather than taking action. First I bought a high stepstool (last year), then there is a hairline crack, so I bought some crack repair (earlier this year) – maybe over the Winter months I’ll finally get it done … oh, I need to buy ceiling paint first. I do not like painting that way. I think the Sailor’s Knot Blue will look nice – I just Googled the color to look at it.
I am hopeful one day the Park will look like something, but I doubt it … the ambiance was gone, even before they started this big, ugly sewer project. But the loss of my squirrels especially, although I interacted with the Jays and Cardinals as well also leaves me both sad and mad. What didn’t perish over last Winter’s brutal weather, likely relocated to the neighborhood permanently. But I still have bags of peanuts and a large bag of sunflower seeds, so I’ll try at Labor Day and again as Fall begins.
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As you already know, I earned a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. Painting and drawing is definitely fun. I went on to incorporate my work in the needle arts to create my own business for 15 years hand painting needlepoint canvases. Eventually, I sold the business. I do understand the enjoyment of artistic painting and drawing!
I have painted all the houses that I have owned. I always enjoy the outcome. This time, since I allocate no more than two hours, I oddly enough found it very therapeutic mentally and physically moving with my body stroking the walls. I surprised myself how much I enjoyed the exercise. I will use Honey White Gloss for door jams and ceiling which is the same color in flat as I used on my exterior trim. I get a lot of pleasure out of designing and planning my interior living areas, especially because it is where I spend all my nights and the most of my waking hours. It’s important to me.
Keep artistically painting! You might want to explore Guoshe Watercolors which is my favorite watercolor texture. It’s opaque and works well with pen-n-inks as mixed media. All your paintings are wonderful!! Reminds me a bit of Matisse. ❤️
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Hi T.D. – no I did not know that you had a BFA degree, nor did I know about your art business. It must have been interesting. Last night after I shut off the computer, I remembered that I did not answer your question about what I am doing with the 37 completed paintings. I bought a low plastic box to put them in for now. The earliest ones I will likely just use for trying color swatches for painting after I fill the box up. I do not plan to frame any of them. I don’t even know where to put the four framed wolf prints I had in my office at work that have been here since I retired last year. Thank you for the recommendation. I saw an example of gouache in a video that Julia did on YouTube. She has many videos of sketching/painting over there as well. I am just using the prepacked watercolor sets for now; I have not tried individual colors and a palette yet.
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I absolutely loved reading this Linda. Thank you for sending me the link! Your pictures continue getting better and better… it’s awesome that you’re learning new things!
I hope autumn brings your space back to you. Yours and the squirrels
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Thank you Ellie! I wanted you to know that I decided to post some of my paintings. I am glad you liked the post and the paintings. I especially liked doing the butterflies and birds. Now I am taking some more courses, all self-study, so I’m doing a lot of sketching. With all the hot weather, it has been nice to have an indoor hobby, but I do miss walking every day but it’s been just too hot to walk, even early in the day. I hope autumn will bring back the park and the squirrels to me, even the birds. I liked feeding the birds as well and had Jays, Cardinals and Woodpeckers all coming around as I put out seeds and peanuts. I felt like Snow White. I miss interacting with all of them and hope the ambiance will return again some day.
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Well done! I keep saying I’m going to do something like this, but so far, I haven’t.
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Thanks Linda! I likewise said the same thing since I took some sketching classes when I was 13 and finally signed up for classes.
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I love that have been getting in touch with your creative side, sounds like you spending some well deserved quality ‘me time’ in your newly found spare time . ❤️
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It has been very enjoyable for me trying out this sketching and painting Zena. Although I have complained a lot about the heat, stormy weather and wildfires affecting my walking regimen this Summer, at least I had something else enjoyable that I have been able to do, then especially over the Winter (although I have had Winters where I walked more than I did this Summer). I really like this artist who is teaching the courses and she may be teaching a landscape course this Fall, if she gets all her course videos done – it is a feedback class like the first one I took, with weekly assignments we do, submit for her review.
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