Friends

Mary Grace, Linda, Carole, Jan and Me, Rodeo's Mexican Restaurant, 10/01/11

My recent road trip to Ozark was a multipurpose sojourn.  I am so glad I did this.  I accepted Linda's invitation to be a program guest speaker on the topic of Living Green way back a number of months ago.  Saying 'yes' and getting this commitment on the calendar was what I needed to motivate myself.  I had all these 'refashioning' projects to be finished and lots of recycled materials to magically transform into little works of art.  What better way to accomplish these tasks than to agree to talk on this same subject and use all my finished products to illustrate "reduce, reuse, recycle.'  This was my plan.

It worked!  The seminar was mucho fun and all my preparation paid off.  Jan and James Lisenby were gracious hosts.  As a guest in their beautiful home, I had plenty of room to spread out and organize everything before the seminar.  Only a very good friend would allow such a mess for so long.  (Thank you, Jan and James.  I enjoyed my time with both of you more than words can express.  And I loved meeting 'the girls.'  They are sweethearts...and I must say I miss that 'little dumpy' more than I thought I would.)

Since Linda allowed me to choose the date of the seminar, I chose a date close to the Claybank Jamboree weekend.  Hopeful I could attend for part of the day and catch up with more of my Alabama gardening friends.  And finally, at day's end, perhaps round up the 'best of the best' for dinner at Rodeo's before I departed town the next day.  And unlike the "best laid plans..." it came off without a hitch.  Lucky us!

I miss you all.  You are never far from my thoughts and always are in my prayers.

Altered Book Art

I'm so excited to have a group of young women to share this altered book project with! The Misses Club of Ozark (ages 14-17) will meet this Monday night and have invited me to be their guest speaker. The program topic is Conservation. Altered books will demonstrate how we can conserve on paper and give our 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of used paper, old calendars and recycled cereal boxes a second life.

I think this calendar art by Karen H. Goode and recycled here to be the front and back covers and the tabs of the book, make the project. The use of various yarns and ribbons heighten all the fun calendar colors. The tin can lid attached with the ball chain gives the piece heart and an additional bit of eye candy. The back cover shows off my carved eraser rubber stamp of the 3-R's and my heart-shaped arrows drawing and signature.

v. con·served, con·serv·ing, con·serves

v.tr.

1.

a. To protect from loss or harm; preserve: calls to conserve our national heritage in the face of bewildering change.

b. To use carefully or sparingly, avoiding waste: kept the thermostat lower to conserve energy.

2. To keep (a quantity) constant through physical or chemical reactions or evolutionary changes.

3. To preserve (fruits) with sugar.

v.intr.

To economize: tried to conserve on fuel during the long winter.