Instead Of Candy

Trick or Treaters love candy, but my grandkids received homemade art cards as their Halloween goodies from Grandma this year. Here's Hannah's card, photographed before the final lamination process.

Each side began as cardboard covered with gesso and acrylic paints. Rubber stamp images, cut outs, lettering, inkjet photos, misting, rubbing -- lots of techniques were used to create two sides. Then I used Gorilla Glue to laminate the two sides together and make it into a thick, two sided card that could be carried around by the child. Presto! Art instead of candy. Sweet.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler

On Stage, The Spartan Marching Band

Almost every member of the Spartan Marching Band is visible in this cellphone photo of last night's Spartan Spectacular. Picture the moments before the photo. An empty stage. A whistle blows. A single drum cadence. The stage begins to fill. Then this picture.

We are proud SMB fans and enjoyed Spartan Spectacular immensely this year. Kudos to Mr. Madden and the Band staff and the entire Department of Music at Michigan State for the energy and dedication that produces moments like these in the lives of so many students.

Copyright 2011

Wanda Hayes Eichler



Bright Blue Bay Port

I've always loved church spires. Pull a blazing red autumn tree together with a white clapboard church and an afternoon sky and you will happen upon a photo like this one. Taken in Bay Port during the second week of October, this image is of the Bay Port Community of Christ Church on Orr Street, just off of Hwy M25. 

Now that the calendar page is about to be torn away to reveal dark November it is appropriate to remember days like this one during October's bright blue days of fall.

Copyright 2011

Wanda Hayes Eichler

Golden Autumn

I wore a perfume when I was a teenager that was called Golden Autumn. It had an earthy scent, maybe musky. It was my fall scent, one that I have not smelled for years.  


This photo of the invasive species of grass, phragmites, that line the Lake Huron shoreline in front of Cedar Bluff reminds me of that smell. Green and gold, luminous, yet mysterious.

The phragmites have invaded much of the shoreline and roadsides in the Thumb. The plant grows tall and looks like oversized wheat. It has a long root with a pencil sharp point that wanders 20-30 feet away from the mother plant. Those agressive roots move a patch of phragmite quickly, enlarging and thickening the growth, choking out everything in its pathway.

But in this photo the gold of autumn shows through. Even in the invasive species, there is beauty. And memories of other autumns and their golden days.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler

The French Laundry

We are lucky. Our kids live in Michigan, close enough so that when there is a birthday, like yesterday, we can all get together.

For Peter's 30th birthday we all met at The French Laundry in Fenton. Everybody had an hour or two drive to get to the dinner. From the Thumb, East Lansing, Howell and Detroit area, we all met at this somewhat quaintly named restaurant not too far off the US 23 corridor.

The dinner was delightful. We missed our family people who are working out West, Will and Clay, who are in LA and Salt Lake.

The older I get the more I realize that one of the immeasurable gifts of life is a birthday.  A birthday celebrates the great and good things in life as well as the small and the simple. A grandchild's smile, a family joke, a funny birthday card, a good meal -- birthdays stand as a time to be together and be thankful, one day and one life at a time.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Baby In A Basket

The baby in this laundry basket turns 30 today. This photo was taken in the laundry room at the farmhouse. The linoleum floor peeking out on the bottom of the photo is still there. I'm guessing Pete was about five or six months old, so this would be March or April of 1982.

Peter's wonderful grin hasn't changed. I love you, baby child! Happy birthday!

Copyright 2011

Wanda Hayes Eichler

Kale Kritters

I wanted this to be an artsy fartsy photo of a flowering kale that I planted at Cedar Bluff in September. Close inspection via Photoshop revealed "kale kritters" that look a lot like the green worms that are the bane of broccoli growing in our part of Michigan.

Anyway, I still like the ruffled leaves, the gray to teal to vanilla colors, and the play of light on this plant. Just a reminder that the morning sun is really eluding us. By the end of this week, sunrise will be AFTER 8 am here in Michigan. No wonder it is getting so cold. The sun is leaving us.

Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler