The Last Day of 2010: Reflections

I'm in my lakehouse studio (Finny calls it the "tudio") and looking out on a very melty White Rock Shoal. This has been a busy week of winding down the old year. Most of the usual year end obligations have been met (checks written for donations, bills paid, laundry folded, holiday things sort of stored for now) and there will be much gladness tomorrow if the MSU Spartans can outfox the Alabama football team.

So, this is the last holiday of the year. A highlight of the last few weeks for me has been the joy of my family. Everyone was here for Christmas! What a present that was for me! I know how difficult schedules can be for young families and for adults in early/mid career. So it was especially satisfying to gather round the Yule table with all our children, grandchildren, and our friends. That makes life good.



Dad Hayes in his red wool vest from Wanda



I worked steadily all fall on a hand knit vest for my Dad, Stanley C. F. Hayes. Dad has had a rough time since a fall that he took in August. He's home at the farmhouse south of Fond du Lac in Wisconsin and I just thought that a warm vest would be a good thing for his Christmas. The knitting was finished on Tuesday, December 22 and the vest traveled via overnight UPS package to his back porch on the day before Christmas.

Thanks to the wonder of the internet and a loving sister a photo of Dad in his new red vest arrived late on Christmas Eve. His smile tells all about the warmth of the wool and the care that many, many stitches now give to him.



It has been a good year. There have been many miles, many hours, many stitches. That's okay and that's good.

Winter Pines ATC#4

#4 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

The base is a Strathmore ATC, 100 lb. vellum surface. The background is Glimmer Mist with an overcoat of gel medium. The black stamp is applied on top of the gel medium and left to dry.

Marker accents are red, deep brown, medium tan, medium green and gold green. Although unrealistic, the red berries add a holiday flavor to the ATC.

Winter Pines ATC#3

#3 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

Background lines are drawn with Tombow ABT marker. The evergreen is stamped using a VersaFine onyx black stamp pad. Tombow markers are used to accent the lines of the black image.

Winter Pines ATC#2

#2 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

The snowflake is made using a wine cork that is cut into an asterisk shape. I used an Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold stamp pad to stamp the snowflakes.

The background is 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" scrapbook paper with flecks.

Winter Pines ATC#1

#1 in Winter Pines series of ATCs (artist trading cards) by Wanda Hayes Eichler, Pigeon, Michigan.

A light cream paper shows off the black graphic that is accented with color and design.

Read more about how these ATCs are created in my later posts.

Three At The Shore

Finny and Max and Tessa enjoyed some bluff time recently. Finny is great at that little nose wrinkle, isn't he!

The Alley Lake

Thursday, July 15, 2010 -- Pigeon's downtown took on close to 2 inches of rain in less than an hour. Here's the lake behind the Graywood Designs and AVCI buildings.

I like the reflections. . .but not the water that was almost up to the doorsills.

Heidi is Blogging From Singapore!

Heidi Hayes Johnson, one of my sisters and a namesake to the Dortmund Sisters roses here at Cedar Bluff lakehouse, is in Singapore this summer.

Follow her adventures here:
http://2voices10fingers.blogspot.com/

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Joni's Pink Roses

joni clark gave us some roses last spring that had been planted at her home in Bad Axe. "They need a new home," she told us as she delivered a large plastic storage bucket filled with cedar chips and bareroot roses.

There were lots of plants that she had dug to make way for a new fence. She sunk them in the cedar chips (the kind that you use for gerbil cages), watered them and kept them alive over the winter. We planted three "clumps" of roses from joni last spring. Then, this spring, I found another rose that had rooted over the winter in our mulch pile. It was from joni's bucket and so now there are four clumps along the wooded north lawn of Cedar Bluff lakehouse.

Each clump is made up of one, two or three rose starts along with shoots of hostas. Here is a closeup of one blossom from a week ago. It's wonderful to think about how these rose bushes will accent the lawns here at Cedar Bluff for years to come. Thank you, joni!

By the way, joni is the "other grandma" to our grandsons, Max and Finney. When the boys visit Grandma WJ at the lakehouse we can go out to check Nana's roses. Cool.

The Dortmund Roses in June

All six of the Dortmund sisters are blooming this week and they are a treasure. This is their third season in the ground at Cedar Bluff lakehouse. That's Carla on the left in this photo. Martha is on the far right. You will remember from a previous post that the six roses are named for the six sisters in my family -- Carla, Wanda, Penny, Mary, Heidi and Martha.

The Dortmunds were just getting their "legs" or roots last summer. They were planted around the Fourth of July in 2008 after being purchased from Great Lakes Roses here in Michigan. In reading about roses I learned that the Dortmund rose will blossom all summer and that one plant can cover an entire fence. Just imagine what the sisters will look like five years from now when they've filled the split rail. Their color and texture, backed by the cedars along the driveway, will be a splash of red and green delight!

A Moment in Time

The New York Times Lens blog sponsored a glimpse into the life of the world through its "Moment in Time" project yesterday. Through the blog, the NYT put out a call for photographers all over the world to take a photo at 11 am EDT or their corresponding time wherever they were. By Sunday evening close to 10,000 images had been uploaded to the Lens blog.

The image that I took is of my quilting studio on Sunday morning. You can see the Featherweight sewing machine and my cutting rulers on the left. On the design wall is a quilt that my mother-in-law and I have been making for my granddaughter, Hannah. The ironing board and an iron occupy the right side of this photo. Look carefully and you'll see the tin can holding golf balls that I use as a target for putting practice in my studio.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Moment in Time photos which will be posted during this week.

Daffodils Among the Dortmund Sisters

I visited the Dortmund roses late afternoon yesterday. Their glossy deep green leaves sparkled in the low sunlight. Yellow daffs dance at their feet.
Here they are -- my Dortmund climbing roses. They have names. From left to right (north to south): Carla, Wanda, Penny, Mary, Heidi and Martha. They are rose ladies who will spread their thorny stems along the split rail fence and explode with red petal bunches this summer.
The ladies. My sisters. I am blessed.

Daffodils at John and Sheila Eddy's

Our neighbors have daffodils all over their farm here at the Lake Huron shore. Sheila's mother used to throw the extra daffodils down the side of the crevice that runs just south of their house. In this protected spot, away from the wind, these daffodils blossom first. You can kind of get an idea of daffodils in the wild from this photo which I took this morning.

At WGI Finals -- State of Art's Show

This great company of performers from Michigan State University competed in Finals at Dayton this weekend. Coached by Peter Eichler, State of Art (who are last year's champions) didn't take top honors this year, but gave an outstanding finals performance in their show called "Emergence."
I not only got to see both semis and finals for Independent and World Open, but also watched the World Class finals with Pete and Clay on Saturday night.

Hannah Meets Great Grandpa Stan

Hannah and her mother Wendy enjoy a moment with Great Grandpa Stan on his 89th birthday weekend.

Dad's Birthday is on Easter Sunday

My father, Stanley Carl Franklin Hayes, will be 89 years old this Sunday.

Here we are together at Cedar Bluff lakehouse in Michigan last July when he visited us.

Happy Birthday, Dad. See you this weekend.

Love,

Wanda Jean

The Cousin Tumble

Funtime at Peter and Clay's brunch in February. Hannah, Max and Finny enjoy cousin smiles.

Summer is Coming!

Just could not resist this great shot of summer at Pat and Mary's Lake Auburn cottage. Ed and Patrick enjoy a late afternoon conversation out on the end of the dock.

Ah yes! Spring will soon be here and then, summer!

Will and Hannah

Here's Will with little Hannah who is the joy of life at Wendy and Will's house. Hannah is modeling the hat that I knit for her cousin, Jackson. I call it the "Action Jackson Hat." Unfortunately, Jackson hasn't seen this hat yet since some of the Tuesday Night knitters would like me to transcribe the pattern and I can't gift the hat until I'm done.

This next photo is of the Girls, ready for a winter walk. Hannah is tucked into the Baby Born and has her way-too-cool sunglasses on. Mom Wendy is holding Hannah and Grandma WJ is leaning into the photo. We walked to the park south of the lakehouse and back. Hannah's little cheeks were rosey after that outing!

Here's Hannah with Mom Wendy in front of the bonsai apple tree along the South Lawn. Notice the ice on White Rock Shoal behind them. And, notice that the sunglasses are slipping!