magic happens at squam~

the woodland faeries, sprites and gnomes were busy at this years squam art retreat~

thank~you to mother nature~

xox

squam warms my heart~

old friends, waffles, nature, crystal clear water, docks, pine needles, pine cones, chipmunks...

dining hall, waffles 3xs a day, warm maple syrup, cabins, down comforters, rocks, sticks,

paths to friendships...

laughter and more laughter and more laughter into the night...noreen....

class with an awesome inspiring teacher...

acorns falling on the cabin roof, big spiders, rocking chairs, nightly fires, wine, margaritas, ceasars, french press coffee, the memory of patrick swayze and did i mention waffles???

renewing, reflecting, refreshing.....

this years squam retreat was sooooo incredible another one for the history books

so many memories to treasure forever...

xox

sunday randomness~

this is miss ruby jasmine one of our great danes...
today was a super lazy sunday..
i got to sleep until noon and didnt really get out of bed until 1pm...
went to michaels to get a few supplies for a suzi blu class that my bff-ellen bought me!! how special is she even though is is very TARDY in updating her blog!!! if everyone could go to her blog and tell her i said that it would be super great!! lol

and then maybe she would get the lead out!!!

anyway, then later we went to our local hangout- the bucket and met our local bffs-deb & kel..

i was famished as i hadnt eaten all day and by the time we got to the bucket is was around 530pm...so i had a garys belly buster, which is a cheeseburger with a fried egg and i substituted the fries for their kids mac n cheese which is soooooooo darn good.....

after that we walked across to our starbucks(its all in the same little square)

and had dessert, julie had the rice krispie square and i HAD you know it, come on!!

the cheery cherry pie!!!

its getting colder my wolf spiders are showing up on the patio...

i love this chandelier~~ see the antlers on it.....welll, i had julie pull them off of a dead buck that had been decomposing, she wouldnt get the other one for me because i guess, it wasnt all decomposed yet and she said it was totally gross and totally reeked....so thats it for tonight...see you all later...

home grown dinner~

tonight dinner was courtesy of a little roadside stand somewhere in licking county.....

grilled peppers stuffed with mozarella cheese, corn on the cob, tomatoes and grilled chicken....

the corn was OMG! heaven..i had 5 ears.....i know, but it was sooooooooooooooo good....

good saturday in general~

just when i give up hope on human nature..something happens that reminds me there are still those who believe in random kindness....texample~today a mom came into the shoppe and wanted to know if we could do some tune ups on her 4yr old sons glasses...he wasnt a patient and that was fine as we are always happy to fix what we can..anyway, i immediately imagined he looked like that cute little boy from jerry maguire movie..remember he had those thick glasses and was so darling, anyway, we fixed his 2pairs and gave him a couple of new cases for the glasses..the mom was thrilled and wanted to pay us, well we do not ever take any payment for that sort of repair..amy and i just thanked her and told her to have a great weekend..an hour passes and the next thing you know she bought amy & i starbucks gift cards and a box of mutiple pastries...

it was a nice surprise...

2nd of all we went out to eat at a nice mexican restaurant had a wonderful patron margarita and then off to world market, one of my favorite places to shop...

we do our shopping and head home for the evening....

it has been a stormy day all day and we are surrounded by heavy grey black clouds...

we let the dogs out and what do we see.....

this amazing full rainbow both sides touching the ground! i do not think i have ever seen a full one, i have seen a couple of double rainbows but not full ones..i was so cool and didnt last very long, i couldnt get it all in the camera so that is was there are 3shots...

hope you all got to see it!!

xo from good manor

monday hands~

good redness~

okay i sooooooooooooooo love fresh homegrown tomatoes..not hot house...FRESH!!

i can so eat them like an apple if they are clean...lol

the grocery that we use has a home grown selection of vegetables and fruits from area farmers...

it is awesome..so tonight i had to stop at the grocery and pick up a few things and the home grown tomatoes looked beautiful so i picked up a few for dinner and made myself one of my favorite sandwiches...growing up my mom always made us lettuce, mayo(miracle whip) and tomoatoes sandwiches...i wasnt a fan of the lettuce and just had tomato and mayo sandwich..

my gawd, it was heaven!!! just like i was a kid again....and i washed it all down with my favorite

brand of tea(iced) even more than starbucks(i know, shocking!) it is called tejava and you can get it at

world market or trader joes for around $1.49.....man it just hits the spot!!

hot time on the city~

this weekend has been the hottest it has been the whole summer...

well i mean humid..i loathe being hot and sticky and would rather stay indoors

in the air conditioning..praise the lord for that modern convenience!

todays picture is from march of 2008,i thought looking at it might cool you all down!

lol....

more class pics ~

here are a few more pictures from my doll class this weekend and a snap of me and ellen with our nose studs...gawd those bags under my eyes are horrible...we got up early and went to bed after 130am every night....it was an awesome fun and great weekend spent with wonderful friends...

finished doll...

i love her she is very michael demeng and i have never taken a class from him!!

a little weekend class~

saturday and sunday took a doll class, our instuctions were to bring a base to class

as the anchor for our dolls...

below is my anchor-a 90%off clearance price item from hobby lobby, a clearance christmas ornament birdcage from target bought last year and vintage baby head....

bff ellen flew in from little rock to take the class....

and my dear friend shara in the white apron drove up from cincinnati to take a class from cody

that was hosted by our good friend sharon andrews

day one ended and ellen, shara and i went to a good dinner at the rusty bucket...

then we went and got our noses pierced.....

that is ellen and i did, shara held my hand and i held ellens...

hump day~

look at these beauties......

like candy to a kid...

my girl katie in franklin, tn sent these to me...
such yummy colors....

merci mon ami..xox

getting good manor ready for one of the bffs

to fly in from the home of bill clinton...lol

dinner tonight......lol

big one!

i really do not like white hydrangeas and i have tried to kill mine several time,

i have cut them down to the dirt and

they keep coming back bigger and better and fuller!!

look at this one the head is huge!!

nighttime nature at good manor~

i admit these pictures arent the best...but i couldnt find my camera..but anyway the story is i was letting the dogs out before we went to bed late last night and i am standing on the patio and i see the spider, a little one a little bigger than the thumbnail and then crap! i see her HUGE web that goes from the drain gutter on the top of the screened patio to the back of the wicker chair...

i could not believe it! so i ran in and grabbed the camera and snapped away

the web was beautiful......i wonder how long it took her to spin?

i am hoping you can see it..the second picture is the closeup....but sadly it is gone i am sure the torrential rain we had today blew it away, but i am so happy to have the pictures......

whats going on where you live???

the night the lights went out at good manor.....

you know it just doesnt get any better...went to roosters after work...came home

to pitch blackness.....

yep, had a storm.. nothing big and the friggin' electricity is off..

oh yeah it came back on for seconds and then did some kind of friggin dance to

mess with us..on off on off on off for about 30seconds....

i hate being without electricity..

i would never have survived as a settler....

but the bright side is the computer is juiced up and running....

and the winner is...........

miss kecia from http://lemoncholys.blogspot.com/
winner of a $10 starbucks gift card....

some thursday randomness and giveaway~

has anyone had the cheery cherry tart from starbucks???

OMG!!

run out right now and get one...they are the best cherry tarts/pies

in the world

and

i know my pie..

the crust is some flakey goodness with sprinkles of sugar on the top

and of course

at home i will top with my staple of

cool whip original as shown below!

i made this necklace inspired by one my friend katie had on during one of my valley ride class.

my daughter doesnt like it which is fine, cant please everyone, right?

my pages for a round robin, theme was reflection of yourself..okay, isnt this picture of biggie adorable..gawd i so adore him....

so leave me your favorite pie and i will draw a name on monday night for a starbucks card, so you can try the cheery cherry pie!!!

wip~

just a couple of the many things i have been working on..

weekend randomness~

thank- you... thank-you.....thank-you
for all the well wishes to julies mom from this wonderful blogging community!!!!
she is doing wonderful and feeling so much better...
there is power in prayer!!
yesterday was a rainy saturday and i knew something was in the air as my bad knee
was aching something terrible friday night..
saturday morning it felt fine once the rain started,

i guess there is some truth to that old wives tale...

today is sunday and it is hot humid and hazy...

went to get a new wireless card for the computers,

the recent one died 7days after the warranty expired..

doesnt that stink!!

oh well we did get a rebate so it was pretty cheap in the long run....

this pretty girl is honey..one of my daughters dogs, she decided to stay on for awhile after we returned from vally ridge in june..

biggie with one of his toys..

ruby and kaj..i love this picture, they are like cats ..love to lay in the sun..

julie and i were driving around and i wanted to see my grandmas house that i remember from my childhood, boy it sure looks small, i so remember it being so much bigger, but it still looks in great condition!! good memories..

this is the church my parents got married in, the name is changed which i find interesting..why would they have to change the name of the church? it still is in great condition too....

okay that is all i got and i am so so happy to be back online.....

monday morning~

good morning people!

not much to say today but just wanted you all to keep julies mom in your thoughts...she is recovering from surgery that she had a week ago and having a little trouble getting back into the swing of things..julie is currently in the er with her as i write this..hopefully they can find the root of her pain...i know she will recover but keep her in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully she will recover all the more quickly...thanks from my heart....

xox.xox.xox