Weekends at WillOaks

 This has been our third weekend of the new season but the first one that was "crazy busy" with lots of campers.  I took this soft photo of the pond, and the ones below, just after we finished our weekly mowing and prep work, but before about 100 campers moved in for the weekend.  Looks peaceful here!

 There's a visual softness at this time of year as trees are just beginning to leaf out and on the audio side, I think I actually heard the first "peepers" (little frogs) of the year begin their first little call and answer just a couple of days ago, and then the first amazing reverberations of our resident bull frogs just yesterday.  In due time, these become the steady background sounds of life here through the summer.

And I'm really glad we pushed to get the beach up to speed this past week, because it was full of swimmers already today!  Methinks the water has a nice chill to it yet, but when it's 80F, maybe that's a good thing?  After that frightening drought last Summer, to see the pond full to the brim with clear, clean water and lots of healthy fish in all sizes was an enormous relief this Spring, and I hope we can just skip the drought drama this year, thank you.

I'm totally exhausted and since the majority of our campers this weekend are kids with families, I feel pretty safe going to sleep early as crazy midnight parties, etc. seem pretty unlikely.  OTOH, early morning fishing and swimming are very likely.  So good night for now and best wishes to all for a lovely Sunday, folks, and thanks so much for dropping by!

'Tis the Season

'Tis the season for truly heady fragrances!  I wish there was a way to capture them for a blog so I could come back to visit in the dead of winter, but I guess a few photos will have to suffice.

The WillOaks Campground is a small part of an old midwestern farm, so naturally, a few lilacs, crabapples and other blooming trees have wandered into the more wild and "natural" landscaping of the actual park.

This lilac bush is closest to my camper.

So, in spite of the small spaces that life in a camper has to offer, I've currently made room for 2 nice big bouquets just so I can breathe the incredible perfumes....amazing!

Have a wonderful weekend (& don't forget to smell the flowers!)

Yes, I can....

Yes I can come back to life, I mean.  Yes, the campground is open for business for one final season and we're off to a running start!  Yes, the drought has broken with a cold Spring just full of rain (and so we're running way behind on the growing calendar.) Yes, the 3 cats plus Dakota are with me here on combat duty (lol!) living in our camper again to run the show.

Yes, the bird life is still astonishing here, including Sandhill Cranes living even closer than before (their habitat next door was clear-cut last summer and they are searching for and finding new nesting places.)  Yes, the fish survived the combination of the 3' drop in pond level with the 1+foot of ice on top, at least most of them did as there was no big carcass mess to greet us when the ice finally melted.

Yes, we already have campers staying here--truly wonderful, intrepid campers--willing to tough it out in freezing weather (which sounds kind of strange as it's mid May.)  Yes, I'm still making lots of things, both new things and revisiting older things to fill orders, which I'll bring back to my lovely neglected blog to give readers the inside scoop.

Yes, I've been trying a few new things including a brand new Pinterest account which is pretty darn fun, but I still feel kind of all thumbs with...(connect with me there if you share this obsession!  http://pinterest.com/willoaksstudio/), including my new "about" page on Etsy (which I plan to change and edit on a regular basis) https://www.etsy.com/shop/WillOaksStudio/about/ and the iPhone app "Tunein Radio" which I love when I'm out and about.

Yes, I adore my new place in town, and was totally shocked by how quickly the winter flew by as somehow, it did end up I spent much more time in the new studio than in getting my "whole place" together....oh well, next winter!

Yes, I did get my trusty old camera fixed (finally!) so I can use it as a portable device again, instead of only plugged into an outlet, as I limped through the past year...(apparently, rechargeable batteries do die over time but I cannot recall ever killing any before?  Thank goodness for Amazon shopping!)

And finally, yes, I am just beginning to write again and to find my voice again....it's a tad scary, but mostly, it feels good.  Hope to reconnect with old pals and find new ones here again in due time!  Thanks for dropping by!

Karen

Droughts and Heat Advisories

I can't believe I'm still struggling to pack and move in this heat, but yes, I am.  In fits and starts; in bits and pieces.  A few hours a day but I'm becoming hopeful that it's beginning to add up.  My goal is to have both Dad's house and my rented sculpture studio emptied by the end of July--two weeks to go.  And once everything is under my "new roof" then the process of making sense of it all will begin, but hoping without so much pressure or heat....

So my blog has been neglected and I'm chagrined to admit that I was just de-listed by Project Wonderful so going forward, no one can post those ads here anymore.  I took the PW windows down as they seemed to be emptily mocking me.  Somewhere down the road, when I'm operating on all cylinders once again, maybe I can rev up my blog, it's traffic, and it's Project Wonderful spot.  But for now, I'm not very focused here as there are simply too few of me and too few hours in any given day....

But I've got some interesting photos to share here.  I found a couple of gems in the midst of this not too attractive heat wave and drought we continue to endure.

 The ephemeral pond on the farm is the new home this year for a pair of Sandhill Cranes and their new youngster.

Here's a closer look-so glad this water didn't evaporate yet!

Grass is mostly brown and dormant BUT the weeds hang on.  I've never seen a Canadian Thistle this small, put out only one blossom, but it has popped up during our break from mowing.

We still get together for food and weekend family fun, but are very careful about campfires these days.

And Dakota really, really likes the food her cousin Bella gets...and really likes the visit, too!

Stay cool!

Beautiful and Dangerous

Midwest weather extremes from excessive heat, to high winds, to huge hail stones, drought and then flooding....dangerous weather but amazingly beautiful skies.

Have a great weekend!

Hanging out at my new place

Literally hanging out, that is!  My nephew really likes the old antique metal beam in my new bedroom.....

The New, Improved Lovely Clusters!

I discovered Lovely Clusters almost 2 years ago and it just keeps getting better.  What is Lovely Clusters, you ask?  It's an amazing blog and curated showcase of beautiful handmade artisan creations all pulled together by the blogger and designer Rachel Follett.

For an overview that you can get "lost in," wander over to her "catalog collection" and pick one, any one, for page after page of lovely collections, colors, layouts and all thoughtful aspects of presenting beautiful handmade pieces by lots of different artists and shops on Etsy.

A page capture of this week's 6 featured artists on the home page of Lovely Clusters

The newest addition to her showcase blog is what I might call "an even brighter spotlight on featured artists."  And I was honored to be chosen as one and had a collection of my pieces beautifully featured the past week.  And I really mean "featured" as the newest change to Lovely Clusters includes 6 artists chosen to be featured weekly, and this includes, for each artist,

• LC home page with a link to your LC seller page
• LC seller page (stays on site for one year) which includes
•  featured image
•  short bio
•  28 most recent items from your Etsy site
• LC favorites (sidebar of site)
• Etsy treasury 
• plus all the exposure provided by the amazing numbers listed below, for the newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and, of course, the blog itself.

A page capture of my own featured artist page on Lovely Clusters

So art lovers, shoppers and collectors---feast your eyes on Lovely Clusters here.  And artists and artisans--do consider submitting your work to Lovely Clusters for consideration, if this aesthetic pleases you & suits your work!!  Last I heard, Rachel has the following amazing numbers following LC

• weekly e-newsletter (900+ subscribers)
• featured seller blog post  (6000+ subscribers, 4000+ followers) 
• pinterest page (100,000+ followers) 
• twitter page (1900+ followers)
• facebook page (3000+ likes)

Final note--remember how much I like numbers??  Well, I've been ignoring it for awhile, but today, 6-23-2012, I finally hit 1000 sales in my Etsy shop.  Nice round number, eh?  One thousand...

Hope your weekend is really great!!  Thanks for visiting!

Couple of Cool Updates

 Maybe it's the stark black and white?  Maybe it's that intense stare?  I've heard comments that Purrmeister looks a bit demonic.  I'm his mom, I can't really see it.  What do any of my readers think?  Does he look evil?

I do know that he has mastered the weighted, egg shaped tippy toy that has a hole which dispenses treats--IF--it's tipped just right.  So cute.  He bats at it.  Then puts his nose to the floor all around, looking for the reward. Then bats at it again.  Stops and looks again.  There's something about this new "Friskies Party Snack" that all the cats seem to find so addictive.  But only Purrmeister is willing to WORK for his reward!

And HERE is the best I can do for a close up of the insect that made up that swarm I was amazed by a few days ago here.  The bug sits on the bathroom mirror which is why there are two perspectives--top and bottom.  And it's so pure white, it was really hard to get more than a silhouette because the details are just washed away!!  I still do not know what it IS!!  It's pretty though....And since that earlier story, I do see them swarming in the evening around the same part of the pond although their numbers seem diminished.  I'm thinking many of them have become bird, frog and fish food!

And it was a lovely birthday, so far.  I think we can stretch it out a few more days as the sisters and brothers are all here at the campground now so at some point, probably Saturday, we'll eat cake!!  Thanks for all the kind thoughts.  Kinda' takes the edge off getting older, ya' know?  Have a great weekend!