Earth Day - Lake Orion Recycled Art Show

Last night we went to the Recycled Art Show in Lake Orion, Michigan. The rules stated that all entries were to be made made from recycled materials.

A very close friend of ours, Roger, had entered one of his "Camera Purses" into the Show. Roger is a camera collector and makes women's purses out of antique box cameras. We met at Roger and Kates house for pre-show drinks and then hurried over to the opening of the show.

Roger ... Artist Extraordinaire with his camera purses.

It was very exciting ... The little house that was hosting the show was packed with local artists and all their adoring fans. Recycled art was displayed everywhere you looked. Roger's art was predominately displayed on a small pedestal in the center of the room. We were told 49 different artists had entered their work. After a few minutes of checking out Roger's competition we were sure he was in the running for a "major award".


We held our breathe as the awards were being announced. Roger's small contingent cheered as his camera purses were awarded with an honorable mention from the judges. It was very cool to be there when Roger won his award, he was so happy and couldn't stop smiling the rest of the night.

Roger with his purses, his ribbon, and his ever-lovely wife Kate.

We celebrated with dinner in downtown Lake Orion at Valentino's Restaurant. A very nice evening where we started with a toast to the almost world famous artist, Roger.

Jim and Deb were just part of Roger's Fan Club attending the art show.

Great Fun ...




Great Friends ...

... And In the Morning I'll make Waffles.

Life is moving slowly these early days of spring.

Judy is slowly recovering from her procedure and last Friday we had a visit from Kate and Deb. They came at lunch time and brought lunch. We had a terrific visit all afternoon. Drinking wine and gossiping until late afternoon.

Saturday I helped my brothers move my Dad into a one bedroom apartment from his two bedroom place in the same independent living complex ( his idea ). My brothers are getting too old and weak to carry furniture any more. I of course have no problems at all. We stayed and had dinner with him and I hurried home to watch Michigan State beat UCONN. Go Spartans.

Polly,the girls and Deanna came over on Sunday to visit Judy and as always we had such a good time. The girls were visited by Jack the neighbors dog who stops by every so often. The girls were just thrilled. They want a dog of their own so bad but Polly and Mark don't agree with them. So they settle for hoping Jack will be here when they are. They played with him all afternoon.

Jack and the girls...

Grace just loves Jack.

For everyone who knows Polly ... She loves the dog too. Yea Right !!!

While Polly was here she arranged to get tickets for the MSU / NC game on Monday night. Mark didn't know that Polly was getting the tickets and when they got home they surprised him. Polly asked us to babysit for the girls on Monday night. It was a tough decision , but we said yes. We all had dinner and everyone went home happy.

During the evening Sunday night we had a big snowstorm. We had 8 inches of snow on the ground when we woke up. I thought we were done with snow. I had to get out the snow blower one more time. I am sick of snow. For crying out loud it's spring !!!

This is getting ridiculous.....

Andrea, who watches the girls while Polly works, brought the girls to our house on Monday afternoon. We planned a special outing for dinner at the local A&W drive-in but it was closed. We were all disappointed.

Judy and the girls watched Shrek after dinner. Grace said she didn't like Shrek because he was a "mean yogurt". Grace did like the donkey and decided that she wanted waffles for breakfast.

The big plan for the rest of the evening was to watch Michigan State beat North Carolina in the NCAA Championship game. The whole state of Michigan was rooting for MSU to win. We watched as MSU got off to a bad start and never got back into the game. Bella was doing MSU cheers and screaming and yelling at every shot, but they lost anyways. What a terrible game. We are proud of the Spartans but they ran into a better team this time.

Judy and I watched Cinderella with the girls when they woke up this morning. As promised I made us all waffles for breakfast. Yummy !!!

It's late afternoon and Andrea has just picked up Isabella and Grace and taken them home.

The house is straightened ...

The house is quiet ...

We miss them already.

Snow, Sun, and thoughts of golf.

The weather at this time of year in Michigan can be anything from snow and winter jackets to warm 70 degree days and shorts. This year has been is no exception. We woke up to an inch and half of snow on Sunday and today it's going to be in the mid 60's.

The local golf courses are starting to open and I haven't swung a club since early October. Not that I haven't thought about golf ... I replaced the grips on my clubs about 3 weeks ago and I am planning to get to a driving range soon.

Just to let you know Judy did have her aneurysm procedure last week and everything was successful. Judy has been recuperating and still has a headache and some bruises from the IV's but is feeling a little better each day. I want to thank everyone for the calls and cards and flowers. It's good to know you have so many friends and family that care so much.

This is turning out to be a big week-end here in the Detroit area with the NCAA Men's Basketball finals at Ford Field. The Michigan State Spartans are one of the final 4 and green and white are the colors of choice. Mark and Polly along with my niece Kate are Michigan State alumni and they are so proud to be Spartans. Isabella and Grace have been turned into big State fans and follow basketball just as close as Mark. Grace loves the Michigan State mascot "Sparty" but every time she refers to him it comes out as "Farty". Just about the funniest thing you have ever heard.

So for Grace it's " GO FARTY !!!"

And for the rest of us it's ... "GO SPARTANS !!!"