Jaci Dawn

YES! I know it is early. And trust me, I have no intentions of decorating for Hallowe’en until the first of October rolls around. I promise I am not rushing the season – I want my hot, dry Indian Summer first. But hot & dry & summer = plenty of time to paint outside. And that equals the reason for this post.

I debated putting this on my Art blog, but I don’t think this really qualifies as serious art. This is just a simple craft project, no particular talent required, only patience while the layers of paint dry. In fact, the hardest part was researching funny epitaphs.

I bought these at a yard sale for $7. Then I bought four cans of faux stone spray paint, some glow-in-the dark paint, and a roll of blue painter’s tape. Everything else I had on hand: paint brushes; black, orange, and green craft paint; black permanent markers; and stencils.

T washed as much of the moss that had been hot-glued to the stands, and then I taped over the pumpkins and cats. Several coats of faux stone later, I removed the tape and painted the cats and pumpkins. To be specific: I gave the cats a fresh coat of black paint and used the same white face drawings. The pumpkins became orange with green stalks.

Today, I used a couple different black permanent markers and I drew the new pumpkin faces and added the funny epitaphs.

(click on photo for larger view)

I made up the names, but most of these are real epitaphs. I upgraded the jack o’lantern faces, too.

Then I painted specific parts with glow-in-the-dark paint. And, last, I coated it all with poly-urethane to protect the new paint job from the wonderful Oregon autumn weather.

Since I didn’t have to make the forms or screw them together, this was pretty much an “anyone can do this” sort of craft.

Note: the stencils I used are an old set I purchased at a Tupperware™ party back in the early 1980’s. I did all the lettering and the designs on the headstones with the stencils. The jack o’lantern faces were Internet downloads. As I said, the hardest part of this craft was researching the funny epitaphs I wanted to use and waiting for the layers of paint to dry.

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It was a dark and stormy day…

Okey dokey, this is not a novel by Snoopy, but it *was* a dark and gloomy day here in the Pacific Northwest today.

I posted my sentiments on Facebook and my cousin’s wife shot back: “Come to see us, bring shorts, swimsuit. We have sunblock.” She only lives in Texas.

I thought briefly about jumping in my private SST and zipping over to take her up on her offer, but one thing – well, two things – prevented me from doing that.

Primarily, today was the date of the Oregon City Antique Fair.

Secondarily… I don’t have a private SST, so that wasn’t really a viable option in the first place. Minor details.

I had planned on the Antique Fair. In fact, when I got up this morning, I headed down there first thing. There was absolutely no parking and I decided it was simply not meant to be. I came home, told Harvey that I was going to save money and work in the garden and on some Hallowe’en crafts.

Then the rains started. Dark and gloomy. I put away all the deck chairs, cleaned up my craft mess (which was outside), and stared out at the darkness and gloominess.

Rain. Why, I bet a bunch of parking spaces just opened up at the antique fair!

So I put Harvey in his kennel and headed out a second time.

I like antique fairs because I get a glimpse into what half my house is worth. Take for example: vintage and collectible medicin bottles and blue Ball jars. At approximately $3/item, I have a considerable fortune in my possession. Vintage spurs – $15/pair with straps. I have 2 pair. Old books, vintage opera glasses, half a hames – wow, the stock in my possession just keeps racking up. Who knew half a hames was worth anything?

If you are unfamiliar with what a hames is, it is a horse or mule collar, generally the wood-and-iron part.

I was alone because my husband was off camping all of last week, so I could peruse at my own speed. The only hindrances today were umbrellas (Oregonians do use umbrellas, contrary to the myth) and vendors who are not from Oregon and who were packing up to leave already. Oregonians just shrug and say comforting things like, “It’ll change” or “I think it’s slowing down now” or “it’s Oregon. It rains.”

Then they hit you in the nose with their umbrella as they try to fold it down. They are carrying an umbrella because they didn’t grab a rain jacket when they left home and the umbrella is always in the car.

I had a hat and a jacket and I left my umbrella in the car.

I saw a lot of over-priced items, pretty glassware, collectible miscellany, watch and clock parts (apparently antique fairs are a great place to sell to the Steampunk crowd), horse tack, and heavy old furniture (nothing of outstanding antique quality). I was hoping to find some old painting frames to display some vintage doilies my husband inherited, but nothing jumped out and tripped me.

In the end, I purchased one item for more than it is worth, but for less than the vendor was asking.

The vendor wanted $10. I figured it wasn’t worth more than $5. I paid $8 for it and am reasonably happy even though it was not much of a steal and certainly not a real bargain.

It remained a dark and gloomy day, I didn’t fly down to Texas to hang out in the swim pool with my cousin’s wife, but I did get to wander around the antique fair. And considering that I spent $8 but I calculated how much money we’re sitting on in terms of junk collectibles, I feel rich.

And I think I’m a tad better writer than Snoopy.

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Oh, where do I begin?

Faerieworlds? Grandbaby? Nephew? It has been a whirlwind of events over the past few weeks. Faerieworlds deserves its own post, but I cannot promise it will be timely to the event: we are back into a 90-degree (F) weather pattern and that makes the loft (where my computer is) stuffy & hot in the evenings when I have time to post. I could have posted last week, but somehow time slipped by – and there was no post. Time slips by a lot, lately.

There have been a lot of changes at work, not the least of which is that I am pretty much the “Last Woman Standing” from the “old” crew. All the accounting staff I started with in 2007, when I moved to the Closing Department of our company – all of them, except moi – are gone. The last one got married in July and quit by the end of July to start her new life with her beloved. She was my best friend at work and is sorely missed. I feel a little like I have just started a new job because I am learning the new personalities and quirks of an entirely new staff!

Faerieworlds came and went, and while I did not take a ton of photos, I have enough photos to share and a long blog post to write about the 2013 experience, which includes taking a new acquaintance to the event – and our budding friendship, which I hope blossoms. Faerieworlds deserves a post of its own and I am not in the mood to do that tonight.

Tonight belongs to family.

Last week, the day after Faerieworlds, I drove north to PDX. I timed it according to the internet: Arwen’s flight from Alaska was on time & I wanted to cruise through the arrivals exactly 10-15 minutes after her arrival to pick the kids up as they exited the concourse. Of course, their flight was early and they had to sit on a hard bench, waiting for me. Verity, just 3.5 months old, slept through the entire flight and wait and consequent ride to our house.

Verity looks just like her mother at the same age, but acts considerably less colicky. Arwen was a colicky baby. Maybe it was because I was a new mother. Maybe it is because Arwen is such a calm mother.

At one point, Chrystal & Brian, Arwen, Sam & Verity, and I were all together in the backyard. It was wonderful to have so much of the family together.

Poppa certainly enjoyed his second granddaughter!

They left on Wednesday. On Thursday, my nephew flew in from Minnesota.

It’s a long story: my sister died suddenly when she was just 40. She contracted Necrotizing Faciitis (flesh eating bacteria) and died within 36 hours. She left behind several small children and my oldest nephew (then 21? I think he was 21). Chrystal was the oldest, a full orphan at the time. She was almost 9. Mike was the next, a boy of almost 5 year of age. His father took him to live in Minnesota. Then J. J stayed in Nevada with my sister’s widower and his soon-to-be second wife. J is still there.

Mike just graduated from high school and turned 18. He flew out to see his older sister and this weekend, we barbecued with him and Chrystal.

Joe Cool. My nephew, fresh from Minnesota, savoring the steak barbecue. He’s just looking for family connections.

Grand-dog, Fen, came along. Fen has grown so much since his last visit! He’s pretty well-behaved and I think his next visit will be more of an open visit. We will let him meet Harvey outside of the kennel. Murphy would probably be the better playmate, but Harvey is less scary as a big dog. Harvey will be intimidated by Fen, but that’s OK. Harvey dislikes confrontation.

Fen – despite my preconceived dislike of little dogs – is a pretty decent little dog. Of course, he is my grand-dog. 🙂

Brian is the best guy in the world. Whether or not Brian knows it, I consider him my son-in-law. he is definitely the bast man for Chrystal. The three of them went through the only photo album I have that includes pictures of Chrystal & Mike’s mother. I wish I had more.

I wish I had stories. But I left home at 17 and my sister and I drifted apart. We wrote letters, of course, and somewhere I have all those letters saved. But we were worlds apart.

All I have now of her is her children. Her children are beautiful. I hope she knows that.

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