Red Canoe Mishap (*P*S*C #49)

At first glance, this couple in the canoe might look like us.
She has shortish blond hair and he has a protective hat and
sunglasses.  They might be about our ages?  But they are not us.

Why do I use their picture instead of our picture?  Simple:  I
toppled our canoe as I was getting into it. The camera was in my
pocket and was thoroughly submerged into the water and drenched.
I recovered and dried off and my poor camera didn't.  Yet another
mishap in my relationships with cameras --- I have dropped them
with the lens open too many times.  In China, my new camera stopped
focusing for no good reason and had to be replaced.  I am not lucky
with cameras.

I tried using the blow dryer to evaporate the trapped water in the
camera.  No luck.  I tried letting the camera soak up the rays of the sun.
No luck.  Having heard that a wet camera (or cell phone) responds to
a "spa" inside a bath of dry rice wasn't an option.  I let the camera
sleep overnight to dry off, and again no luck.

Enter my husband into the equation of fixing the camera.  He suggested
baking it in the oven. Yeah, right.  But after having exhausted all other
options I figured what the heck and I let him do the cooking.  He set the
cabin oven on low and let 'er bake.  It was about 40 minutes.  Then it was
removed and set out to cool just like a pie.  Once the camera was the
right temperature an attempt to take a picture revealed that my Nikon
COOLPIX was once again ready to work.  Holy Moly!

Certainly, I cannot guarantee that you would have the same results

shouldst you tip in a canoe, soak your camera and bake it to restore it

back to health.  But, the lake picture taken with my delicious

fresh-baked camera was again possible! 

Ahhhh...for now it looks like we're once again in the picture-taking

frame of mind.  Perhaps my luck is changing.

Miss E Crafts for Daddy

She very much wanted to make something for her
Daddy after having made something for her Mommy!

This time, it was a catch-all jar for nails, screws and
whatnots.  And this time, I outfitted her in an apron
just her size.  Every crafter needs an apron after all.

(Please ignore the picture of her standing on the chair, parents.)

Judging from the looks of the
father/daughter team, I'd say
the gift was a success!
(This happened on Father's Day while we were near the cabin.)

Pink Suitcase Chronicles #49: Older-saurus

Once again, we gathered in Michigan at the family cabin to
celebrate five --- five --- birthdays in one swoop: John, Jed,
Kari, Anne and Wes.  Because one in the group is crossing from
the twenty decade to the thirty decade and might be considered
to be a "dinosaur" the theme was obvious!

This year was different than other years when we celebrated at
the White Stag in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.  This time, the kids
wanted Lou Malnati's pizza from Chicago and wanted to have
the party right at the cabin with their grandparents.  Lucky for
me, we live in a town with a Lou's take-out and the pizzas were
frozen and ready to pack in our cooler.  The cakes were purchased
and personalized in Iron River and ready to go.

Ellie was the inspiration for our main activity of watercolor painting:
it was her idea to do this as a party activity!  Quite fun, actually.

The dinosaur heads/hats were found at Dollar Tree. The volcano
was made ahead of time at home with a tutorial found online that
suggested using plaster of paris.  None of that was found in the
basement household supplies but there was powdered grout and it
worked pretty well as a substitute.  I painted the volcano with
acrylic paint and sealed it with a glazing compound.  After the cake
was served, the volcano ingredients were mixed and then the
eruption took place, much to Ellie's delight.

Finally, it was time for gifts. Even Ellie got one...check out what
her MeMo made at the end of this post! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
YOU FIVE
AGELESS WONDERS!

 

Yes, I Do Love Grou_on! (And Chicago.)

Once again, the G word that rhymes with coupon has delighted
us with another adventure!  This time we took a River Walk guided
tour in the city to learn more about Chicago's history.

John and Kari joined us.

Many facts about the history we had already known, such as the
World Columbian Exposition in 1893.
However, not known was how much  larger that Ferris wheel
was than the current one at Navy Pier. 
Check out the visual!

Another new discovery was the whole underground
system for the Metra.
Sis, you were right about the station that would let you
off at Marshall Field's (now Macy's).

Here's the map showing the extent of the Chicago Fire.
Unreal to think of the damge done and the amount of lives lost.
Did you know that the history behind the name of "Second City"
comes from the rebuilding of the city this second time following the fire?

The tour included a notebook with maps and old
photographs.

The reversal of the Chicago River is shown here. 

This is an interior shot of the Chicago Cultural Center.
The dome is Tiffany.

For me, the discovery of the Pedway
was a big one - a city under the city
that spans between 3 and 4 miles.



Seriously, I love our city of Chicago with its quirky, interesting history.
And Grou_on for giving us the experience of enjoying it
at a reduced ticket price!

Tea and Garden Stroll With the Queen

How does one celebrate
the Queen's
6oth anniversary
of her reign?

Across the pond, there
are many options:

*Garden Party for thousands
at Buckingham Palace (last
week)

*Epsom Derby horse racing
last Saturday

*Thames Diamond Jubilee
Pageant for 1000 ships
yesterday

* Concert tomorrow night
with Paul McCartney and
other famous musicians




Alas, here we are stateside and no invitations have been issued to
join the Queen in the celebrations. We must jolly well get on with
making our own festivities right here, right now.

Today, my friend and I joined the Queen for tea.  She was attired in a lovely
shade of blue, white gloves, sensible black shoes, her ever-present black
(solar powered) handbag, and unfortunately, sans hat. (That will be remedied later.)
Due to the bright, sunny day the Queen waved her hand throughout tea and the
garden stroll, thanks to the solar power nature of her handbag "receiver." 

My friend and I wore these two hats as we sat with the Queen,
but only for a brief spell as we attracted far too much attention. 
Because I respect Marti too much, I will not publish the head adorning.













Strolling through the garden
(store property at Pasquesi's
in Lake Forest), the Queen
posed for photo opportunities,
such as next to the
Purple Queen Bougainvillea,
in the English Ivy and
below the English Rose. 
True to form, she remained smiling
and gracious as one might expect.













































Ah, here we are: two floral fascinators from which
the Queen might choose in petals of yellow or pink!
Much better.


























Long live the Queen!

Patriotic Remembering

Today is Memorial Day
and the time to remember
those who have served
our country.  We think of
our fathers,
Elom and Elder,
who left loved ones
behind; thankfully
both made it home
from the
war and went on to
raise families of their
own.
Thank you!

We think of those who
made it home, but have
had injuries to deal with.



We think of our young
neighbor, Benjamin,
who is currently
recovering from gunshot wounds
recieved just a short time
ago in Afghanistan.
Thank you, Ben.

Knowing that there was a parade in our town honoring and
remembering those who have served and those currently enlisted,
we knew it was the right thing to go to show our support. 
Even Miss E got into the action by waving the flag and
clapping for the guests of honor!












Following the parade,
we headed home to make
an impromptu lunch with
hot dogs, potato salad
and the typical holiday fare.

But there had to be cake
with the patriotic colors of
red, white and blue. 
And Miss E had to help with
the decorating of said

cake.  The beauty of being
a grandmother came out
when she wanted the
strawberries to go where
she wanted them to go

and going with that
instead of in rows
like the flags' stripes
might be placed. 
She also insisted that
there be candles on the

cake, so we went with that, too.

And what song
to be sung with
the presentation of the
patriotic cake?
To the tune of
"Happy Birthday to You,"
we sang:

Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue,
Happy Red, White and Blue!

Thank you, again, to those of you who have served

to make our country safe and strong, past and present.

The Crafting Gene?

I've had my hunches for quite a while now that Miss E just might

have the crafting gene that I seem to have been born with.  She asks

for crayons, paper and play-doh whenever she visits. She knows her

colors and has her favorites.  (Not white, that's for sure - she always

wants it taken out of the pack and placed away from the other colors.)

Recently, we had a just-the-two-of us Girl's Night
and there was a secret plan of making her Mommy a gift.
I purchased (at the local thrift shop) an 8 x 10 white picture frame
and brought out the bin of pom poms.  Miss E had fun sorting
them into pastel colors, sorting out the reds, greens and bright
blues to the side.  Then out came the glue - she couldn't wait to get
going with that!

All around the frame went the pom poms.  I put the glue down
and she stuck the pom pom on the glue.  And so on until the frame
was covered.  Yes, I thought to myself, she is keeping going until
the project is complete!  This took about 20 minutes, and she
was still ready to craft more...so we moved on to the wrapping
paper for the gift then and there.

Two flower-shaped cookie
cutters were used to print
on the white paper.   She
wanted purple, so I mixed
together the red and the blue
paint.  A cork was used to
print the flower centers. 
The paper was ready, but had
to wait overnight to dry.

The first thing we did after
breakfast the next day was
to put the picture in the frame,
then into a box and then came
the wrapping.

It's ready for giving to Mommy now, and Miss E was pretty

excited about her secret gift even though her glance looks a

little ??? in the picture.

Can't wait for more adventures in crafting with Miss E,

that's for sure!