ART FAIR ON THE BOARDWALK....

Today we ventured out between the raindrops to attend the "Art Fair on the Boardwalk" at Conneaut Lake Park. It was so beautiful! The entire boardwalk was lined with white vendor tents showing painting, sculpture, photography, the requisite jewelry, stained glass, metal work, and some fabulous handmade art dolls. It was a very good thing that there was jewelry there because I left home without any earrings! (oh my).

Standing up on the boardwalk you have a nice view of the beach and can appreciate a cool breeze too.

This building is the Beach Club and you can see some pretty jazzy beach front homes across the lake. I grew up here and remember fondly weekend dates to the park; the best part had to be the hand cut french fries, served in a newspaper cone with vinegar. I can taste then this minute! Behind the boardwalk is the park itself with adult and children's carnival rides and various places to get food and drink. Of course, the park seems smaller now, and worn and shabby, but in my mind it is still the best of what it was like growing up here.

Today I remembered......and it was good.

SUMMER SATURDAY IN NW PENNSYLVANIA.....

Today we took a short drive to the "Conneaut Cellars Winery" for a tour and tasting. This is a display of oak barrels situated at the entrance to the winery.

Here you can see Roy at the tasting bar discussing the finer points of wine (like, its good, I'll buy it) and we did find two that we really liked.

One of the employees gave us a short tutorial on grapes and vines. When we told her we were interested in growing grapes, she cut off a clipping for us to take home.

Yeah we did. A split case of "Midway Blush" (a mellow rose blush wine), and "Colonel Crawford" (a semi-dry red).

Here is the vine cutting in a bucket of water, which is to be changed every day until a tiny root shows up. Then, we need to plant it in dirt. Apparently the very best grapes are grown in the very worst soil. We have a good share of gravel and rock so it should work out. Our biggest challenge is to keep the deer from eating it. We are putting up a greenhouse soon so that should take care of the problem. You can read more about this local winery by going to their web site at http://www.ccw-wine.com/. They have some wonderful recipes using their wines which I intend to try over the holidays. On September 12 they will be celebrating their "20th Harvest Picnic"; wine tastings and food and assorted activities. We will be there!

THE MAN IN BLACK......

This is the time of year to begin preparing for the winter that we KNOW will come. One of the important things is to have your chimney cleaned. We have a pellet stove on the first level where my studio is. We have a wood stove on the second level. So.....enter "SOOTY GEORGE", the area guru of chimney sweeps.

Our chimney has been sucked out and swept and cleaned and is now ready for Santa. Cheers for "SOOTY GEORGE" !

THUNDER IN THE CITY.....

This weekend is the second annual "Thunder in The City" event showcasing classic cars and bikes. On Friday there was a band and street dance at Diamond Park. Today started out with a pancake breakfast at the Unitarian Church and moved on to a day long Community Art Show at the Episcopal Church at Diamond Park. My lovely lady, "Bella" was awarded second place in the "People's Choice" voting. I guess the art show visitors liked her as much as I do! This afternoon was filled with the Classic Car Show and the bike parade into downtown Meadville. Seriously, there were hundreds of bikes! The sound was deafening!

The retail stores moved their inventory out on to the sidewalks and there was live music during the afternoon.

This lovely lady with the funny nose is a friend and fellow artist. The streets were full of people, made all the nicer by having the major streets in town blocked off from traffic (except the bikes).

I decided to leave my altered couture inside. Here you can see the jeans and skirts and dresses, bags and painted shoes. Of course, I was my usual walking billboard for my clothing art. It was a fabulous day and we are looking forward to this event next year.

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THIS IS WHERE IT HAPPENS....

For those of you with tidy work spaces, this must be just appalling! Eh...it works for me. I love my space.

"BELLA"

"ANITA"

Acrylic paper collage on 18 X 24 gallery wrapped canvas.

YEA! WE'RE READY!