Lynn Carson Harris

Peony Time!

We are thrilled that school is out for the summer. Miss P kicked of her summer vacation with a Girl Scout end of the year camp out last night! We had pouring rain in the wee hours of the morning but luckily the torrential downpour was north of town and missed the campers. 

After picking up Miss P, we journeyed on to Ann Arbor to enjoy the Peony Garden at Nichols Arboretum while the Peonies are still blooming. The Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden is the largest public collection of historic (pre-1950) herbaceous peony cultivars in North America. 

The flowers did not disappoint.

You can see photos from last year's visit here.

Solstice

We went for a short solstice walk this afternoon. 

I've been wanting to get back to using my DSLR every day like I did a couple of years ago.

I think it helps my state of mind to find something beautiful or interesting to document or remember each day. It provides a visual journal but also encourages me to get out and look at the world around me when I may be feeling more like a slug. 

The solstice seemed like a good day to start back with daily photography. 

I'll be posting my daily photos on flickr but some of them may end up here on the blog.

Misty Morning

Yesterday a friend and I went on a misty morning photo walk in the cemetery.

Picnic at the Playground

P and I are sad that our favorite items (the slide, merry-go-round, and monkey bars) at our favorite park in town were removed this summer.

Last night we took a picnic dinner to the school playground where everything is very shiny and colorful.

I tried to ignore the giant inflated plastic objects scattered around the playground.

P had lots of fun on the swings and started thinking about going back to school and playing with her friends at recess.

P tells me that you know you're swinging really fast when your hair blows in your face!  That is some fast hair!

We had lots of fun but I still miss the old park equipment.

 

A Great Ride

Thursday evening we watched M's last show with the Chelsea House Orchestra.
There were lots of fabulous shows, festivals, and fun times in the five years we were associated with the group.
This years graduates were making the most of their last show.

It was a real crowd pleaser.

Thanks to all involved with the group and especially Fritz.  It was a great ride!

Muffin Better

Chelsea is the home of Chelsea Milling, the only place in the world where Jiffy Mix is made. I think it is fun to take visitors on the tour. Well, M's girlfriend said she had never been on the tour and since miss Petunia is now six, the minimum age for the tour, I thought we had to go.

They renovated the visitor entrance and remodeled the auditorium where they give the pre tour schpeel. It is all very fancy.

They have a video featuring an animated Jiffy box as their 'mascot'. I kind of miss the old slide show and the mention of the "blue and white box with the red accent."
Hair nets are still required, of course.

It was a fun time.

The big kids made a huge batch of brownies with our free boxes of mix when we got home!

Road Trip!

My bags are packed.

M and I are heading south to North Carolina. The Chelsea House Orchestra will be performing at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. We are heading out in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow and will return in the wee hours on Monday morning.

If your are in the area, come look us up and enjoy the music. I will be wherever the  fiddle group is. They have performances Thursday evening, several on Friday and Saturday, and again on Sunday before we depart.

Have a great weekend. I'll not have internet access until I return.

Buddhas, Baskets, and Bones

We spent the day in Ann Arbor seeing the sights at the U of M Museum of Art and

the Natural History Museum.

It was a great way to beat the heat.

Beat the Heat at Henry Ford

Yesterday we beat the heat by going to the Henry Ford Museum.

P likes the silly cars in Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go and never believed me when I told her that I had seen a hotdog car. She was quite surprised when we walked into the museum and saw this car right at the entrance.

They have a collection of doll houses too. I liked the kitchen sink in this one. And that little baby in the walker was just TOO cute!

I love the Dymaxion House that is on display there.

Just look at all of the NEW materials that are in there.

The fabric in this 1950's shirt is pretty fabulous, I think.

Here is P in the seat on the bus where Rosa Parks was arrested. Yes, they have the actual bus on display and they let you get on and have a seat.

The bus is restored complete with mid century advertisements.

A day in an airconditioned museum was just what we needed. I enjoyed all of the mid century goodness on display.

What have you been doing to beat the heat?

Book Binding Tutorial

Over the last few days I have been working on making books from the cover papers that we made in art club last week. This is how I did it:

Materials needed:
Decorated paper for cover (these were papers "painted" with colored tissue paper)
Mat board or heavy cardboard (frame shops may have scrap mat pieces)
plain white paper (or other paper for pages)
paste glue (I used Yes glue)
colored duct tape

First,  make the pages to insert in the book. I used ten sheets of regular copy paper. Fold the paper stack in half and stitch (on a long basting stitch) along the fold line.

Next, cover the mat board with the decorated paper. I neglected to take photos of this procedure. I hope you can figure out what I did. 

Cut each decorated paper in half and used half for the front cover and half for the back. Next, glue the mat board to the paper leaving 1.5 inches on three sides and trimming the fourth side (spine of the book) even. I then trimmed the two outer corners at a 45 degree angle so that when the edges were turned in and glued down they fit together in a pretty miter.

Duct tape is used for the spine to hold the two halves of the book togther. Lay a piece of duct tape sticky side up on the work surface and then place the book covers on the tape as shown. Make sure to leave about a quarter of an inch between the edges of the cover so that there is space for the section of pages to go.

Next, fold down the ends of the duct tape.

Spread glue over the front and back of the page secton and place it even with the inside edge of the back cover. Carefully close the front cover so that the edges of the book are even. Press firmly together.

I am thrilled with how these turned out.

Most of the students made papers with many colors on them.

A few students used warm or cool colors for their covers.

This was a fun project. Older children would be able to complete the books on their own but I thought that was asking a lot of the K-2 age group.

I hope the students will enjoy having these blank books to keep.