LOTS TO CATCH UP ON.

LOTS is right! My large, extended family got together on Saturday, March 22, at my brother and (wonderful) sister-in-law's house for the yearly Easter egg hunt. They have a gigantic open back yard and it was roped off into an "easy" section for the very young and the more difficult section for the older kids. Our mom would have been so glad to see us all together celebrating family.
It is hard sometimes - not seeing her (physically) in her little white sweater watching over all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. It's been nearly two years since her death, but time still hasn't taken away all of the sting and sorrow. I'm sure, however, that she would be proud of us for making the effort to get together so we might stay close. All of the brothers and sisters get along very well, and so do the grandchildren. Here is Hailey, above, one of the youngest, advancing toward the camera - going nose-to-nose. She enjoyed the egg hunt, but was interested in everything - not just the eggs.
MY SON, Peter, had a surprise for me that I want to show you. (He is the one with the green shoelaces holding the present in his hand.)
And, voila! Here it is ... open. A dragonfly necklace from Canada - a trip his family took - that he forgot to give me earlier.
LATER that evening my sister, Judy, and I went to an art gathering, Creative Circle, at Bodacious Beads. We used purple Sculpey to make amphoras, small "containers" to hang on a cord around your neck. You could make them larger, too, and hang them on a wall. We had fun! Here are the two sister's concoctions. Judy's has the heart-shaped stopper. She is very artistic!
One of the other women attending, Denise, made this very, very pretty white amphora. It is magnificent, I think! Someone - I don't know who - made an amphora with a stopper that had a face imprint on both sides. Clever, clever, clever! I am eager, now, of course, to try a lot more baking Sculpey - avoiding the toxic build-up in the oven, of course. Time to search Goodwill for an old toaster oven.
It's been a busy Monday, but it's good to touch base with my blog.
ALERT: I will be offering a piece of artwork - don't know what yet - to my 2,000th visitor. I will try and make it something special though. I can only track you through your "signature" on my Sitemeter, so I will post who was the 2,000th person to check in. You'll have to check back from time to time and find out if it was YOU! - femminismo