Fun & BUSY weekend!

This is about as creative as I got in the painting department :) Hopefully the plants will grow and cascade and not dry up and wither away!



I went to Zumba yesterday and mowed my huge lawn when I got home. I was beat!! I have never tackled both of those in one day. This is my little back patio. Stop over sometime....I have wonderful slush mixes in my freezer and fresh limes for mojitos :)


GUESS WHAT? I participated in a 5k!

Here I am with 4 of my classmates. We had a great time!! This is prior to the event where we look put together and ready!



Coming in to the finish. I walked the event pushing my 3 yr. old grandson in a stroller. It was so fun but sometimes as we'd come up behind other walkers he'd growl like a tiger. That got us some strange looks! At this point in the photo above I joined my classmate, Kathy to come across the finish line again so she'd have company :)

Here are 3 of my girls coming in close to the end! Marla, Sue & Kathy

Here are girls from the class of 1977 post walk! It was foggy, misty but humid and we were sweaty. Lovely combo!

This is my youngest granddaughter, Nora and her Mom, Jeni running the 5k. This was Nora's first time and she had a blast!

And here's Cailee, my oldest granddaughter! She's a pro......been running 5ks for about 3-4 years now and makes it look so easy!

She's actually making running look fun. What's up????

Hope you all had a great weekend and a beautiful week is ahead of you!!

What I did on my summer vacation :)

Beautiful pass through Kansas and saw many oil wells! $$$$$$$$$$$ Amazingly none were gushing and killing innocent creatures ;) Simple, peaceful.....all is well!



Corny...I know! We stopped over for a night in Duncan, Oklahoma where my mother was from and where I used to visit frequently as a child. I was SO happy to revisit after 37 years! Boy, things sure changed, yet somehow they remained the same♥



We (Dale & I)stopped in a little sports bar for a drink....it was HOT outside :) I'm NOT a fan of having my picture taken AT ALL so I hope you appreciate that I'm in more pictures in this one week than I allow in a usual year! haha



There was a wonderful handpainted western mural in this bar, painted in 1995. It was fabulous!


And of course, the waitress told us we HAD to get our picture with 'Woody', the cowboy carved with a chainsaw. I seriously had horrible hair days while on vacation. Heat & humidity did not agree with me :(


This is my great-grandmother (Mam-Maw as we called her) Jennie Findley. She's at her wonderful player piano. She taught herself how to play beautiful ragtime music and used to play for us when we visited. There were also music scrolls to put in and it would magically play wonderful old tunes by itself. I LOVED it!!


It now resides in the Stephens County Museum for many to enjoy. I got a little emotional when I heard it play.......memories came rushing back and I missed my youth SO much! The curator of the museum told me that she'd be smiling down from heaven for the joy this has brought to many a children that come through the museum. He promised they are taking very good care of it too :)



And here I am at Mam-Maw's piano! Next to a skinny mannequin! haha...I have completely hidden her!




(I hope this video works!! If not, I'll try to repost it later)



On Wednesday we headed on over to the Lawton Fort Sill area where Dale's son, Jason is stationed and was graduating from the National Guard basic training program! My Dad was stationed there 55 years ago so it was fun for me to see!


Dale & Jason on a very proud graduation day!


We drove to Mount Scott and were able to drive to the top!


And a beautiful site it was! This is overlooking lake Lawtonka.


For fun, Dale's grandson, Tyson hiked his black shorts up as high as they would go and then Dale joined him. It was a hoot!



On the day we left we visited the U.S. Army Artillery Museum. Very impressive and LOTS of history showing artillery going back to the civil war!



Inside the museum :)


Dale and his daughters ,Terri & Michelle, Jason and the grandkids, Carson, Cayla, Crystal & Tyson!


It was a fun time and I hope I didn't bore you all too much with all these pics! Soon time to get back to some painting :)

Darla

I'm back!!

I didn't even think to post that I was leaving, and actually that was because the trip was planned but never actually 'set in stone' :)

Dale's son, Jason, graduated from the National guard this past week in Lawton, OK. It was so fun to see him and what a memorable experience! My Dad was stationed in Fort Sill 55 years ago and so it was interesting for me in that respect also. My mother was from Duncan, OK which is about 30 miles away and that's when they met. They married and he brought her home to North Dakota and then the magic really happened.....ME! haha Kidding!

I have lots of photos to share and even a little video! I'll get them posted soon but I wanted to stop in and say HI and I'm going to try catch up on your blogs today♥

Have a great week!
Darla

Not too productive lately!

Here are a couple more watercolor 'find an image' pieces. I'm not overly impressed with these, but I'll share them anyway :) I've been busy in the garden, planting, weeding, etc. I LOVE summer but it sure takes away from my play time in the art department!









On Memorial Day we saw this beautiful full rainbow on our way home from Fargo. My photo does it NO justice at all. I was just mesmerized at the beauty and actually got a bit of a stiff neck trying to keep looking out the side window to see it :) I LOVE rainbows!!



Last night I baked 100 mini cupcakes for a social gathering today. They are all bite size and turned out so cute! Today, however I see the paper is pulling away a bit so I'm not sure if it's the humidity or what!?

This week is packed solid! Next week I'll leave for a week vacation with no computer access so I will try and get on here as much as possible before I go. We're traveling to Oklahoma. My mother was from there and it's been YEARS since I've visited! Dale's son is graduating from the National Guard so we will be attending that at Fort Sill, OK which was where my Dad was in the service many years ago. I'm looking forward to getting away and traveling down memory lane♥

Have a great week!
Darla