Patricia Fisher

~ Home Again, Home Again ~

December 3, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

From cool northern air to warm southern sun and back again. Again this year my sister and I made the trip with our Dad to Florida, where he stays to keep warm while we head back north to ~~endure~~ enjoy the seasons. The transition as we (they) drove (while I crocheted in the backseat) from cold to slowly warming up temperatures was one thing, but hopping a plane in T-shirt weather and being picked up by your Hubby holding a winter coat….well let’s just say it takes a while to adjust!

There wasn’t time to complain, I hit the floor running. I had three days till Thanksgiving, and family dinner was at our house this year. I decided to add to the fun by getting our Christmas tree early and having the house decorated for the event (so early I might add that no one around us was set up selling trees yet. The perk was that our friendly, local tree farmer escorted us into the woods, helped us pick out our tree, and then gave it to us! Gotta love favor!). Let me just say…I have NEVER had my tree up for Thanksgiving, even when the kids were little! My oldest son reminded me that it was two days before Christmas when we put up a tree last year. So WHY, do you ask, did I decide this was the year to surprise everyone with being ahead of the game? I’m blaming it on the temperature drop between Florida and home, maybe shock. But in hind sight…I’m now relaxing by a warm fire as I write this, sitting next to a beautifully decorated tree in the warm glow of its lights. So that’s one thing crossed off the December to do list. Here are some highlights from the trip…

First and foremost- I got to spend a week with my girls (my youngest daughter and her now 9 month old baby girl)-highlight for sure!

Of course there are never any complaints about having to spend time at my brother and sister-in-law’s place.

He even popped the cork on some bubbly while we celebrated some much needed sibling fellowship time on the dock.

Not to mention their 35th wedding anniversary!

I’m oh, so grateful for both of them!

We took the baby girl to the beach…..

...and we visited one of our favorite places in St. Pete, Mazzaros Italian Market. All that goodness under one roof! LOVE this place! It would be dangerous to live close to.

So I took some pretty pictures…

and ate some good food.

Unfortunately the neighbors were away, so no fun visits with them. (They were sorely missed!) I took this photo for you, Bob & Pat, hope you are having a great time!

We did get to meet the neighbors on the other side and it seems they are Mazzaro fans also. So lots of great “foodie” talk.

We shopped a little.

I found this sign, which made me think of the Beekeeper. So…

…I said a tearful good-bye to this little cutie…

…and headed back to the “Not So Little Brown House” on Main ST. EB, to another cutie.

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Filed Under: Events, Family, Grandchildren, Photography Tagged With: Florida

~ December…One Photo at a Time ~

December 1, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

I’m joining the December Photo Challenge, Mark 4:30 photo-a-day. I’ll be posting my daily photos on Instragram. Join the fun!

Filed Under: Photography

~ Beginning Again ~

November 10, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Here I am, beginning again. I’ve moved my blog to a self-hosted spot in the blogosphere and I’m facing the new challenges of learning a new, much more complex theme. There have been frustrations along the way, but also a satisfaction of seeing it through. So, I’m here, lots more to learn, lots of room to grow and very eager to make this space mine. It’s kinda like building a new garden bed and deciding just what you want to plant and where. I’m picking out my seeds in anticipation of great things to come. So come follow along and watch things grow!

Filed Under: Events, My Potager, Nature, Photography

~ My Creation Week 6 ~

November 6, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

A little organization was needed this past week. I had at least six, large baskets full of yarn and crocheting supplies. I decided it was time to sort it all out and consolidate. So this is what I came up with….

I had the four vintage suitcases in the store and the two on top are Home Goods finds. So now all my supplies are in one place, easy to get to, and they make an attractive display (at least I think they do). So I’m set, as long as I stay out of the yarn shop for awhile. All the suitcases are packed full, no more room! Unless…I find another suitcase at the auction.

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So with that finished, I decided to move to the “Inspiration Room” and work on some journal pages.

Now I’m thinking the “Inspiration Room” needs a little organizing. Maybe for next week.

Filed Under: Antiques, Creating Every Day, crochet, The Inspiration Room Tagged With: art journaling, vintage

~ “My Creation Week 3” ~

October 16, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

We went camping again last week. The same spot back up to the lake in the Adirondack Mountains, but this time with the Beekeeper’s family. Finding time to create was a little tricky, I did work on a few pieces that may end up in my journal and I took a lot of photos. Since photography definitely counts for creating in my book… I’ll start with those.

So the leaf on the lake is my favorite, I just love the way it turned out. Sunsets on the lake are always beautiful and a great photo opportunity, as is the wildlife. The geese that were using the lake for a stop off point on their way south didn’t like our kayaks passing through. I’m not even sure how many picture I took of this blue heron, who usually evades me and this trip decided to pose for me. I was so excited to see the young loon again that I wrote about in this post, but this time I discovered that there are four of them now. I think they make their migration trip together, anyone know ? The Beekeeper did lots of fishing, as did the fisher in the picture under the hubby’s hands on the reel. If you look close that little black creature (the fisher) has a fish in his mouth. The fire was one of “my creations”, and then the artwork I was able to get in, not a much as I had hoped, but some anyway. It was a good week, but I’m glad to be back home.

Filed Under: Adirondack Mountains, Creating Every Day, Nature, Photography Tagged With: Camping, loons, watercolor

~ “My Creation Week 2” ~

October 7, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

Well here we go…week two. I’m a little obsessed right now with my art journal, bear with me. First I just made new pages for the little one I started.

art journal page

journal page

But that wasn’t enough so I had to create a whole new journal….

I’m taking this online class with Mary Ann Moss. I really like it. Mary Ann is a great teacher and a little quirky (I love that!). The Beekeeper says the same thing about me, I find it endearing. This is the first journal from the class. My plan was to make a journal with only watercolor paper to take with me camping for Columbus weekend, but I couldn’t seem to stick with that once I got started. I had this old children’s book in the store that was the right size for my paper. The cover was coming off anyway, so I figured it would be a good candidate for this exposed spine journal. Plus I loved the cover. But when it came right down to it my antique loving self had to keep the inside of the book with the cover. So now I have just complicated my first journal making experience. My seven, three page signatures have to each include a signature from the old book. I ended up with two signatures of just watercolor paper and five with a combo of watercolor, ledger paper and the old book sections. I’ve started putting clear gesso on the book pages to strengthen them and prepare them for watercolor (I plan to watercolor the black and white illustrations).

The rest of my creating time has been spent building a website to move my blog to. Just a switch from wordpress.com to wordpress.org, my URL will stay PatriciaFisherDesigns.com. So, Coming Soon, a new look! Here’s a little preview…

blog

Filed Under: Art Journaling, Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, watercolor

~ “My Creation Week” #1 ~

September 30, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

I’m a firm believer in the fact that everyone is creative. The people that know me very well know this about me. I have a hard time being quiet when I hear someone say, “I’m just not a creative person”. We were all created by the ultimate creator (artist of all time), and we do carry His genes. We may not all be in touch with Him or His creativity, but the potential is still there. It’s a little different in all of us, but it does exist. So I’m kinda launching off the idea of Creation week in the Bible. Having said that I can now explain my new plan for myself. Being creative isn’t the hard part for me, but making the time can be. So that brings me to the reason for this post title. I’ve come up with a way to motivate (push) myself to create something every day, which I intend to post about the following week….Eek! I figure it will get me thinking everyday about ways to be creative, about documenting it with a photo (which is creative in itself)… and a weekly blog post to keep me committed. So it should be a win-win for me…I make something and I have a way to remind myself of all that I’ve done each week. So I’m thinking anything that I make goes; painting, drawing, art journaling, writing, gardening, sewing, crochet, jewelry, cooking and baking, photography…..pretty much anything goes. Since we all know that God rested on the seventh day, I may also. So it isn’t about exact numbers, but it is about exercising creativity as often as possible. So here goes week one, which started last Monday.

So from art journaling to watercolor to canned tomato sauce and a new pair of earrings… it’s not the sun, the moon and the stars, but it’s a start. Join me and document your creativity.

Filed Under: Creating Every Day Tagged With: art journaling, canning, jewelry, watercolor

~ The Mountains Were Calling ~

September 12, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

…or maybe the lake! Whichever, it had been over a year since we had been to the lake (“our” lake in the mountains) camping and it was time, we needed a break. Funny when you live in the Catskill Mountains that your (our) idea of a peaceful getaway is to go deeper into bigger mountains, the Adirondack Mountains. But there’s the lake, ahh the wonderful, peaceful Sacandaga Lake (not the Great Sacandaga). This is where the Beekeeper proposed to me, and it holds very fond memories for us. So with much effort we prepared the truck and camper for the escape. The truck, the camper, the canoe, two kayaks, all the fishing gear, all the cooking gear, tarps, tools, bedding, clothes ( warm and cold weather, it is the Adirondacks after all, the weather is a little unpredictable), sun screen, bug spray, (we’ll buy food on the way), The Beekeeper, Riley (our Golden Retriever) and Me, my books, magazines, paints and camera in tow, bound for a good time! Now that’s called “laboring to rest”! I didn’t take a picture of the truck and camper loaded down, so you will have to use your imagination. But as for the rest…here’s a peek at our vacation.

The Beekeeper fixing the new shades we bought for the camper…he seems to have a project wherever we go!

Riley has to be on a leash when we go camping. The only time she ever is. She may look sad, but really she loves camping.

Fires in the morning with coffee….

fires at night with wine.

Great foggy mornings.

Beautiful evening sunsets!

The Beekeeper’s next project, building something to hold his trolling motor on his kayak.

Riley enjoying the lake.

Fishing brings a smile…or maybe it was something I said.

My hook didn’t see too much action…..but my camera lens did.

I love the sunsets!

Did I mention this trip was planned around our anniversary?

I have to admit this was a tricky feat to accomplish….making good use of the beaver’s hard work.

Cheers to “friendship in marriage”!

We had snack too, fresh salsa from our garden tomatoes, but we’ll talk about that in another post.

As a side note… this is the spot out on the lake where the Beekeeper proposed to me 7 years ago.

And the island that we like to fish around.

Sometimes with success!

And it’s a good day for me when I get a chance for a shot like this….I’m in love with the loons!

I don’t think the feeling is mutual!

My treat for this year’s trip…

a glimpse (and about 25 shots) of a young loon. Thanks to the Beekeeper for a keen eye, and a fast trip back to the campsite to get me and my Nikon!

“All good things must come to an end”….who came up with that!?!

Actually, it was Chaucer, but I don’t really like it.

Good things should go on and on!

Filed Under: Events, Nature, Photography Tagged With: Adirondack Mountains, Camping, fishing, Golden Retriever, Lake

~ Blood Covenant ~

March 29, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:26

Filed Under: The Word

~ Change of Plans ~

February 24, 2013 by Patricia Fisher

On our way to JFK

I was supposed to be arriving in Florida today to wait out the last two weeks of my daughter’s pregnancy. Due date for my first granddaughter, March 4th. Excitement was in the air. Ticket was purchased….Newark to Tampa on Sunday afternoon…. baby shower Sunday night….then shopping for the finishing touches for the nursery…and wait …wait…wait!

So, Wednesday I’m in the middle of lunch with two of my “horsey” girlfriends and I get a call from Florida, my daughter saying, ” Mom, don’t cry, but I’m at the hospital. I’m in labor”. So my girlfriends helped me pack, cleaned my kitchen and proceeded out to the barn to feed my little herd while the “beekeeper” rushes home. I buy a second ticket because it cost more to change my ticket than to buy a new one!!! We’re off to JFK, which was the only place I could find a flight to get me there as fast as possible. While sitting in NYC traffic…my granddaughter is born!

~ Delilah Ruth ~

I arrive within hours…to this precious face…. and now I am spending the next several days holding this sweet little gift from God….Happy Nana!

Filed Under: Events, Family Tagged With: Florida, grandchildren