First Harvest

Here's how it's going in the Karny Garden...Picked the first batch of raspberries...harvested apple mint & lemon balm & am now drying it for tea...& the veggie patch is growing. Mom told me that Grandpa said that if corn was "knee high by the 4th of July", you'd have ears of corn that could be eaten. Well my corn was perfectly knee high on the 4th of July so we'll see if my Grandpa's saying holds true.

Enaville Resort aka the Snakepit

A couple of weeks ago I was putting the final touches on things for my art show. The big task was writing descriptions for my paintings. It just seems so hard to put everything I was thinking & feeling when I was painting into words...Tony was telling to quit procrastinating & just get to it. I was on the last description...which of course was the hardest! What made it even worse was that is was a beautiful day out...I said, "I'd rather do something like go to the Snakepit & have a burger & fries!"I mean, I've lived in the area for most of my life & have never been to the Snakepit...Then Tony said that if I finished my description we could go. There's nothing like a little bribery to get the creative juices flowing! I was done in no time!

I had the best hamburger & fries ever! Really! The burger was huge & of course I had to get everything on it...the fries were perfect...golden crispy on the outside...not soggy...not hard & crunchy all the way through...beautiful fries done to perfection. Tony had the same thing & our daughter had chichen strips...which she says were the best ever. There were a few people in there. The waitress was super nice & running around like crazy...I think she was the only one waiting tables....but she wasn't frazzled or grouchy. Now that takes talent! There's no way I could do that job! Then an old timer came in...he had quite the beard going on...long & kinda separated into two. He sat at the table next to us...friendly guy with a big smile & he said, "Have you been in the water yet?" We said not yet & then he said, "I bet it's gotta be colder than sticking your butt in a 40 foot well in January!" Yep, that's what he said. We agreed with smiles on our faces...that's pretty funny. He proceeded to tell us all about the old logging days when it would only take one tree to make a load on a logging truck. And after we finished eating the waitress brought over huckleberry ice cream. We were stuffed, but how can you pass on free huckleberry ice cream? You can't...there's just no way...IT WAS AMAZING!

Here's a little history on the Enaville Resort aka the Snakepit: Enaville was named for a railroad crewman's wife, who was also the postmistress at the time. Her name was Ena. Enaville Resort, located in Enaville, was known over the years as the Snakepit, Josies, Clark Hotel, and many other 'unprintable' names. It has been a landmark for over 100 years. The Resort has served as a boomtown bar, railroad layover, hotel, house of ill repute, and starting point for loggers and miners of yesteryear. The owners started calling it the Enaville Resort in hopes of getting a liquor license. During the 1974 flood, they tied boats up at the foot of the steps since there was that much water and took pictures to send to Boise. They believed that if it appeared that they had lake frontage it would help in getting a liquor license.

And here's a good link: http://www.tylersterritory.com/travel/namerica/northern-rockies/idaho/kingston/kingston-02.html

My First Show! July 2008

This is the first showing of any of my work in about eight years. It is the first time I've done a series of paintings all at the same time. Visit my MoonWillow Studio blog to see all seven paintings, along with more of my work: http://moonwillowstudio.blogspot.com/

This series is titled, "New Beginnings". The images are based on my own personal experience of being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) & Fibromyalgia (FM)...finding the courage to live with it...& after 8 years, regaining enough wellness to finally feel alive again. Rather than focusing on the difficult times & dealing with the challenges of living with CFS & FM I chose to focus on courage, hope, & the power of positive thinking. The creative act of painting this series was also very helpful in my healing process.

Showing July 9-26, 2008 at The Artist's Tree Gallery, 828 W. Sprague Avenue, Downtown Spokane, WA, across the street from the Davenport Hotel.

I'm super excited! Stay tuned to see how it went!

(It is estimated that between 1 and 4 million Americans suffer from CFS & 6 to 8 million people in the United States suffer from FM. More information & resources for CFS & FM can be found at www.reaching-out.info)

Karny Flamingo Kocktail

1 shot tequilla, orange juice, splash of pomegranite cranberry juice. Serve on the rocks in a tall glass (stir to blend flavors & colors) with a green paper umbrella. Trust me, the green umbrella just looked the best....yes, I did try other colors. It won't be a true Karny Flamingo Kocktail, but you can use other colors of umbrellas, but you do so at your own risk. Karny Life can not assume any risk involved in not following the directions exactly.

Enjoy! Have fun! Drink responsibly & don't drive drunk & all that jazz.

Karny Kocktail

1 shot tequilla, pomegranite cranberry juice, squeeze of lime, float lime wedge in drink (the green & red contrast is nice) Serve on the rocks in a lowball glass. Add a vintage swizzle stick. Yes, it must be a vintage swizzle stick otherwise it's just not a Karny Kocktail...it's just a cocktail, and what's the fun in that?

Enjoy! Have fun! Drink responsibly & don't drive drunk & all that jazz.

Berries for Breakfast

Berries from my garden for breakfast.
Wash my face in the morning dew.
Warm my toes in the sun.
Watch the trees dance with the wind.
Listen to the chatter of birds.
Traffic goes by...
sounding like wave of the ocean.
Hot, sweet, creamy coffee tickles my tounge.
Peace is in these brief moments.
These moments are few...
These moments are magickal.

~Karmen 2008

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Exercise Plan

Follow the directions exactly. Do not skip any steps even if you think you can lift more.

Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty
of room at each side. With a 5-lb potato sack in each hand, extend
your arms straight out from your sides and hold them there as long
as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax. Each day,
you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer.

After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato sacks.
Then try 50-lb potato sacks and then eventually try to get to where you
can lift a 100-lb potato sack in each hand and hold your
Arms straight for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level)

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each of the sacks.

Wisdom on a Starbucks Cup

I saw this on my cup of coffee the other day...."There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."-Madeleine K. Albright (Former Secretary of State & Ambassador to the U.N.)

www.starbucks.com/wayiseeit.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability....it's not a bad thing to be vulnerable...it's not a sign of weakness. Think of it more as a soft strength. It takes a lot of courage to let ones gaurd down & allow themself to be vulnerable...to allow others to see our soft underbelly...I think we all have a hard time asking for help or sharing our most intimate thoughts & feelings. So many times in the past we've had experiences with other people who judged us when we were vulnerable or they let us down when we asked for help. By being vulnerable I think we have the opportunity to learn more about ourselves & our dearest friends. By being vulnerable we give others the gift of feeling good about helping & deepening our connections with one another. By being vulnerable we have to trust too & that can be just has hard. I mean how many times have we trusted people in the past & they just took advantage & hurt us??? Someplace in our mind we said, "NEVER AGAIN.", and we became more suspicious of others & sadly hardened our heart. So live on the edge today, even if it is just a little bit...Be daring! Open your heart up...speak your heart...Be vulnerable!

Laundry Room

This is our laundry room. It's life started out in a closet with bifold doors. We put a storage closet in the studio & continued the wall to make a bigger laundry room. Tony put in a pocket door & got rid of the hiddious bifold doors. What you can't see is that there is a purple wall & clouds in a blue sky painted on the cieling with a butterfly. The ironing board is in the wall & flops out, which is a great space saver.

We inherited our original washer & dryer from my folks when we first moved in. They were faithful companions for many years, but alas the washer blew up this winter. So we had to break down & buy a new washer & dryer. Our old trusty dryer found a new home at a friends house. Everybody wins! LOL

We went with the stacking set, which freed up some space for a counter. Yes, another home project. Now the rule for this project was that it had to cost nothing. Tony used some of our old fence boards to make a counter & a backsplash with a shelf in it. We had some extra glass laying around so Tony cut it to fit on top of the counter. My contribution to this little endevor wasI making the flowered curtain from fabric I had tucked away in a drawer in the studio.

I love my laundry room. There are some finishing touches that still need to be done, but that's another project for another day.

'New' Door

When we moved here 8 years ago we had a garage. Well...that got converted into my art studio of course! There was one of those outside doors between the studio & the rest of the house...& it was UGLY! The last couple of years we've been on a quest to find just the perfect door to replace the original one. We looked at new doors....we looked at salvaged doors....we looked & looked. Some were way out of our budget...some were in our budget, but weren't right...some were beat up & expensive. I am happy to report that our long quest is finally over! We got this really cool salvaged door from Habbitat for Humanity. This door was just right! It was in good shape & affordable & I just LOVE the glass in it! It even came with the original brass door knob. I just wish I knew the history of the door. Now I want to collect doors...old salvaged doors that need a good home...I think I need one for every room in the house! To the left of the photo is one of my paintings & to the right you can partially see my coolection of old mirrors.

Tony the Builder

Here's what I've had Tony up to...We decided to put a roof over the hot tub. We're hoping we'll use it more when it's raining & in the winter. The roof is just phase one. Now Tony is going to put deck around the hot tub. Then he'll enclose the whole thing with our old fence & an old door that was here when we moved in. The door was part of a greenhouse. Unfortunately we had to take down the greenhouse because it was about to fall down. But we've made good use out of it's windows & now the door. Eventually we'll put a door where that window is so we can just walk out & get in the tub. We'll do that when we replace the siding........Don't even get me started about the siding...that story will have to wait for another day. OH! We're also thinking of putting a fountain off of the roof that will mimic rain...it will fall into an old bathtub. I'm hoping I'll find a robin's egg blue tub. Stay tuned for the final project!

Growing Garden

I guess it's been about 3 weeks or so since I planted our garden. Tony dug up the lawn. My Dad helped me put in the path. Mom bought me the willow trellis for the beans. And I've been a good garden mum, watering all the little seeds. Plants are actually growing! If all goes well we'll be taking a stroll throught the garden for our dinner. How convienient is that?!