We spent several days in Michigan. Petoskey was our first stop. The town of Petoskey surrounds an older township called Bay View. It was founded as a religious resort community in 1875. As we walked around I realized that when I imagine small town America – this is what’s in my head. Lovely Victorian houses, tall leafy trees, lawns that blend together, kids out playing, people on porches, and the most amazingly clean outdoor smells – amazing. Unfortunately we didn’t actually get to stay here – but it was fun to visit.

The sign on the green house says “Wee Hoose”! You can’t say that without smiling.

Chicago has lots of fountains. Big ones, little ones, modern ones, old ones. Water does not appear to be a problem in Chicago.

I had to stop and look at this fountain in particular. I couldn’t help but wonder why is the water hitting this poor stone woman in the waist? I’m just sure she’s wondering the same thing. That would drive me crazy.

That’s Steve in front of the largest painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s Georgia O’Keefe’s Sky Above Clouds.

I loved this green dotted wall. Steve looks lots better in front of it than I did. The photo he took of me was almost immediately deleted. Don’t you love that – no wasting film, no guilt, just delete those bad photos!

We went to the Art Institute of Chicago last Wednesday. What an amazing place! The bronze lions flanking the entry are just about as wonderful as the art inside.

I wondered about people taking photos of the art… and then I found myself snapping a few photos. It was allowed, I wasn’t breaking any rules. I bought a postcard of this Van Gogh, but I’m glad I have the photo too. It’s different in its frame.
I’m also happy to have this detail shot of one of Monet‘s waterlilies. That man could do amazing things with splotches of paint.Dots have always been good…

Vicki Norris made a small version of Everyday Best in wool and brought it to a class I recently taught in Kingwood, TX. It’s on our Show & Tell page too, but I wanted to be sure you blog readers saw it. It’s way cute!

I’m on the road now with my husband, Steve. We are on our way to the Vermont Quilt Festival via Chicago, Michigan, Niagra Falls, etc. I’m also going to be teaching Connecticut and we will visit NYC and Baltimore. I hope to be able to post from the road but here’s some flowers from TX for now…