Art In The Park.....

Our annual Art in the Park festivities were really great this year with a record number of booths.. rumor had it at over 800 ! Not too shabby ....

However the really big Kahuna of Art Fairs is the Ann Arbor Art Fair

Many of the artists that came to ours here in our home town will pack up shop tonight and than head over to the "Big One" in about 10 days...

It's a lot of fun... so much so that I went twice..

Once on Saturday with Maria.. and again today..
Now you know I must have liked it because it was hotter then Hades on a Hot Day.


I really felt bad for this Live Art Entertainer in all the heat...
But ....He seemed oblivious to heat and to the crowd... That is UNTIL someone dropped some dough in his can.
Then he would hang on to his victim until the next person came and dropped more money.
Quite a lucrative venture if you don't mind blood poisoning from the paint melting into your bloodstream.. I had to donate...
This is live art as well.. Note the painted dude sitting on the stool... with the artist eating lunch next to him.. I still can't figure out what exactly they were selling?

This particular picture does not feature Art or Artists.. but rather a favorite little spot of Mr R's and mine.. Grape Expectations..

Nothing like sitting under one of the umbrella's and sipping a little wine ... conversation...goat cheese and crackers.. and friends.. ( Just Saying)This particular art form always amazes me.. It's kind of the Fred Sanford Art Look... If you are old enough to remember Fred Sanford owned a junk yard..

All of these pieces are made of old junk.. Car parts.. Pipes... pans...etc.. all welded to make exotic whimsical animals..
( The hand in this picture * taken by accident looks like it's holding the metal cat's tail )

More large metal pieces.. only a little more sophisticated...

Maria liked the giant dragon fly

As well as the ginormous goldfish...
The funny thing is...

It's not just about the art.

This is a great venue to people watch..

This gentleman was jamming out to the band..He was about as cute as they come.. shuffling around with his cane dancing to the jazz band.

I overheard someone in the crowd say he was a regular at the free band concerts given in the park over the summer. Apparently he busts a move there too..I had total bag envy when I saw this lady's tote.. I mean think of all the crapola you could put in that sucker!!!

The Mr Miyagi lookalike here was a hoot...I would have loved to buy one of his Bonsai trees... but would have to fund it with some Obama money to afford it.. Who knew teeny tiny trees could be so expensive?

Did I mention it was hot??? It was hot enough make the hairs on your head stand straight up !!! and I am not even kidding ... see...
I still don't know how I feel about this booth... You see it had really beautiful paperweights..

in all sorts of sizes....and colors

The guy selling them said they even glow in the dark... So I had to take a look see..

But upon closer inspection I noticed that they were made of real (once live)

jellyfish !!!

I mean it's a cool idea..... they were beautiful and all but .. kinda mean don't cha think? I took this one to show my brother .... He likes his Harley in fact he like just about anything Harley.
Maria lingered at this glass booth.. again Just beautiful pieces..
So tempting...
The workmanship was unreal and the colors were magnificent
Considering just about any of these could have gone home with her... I admire her restraint.
Button button.. where is my button... probably on this mannequin...

The fountain downtown is definitely a wonderful meeting spot...

Every summer people of every size shape and color can be found downtown in the park just enjoying the weather... music and each other..

Some of the younger crowd gathered with their little ones for a puppet show getting ready to start.Maria had me try these little beauties ... Sweet Potato thin chips..

My first try..

OH MY !!!

These and a cold lemonade were just the ticket... But in case I haven't mentioned it .

IT WAS HOT.. and we'd had enough of a good thing..

It was time to head home..

On the way out I saw this awesome piece..

S.L.U.T.S.

Sophisticated Ladies United To Socialize....

Everyone knows how much I LOVE to socialize..

But I never knew I was such a S.L.U.T. s

Get out there and enjoy each other....some ART.... and make some memories

H.W.M. Bridget...Happy 50th

How We Met..

Bridget and I go way back... We met at what I now know was one of the Happiest times of my life...

(Although you wouldn't have always been able to convince either of us of this then)..

I first laid eyes on her from across the street... Mr R and I had purchased our very first home... and the excitement of actually having your very own place made us giddy.. Light headed even.. or was that the paint fumes making us loopy.???
You see for each item you did yourself(: ie Painting.. Carpet etc.. )the builder would knock off some dough.. and That my friend was the name of the game..save it anyway you can.. We were all in the same boat.. All young ... just starting out... planning the rest of our lives...

The first couple of years.. we..were busy first getting our house ready..

Moving in...

having a baby..

oh that's right.. having another one 16 months later..

(Years later I would find out that while I was working on our second ankle biter... B would comment to her husband...

"You know.. I think that woman across the street is pregnant again... " He just chuckled at how absurd that would be...

Hmmmmmm.... Yeah...

I would see her now and again ... Wave....but never had to chance to go over and chit chat..I would later find out that she too was expecting.
She was due in July... I in October..

Our Daughters literally grew up together... and have maintained a close friendship.. K will honor Maria by standing up in her wedding May.. ( THEY too are still friends after all these years...How Cool is that??!!)

I wouldn't really get to meet Bridget until another neighbor had one of those CBSC Parties...
"Come Buy some Crap" party

You know... Make Up......Candles... Home Furnishings.. Cooking gadgets... Edible underwear..

It was after a glass or two of wine, we ALL let our hair down.. and got to know each other...

There was defiantly something interesting about this Tall drink of water...

She had a sharp wit... easy laugh.. and got my sarcastic humor.. We hit it off right away...

As time went on.. we would share some of life's most perfect moments..
(But like I said.. You don't always realize it till it's over..)

Our girls played together.. Fought together.. Made easy bake oven cakes together... Weaved weeping willow wreathes for us under our tree.....
They went to Tap... Jazz....Ballet...together shared Birthdays.. First days of school... Halloweens .. First Communions.. and we moms stood back and took it all in..All of life's little firsts were happening.. we had the pleasure of watching it all happen together..

Our friendship grew as well... We'd walk the kids to school for the first few days and then have Coffee at the kitchen table....We Shared Ideas about gardening and flowers....Field Trips for antiques...We got to know each other's families very well...Have had many a lunch together..

OH.... THE LUNCHES....!!!!

Even now.... theses glorious get togethers can last a good 3 hours!

(Hey we don't get together as often ... it takes time to catch up....)

During our sometimes prolonged stays even the most kind hearted waitstaff will tire of seeing us there and shoot looks of ...

"Come on already ladies.!!!!"

So of course when we feel the scram vibes being sent our way....we do what any level headed women who want to catch up would do....

We move on to someplace. else for coffee.
Yes we have had us some fun...

In the early early days.. neither of us really had two nickels to rub together..( Not that we do now.. those lean years seem to be making a comeback)

Back then though we were all so broke... it didn't matter...somehow we all found ways to make it through...

In an effort to save on fresh Veggies....we often made crack of dawn junkets to Eastern Market on Saturday mornings

One such morning memory still gets us laughing...

It was still dark out as I picked up a sleepy bleary eyed Bridget..she opened the door to get in ..... the over head lights came on revealing my glassess ( Which I needed for driving) perched precariouly on my nose ... One arm missing
They were virtually suspended by the other arm and my nose.

After a quick double take on her part...We both just sat there and laughed at how ridiculous it was.

However.... she also understood perfectly what it meant to forgo something for yourself...because your kids comes first.. The best thing to do was laugh about it.

We have laughed at the funny stuff and cried at the painful.

That last statement is perhaps the most profound for me... You see.. I do have a bit of a reputation for being "Funny".... Funny Ha Ha... that is...

So I have tons and tons of people that I can share that part of me with.. Hell even perfect strangers have shared THAT part of me.. but

There are very VERY few that I share the not so funny parts of my life with.... at least in any great detail.

This is not the case with Bridget...

She knows so much about me and the sad/painful things in my life.. and yet has never made me feel bad .. judged or Most important... repeated anything she knows.

I would hope to say the same is true for her. I too have tried to be the same kind of friend who sits back without ANY judgment .. and just listens... never to discuss what has been shared.

People......

That kind of friendship ... is rare.

So it is with great Love and appreciation on her ...

TA DAAAAA !!!

50Th Birthday !!!!!

That I let her know how much her long dear friendship has meant to me..
Brig....

Because you are half Irish...

" Here's to good Irish friends Never above you Never below you Always beside you."

"May the Lord keep you in his hand and never close his fist too tight"

and because you ARE half Italian... Cent Anni !!(Sorry I had to include her Virgin trip to eyebrow threading.. I actually wet my pants that day...Thank You extra absorbent DEPENDS! )

D and K Wedding.. or ...We wanna fight.. For our Right... to Paaaatay

OK. I am NOT gonna lie...

I am beyond Tired and sore this morning... but oh it was so worth it...

What a night... What a night..

But lets start out with the day...

The day was BEAUTIFUL !!!

I mean really .. probably one of the best days we have had all summer...

If you have seen the rehearsal pictures... than look at today's.. you will see that this group cleans up pretty good...

To recap...

Mother of the groom... and Usher G ( aka the Waaa )
Mother of the bride... and Usher J (aka the silver fox)
Groomsman Mr R and Best Man P
Joined by our Groom... DThe lovely attendant... B Matron of Honor .... L

and..........Ta Daaaaaahh....

The Bride..

Being given away by her friend and mentor D...

(Got a chance to talk to him and his wife ..... SUCH lovely people !! )

The bride looked absolutely radiant.. so so beautiful and happy...

Here is someone else who was pretty darn happy...

the groom...

The smile on his face was truly sweet... it made me a little faklempt.

I must say.. being a catholic... At first.....I was perhaps a bit mystified by the whole female pastor thing..

Frankly.. I liked it... ALOT !!! She did a wonderful job...

who knows.. maybe it'll catch on..hmmm

A final blessing... and the vows...
Presenting Mr and Mrs K !!!!!!!! Beautiful hall... beautiful decorations.. Great Food ... So now it was time to boogie !!!I know... the look on V's face says it all... a combination amusement... mixed with a tinge of fear.

Her dad finally pulled her away from that scary man trying to teach her the "Sprinkler"
Yes I must say EVERYONE busted a move....OK... so we had to stop and sit a down a bit more often... but hey... we're old.. what to you want?L .... sharing something funny with "The Waaaa"

T and L ... sitting one out... don't let their seemingly calm demeanor fool you.. Dancing machines those two...

S ... a bit confused as to what time it is....Much happier now that she found out....."What do you MEAN it's time to go...???"

"Hell NO WE WON"T GO!!!!"

Really one of the best times we've had ... in a LONG time..

We closed that motha down... ( So to speak...)

It's the end of the night...Mr R had just finished leading the dance train back to the dance floor.. and the D.J. announced it was the last song of the night..he gave what I am sure is his usual

schpeel thanking everyone for the night and hoping we all enjoyed the music.

(Umm yeah...WE DID ) adding..

"Please folks drive safe ....and if anyone needs a ride... the hotel will call a cab."

I found this part kinda of funny because non of us really drinks.. Don't get me wrong we may have a few in the beginning of the evening but non of this bunch are "Drinkers" so to speak. I wonder if he thought we were bombed because of our rowdy nature and by the obvious way we showed we were having a good time..... or if it was like I said.. his usual speech..

Sorry .... but I have to get a little sappy here and tell you how I felt at the end of the night

Last song of the night... and the only people on the dance floor is our beloved little group of friends... I looked around at everyone on that dance floor... each couple ...Each and everyone of them smiling .. you know that truly happy sincere smile.. the one that says.. aren't we lucky??

To be here right now in this moment together... I wanted to stop that moment.... at least in my mind.. and never ever forget it.. When I am old and gray... ( OK.. when I am really old ) I want to have this moment etched forever in my mind....

I glanced over at the Newlyweds as they danced alone in a cornor both had their eyes closed whispering something between themselves... they too were caught up in this moment.

As I held my sweetheart a little tighter This .. sweet..smart....crazy.... good man... I quietly thanked God for him.. my family... and these friends..

I know it was D and K 's day.. but man.. I felt like this day was for all of us.