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Since we bought the house, I've wanted to replace the steps that lead down to our front door. They were wood resting on dirt -- never a good idea. To add insult to potential injury, the top of the stairs were actually railroad ties that were loose, as was the railing next to them. The ties made a 90 degree turn to the wooden steps which made it extremely difficult to carry large items, like refrigerators and couches, down them. While we may not purchase those types of items very often, it's made me fear for the safety of delivery men and women whenever we've received a heavy item. Plus, I was fearful for our visitors' safety.

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Today I'm as giddy as can be because we have new, gorgeous, permanent stairs. Locals, American Concrete Pumping did them, and they're wonderful! John King had so many great ideas for how to make the steps more functional. He added landings and softened the curve up the slope. Plus, the stairs now are further out, so I'll have a lot more garden space come spring.

My Charles and I did the demo work, as you can see in the slide show below. It was a pretty easy demo job. It took about two hours. The only issue was the scorpion (!) that we encountered when digging out the last of the ties and first of the wooden steps.

All in all, I'm ecstatic. The new stairs are pretty, more functional, safer, will be easier to climb in the snow, and I love the gray. When we paint the house gray this next year, it will tie in beautifully. Yay concrete stairs!                                .

 

Art Show

11/08/2011

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I hung my art show this weekend, the first show I've had in almost six years. Wow! It's really been that long...

Anyway, it's up, and this is what I had to say about it:


Memories, Love, and Enduring

A couple of years ago, I started to get the urge to do another art show. It had been awhile, and I was feeling potential creations begin to kick around under my ribcage.

But what to focus on? Then it hit me -- my maternal grandma, of course! She’s one of the most inspirational people I know. All of the paintings are about her -- either stories I’ve heard or things I’ve experienced with her.

Then this summer, we went on vacation. This vacation was a bit different than they usually are. Typically, we go to the desert where the serenity and the beauty take off my cares like an old coat and shake it loose of dust and fleas then leave it hanging on a branch to air.

This time, I was heading towards expectations and the unknown, seeing my paternal grandparents, people I had loved but hadn’t interacted with face to face in 24 years. That meant that there was a thrumming line of tension on the way there and a glorious sense of relief and the glory of the immortality of love on the return trip.

Those feelings colored my whole experience and in turn shaped the way I looked through the lens. The photos are all from that adventure.


You can look at the collection of most of the photos and paintings on BriarPatch's Facebook page. And if you're interested in a piece, I'm not shy about shipping. Just leave me a comment. I'm selling all of the photos (printed on canvas) for $100, plus shipping. Bargain! The paintings are differing prices, the highest of which is $300. I thought I'd sell at a rate people could afford for holiday gift giving.
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As the sun set in Yellowstone, we headed toward our last stops.  First, we camped in Jarbidge in a glorious, quiet campground with our own fireplace. Then, we headed to the Ruby Mountains.

We rolled in late, so the first night we got a motel room in Elko and had a nice visit with family. In the morning, I threw open the curtains and was delighted by a vision of hot air balloons suspended in the sky. We packed up and headed to our campground. The Rubies are wonderful. We're going to have to make it a regular stop. It was my Charles' natural environment. The trees were just beginning to decide it was time to switch to their fall garments, so while I didn't catch them in all their finery, the changing of the seasons can still be sensed in the shots. As we left the Rubies and headed home, we were gifted with one more shot of hot air balloons, beginning to lift off the ground.                                                        .