Turtle Trax Diary for November 30, 2000. Page #29
Gretchen and Mike's wedding and some other stuff!
by Lucky Magnolia (Susan Shie)
This is page two of this month's diary.
You can go back to page one of this diary.
My
sister Debi Ondrik and I have worked hard together this year, starting
with Dad's funeral, and with helping each other cope with Dad's passing.
We both got to thinking about Dad, while we were getting ready for Gretchen's
wedding. How he woulda grumbled that everyone was "putting on the
dog, " and showing off, being so fancy! Long gowns and tuxes! But
still, he woulda been proud of Gretchen, and he woulda cried when she walked
down the aisle. He woulda had some good stories to tell Mike and Gretchen,
about people who got married and then did terrible things to each other.
Had lovers hiding under the bed, brought their opposite sex cousin to live
with them, and turned out to be having a relationship with that person,
behind the spouse's back. Hm. Somehow my version of this is very boring,
compared to Dad's, so skip it! We both just wish Daddy coulda been there,
and are happy that Gretchen and Mike mentioned their grandparents, both
dead and alive, in their wedding program.
What I was going to tell you, is that I asked Debi to be the Hostess of the wedding reception, when I realized that we parent types wouldn't get there til almost an hour after it had begun, due to photo taking. So she did that, and had to handle a few things, and did it well. I'm tellin' you, you gather the responsible and hard working people around you, Mothers of the Bride, and you can't go wrong! One good sister is the best friend a girl can have!
All of our brothers and sisters were at the wedding, so that means all of Gretchen and Mike's uncles and aunts. My oldest brother Larry came in from long distance trucking, though we didn't know whether he'd make it. And Jimmy's brother Gary had planned to go to a big national car race, but it got cancelled at the last minute, wah, so there he was! This same unexpected cancellation brought us Jimmy's Uncle Gene! They can have that car race some other time than a wedding, for crying out loud! We were thrilled to have so many of our family members there!
So we all got settled into
the ballroom, with the vases of fresh flowers on the tables with hurricane
lamps and candles everywhere. Laura and Kate had brought over the flowers
and ribbons from the church pews and hung them on the room's wall lighting.
Very pretty! The banquet was very yummy! Gretchen and Mike made their toast
with their special engraved goblets, and we all raised a champagne toast
to our own Camelot couple!
Our friend Bob Tomassetti was the DJ. Mike and Frank had burned five CDs of music especially for the wedding, and Bob brought more. Kim danced with Gretchen to a piece he chose: "White on White," which sings "My little angel is getting married today." I just wanted to add "Amoré" and Bob finally found a copy of it, with Dean Martin singing, of course. We all danced to that song and I was in Heaven. (I love "Moonstruck.") Much of the music was vintage jazz, mixed in with Beatles, Dylan, and even Buena Vista Social Club. M and G have great taste in music!
That pesky
bustle kept acting up, but Heather kept it under control! She and the bridesmaids
musta danced all evening, and we were treated to great ballroom dance techniques
from Heather and Kristi! Some people never got up to dance, but I have
to say, my darling husband graced me with enough dances to keep me from
whining! He doesn't normally like to dance, and I feel he did it just to
please me! Now if I can think of how to keep him in that mindset! He's
a very good dancer, my Jimmy, but he doesn't think so. Or maybe it just
doesn't give him a big thrill, the way waving that stick around the river
does!
The
first dance was just Gretchen and Mike, of course, and then the parents
and then the bridal party. Gretchen and Mike danced their special bridal
dance to The Beatles' "Love." I just remember standing there
watching them and thinking how wonderful it is to be so in love. I am also
so in love, but I ain't gorgeous! They were just a romantic treat to watch,
those two! I suppose every mother thinks that about her little darling
getting married, and that's how it oughta be! There are just too few times
we celebrate love in our culture!
And then it was time to toss that bouquet. Actually, we had Laura
make up a second bouquet to be tossed, so Gretchen could keep her flowers.
I don't know whatever happened to my bouquet from Jimmy and my wedding,
though I remember that Laura Delaney caught it... and got married soon
after. She and her brother went into business with their mother in her
tattoo shop, Moving Pictures, here in town, and they are all excellent
artists! I still haven't taken advantage of the $50. credit they gave me
for a wedding present. Maybe someday I'll get a turtle tattoo, but I still
haven't seen one I really like. Turtles are hard to draw well. They're
so cliched! ... Don't think Gretchen's into tats. Guess I should get back
to HER wedding here! Sorry!
So
she took that bouquet and she flung it, and Mike's cousin Heather McNeill
caught it! I was rooting for Kristi or Daisy to catch it, but no! And of
course, I am happy for Heather! Wonder if there's a guy she's got in mind!?
Hey, what was Elisha doing out there? She's only 15!!!!!! And where were
all my single middle-aged girlfriends?????
Well,
then it was time for the garter thing, and they put on a song called "Wolf
Call." You haven't seen a dance til you've seen Mike do his (what
I call) Snake Charmer Dance. He took forever getting over to Gretchen,
seated there patiently, watching him cha cha back and forth. But when he
finally got to her, he settled down and gently and discreetly removed the
garter. Then he didn't seem to realize he had to wait til they got some
guys out there to catch it. He started flinging it into the room, anywhere!
People would throw it back to him, and he'd fling it again! Finally our
trusty DJ got some men out there, and lo and behold, Floyd, our housemate,
caught it! I told Floyd this means he has to be the next one to get married
now, and he mumbled something hostile back to me! Still, we shall see what
we shall see!
Cake! They
had these beautiful silver serving things with their names and the date
of the wedding engraved on them! When Jimmy and I got married, I went to
the mart and bought two Ecko pie servers with black plastic handles! I
just honestly didn't know! Had I known about the amazing heirloom silver
thingies, I woulda gotten some, so Gretchen and Mike could have those now.
But no use crying over spilt milk! These are the new family heirloom silver
pieces! And by the way, the cake was yummy! I stole a bite of Eileen's
piece, and refusing to eat more, got stuck with the job of making sure
that, over the next week, tons of leftover cake got given away! Do you
know how hard it is to not eat cake when there's a ton of it???????????????
It was really pretty, too! None of it went to waste! And the top layer
is in our freezer, awaiting being thawed for their first anniversary!
Joan
Bumgardner, Gretchen's grandma on her dad's side, and Mama Wanda Acord,
Gretchen's step-grandma, posed with Gretchen late in the evening. They
are both really active women and didn't seem to mind the late hour! They
stayed to the end, after 11 pm! Since my mom couldn't be there, I am extra
aware of how nice it is to have parents in good health. Mike's grandfather
was there, too, and Matt Hawke's Grandma Palazzi, too!
Eileen
and I sat next to each other at The Parents' table during the reception.
We shared our champagne toast, and celebrated getting this wedding done
well and right and with love and fun! Robin taught us the yiddish name
for our relationship to each other, the two mothers-in-law. We are machatinisters
(think of fake tennis stars! That's how I remember it!) And together we
are the machatamen! Plural form! Robin will chew me all up for bad spelling,
but that way I'll know when she gets around to reading this diary. And
maybe I'll fix the spelling then! Anyhow, Eileen is cool! She likes astrology
and natural vitamins, like I do!
Well,
even though we had 20 of those disposable cameras, besides photographer
and volunteer camera people, we didn't get a good picture at all of G and
M leaving the reception in the nifty silver limousine! Honest! It was great!
They were whisked away to the Black Squirrel Inn for the night, and they
just popped into the limo, before anyone could catch it on film. Maybe
I'll make a drawing! But here they are the next afternoon, up at Cleveland
airport, getting ready to take off for Cape Cod. Jimmy was still pulling
luggage out of the Trooper, and Gretchen was brilliant to wear a nice raincoat,
because it was still raining for another day or two! Mike had one accoustic
guitar strapped over his back as they walked inside. They called a few
times from Cape Cod, reporting that the weather just kept getting better
and the moon fuller, so they could take moonlit walks on the beaches! The
sun came out on the second or third day, and it was a great Honeymoon!
The next Sunday
they breezed through our place, opening their presents and telling us stories
of the trip. They both got some sunburn but didn't care! Here they are
with the card box my niece Nancy Yoder had lent us for the wedding. She
said we could do anything to decorate it, as long as we didn't do anything
permanent. So I got a bunch of silk flowers and ribbon, and Daisy and I
decorated it the day before the wedding. I had made the purple heart by
painting on a little ringbearer's pillow. I called it my "Gretchen
and Mike's Love Hoodoo Blessing Pillow" or something equally profound.
Now it's in their hands, and I still have to strip the flowers off the
box. (We sewed them on with embroidery floss, but that's not permanent,
as long as you have scissors!)
And then they went back to Cincinnati and lived happily ever after. The end.
And now I'll tell you what else happened since my last diary entry!
We had a Turtle Art Camp Sept 20 - 26, just
before my birthday, and two of the campers couldn't come. So we had one,
Sadie DeSimone of Billerica, MA. She was a really good sport, braving our
home and studios alone. I felt bad for her, since I think having other
students to hang with is better. But then, what about when people take
on an apprentice? I tried to think of her like that, and of how she was
getting much more one-on-one attention. She probably really missed more
students, but then, she had TONS of room to spread out in the studio!
Anyhow, we took her to El Canelo, our favorite restaurant, the night they had their first ever live music: a real Mariachi band from Mexico. It was great, with the men dressed in exotic suits with horse-themed conchas down the sides of their pants and sleeves, and with such different instruments than we're used to. Can you see the huge base guitar, held sideways, kinda? They sang and played well, and the sound was wonderful!
We had a yummy Mexican
meal, as we always do at this non-chain eatery. Friends of ours came to
hear the band, too, so we introduced Sadie. Most nights of camp we eat
out, so there's plenty of work time left at home. But this was the first
time we've taken campers to live music! Earlier that day, Mama Wanda and
Jimmy's niece Lisa came and took Sadie and me to our local Indian store
for an outdoor tent sale. It's a place that wholesales to boutiques around
the US, and I love to shop there. That's where I got the batiked fanny
pack you see me wearing above. I got a bunch of them, and someday they'll
all be presents. They are all purple and all different patterns of fabric.
I bought them to give to women in the wedding, but realized they weren't
dressy enough for that occasion. They'll keep!
Sadie
has two grandchildren she's very close to. She made this painted fabric
quilt, showing herself under the rainbow, and the two kids floating/dancing
in the sky above. First we did brush-on painting with Deka, and later she
added a lot to the piece with the Aztek airbrush and Createx paints. Sadie's
job is working with the production of software manuals, and I feel she
did a wonderfully free flowing piece here, opposite in process to her normal
way of thinking. I know she told me the kids really love the piece and
she was sewing on it, last I heard. Note: I love the ability to analyze
things and admire Sadie greatly for her abilities with technical things.
I think sometimes people think I have no use for left brain issues, but
think! Here I am, making this whole diary year after year! I love computers!
I love logic! I just also love funk and sway! Nice to have both!We taught two classes in Westlake, a suburb of Cleveland, right before and right after the wedding. In the first class, for the North Coast Needlers' Quilt Guild, we had a big power outage for most of Cleveland the day of the class! And I forgot my camera! It was a great class in a Lutheran Church, and the students were great! We had given a talk to the guild the night before, when the electric was still on! Our "keeper" Sharon Morton, is quite an accomplished quilter herself, and everyone made us feel welcomed!
Still, we had to run home and get the final touches on the wedding! And I know Jimmy bought a disposable camera that day, and we used it! And now I don't know whatever happened to it, but it has a few pictures of the Westlake quilt adventures on it! Sorry, folks! More drawing required!
This is the class I taught a few days after
the wedding, again in Westlake, which we hadn't ever been to, before last
month! We were even at the same hotel as the week before, but this time
it was Ginny Carter's Art Continuum 2000. I had never taught at a rubber
stamper artists' gathering before, and this was amazing to me! Galye Pritchard
and Lois Carroll had turned me on to it, as they have taught to this crowd
a lot. There were 60 teachers during a weeklong symposium!
My class "Soul Boxes" had nine wonderul students, in the picture above. We had only two days to make small quilted boxes with my Lucky School of Quilting techniques. Many of the students hadn't sewn before, as they are stamp artists. There was even a MAN in the class, named Bird, who has a stamp business called something like Postmodern Politically Incorrect, only that isn't it. I must look it up.
Student names are: Pegge, Freddie (a woman), Laura, Susan, Marge, Bird, Suzanne, and Karen. Back row: me and Paula. People came from states pretty far away and also locally. Nice mix, and everyone seemed eager to learn new art skills.
For that class, at night I stayed with Gayle Pritchard and her
husband Chris. They live near the hotel. They both went to The College
of Wooster like I did, and used to come to our commune, The Needle's Eye,
to play accoustic folk music with us. Here Gayle is finding a minute to
relax in her livingroom, between changing her supply load in the car. She
taught six or eight entirely different classes that week, including one
that went late into the night! She is almost recovered now! In the background
here is one of Gayle's large quilts in her Joie de Vie series. The house
was full of their art, and Chris even played a few songs for me on his
new Martin guitar!
After we had the Tarot Art Camp here in July, Charlotte and Issie
both ordered tarot card cases from Jimmy. They are larger than his fly
cases had been, though now he's also making the new fly cases this new
size. (He had to create new wooden molds for the curved leather cases,
like Issie's, which you'll see below.) Anyhow, here is Charlotte Porter's
case, with Jimmy's version of her chosen card, the Ace of Pentacles. There
isn't any painting on it; it's all tooled into the leather, then dyed.
Her initials are on the other side. The inside is colored suede, just a
big open box the right size for her deck.
Next generation update! Aimee's son Omari is
crawling wildly now, and Aimee's had to kidproof her place! Jimmy and I
visited her one night when her sister Sharon and her three sons were there,
too. Sharon and Aimee are doing the practical nursing program together
this year, and we're very proud of them both! How well I know the hard
work it is to go to school fulltime and have a child to care for!
On the floor are Sharon's sons Julien, Donovan, and Devanté (aka Car Eye). Seated are Sharon, Jimmy holding Omari, and Aimee. These kids are growing so fast now!
Up on the roof! We got a new roof and spouting and trim paint
work done to our house at the end of October! We were pushing it with the
weather, and the paint job had to be stopped partly done, because it got
too cold. We've wanted to get a new roof since we bought this house in
1991, and we did get the flat roof over the garage and breezeway done in
92. But this main roof is HUGE! We sold a piece this Fall, so we plugged
the money back into the house! Hurray! We picked green shingles, the color
we both chose right away. Here we're up on the roof and looking down on
the Rainbow Garden, all dormant for the winter! See Dore, the scarecrow?
She's down there! Doesn't like to climb! That's why you never see scarecrows
on roofs, you know.
However, I do love to be up high, and I had never been on our
roof before, because our ladder is pretty flimsy. When I went up, when
the job was partly done, I was stunned by the beautiful views all around
the neighborhood! And by the expanse of the roof! I want a stairway built
up to the flat roof over the garage, so we can sit up there at night if
we like and watch the stars! Here I'm leaning against the chimney. I couldn't
see it very well from the ground. It's big and has a flat cement slab on
top. I like it. You could dry clay tiles on that thing well! Oh, and we
had wonderful guys working on the roof and spouting, which was a great
surprise! They were quiet and efficient and friendly to us. They worked
fast and didn't break anything and did a very nice job! Many thanks to
Shawn, Mark, Alan, and Donny of Sunset Construction!
We are happy with our new green roof. Only it's hard to see from the ground, because it has such a shallow slope to it. You have to either go over to Perleys' to see it, or climb up on it and look at it up close!
And then Ellen Anne Eddy came through Ohio.
She had emailed the Quilt Art listserv that she was talking in Loudonville
and Mansfield, and I decided to tell her how close we were. I hadn't seen
her in years, but love her and her work. So she popped in on her way back
to the Chicago area. We made a trade: I got one of her Thread Magic books,
which is a gem of a quilt book, in trade for doing her astrology chart.
Great deal for us both! We showed her our studios and she gave me a trunk
show, literally, out of her car trunk! She auctioned off many of her quilts
a couple of years ago, after surgery with no insurance, and has created
a ton of really high quality new work since then. And is very healthy now,
to boot! We just wallowed in garden talk, too! She's so earthy!
It was a great visit!
So this is the tarot card case Jimmy made for
Elizabeth Owen. The color was really bad in this photo, and this is the
best I could do with it in PhotoShop! But you still can't really see the
redness of the painted tooled roses. There's a luminous full yellow moon
in the center of the heart and the roses all around. I designed the images,
but the main work is all Jimmy's. I just drew. I like to help him in his
leather work, and make his initial monogram designs and help with layouts.
Still, I can draw very quickly and it takes a long time for him to tool
them in. Jimmy's Christmas order list is full, but if you'd like to talk
to him about making a "girl case," or any other leather work,
just email or call. Check out his leather
site, too!
November 15 - 21 was our last Turtle Art Camp,
and we had two campers: Janet Kay Skeen of Denver, and Anne Holderread
of Seattle. It was a very relaxed and yet spunky camp, with all of us sharing
a very wicked sense of humor and strong work ethic. Here were were sitting
around the TV one night, shredding the Votergate mess, and working. Annie
was sewing on her little TV piece, while Janet was stuffing this giant
doll she had sewn and would later airbrush. Jimmy was done for the day.
Here are the first efforts of that camp. My
self portrait, Janet's guinea chicken, and Annie's TV. We used embroidery
to get all the imagry on these pieces and later made appliqued quiltlets
and did paintings, with both brush and airbrush. These were small enough
projects that we actually finished them. I've been pushing students to
work small on the first efforts, to get something moved through all the
processes before the class is done. I think these three little panels would
look good made into one piece together, but they took their stuff home!
The
last two days of camp, we did the tee shirt project. Janet was saying she
didn't like airbrush very much and wouldn't do much on the shirts, but
the truth was that she just wanted to spend all her airbrush time painting
that she-devil doll she was making! She hogged the airbrush bigtime with
that thing! But Sparkin' Annie and I beat her up and made her help us on
the tee shirts anyways! And then we ate a bunch of raw garlic and overcame
her!
Janet has done some leather work in her art career, and next time she comes, she plans to work with Jimmy in his studio more. She wants to learn to tool, which is one of the project choices at camp. She also secretly thinks he won't pick on her as much! All kidding aside, Janet was a wonderful student, sharing with us her Bog Coat pattern and methods that she's taught lots of people to make. She and Annie worked so well together, and between all of us, we had such funny tales to spin! What a camp! Ah!
This is a detail shot of our quilt "Alaskan
Love Whammy," made in 1993 and added to in 95 and 00. It had come
home from the four year tour of Studio Art Quilt Associates' "Diversity"
show in August, and one of our students, Kate Mellina, bought it. This
was what made the roof possible, in spite of our paying for half the wedding!
Thanks again, Kate and Dave!!!! "Whammy" now lives in Asbury Park, NJ, at the gallery Cleopatra Steps Out. To see Kate and our Cleo tee shirts for camp, see page two of my Sept. diary!
That's it for now. We haven't had the pictures from Thanksgiving developed yet, and we're getting ready to go teach at the Quilt National exhibition at the Ohio Arts Council's Riffe Gallery in Columbus this Sunday. Lots to do! Taking supplies for 30 students! Yikes!
I really hope to have a new diary up again by January 21. So Happy Holidays to you ... Happy New Year 2001! (I made some "St. Quilta Blesses 2001" paintings, but I haven't put the images online yet. But they are nice. I used airbrush for all the details and writing on them.) This diary took all the web time I have for a while though! And I will be back with more later!
Keep your powder dry and don't let the horse kick ya!
Love, Lucky
You can go back to page one of this diary.
Turtle Moon Studios
Susan Shie and James Acord
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