Monday, June 25, 2007

Garden Tour

We had a nice weekend. Saturday Warren worked on the Log cabin quilt-deck.
He got his first block completed & is anxious to do the rest now. This is the FUN part!
Sunday it rained, & was a good day to take a stroll. We got about a 3 mile hike in, with umbrella in hand, & went to the Outdoor Art Show at the Botanical Garden.
There were 60+ vendors, showing their stuff. I loved this little potting table,
& these architectural birdhouses, but we were on a mission.
There were, of course, lots of flowers. These are the columbines that grow wild around here.
I loved the yellow foxtail grass in this garden.
The smell of the wild Sitka roses were Heavenly.

Forget-me-nots, are the Alaska state flower.
I love daisies.
This arbor was made by Brenda Milan, one of my favorite Anchorage artists. Brenda has been doing trellises with willow & copper wire for a LONG time. Her art has been copied by a lot of people. She also does fantastic metal works.
I thought this bird was great too, though I'm sorry I didn't get the name of the artist.
This fancy fused glass bird bath was pretty. The gal that made this also had a little Bistro set that we are very interested in. We will probably have her make one for our deck once we get it together. She asked I not take a picture of it though, so you'll have to wait until we buy it!
Her name is Laura Mendola.
This piece below is FELTED WOOL! By Lucy Zercher. Isn't it a HOOT?!!
Below is Paul Dungan. He was our "mission".
I had bought this sink for our master bathroom from Paul, & warren liked it so much he had gone & given Paul money for another sink, to put in his bar, last October when we were in Homer. Later Warren found a hammered copper sink that he liked better for the bar (it seemed safer for the sink to be non-breakable). He called Paul & cancelled the order, & told him to NOT refund the money, we would buy something else from him the next time we saw him.

These stumps have nothing to do with Paul, I just love stumps....
well Paul maybe likes them too, because here's one he made for the garden (no we didn't buy it).
He also made this piece he called the Cairn, (I thought it was funny because it looked like a pile of giant moose droppings to me).
This is what we got from Paul. A platter that I loved. A bowl that matched, so Warren said we needed it, & 8 wine glasses with pottery stems, so the next time someone wants a glass of wine here they can have it in a real wine glass. Auntie Ethel had broken all of our wine glasses, before she'd moved out. Not intentionally of course. She just had shakey hands.


Speaking of Auntie E, we visited her after dinner, if you want to see how she liked her book, look here.

16 comments:

Vicki W said...

I am a total sucker for handmade pottery and I love the pieces that you bought - especially your sink! I'm so jealous!

Anonymous said...

I love the new pottery!!
I looked at Aunt Ethel's page earlier today. How sad to lose your memories. At this stage of life there isn't much else.
I sent you a letter today!! Love, Em

allie aller said...

Love that platter!!!! The glasses are interesting, too...never seen anything like them.

Shirley Goodwin said...

Love the bird houses and bird baths. Also the felted creature - I'm just starting to get into felt.

Mary lin Huskamp said...

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! All is wonderful the art and the garden!

roxanestoner said...

I love the stuff you got from Paul Dungan. My daughter has few of his mugs and I have a fabulous platter of his that reminds me of the mudd flats in winter. I really like your platter with the different colors, nice large size too. I wish I had remembered about the botanical garden fair. Next year I guess...

Rian said...

Oh dear, where do I start...

The deck design is the COOLEST! Oh, and the pottery makes me swoon. That sink is to die for, and I could never come to your house because I might have to make off with that platter. Yes, and the flowers are gorgeous too.

Delicious post.

Terri Stegmiller said...

Wow, that deck is going to be awesome. I hope you show us another picture when it's all done.

Sarah said...

A quilt deck! Fabulous! Love the pics of the garden, thanks for the tour!

Anonymous said...

What are you making the deck out of to get the colors? Looks kinda like that manufactured wood.
Talk to you soon! Love, Em

Vicki W said...

Tag You're it! I am tagging you to post seven random facts about yourself on your blog, and then tag seven other people. Have fun – or ignore it – your choice!

laura west kong said...

Your deck is going to be amazing! Thanks for sharing the wildflowers and the art show stuff. Really neat!

Linda Fleming said...

What a fun weekend you had! Your deck is going to be wonderful- what a talented husband you have. Loved the photos from the art festival you attended. That felt creation is amazing- I followed the link and her work is amazing. And what pretties you came home with!

I see that while I was off line, you had shoulder surgery. I hope it was successful and you are completely pain free soon.

Jules said...

I love the sink. It is gorgeous. I also love that felted wool statue. It is so creative.

I do love the log cabin deck, too.

Anonymous said...

oh, wow. I LOVE your deck. Its awesome! And all the wonderful pictures from the botanical garden... awesome too!

Hope you get well soon; when does physical therapy start?

Did I tell you we're coming up to ANC in September? And that Tara has a job at Providence? She'll be an RN in the cardiac unit. Kevin rented a nice townhouse/duplex.

Micki said...

Looks like you had a wonderful day. Please be sure to show us the finished deck. I love the bird and the felted guy is a hoot. Great pottery pieces.