What I did on my summer vacation

 Every year my husband goes fishing up in northern Minnesota, right across the border from Canada.  It's the yearly fishing trip trip for all the guys in the 5W fishing club and they've been together for the past 25 years.  My brother, his brothers and our son go also.

For me, it's called summer vacation.  A week free from dishes, routine meals, etc.  My daughter and I use this time to catch up by shopping, going out to eat and just lazing around.  Time to view the beautiful night sky.

Time to watch the mushrooms dance.  It looks like they're trying to make their way into the front door.

Leo is so happy to be back home.  Here he's taking a sun bath in his favorite spot.  There's no place like home.  I know my husband will tell me that when he gets back from his fishing trip.  That's what he tells me every year.  And I'll be happy to hear about all his fishing tales.

A June Evening

A June Evening

Oil on Linen

16x20

The greens are so abundant this time of year.  June is my favorite summer month.  I love the freshness of the landscape.  The foliage isn't overgrown yet.  The air is soft and fragrant.  It would be June all summer if I had my way.  I know that the hot humidity is coming here to Chicago.  That's when we're constantly watering our flowers and watching the temperature before heading out the door.  But June is perfect, even though we've had our share of rain.

I used green in the sky of this landscape.  It also has magenta mixed with naples yellow.  These colors, to me, are the colors of June.  The colors of contentment.

Miracles Do Happen

Our cat, Leo, was cast into our lives when my son and his college room mates broke up housekeeping after graduation.  My son asked if we would take care of him for only a week while he went on a fishing trip. Six years later, he's still here.

Leo is de-clawed and has a bad habit of slipping out the back door whenever some unsuspecting guest comes over and isn't used to watching for him.  He did just that last night.  But this time he didn't come back.  He wasn't anywhere.  He just disappeared.

We looked and looked, asked neighbors if they had seen him and became very discouraged.  We thought some animal got him.  As a last resort, I called the police department.  And they HAD HIM in custody.  It turns out that some wonderful teachers at the grade school (six blocks away) found him hiding under a car.  Several teachers were involved in getting him out.  Then one of them brought him to the vet to see if he has a chip.  (No).  Then the teacher took him to the police department.  The police officer said that they were just about to take him to the animal shelter.

So guess what I'm doing this Saturday.  I'm getting him a chip and a collar with his name and phone number.  Because miracles like this don't come along everyday.