Rohling Studios

Let's Go FISHING

I've had fun playing with this piece....it's a real mixture of media! I don't know if it is done yet or not...I feel like it needs some ribbons and bows. 

Wow!  It is Labor Day Weekend already!  I haven't even bought a fishing license yet this year!!!  Summer shouldn't begin until I've at least gone fishing.  Summer is supposed to be the time to hang out the "Gone Fishing" sign, kick back and relax!  !  The smoke trailed behind my heels...(or, so it seems it should have) while I spent the summer blazing from one thing to the next!  (The reality is that the slower I go....the faster time goes.)

I am looking at three whole days off!  I am so happy....I look around the house at all the things I SHOULD do and I don't care about ANY of it!  I am more than giddy with the fact that we are supposed to have three beautiful days of sunshine....NO RAIN!!!  Maybe I will lay down on the driveway and soak up the sun!  It is so good to see it again!  I have three whole days!!! Maybe I will start that book I've been wanting to read.  Or I might see a movie, sew, draw or paint.  I might do a little tap dance every now and then just so people stop and say, "Did you see that!???"  Maybe I'll have a bonfire with just the dogs, the mosquitoes and me!  Maybe I will get out the phone and talk to all the friends I have been missing!  Maybe I will take the dogs for a long drive and try to get lost! I just love having... not only three whole days but I also have part of today to think about all of the possibilities!  The leaves are starting to turn...From my window, I can see the tips are beginning to yellow...Maybe I will just watch them turn to reds and oranges.   If this sounds like I don't have a life.........HOORAY!  I have three whole days to disengage!  Hey....does anyone know how to put a design in the background of a blog???  Maybe I will do that!

Puppy Fun

Holy Smokes this has been a busy place lately!...Lots of people have been in and out this summer and with them have come lots of dogs!  You have already met the all star group...Jimmie, Rosie and Gus.  So Met Neko, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  He is my friend Faye's buddy. Corgis are herding dogs so he has made it his job to herd the group when they are running around the yard. It's a big job for the dog with the shortest legs! 

 

Jimmie, is my son Paul's therapy dog.  He is also our boat mascot!  He loves to be in the boat so we have a life vest for him!  He has the cutest little boxer snout!

You can see he is totally undisturbed by the fact that we wanted to take his picture!  Paul's reflection is in the chrome on the left.  I am so in love with this picture of Paul and Laura and Jimmie.....

It was taken on the Milwaukee Riverfront.

And here I am with Jimmie.........I have had a few of you ask me why there are never pictures of me....now you can see why......my eyes and my top lip always disappear.  It's beyond me as to where they go...but get the camera out and......whoosh.......they are gone!  They do return again when the camera goes back into hiding....I don't get it!  We had an opportunity to take the grandkids out when they were home.  Wyatt loved the wake and the spray!  The bigger the wake the better he liked it!  I have been so fortunate to have these times with my kids!  Any time I need to go somewhere happy in my mind it is to the lake with them.  I have been there, in my mind almost every day since getting the boat...The nice thing about my mind is I can go there when there is 3 feet of snow, or I'm trying to fall asleep, or even when I'm getting a shot!  No matter what.......these treasured memories last.

Illustration Friday ~ Visitor

This week's topic for Illustration Friday is "Visitor".  These children are visitor's to the children's petting area in the zoo.  I loved taking the kids to pet and feed the goats.  Sometimes they (the goats) got a little too pushy and I had to lift them (the human kids) out of harms way...but, it was always something we all looked forward to!  I love going places with children!  I love children!!!!  I have several more child clients at work.  They are so great!!!  We played with Play Doh and made everything to dinosaures to cakes!  Little kids can use clay to express themselves so well! 

Coming up for Air

No little clup clup sound of these precious little feet on floor....

No little salty little sweaty heads to kiss goodnight after a wonderful day....

No toys, puzzles and trains all over the floor...

No little potty chair in my bathroom...

No more little enchanting little statements and questions (Like..."Gramma, this is a little bitty tiny rock...soon it will grow up to be big like this one!"...as my grandson holds a big rock and a small stone.....or "Oh my, I can't believe my thoughts!")....

No one to appreciate the bonfires ("Make it big again, Gramma")....

However, I am back at work.  I hit the road running  needing to fit clients in during the next three days.  After that I hope to spend some time posting some of my new work and creating more.  My creative side is yearning for some time to get out and at it!  I have loved this summer so far! 

I am overlooking Lake Debby...which occurs at least once a year in the neighbor's yard adjacent to my back yard).  I can see the reflection of the red barn behind it.  We have had a record amount of rainfall this week.  The grass needs to be cut but we haven't had a rainfree day to do it!   There will be much to do this weekend and I know there will be time made for posting...

Enjoy your week!

More on THE CAKE

Ok...I know...I have bored you a lot with our family birthday cake.  But I have never had a close up of it to share with you.  Take a minute and share what is left with us!  If you add the aroma of coffee and chocolate (the frosting) with the vanilla and almond flavoring of the cake you can close your eyes and almost taste it. 

Happy Birthday Lillian and Wyatt!!!

              

I can't wait till tomorrow.  Two of my grandkids are home to celebrate their birthdays!  My daughter, Jennifer has made "THE CAKE".  I had to work today but it was sure fun to come home to family in the house...laughing little children, bare little feet and toys all over the floor.  Everyone has gone to bed after baths, and putting on little pajamas.  I love their little wet heads of fluffy little kids hair.  It smells so sweet....like nothing else in the world.  There is nothing better than a clean child ready for bed.  Sleepy little ones were carried up the stairs and not a peep  has come from them since.  Tomorrow morning the rest of the grandparents will be coming over for cake and coffee (and milk for the kids, of course).  Presents will be opened and more toys will be on the floor (which I enjoy every second of!  It is so different when you become a grandparent...even toys turn from clutter to cute!) 

Black Pansies

Have you ever seen anything like this?!  I have always loved pansies and violets.  I thought I had planted every color pansie there is and then I found this one!!!  I can't even think of another flower that has black petals.   It really caught my eye.  Sure hope it makes it through the winter...(actually,with as much time I put into my flowers... I sure hope it makes it through the summer!) 

  When we got our first house I spent a great deal of time planting "posies" with my grand-mother-in-law.  She was a wise old Danish lady with lots of knowledge under her belt and we shared a love of pansies.  She always managed to find her way to the side of the house when she was visiting and would nip the flowers off the plants.  We had an onrunning friendly arguement over just how early to pick the blossoms off.  Yet, every spring we would be back out there planting more.  Then "Grandma" got Alzheimers and she told me, "Don't cry for me when I die because I NEVER wished to be old".  I told her that was ridiculous because I knew how much I would miss her.  It was December when she passed away.  That night there was a howling snow storm that lasted into the next day.  The next morning when we were pulling into our driveway snow was everywhere except for one small patch on the front side of the garage.  In that very small clearing was one blossoming pansie that wasn't there the day before!  It was a breathtaking purple blossom surrounded in snow!  I can not believe anything else other than it was a "message" from Grandma.

 

Playing with Banners

I have been playing with banners this week.  If you happened to click on this week you may have seen the original (and still favorite..)

or...

 

or even...

I am wondering....do you like change?  I, like most folks have trouble with it, but  I've learned to try to befriend it because it "is the only thing that stays the same".  (What song is that??)  I am still searching for something I like as well as my fairies...what do you think?  Is it fun for you to see blog headers change? 

Illustration Friday~Missing (To Homeland Security

Are you ready for a story????  I don't know quite what to make of it myself!  Last summer I made a series of collage/assemblages.  You can see three people in this one.  I named it X,Y, and Z for the three people in it...my sister, my brother and I...back in the early sixties.  My mother made us wear these stupid hats in the summer when it was really hot and sunny.  We have our bathing suits on and my brother and I are sporting sunglasses.  On the left are three antique typewriter keys..X, Y, and Z.  On the lower right hand side is a music box that plays John Lennon's "Imagine"....one of my favorite songs.  Above and to the side of the music box is an old watch casing and a piece from an old camera.  It is signed by me, Claudia Rohling.  I used acrylic paint and you can turn it around and see the blank back of the canvas.  I tell you all this because it is now MISSING!  My brother came to visit me...his first visit in two years from California.  I gave it to him.  He put it in his carry on luggage.  Homeland security confiscated it from him.  I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!  They pulled it out of his bag and asked him what it was.  He was shocked and answered, "It is a piece of art work my sister made for me.  They told him it looked like a bomb.  He asked how it looked like that!  They pointed to the music box and said, "This". He showed them it was a music box but they stopped him and told him he would have to leave it behind.  He asked them how he could get it back when they were done with it.  They said he couldn't.  They said they would be disposing it!  So......my innocent little piece of art is MISSING!  I'm very upset that something so obviously not malicious was taken.  With all the technology we have, I can't believe homeland security can't tell the difference between a music box and a bomb???!!!!  Do you think they always confiscate music boxes????  Is there a dumpster full of them somewhere in the middle of the dessert being blown up by the government with our tax dollars?  LOL!  If it wasn't so laughable I might have to cry.

Songs of A Summer Night

I am delighted by the sounds of summer!  Early in the spring I began to hear the frogs singing.....but.... I can never figure out where they are!  Paul actually saved one from drowning in the dogs swimming pool last week!  Until then I had only spotted toads in my yard... but never a frog!  Do toads croak too???  Frogs have always been elusive since I don't have a pond close by...."Tree Frogs!" my Dad always said.  Soon after the frogs begin to sing the sound of crickets stir in the night and sometimes the hoot of an owl.  But a sign that summer is at it's peak is the sound of the cicada's.  I understand they have been a bit overstated in some places this year but we didn't experience it as much as others over the boarder!  (Illinois).  They have always reminded me of the hottest days of summer!  For me, their piercing song is a soothing sound....most folks don't share that feeling with me.  The sound of the cicada makes me feel like I am 10 years old, and reading a good book on the back porch of the cottage.  It was always hot when we heard them....so hot that a screened in back porch was a good place for a book and a nap at the height of the day.  The sounds of summer are always background noises.  In the foreground are campfires, beaches, and laughter.  I don't ever associate the sounds of summer with sadness of any kind.  They accompanied picnics, walks in the woods and the sound of boat motors.  The sounds of summer are accompanied by the smells of Coopertone  or 6-12.  (Does anyone remember how horrible that stuff smelled?  It was in a glass bottle with a black top.  We dabbed the yellow liquid on our arms, legs and neck and rubbed it in to keep the mosquitoes away!...It was in the days before "OFF".  It was applied by an over anxious adult or unleased on ourselves as a last resort when the shade brought out winged creatures with needles for noses!)  I tried to Google a picture of the bottle but it doesn't seem anyone preserved an image of it...It  has to be one of those things that lingers in a rusty tacklebox at the bottom of a landfill.).....These are the thoughts that rumbled to the surface today.