Mmmmm....cheese.....

I like Wisconsin.

I didn't actually see these guys, but I probably would have if I stayed a couple more days. They seem like the quiet, introspective type...

  Every year we spend a few days in northern Wisconsin.  My parents relax and visit with friends up there, and we usually bring the family and hang out, cook, float on tubes, and listen to the loons.  I mean the actual birds, not crazy people.  I can listen to crazy people whenever I want right at home.

This is an actual loon.  They make cool sounds, and they carry their babies on their backs.

This is just a the crazy kinda loon.  Amusing, but kinda dangerous at times. He breaks things, dresses inapproprately  and  makes noises that offend people.

  Northern Wisconsin is different from the south end.  People are a bit tougher, the food is heartier, the lakes more plentiful, and cell phone towers fewer and farther apart.  All of which is can be good or bad, depending what kind of person you are and your purpose for going there.  In my case, I didn't want to fish for muskie, or birdwatch, or kayak (which seems to have been taken over by pretentious granola-eaters that have too much time on their hands) .  I just came there to eat grilled steaks, drink some Amstel and float around on a lake- and possibly check out a couple antique stores for my usual items.  When I say "usual items", I mean vintage Halloween postcards, old horseshoes for my husband, and animal skulls.   I got 2 out of 3 on this trip- my favorite place only had one skull, and it was a little too pricey.  But, we got a horseshoe that was big enough to come off a  Clydesdale, 3 or 4 Halloween postcards (one was from 1912!) and some sort of trap that was probably meant for raccoons.

"Stop talking!"

I'd like one of these skulls- but I don't think the museum will let me borrow it.

Here are a few random photos of my silly trip, in no particular order.

The dock in front of our cabin.  No, this photo is not photoshopped!  The lake really looks like that.

This is what greets you as you go upstairs...

This was my dinner on my last night. Lots of cheese, fried fish, starch. One of those fries is still stuck in the left ventricle of my heart.

okay, so what the hell is this?  Are the 3 elves going to eat the pigs after the goats trample them??

Now THAT is a nice looking ashtray.

Thank goodness for the reading material in the cabin.  And all this time I thought geography was boring!  Boy, do I feel like a fool!

I kept Death and my iphone on my nightstand.  There's some sort of deep symbolism there, but I choose not to get into it....

...And then I came home.

Back to reality, back to my vinyl box in the 'burbs that has depreciated by 28 percent or so.   Whoopedee-doo.  Well, at least my garden had 4 big bell peppers and 2 cucumbers when I came back.  :)  And yes, I brought home cheese and fireworks from Wisconsin, just like everyone else on the planet.

 I've also gotten some orders for the backpacks I'm selling on Etsy!  People are requesting a large version, so that will be for sale by Sunday.  Watch for it, you Etsy lurkers.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/CrowsFeetStudios

 My vacation set me behind schedule and I gotta catch up.  I should be working instead of writing this nonsense for you people.  Moderately-priced artwork simply doesn't paint itself, you know.  Oh, I joined the Plainfield Art League by the way.  They are a VERY nice bunch of people!  I like 'em.  So now I'm part of the Chicago Artist Coalition, the Plainfield Art League, and the Society for the Resurrection of Vincent Price.  Okay, I made that last one up, but I am thinking of forming that group.

Gotta make some more backpacks, and paint stuff.  I don't care what you do, so long as you do it quietly.  Now I've got work to do-- go make something out of clay or do some macaroni art.

- Christine

www.crowsfeetstudios.com