Tonight was the opening of Sarah Chapman’s Trunk Show at Lillstreet Art Center.
Stunning work as always. Click on her name in the LINKS section of my blog to see more
of her metalsmithing work. As always, her work was meticulous & inspired. Such great
design & craftsmanship throighout her collection. However…

The piece that really caught my interest was her new “tile” wall piece!
Squares of textured pieces of metal showcasing several different methods, textures and
finishes. All connected with jump rings so it can hang on the wall like a “tile” tapestry!
Here’s just a small section of the wall hanging. Love it…

And no wonder… it does look somewhat familiar to me.
Kinda like a section of my own textured tiled wall?!

Last night when I got to the studio, they asked me if I had seen my special delivery.
I said no – and assumed it might be my new postcards for the Holiday Home Show!?
He explained that it arrived a couple days ago, and someone was supposed to tell me. Yep,
that worked well. Ha. Then Joe from the front desk said my delivery was in the refrigerator.
Now I’m intrigued. So quickly I went to find out what my surprise delivery was…

Turns out that my college friend Pammy, and fellow first-time-Triathlete, had sent me
a little trick-or-treat surprise. And what a treat it was! I had sent her a couple Halloween
surprises in the mail, and apparently this was her response!

Breakfast of champions… seriously!

Okay, so the s’mores may have gotten the best of us?!
But if you’re going to do something, be sure you do it in a big way!
So Amy came up with the brilliant marketing plan to hype our sugary addiction.
And after a little friendly “name-calling”… we were all S’morons! … with groovy t-shirts!

Amy was truly getting into the spirit of things… and was “bedazzled” with buttons & necklaces
galore! As part of our clandestine marketing campaign, we thought it would be fun for “our”
Art Detour customers to wear ART DETOUR buttons as they went around on the “other” Tour.
We had ART DETOUR buttons, as well as S’MORON buttons for anyone who made a s’more!
Plus, Amy & Wendi had each had buttons printed to promote their own “brand.” And if that
weren’t enough, Amy was also excited to show off her new collection of necklaces made by
Sarah, Wendi and myself (top to bottom).

But a shirt is just a shirt, and a button is just a button.
And with the addition of some hi-octane sugar, you can see where the real fun began!
Caught in mid-air, and Amy’s going to kill me for this, but I LOVED the reaction that came
after I caught her trying to get the first mouthful of her breakfast s’more! Simply adorable!!!

Plus, we couldn’t keep all of the s’moron fun to ourselves, so we also raffled off a t-shirt
for our customers. And there was enough interest by people who wanted their own t-shirt
that Amy actually started taking orders for t-shirt reprints!

So the fun continued this morning… with fun around the fire!
One of the “selling points” of our marketing campaign was gourmet s’mores!
So we’ve been playing with various combinations of yummy ingredients.
Sure, we had the traditional graham crackers, Hershey’s chocolate & marshmallows.
But we also had an assortment of cookies, crackers, chocolates, spreads and more.
My personal favorite was gingersnap cookie, Reese’s peanut butter cup & jumbo
marshmallow. We even had vegetarian marshmallows (who knew?) and gluten-free
graham crackers. Plus, Amy’s cousin’s wife spoiled us all with homemade graham
crackers & marshmallows!!! Yes, homemade… again, who knew any one would even
take the time to make marshmallows?! Thank You Kirsten!!!

But then this morning, Amy decided to up the ante… with gourmet breakfast s’mores!
Those of you who know me, know that there is nothing too sweet or too rich for me.
I have the palette of a four year old. I could easily eat the whole bag of jumbo
marshmallows right now! But I digress.

So Amy brought out her “gourmet” ingredients.. and the toaster!
Picture this if you will… in order of the bowl “stacked” s’more…

Toasted Eggo Waffle. Chunky Peanut Butter. Hershey’s Chocolate. Bacon Bits.
Then a toasted JUMBO Marshmallow… toasted to gooey perfection!
Another Toasted Eggo Waffle… with homemade raspberry preserves spread on it.
Squish… and then drizzle with Real Maple Syrup! I know.. sounds like a lot…
but it was great!!!

Here’s Sarah making her s’more… which was a group effort to get the layers ready…
as Sarah toasted her very own vegetarian marshmallows!

And here’s mine… with the “real” jumbo marshmallow squishing out the sides!!!

And then Amy made her’s, complete with some spiced apple compote that Wendi made.
Which too was awfully scrumptious – with a kick of hot pepper!

And as if one weren’t enough… I had to go in for another one. So I went “deconstructed.”
With a layer of crumbled gingersnaps, graham crackers, crunchy peanut butter, chocolate,
toasted marshmallow, spiced apple compote… and some more real maple syrup!
Can you say “sugar high”???… Followed by “sugar coma”???

I’m in the middle of glazing for my upcoming kiln…
and I’m feeling more than a little overwhelmed and behind schedule!!!

Luckily, my friend Nancy was willing to come into the studio and lend a hand… or two!
She was concerned that she may not be “qualified” to help with my work. But I was quick
to tell her that “any help” would be better than none. Plus, I’m sure that she can handle
any task I would give her. So she was more than willing & able to inlay some glazes, wipe ‘em,
stain some ornament tops and other tasks. Tasks which would have taken ME hours!!!…
but luckily, she was there to do them for me! Thank you so, so much Nancy!!!

You know… I could really get used to this. I may need to reconsider getting another one…

Sadly, my weekend escape was quickly coming to an end.
So I hopped on my bike for one last ride before packing up. Another beautiful day,
another beautiful ride. Unfortunately, I knew my time was drawing short.

When I got back to the cabin, it was already time to pack up. But I had to sit on the dock
just a little more… and got for a quick dip in the lake… and then hang out a bit…
get a little sunburned… and then finally say my goodbyes and start the drive home!
I would have stayed longer… but I had to get back for another week of Summer Camp!!!

Saturday we woke up very early to get Amy to her art fair. She still had some
setting up to do, and I was apparently her designated assistant. Since we had set up
the tent the day before, Saturday started with setting up tables, shelves and putting
out her wonderful pots. Check out her website for more at Pigeon Road Pottery.

Unfortunately, after only a couple hours, a huge storm came through and effectively
closed down the art fair. But as in true Northwoods style, just an hour after we closed
everything down & packed the cars, the sun came back out! But by then, the customers
and most of the artists were gone for the day! So we went to Dari-Maid for ice cream!!!

Back at the cabin, we again relaxed, and spent a little quality time in the hammock!

Unfortunately, before the sunrise could impress us again, the clouds rolled back in
and covered the sky. So it was time for another boat trip around the lake with my friend
Pam at the helm! Then back to more relaxing… and incredible grilled brats for dinner!!!

Another day in the woods. Another day in heaven.

So while Amy did some more packing up & prepping for her art fair,
I once again hopped on my bike for another tour around the area. The roads are
in great condition and the scenery is breathtaking everywhere you go.

When I got back, we packed the cars and headed off to Land O’Lakes, way up there on the
Michigan peninsula border. My friends Pam & Pat have a cabin up on Moccasin Lake and
offered to let us stay there… since Amy’s art fair was going to be in Land O’ on Saturday.
When we got there, we were impressed by their cabin, their lakefront and their hospitality!

We played. We chatted. We relaxed. A wonderful escape.
We swam. We ate chips & salsa. We boated around the lake and saw a deer swimming
across, the loons and their newly born chick and a couple bald eagles flying around.
Which only made the loons scream and cry out louder… whimsical, yet haunting.

And so as not to disappoint, Mother Nature served up yet another stunning sunrise!

And oh, but wait there’s more… as the sun set, and I thought the sunset was over…
suddenly, the orange glow began on the horizon. Like a “freebie” second sunset!!!

Overnight, the temperatures dropped and we were faced with an incredibly beautiful day!
So we started the day with a wonderful, early morning hike along the McNaughton Trail.
Wonderful scenery, trees and that memorable Northwoods pine scent… and a beautiful
lakeside boardwalk with wonderful plants growing all around!

When we got back, Amy had some prep work to do for her weekend art fair…
so I head out on my bike for a beautiful ride through the Northwoods.

When I finally got back from my bike ride, Amy was ready for a break so we head off to a local
antique shop that she knew I would love. And she was right. Even as we entered the place.
I knew I was in for a treat… greeted by a mixture of bikes AND rust!!! Two of my favorites!!!

And that was just the entrance gate!!! And when we got inside, it was SPECTACULAR!!!
Whimiscal oddities & rusted antiques all around. I knew that a “few” of them would be
going home with me… and they did. The problem was narrowing it down…

Then we “returned to the scene of the crime” and went back to Amy’s friend Toni’s place
on the lake. Another dip in the lake, a kayak tour around the island… lily pads and all.

As the evening wore on, and we swam around the dock, the sun kept setting on the horizon.
And once again, it was spectacular. Beautiful colors… plus a couple locals playing
on the lake with some barefoot water skiing.

And there it was… the end of another beautiful day in the Northwoods!

It’s been very hot for several days… in the high 90′s-100′s… heat indices even higher…
and my Summer camp schedule changed suddenly giving my a window of opportunity!
So I hopped in my car today and drove up to the Wisconsin Northwoods. I met up with
my friend Amy Higgason who lives in Lake Tomahawk. She had a couple days off
as well… and said we could play if I helped her with her art fair on Saturday!
Of course I said yes.

So once I got there, we had a wonderful sushi dinner, and then when to her friend
Toni’s house for the evening. It was a great chance to take a dip in the lake
and enjoy the beautiful sunset! What a great escape from the heat of Chicago!!!

And a great way to start my weekend escape to the Wisconsin Northwoods!