Author Archives: Old as Dirt & Proud of It!

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About Old as Dirt & Proud of It!

Welcome to Old As Dirt, and Proud of It by Karen Samenow. I named my blog Old As Dirt And Proud of It because that's where I am in life. You may find art or music, or inspiration included because, I'm an artist, a spiritual medium, and I'm always learning more and exploring. I hope you find us interesting. My focus for this blog is to bring a little levity to well seasoned women. Sometimes it actually may help!
Aug19

Dusty’s Little Adventure…

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Dusty’s Little Adventure…
Dusty the Giant Flemish Rabbit

Dusty the Giant Flemish Rabbit

Yesterday while his peeps were away, Dusty decided to go exploring….
Apparently, when you leave a bunny alone without supervision, it’s important to close the gates to the back yard. After Dusty’s peeps had been gone for…well it seemed like days to Dusty, he decided to find out just what there was to offer in the big wide world.
Quickly Dusty hippity-hopped out the open gate, and one house at a time decided to trim the neighbors gardens.
It  hadn’t been  long before the family came home to discover Dusty missing,  but in the meantime he trimmed his way down the block only to discover he was getting mighty full.  So full that he hardly could move.

Dusty on his way to trimming yards!

Dusty on his way to trimming yards!

You can imagine the terror his family felt when they realized someone had left the gate open, and Dusty was missing.
Quickly they split up, and started searching the neighborhood in hopes of locating their giant rabbit.  Connor got on his bike, and started riding around in one direction, Dad looked in another direction.  Mom, and Sage took off in yet another direction.  It wasn’t long before Sage spotted Dusty resting in a neighbor’s front yard.

Before frightened Dusty even knew what was happening to him, Sage had pounced on him, pinning him securely to the ground.  Mom was terrified that Sage had knocked the air out of him or worse, but he was ok!

I think Dusty’s poor little eyes were spinning after that incident.  He was so frightened when he realized how far he had hopped, and how much plant life he had trimmed in the process.  But Dusty was really proud of himself for doing such a good job on all the neighbors yards.  He thought they would all come home and wonder who had trimmed their gardens,  they would never know!

All in all Dusty learned to be more cautious, his peeps learned the keep the gate closed and locked, and everyone was safe at home ready for another adventure.

Aug15

First Day in St. Petersburg, Russia

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Russian Orthodox Cathedral, St. Petertsburg

Russian Orthodox Cathedral, St. Petersburg

After cruising all night on the sea of glass, our next destination after Finland, was St Petersburg.  Everyone was excited, and not one of us knew what to expect.  We all stood silently in line to clear customs as we entered Russia.

The customs agents were stone, cold sober.  Not a smile!  But they weren’t threatening either, they were just doing their jobs, and doing it seriously.  I find our own customs agents are sometimes much the same way.

Mural on the Celing of the Hermitage Museum, Russia

Mural on the Celing of the Hermitage Museum, Russia

After clearing customs, we proceeded to our designated tour busses, and there we met our guide.  She was very friendly, and helpful, answered questions, and took us on the most incredible journey through the city of St. Petersburg.

Van Gough at the Hermitage Museum

Van Gough at the Hermitage Museum

The bus trip started with the Hermitage Museum.  The lines were long even though it was mid-morning,  the artwork was beyond imagination.  Much of the museum was gilded in gold, and we would later realize that much of Russia is also gilded in gold!  There was a great deal of up the stairs, down the stairs, waiting in line to go into another part of this gigantic museum.  Without any air-conditioning, this huge building was stuffy, and  hot.  Occasionally there would be a window open for some circulation, but not often enough, and certainly not enough circulation for the amount of people.  We were allowed to take pictures in most parts of the museum, that really surprised me.  Some turned out pretty well, some were too dark to keep.

Inside the winter palace

Inside the winter palace

From there we toured the city, and as we were touring we realized that never once did we see an ambulance, or even a police car.  The city seemed void of any kind of law enforcement.  Later the next day, we did actually spot a police car but it was not engaged in any activity, just driving along the road.

The first day was devoted to sightseeing, the museum, and seeing the winter  palace.

During the Second World War, after taking much of the artwork out, the Nazis bombed almost all of the palace  Everything has been recreated based on pictures, and remnants of wallpaper, gilding, floors, etc.  The green foil is a recreation as well, based on green foil found in the palace after the war.

The green room in the winter palace.

The green room in the winter palace.

One of many dining rooms in the winter palace.

One of many dining rooms in the winter palace.

Aug12

Another Finished Project!

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Stool Pigeon Bar Stool

Stool Pigeon Bar Stool

A couple of months ago, before our trip to Russia, the gallery I belong to decided to have a  fundraiser  benefiting young artists.  Of course,  I volunteered to participate, and in doing so was committed to creating three chairs.

My first thought was…..that’s a huge commitment, how on earth am I going to do this, more importantly why did you do this?  Knowing we were leaving on vacation, the word crazy even crossed my mind.

My second thought was… I needed to  frequenting the yard sales on Saturday, and Sunday.  My husband, and I spent all day looking for just the right chairs to use for this project.  He asked me exactly what I was looking for?  Isn’t that a silly question coming from the husband of an artist?

How the hell should I know what I’m looking for, I’ll know it when I see it!

So off we went, neighborhood by neighborhood scanning each garage sale, checking for chairs…any chairs.  Boy did we find  interesting chairs.  One man had the most beautiful hand crafted, wood chair I have ever seen. It clearly was out of my price range, but more importantly I would never alter it in any way.  Another sale featured rattan fan back chairs which I have always loved, but I knew if I bought it, it would never see the inside of any gallery in my lifetime.

Childs beach chair

Childs beach chair

We kept looking, and my husband was so patient with me.  A friend of mind who lives around the corner, was selling two oak bar stools, they caught my eye.  Not exactly chairs, but if they held a butt, that was good enough for me!  She only wanted $5. for each of them.  I bought only one, and now I’m sorry I didn’t get the other one.  Needless to say, since I was altering the stool, I picked the worst, most worn stool.  I must be a glutton for punishment!

Rattan Doll Chair

Rattan Doll Chair

Onward to the next house…..

After combing many neighborhoods, I spotted a childs Sponge Bob Square Pants beach chair.  This adventure had been going on  for quite some time,  so I had my husband stop.   The lady wanted $3. for it, and how could I complain about that?  That made my second chair.

Keep going…..

Finally late in the day, as we were trying not to get discouraged, I spotted a small rattan chair.  Not big enough for a child, I realized it must be a doll chair.   After talking to the lady, I purchased the little Rattan doll chair for $2.  that did it,  we were finished!

That was quite a day, and after all said and done, a successful day at that.  Once we got the chairs into the back yard, I put a big drop cloth on an outside table, and began to spray all three chairs with white primer.  Sponge Bob was the most resilient, he just didn’t want to leave, but the rest were easily covered.  One thing let to another, and I had my project about a third of the way through by the end of the day.  Not a bad day if I do say so myself!

The legs of the stool have been crackled for a different effect,  I decorated the rungs with stenciled tissue paper, and my husband thought it would be fun to put a pigeon to the stool, and call it a Stool Pigeon.  So I sketched a pigeon, zetangled it, used acrylic medium to adhere it onto the top of the stool, and it blended into the background just as I planned.

Bar Stool recreated

Bar Stool recreated

Our vacation came and went, and the deadline for the chairs was extended another month.  That was a relief, since I returned home from vacation with bronchitis, and didn’t really have the energy to work on my projects.

Last Tuesday with all three of my chairs finished, I drove them down to the gallery for the fundraiser.  It felt so good to get them finished and I thought you might want to see them.

 

Thank you for taking time to visit, and read my blog.  Questions, and comments are always welcome, and appreciated.  Karen

Aug8

Under the Russian Sky

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Full Moon on the Russian Sea

Full Moon on the Russian Sea

After our ship left Finland, we cruised all night to get to St Petersburg Russia.  During the night I awoke to a  cabin filled with moonlight.  As I got up to investigate, I realized this in part was because we had been leaving the sliding door to our balcony open all the night for fresh sea air, and because we had a full moon!  I was so in awe when I realized the beauty of this  full moon on the Baltic Sea of glass, that I quickly  scrambled for my iPhone to take a picture.

Admittedly, you had to be there, but I thought it was so beautiful.  So much so that, I had to hold myself back from waking up my husband just to  show him.  Isn’t this breathtaking?

Our entire cruise was like this, barely a ripple on the Sea, so much so that my husband, Les didn’t even wear his sea-sick patches, or his wrist bands the last day as our ship was cruising back to Stockholm.  This was our fourth cruise, and the most calm sailing of all four.