It's A Great Day To Go Barefoot..

If your pedicure matches your garden...

..And even if it doesn't....
There is beauty all around....
...If you just look for it.

How Unusual!

Debbie Egizio at Seven Ten Lounge in Chicago.I was tagged by my friend Debbie Egizio to blog 7 things that are weird about myself, and then tag some other friends. I don't know if these things really make me weird, but they may be unusual to you, and they make me ME. I can think of other things, but here is my list of 7:
1.) I wear my socks and undies turned inside-out because I hate the feel of seams. (photo courtesy of joyofsocks.com)
2.) I love the smell of silk. Silk...the fabric, not the soy milk. Silk has a warm, earthy scent and nothing else smells like it on warm a summer day.
3.) I met Richard Simmons in 1983. Did you know he is going to be 60 next year?? (photo courtesy of richardsimmons.com)
4.) I cannot whistle. : (
5.) Typos annoy me. When I see typos on a menu or in a newspaper or official document, it drives me crazy. Mainly bad punctuation more than spelling errors, especially when people use a possessive when they should use a plural. (You KNOW who you are!)
6.) I rarely go to bed before 2 a.m. Most nights my bedtime is between 3 and 4:30 a.m. Even as a little girl, I had a hard time going to bed.
7.) I love sushi and sometimes I crave it for breakfast.
I now tag Gingerpixels, Jen Seals and Rrramone!

Illustration Friday - "Signs"

© Kathleen Rietz
I won't have time to do a full-detailed illustration for IF this week. I am going to the Surtex and Stationary shows in NYC Monday, new project due mid-week, waiting to hear back from a publisher about a book deal. But I had this idea in my head, so I figured I'd put it on paper.
One time, about 8 years ago, a girlfriend and I were driving out to Iowa, stopping for antiques on our way to a charming bed & breakfast for the summer holiday weekend. We stopped several times, and ended up running out of daylight in the middle of the country. With no city lights to illuminate the sky, it was black as ink. Suddenly, right in front of out borrowed SUV, appeared 3 dancing, shimmering triangles. They hovered and disappeared. My friend and I stared straight ahead, and she asked, "Did you see that?". "Yes", I said, and felt the hairs on my arms stand straight up. We never spoke of it again. I am sitting at my computer, and as I type this story to you, the hairs on my arms are once again standing straight up. I still remember it so clearly, and i find no way to explain what we saw.
Hope you like the illo.

Illustration Friday - "Citrus" & Happy Mother's Day

©KathleenRietz
I missed you all last week! Here is my contribution for Illustration Friday. I saw so many colorful, graphic images of citrus posted..I wanted to do something different. Hope you like..

Here is a little Mother's Day dedication I put together today in honor of my mom...a drawing I made of her when I was 6 1/2, and a photo of her holding me as a wiggling, giggling baby. She was a very loving mom and I will always love and miss her. Happy Mother's Day.

The babies have left home...

A while back, I posted a photo of a squirrel who had chosen to give birth in one of the birdhouses in my backyard. Sunday, one by one, the mother groomed each baby squirrel and they left the birdhouse house for the first and last time. And why not? Spring is in full bloom in Chicago now, and it's beautiful!