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I have a few days to make up as we were out of town for a family trip to Washington DC. I plan to do a couple of drawings from some things that we saw on our trip and thought I would start with the airplane lavatory sign. Ha! I sat one row away from the it so I spent a lot of time looking at the sign on the wall. Red when occupied, green when vacant. And why does the woman only have one leg?

This is the door handle from our powder room door, the inside view. It’s brushed nickel and nothing fancy. Probably a contractor special from Menards. My daughter says it looks like an elephant (tilt your head 90 degrees). I have to agree.

Paper lanterns are fun and an easy way to decorate. I used to have bunches of three hanging in the kids’ rooms and now all the paper lanterns are flat and stored in my party decor bin. I have white, purple, pink, yellow, orange and polka dots. I still bring them out on birthdays to make the day more festive.

I sort of think 200 days of drawings is a milestone. More than halfway through the year on my little experiment and, despite a few late posts for vacations (another is coming up) I have stuck to it. I was trying to think of something really special to draw for today and just decided on the number. And in the process of drawing 200 by hand I acquired a new appreciation for pre computer font developers. Not easy.

One of my favorite bits of hardware…. the cup hook. I discovered this when looking for a way to hang Christmas lights outside. They are the perfect thing because they very easily twist into trim with just a tiny pilot hole. I use white ones that blend in with the house so they disappear. I also use them to guide extension cords too. Keeps things nice and tidy. Treat yourself to a pack of cup hooks. You will not be disappointed.

Well folks, we had 2 monarchs emerge from their chrysalis yesterday! We were luckily enough to witness the exact moment it happened for one of them. They come out and their abdomens are swollen with fluid and their wings are tiny and folded. Within minutes they pump up the wings and look like a regular butterfly. This is how they appear as they dry their wings. Was a blessing to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with our butterfly guests on the patio.

The is the non-functioning garden hose water nozzle that we are using this summer. The rubber seal inside is magically gone (like the other seven we have previously owned) and every time we use it, it leaks water from the connection point and runs down the hose. The water then jumps from the hose to your arm and runs down upper your arm and THEN it dives off your elbow onto you legs, shoes, pants etc… So this simple water exercise turns into a complete outfit change. It’s great. I love it.

In its defense, the dog loves its jet setting… it’s like a water pick.

This is not an every day ordinary item by any means. This is our monarch butterfly chrysalis. We currently have 4 caterpillars in this stage and one chrysalis is turning black so the butterfly will emerge shortly. I included the photo of one so you can see how amazing it actually is and all 4 of them look EXACTLY the same. There are golden spots in the exact same places. Ridges around the top with a black line and more golden flecks. You can even see faint patterns of the wing. Truly miraculous.

I’m shocked that in 195 days I have never drawn a fork. Something I touch, wash, put in the dishwasher, take out of the dishwasher, and eat with several times a day. Here’s a fork… finally.