Our family has a couple of artists (previous generations) and so we’ve inherited a few painting. I doubt any are valued anywhere close to the Montague Dawson (artist father Henry) "nautical" series of painting from the 1940s, but do remember how much I enjoyed one of the first paintings (same time frame) that my grandmother painted. […]
Last month the artistic skills of ChatGPT’s “Sora” artificial intelligence was experimented with in an attempt to emulate a favorite oil painting by my grandmother, Ruth Bluhm. It was “ok” but nothing to really get too excited about … after all, I have the original. 😉 But … after looking at the 2024 post “May […]
The older I get, the more clutter I collect … yet I still can’t stop the habits that have stayed with me my entire life. After clearing out our parents homes a decade ago, it was obvious that genetically the depression era “can’t throw away” trait was passed down to me. I still find myself […]
This past weekend I started what is going to be a slow, but deliberative process of moving out of the basement and back into the upstairs home office. No window blinds yet, but we did move the oriental rug from our first floor to the upstairs (Brenda would like to get something new for the […]
Since I recently completed the bookshelves project this past spring and repainted our Library/Music room, Brenda and I have been discussing what artwork to put back on the walls. We’ve collected or have been given quite a few painting and likely will rotate them … but probably won’t include my favorites – the ones with […]
The other day in Mental Floss I read that a "Study Confirmed What We Already Knew: Living Near Water Can Reduce Stress." I can attest to this since we lived by the water when I was a boy. My parents had a home on the shores for Lake Erie with a 150 foot private beach […]
Although her life was full and death was peaceful, it is difficult for me to say an earthly goodbye to my wonderful Aunt Lois. She was my closest aunt (my mother’s only sister) and growing up we were always together with her and her family. My brother and I were practically best friends with her […]
The Christmas decorations have been taken down and almost put away for another year. While doing so, I re-stacked and re-stored a few items (should have thrown more away). One of the items that made me smile was my Grandma and Grandpa Bluhm’s ceramic clock that I clearly remember and can still see on their […]
Brenda and I enjoyed a little babysitting visit to Whitehouse, Ohio this past week and decided the ridiculously HOT weather would be great to visit my brother Ron and his wife Claire’s retirement property on Lake Erie … “where there would be a breeze” … NOT! The breeze if any was from the south and […]
Since I’m pre-writing this by a few days for Throwback Thursday #TBT, I realized just before post it that it will also be Thanksgiving on Thursday. Our family won’t be getting together as usual (same for a lot of families for a COVID19 resurgence), but ours was planned that way since we rotate holidays; Katelyn, […]
I’m chuckling at the “famous portrait” subject line, but then again, how many people actually have a portrait of themselves painted by an artist? (might as well make this a ThrowBack Thursday #TBT post) My grandmother, Ruth Walker Bluhm, was an artist and painted a portrait of her first grandson in the 1960s. She was […]
It is good day when projects get accomplished. Saturday was a sunny and dry for the painting of my GREAT grandparents’ two wicker chairs (unsure, but think they were from my Grandmother Ruth “Walker” Bluhm side). My Grandmother and Grandfather Bluhm used them for years on their Wright Avenue front porch in Toledo Ohio, then […]
My cousin (a loyal blog reader … a little embarrassing) exchanged a couple of text messages the other day after she commented on "our" grandfather’s photo and grandmother’s painting. It is nice to know that I’m not the only one who is sentimental about our grandparents, considering the very few years they were in our […]