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For the new people, welcome to my newsletter!
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This last Sunday was our annual BBQ/Artists’ Colony. We invite a bunch of our artist friends to the property for a party. This time we provided the meat and water. Everyone else provided sides and whatever it was they wanted to drink.
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Side note: This was the year of potato salad. I think we had four different versions. In previous years, I’ve made the event a pot-tell instead of a potluck. That way, no one repeats items. May have to go back to that.
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The temperatures were gloriously cool. We did have a couple of rain showers, but nothing bad. We always have pavilions for people to sit under. We rent tables and chairs.
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Last year, we evidently used all the butcher paper we had for covering the tables. Didn’t discover that until Sunday morning. I had a lot of leftover wrapping paper from book events—almost all of it was Christmas paper. I don’t need that much for events. So I used it to cover the tables.
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That was GREAT fun. I am planning on doing that again next year. Plus, I’m going to haunt Dollar Tree for wrapping paper from other seasons. It’s a lot cheaper than butcher paper. And so colorful!
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I cooked brisket, pork butt, homemade Italian sausages and kielbasa, as well as hamburgers, the week before. For the party, I just warmed up the meat. That was much easier on me, even if it dried out the meat some.
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We ended up with about forty people at the party. The food that everyone brought was amazing. I wasn’t compliant with my diet at all yesterday, and that’s okay.
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Folks stayed until about 6 PM. Had so much fun talking with everyone. Looking forward to next year.
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ION, I’m going to start expanding my marbling prowess this week. I’m starting off by mixing all of my own paints.
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I went to Goodwill last week and found exactly what I was looking for to help. The original purpose of these jars is to hold spices. They’re perfect for mixing paints in. Some of the bottles were never used, and had the original top on them.
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It kind of felt like alchemy mixing all these up. I’m using acrylic paints, then adding water and what’s called surfactant. How much water do you need to add? Who knows? Each color of paint has a different amount of pigment in it. So the amount of water is dependent on the brand of paint as well as the color.
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Tomorrow, I’ll do some experimenting, to see if I’ve added too much water or too little. The surfactant is part of what will help the paint float. Again, have I added too much? Too little? Tomorrow I’ll figure all that out.
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The last time I marbled paper, I experimented with marbling the edges of a single book. After I marbled the book, I used a sheet of paper to pick up the rest of the color. Here’s a picture that’s trying to show both the marbled edge of the book, as well as a the sheet of paper.
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This week, I’m going to experiment with doing the edges of a few more books. IF those go well, I’ll move onto the next step, which is trying to do a large batch of books together. For example, clamping together all six volumes of the Water Witch mysteries, then marbling the edges together.
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And I think that’s about it for me today. Hope that your weekend went well! What sorts of things have you been celebrating this summer? Experimenting with anything?
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Yay! It's here! The next novel in the Water Witch mystery series! It will be available in the KRP store on August 10th, while generally available August 21st. On August 22nd, I'll have a signing for the book at Bundok Books.
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AJ’s latest vision shows a witch poisoning a man dressed in Renaissance garb. As the troupe of actors coming to put on one of Shakespeare’s plays won’t travel to Milltown until the end of the week, AJ and Roland decide that they can still take their vacation safely.
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Only to discover when AJ and Roland arrive that the troupe hasn’t left the mountain resort town. And that a witch travels with them.
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AJ had hoped that she’d get along with any peers she might meet.
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However, the murderous leader of this coven lacks any remorse.
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And it takes only one bad apple to spoil the entire barrel.
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The Bad Apple Witch—the latest Water Witch Mystery—pits AJ against women with magical powers. Fortunately, AJ has friends (as well as other witches) she can rely on solve not just the current murder, but a whole slew of them. As well as an entire oceanside community full of quirky characters who are also more than willing to help.
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Come enjoy AJ finally finding her place, and maybe, perhaps, a sustainable living situation with Roland, her lover.
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