happy heart day

 Have a great heart day!

We had fun making these; 

well I can't say Zoe did...

not easy making your dog look at the camera

while you are hugging her too.

Oh well she survived.

my graduate

oh happy day...

Nick is done with school

and now he can take long walks 

with his camera

while he studies clouds

and sips coffee

and is artsy

and draws

and finds a job...
congrats Nick -
you are awesome!!!
all photos and art by him except for the first by me.

Matteo's Memorial Day weekend chores

the weekend is here and I have so many chores to do...

first I need to oversee the sewing of a slipcover...

 this vantage point works very well...

 and I think my mom needs a break so 

I will just plunk myself on the cushion 

so she will have to take a breather...

 and now I need to do some chair testing...

hmmm it passes my inspection

 so it can move to its new home...

 in the living room.

and next on the agenda is helping Nick proofread

his 15 page paper.

It is for "rat lab", his nick name for "animal lab" - 

ahh I've trained him well.

and it's his last ever psychology paper

as he graduates in two weeks...

it even smells like rats...

 kinda mad he didn't share any of those tasty rat morsels with me...

so I guess I will let him tell me just how sorry he is

with a tummy rub...

ahh his hands have left over rat scent on them I hope!

a corgi mother's day

definitely a corgi kind of day

as both sons gave me corgi items...

 first this lovely towel arrived from Jonathan and Kim

(thank you Zoe for modeling)...

 my daughter-in-law was oh so clever

and peaked at my etsy favorite list to find the towel

I had long ago forgotten about...

 and then Nick showed up a day early and 
couldn't wait to share his wonderful find -
a beautiful pen and ink adventure Korgi by
Christian Slade...

pure artistic genius if you ask me...

he knows his corgs...

or maybe I should say korgs...

Do you think she's had enough posing?
better stop and give her a treat.

then we spent the afternoon with Doug's family
and my favorite great niece Ella,
who is growing up way too quickly
(looking at the rain drops here -
I know I look pretty dorky,
 but don't think anyone is looking at me really)...

 and we went for a walk...

and I got to hug my youngest too.
Hope your day was wonderful!

doodles

Nick loves to draw...

anytime...

anywhere...

this one is a polar bear drawn 

in the sand...

 and this little ninja was the inspiration...

for this composition just completed 

for his art class.

btw he graduates in June with a BA in psychology,

which I think he should use for art therapy,

 don't you agree?

lattes with my youngest...and a giveaway related to a mustache

well he would look good with a mustache wouldn't he?

 we met for lattes (this is Seattle and that is what we do).

he was stylin' with his new goorin hat...

and fit right in at the oddfellows cafe...

one of my new favorite spots.

 and we shared a crusty sandwich with mozzarella, basil and tomato

 and the prerequisite lattes...

and driving home I happened to spot the quintessential geese while I waited at the red light.

if you are ever on a quiz show and they ask

"what is Pam Holderman's favorite thing about living the pacific northwest?"

just answer canada geese and you might win a million dollars.

and now for something totally random -

and if you happen to find yourself on another quiz show 

and are poised to win yet another million dollars,

and the question is 

"who is Pam Holderman related to 

that is very famous 

and has a famous mustache?" 

well I can help you with that answer too...

leave a guess here under comments 

and just maybe you could win something from me too -

sorry not a million dollars sadly,

but the first 4 to get the correct answer will get some of my cards.

hint - 

if you are friends with me on facebook then take a gander 

(hee hee a goose word to go with our pacific northwest theme)

at my middle name and that might give you a hint.

more hints to follow if no one gets it...

and family members may not answer - 

as you obviously know already

sorry...

and I will close this random post with Nick's wonderful tree photo that I tweaked a little.

a happy birthday toast to Mr. Nick

what a good sport...

high tea with the parents for his birthday celebration.

our favorite 22 year old

still likes to hang with us...

and wanted to spend his early birthday having tea

and scones, and small sandwiches, and sorbet, and crumpets,

and fruit, and meringues, and shortbread,

and on and on and on...

little did we know that the Queen Mary Tea Room
would be filled with feminine frou frou kitsch 
and girls wearing tiaras galore.
he was asked if he wanted to wear a "king" crown for the occasion,
to which he politely declined;
the waitress responded that she hadn't had a male taker yet -
go figure...

mountains, gnomes and dreamin' of France...

Saturday began the fun -

Doug and Nick left for a big all day hike and...

I said, "goodbye, be careful and I will miss you"...

but inside I was saying, 

"yahoo, au revoir, can you hurry it along - things to do ya know".

and of course it involved gnomes,

lots of gnomes...

in the form of bookmarks...

and sweet little Moleskine notebooks with bead bookmarks

for 'thinking' and 'doing'...

and 3 different gnome cards for giving...

so 11 hours and 37 cards and notebook creations later

I guess you could say I found my 'doing' cap...

my boys returned home and we each had the perfect day.

Now I need another perfect day to get them photographed and listed on Etsy.

The next day we took Nick out for a promised brunch at Cafe Campagne in Seattle

so we could relive his Parisian experience.

We parked and walked by this wall...

and this one too with mixed media...

and we pretended we were in France -

well I did... mais oui!

There was no teleporting involved,

but it was delicious just the same.

Croque Monsieur avec...

pommes frites et aioli...

yummo.

and Parisian pistachio, raspberry and orange with chocolate

macaroons from Le Panier to take home.

ahh c'est magnifique!

Today's Labor Day activities involve yard work 

and painting screen doors

and cleaning the roof and... 

see a pattern here?

Somehow for us Labor Day is always about 'labor'!