On one of the forums I visited last week was some misunderstanding
and questions about the team so I will clarify it here too: the team
working for the magazine is not a ‘usual design team’.
FEATURING will not be filled with art pieces from them (although
there might pop up some art of the members in one of the issues)
The team will brainstorm, collect ideas, deliberate about submissions
and write all kind of articles etc. – all the things that a magazine team
is supposed to do.

But you know what? There might be a chance that YOUR work gets published
in one of the issues, because we are open to receive all kinds of artwork.
We especially seek artwork for our theme gallery.

The theme gallery will be a permanent part of the magazine where artwork
from our readers will be highlighted. Each issue’s gallery will have a unique
theme. The theme is meant to be a jumping-off point. We encourage you to
interpret it in your own way. We’d like to publish artwork (lay-outs, journal
pages, photos, paintings etc.) and texts/poetry* that shows the theme from
all viewpoints.

* See that – you haiku writers???

For our first issue, the theme is: Applause

Find all the info on the website under ‘Submissions‘

I’m excited that my vision is actually coming together in reality
and that you are right there with me, showing your interest in
the magazine and encouraging me.

OK, enough shouting about FEATURING… on to the regular ‘Friday stuff’

Haiku my Heart

For more haiku and photos, visit Recuaerda mi Corazon
where Rebecca hosts the weekly ‘Haiku my heart Friday’.

It’s time for a new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.
(The moment I write this, Rachel didn’t put up the prompt yet but
I’m sure it won’t be long now before she publishes it…)
This time, yours truly (yep, ME!) came up with the prompt.

THE PROMPT: Open Up
THE SONG: Roll away your stone by Mumford & Sons
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Texture photo

Haaa… I bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?

Most of you probably thought I’d come up with an ‘old’ song
because you all know I’m a child of the sixties! However, for
this prompt I choose a ‘modern’ band – although the music still
has that sixties feel – Ha, I’m an old hippie all the way 😉
Luckily I have a son of 19, who brings home awesome music.
That way, he also keeps his mom ‘hip’ (that – too – is a sixties word
I’m afraid)

Anyway, I choose one of those modern bands for this prompt
to make me look less antique! (Did that work?)
Here’s what I made using the inspiration.

(Size: 21 x 19,5 cm - 8.3 x 7.7 inch)

I saw later that my ‘stickman’ is rolling the stones the wrong way…
Instead of rolling them away, he’s pushing them right in front of my face.
Do you think that’s Freudian maybe?

Oh, one last thing… did you realise it is DECEMBER?
Do you know what that means?

Oh yes… busy times ánd… celebrating the top 2000!
It’s coming, it’s coming…  only 3 weeks to go!
(The party starts on Christmas day)

I will go on waffle about it until that day, you are warned!

I wish you all a nice weekend dear ones!
Bring in the music!

This one’s for you Joe – may friendship and healing surround you!

For more haiku and photos, visit Recuaerda mi Corazon
where Rebecca hosts the weekly ‘Haiku my heart Friday’.

I stay at the beach with this next page… it’s the first page in the book
I made in Zeeland last weekend.

(Size of the pages: 13 x 17 cm - 5.12 x 6.7 inch)

The scrapbooking paper with seahorses has been in my stash forever!
I finally used it to cover up the inside of the cover. The photo was taken
by Elvy (put on a particular position her camera takes pics that look like
watercolour paintings. Awesome, isn’t it?)  That pose is typical for me
and I love how she captured that with her camera!

I started next page last weekend too.
Margot had  brought some little templates with her (6×6 inch) and I fell
in love with this one. I also glued the image on to the page but I got stuck
after that… I finished the page yesterday.

Size: 29,7 x 21 cm - 16.9 x 8.3 inch.

(For the Dutchies:  ‘Puffin’ is the translation of ‘papagaaiduiker’ –
the name of the bird)

For you who need inspiration to art journal: how about making a page
using the new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal ?

THE PROMPT: Pretty
THE SONG: Fuckin’ Perfect by Pink
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Pink Paint Dripped like Blood

The design team created some awesome examples to inspire you, so
hop on over, take a look and play along! You can take all or parts of
the prompt, and MAKE THEM YOURS!! You don’t have to use the swear
words or you can use them all you want. Just make this prompt into
your art! Then go to the AYITLOAAJ-site and share a link to where
you’ve posted your page on line. Easy, isn’t it?

I started this page with a lot of enthusiasm. Painted the background green
and transferred a funny photo of myself. I also dripped some pink paint
from top to bottom. Next day I looked and… bleeehh… didn’t like it at all!

I threw in some pink spray ink – which turned out to be purple.
I stamped pink paint with a toilet roll. I put washi tape at the borders.
It became one, chaotic page and I got mad.

I wrote the text.
I didn’t like that either.
I got more mad.

I colored the circles (pink water soluble crayons) and outlined the text.

After that, the page was full. I didn’t like it but there was no room left to
add anything else. I considered to cover the page with gesso and start over,
but then it hit me: this f**ing page is f**ing perfect for this prompt –
and I’m not 😉

(Size: 21 x 19,5 cm - 8.3 x 7.7 inch)

Thanks for being around today!
I hope you liked this ‘glimpse into my silly life’
It’s healthy to act silly every now and then –
now go and have a wonderful weekend.
(Throw in some silliness!)

I bought this olive green
paint last week and since
then all my pages come
out green!

I used to be a yellow –
orange – red kinda person!

I don’t know what
happened but all of
a sudden I love this
colour so much.

Why analyse anyway…
I let go and make green pages!

A lot!
You are warned! 😉

This page isn’t green yet… I made it before I bought the paint!
It’s made for the new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal

THE PROMPT: Peace
THE SONG: I Believe in Music – Mac Davis
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Leather

Peace and leather led to the big peace sign!

21 x 19,5 cm - 8.3 x 7.7 inch

Used materials/techniques: acrylic paint, leather, sewing machine,
sharpies, pearl pen (dimensional dots and border)

I have a lot of small pieces of leather in a box, and I stitched some of them
together. Just fooling around with the title and leather.

Here’s a close-up:

There’s a Dutch poem about peace (Leo Vroman – ‘Vrede’) and I used a line
from it (well, that’s not completely true: in the poem, the swearing is even
more harsh). I found it fitting to balance all the ‘cuteness’ on the page…

What are your thoughts about peace?
Do you think of the ‘sixties’ and flower power, like I did?
Are you tired of the world as it is today, with all the violence going on?
Throw it all out on an art journal page and leave a link to your work at
A Year in the Life of an Art Journal!

OK, here we go… here’s where the green comes in!

The recipe book I made for my son!
(‘Lekker’  means something like ‘delicious’ or ‘Yummie’)

Here’s a pic of the side.

I love all the happy coloured papers that show in the spine!

I used old recipe cards as pages.

I sewed patterned paper on one side to punch the holes in.
(The black, canvas embellies/stickers are from 7 Gypsies.
The fabric protects the holes from tearing)

Next is a page in my big art journal.
(Again, I used the olive green paint but it turned out rather yellow looking.
I discovered differences can be made by using thicker or more layers.
This page was painted with a paint roller and coloured only once – that’s why
it’s light/yellowish)

(Miscellaneous big art journal: 25 x 35 cm - 9.8 x 13.8 inch)

Used materials: Acrylic paint, Adirondack colorwash spray ink,
Caran d'Ache Neocolor watersoluble crayons, Stazon ink,
handcarved stamps, cut out image/text, Washi tape, sharpies,
template (the head and 'signs)

This page grew from experimenting with my new template and Washi tape.
The journaling is ‘bladibla’ – about the green paint I bought; nothing deep
or fancy.

Last but not least… my weekly page

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 43

(23 x 31 cm - 9.1 x 12.2 inch)

(Yep... olive green acrylic paint! The 'head' is made with my new
template and Adirondack spray ink, Stamps & Stazon ink for the dates,
cut out images (door and hummingbird), Washi tape, Copic markers,
sharpies, black marker.)

I have more olive green pages and work to show but I think you’ve had
enough for now! Come back Friday and who knows; I might even trow in
an orange or red page?!

Some of you were a little confused by the news and asked me if I had
my work published or if I was going to work for this magazine…

Sweeties… it’s even better. The magazine is my baby!
I’m the owner, editor, chief director… whatever you may call it.
So yes, I work for it!  Haaaa!!!

To celebrate the ‘pregnancy’ (it’s not a birth yet, ofcourse… it’s more like
the ultrasound photo of the baby aka magazine that will be born in Spring)
and to thank you for all your support and cheers, I have a give-away today.

No, wrong.

I have TWO give-aways!

(oh, and an art journal page to show…)

Read on!

..

There’s a new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal, and this time
the prompt is chosen by…. ME! Yes, that’s right! I chose the prompt, the
song and the product/technique this time to get your creative juices flowing!

THE PROMPT: Eye opener
THE SONG: Why are we sleeping – Soft Machine/Kevin Ayers
(It’s kind of an obscure song and not easy to find on youtube, but on the
AYITLOAAJ blog you can hear it play and find a video!)
WRITTEN LYRICS: HERE
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Eyes (photo’s, stamps, drawing… whatever)

If you know the band Soft Machine, I bet you never thought I would like
that kind of music. Well, you’re right. I’m not much of a fan but my beloved is!
Although I don’t like the music – this band has great song lyrics and when I
had to make up a prompt I thought of this song right away.

The lyrics from this song can lead to a fun art journal page but can also
take you into deeper thoughts about life and the world we live in.
The prompt ‘eye opener’ and the technique gives you enough freedom to
play with it any way you like!

Here’s my take.

I choose to make a ‘fun page’ but I think I might make a ‘raw journaling’
page as well as soon as I have more time (when will that be?)
There are so many dimensions and directions to take this prompt…
so why not play along this time? Show us where the prompt leads YOU!!

OK, then we arrive at the part you were waiting for, weren’t you?

GIVEAWAYS!!!

I put together two packages full of fun stuff.
The goodies in the SCRAP package appeals to scrapbookers and the
AJ package contains goodies that art journalers will love – but it’s up
to you to tell me which one you prefer.

It’s real easy to enter this giveaway.
No flaming hoops to jump through or belly dances to perform.
Just leave a comment on this posts and tell me which one of the packages
you’d like to have. That’s it!

The winner will be announced on Friday, October 14th.

SCRAP PACKAGE

(Includes 8x8 design paper, Prima Marketing flowers, Epoxy stickers,
Sassafrass felties, ribbon and more)

AJ PACKAGE

(AJ package includes a 'flower guide map', several old book pages,
canvas stickers, labels and a lot of small items to use in your journal)

Leave me a comment telling me which one you prefer!

I have a busy week ahead and I don’t know if I can find some spare time
to create, but I will definitely be here with a new blogpost on Friday with
a photo and a haiku! See you then!

(Some of you may notice there’s no ‘Chronicles’ page this week. That’s right.
I jotted the journaling onto the pages but didn’t do anything else. just plain
black text on white paper. Nothing to show really, so I skip week #39.)

It’s the unfinished page
I made for A Year in
the Life of an Art Journal.

I wrote in this blogpost
how I struggled with the
prompt, and in the end
I left the page unfinished
and moved on…

… to come back to it
last weekend!

I had some spare time and decided to start working on the AYITLOAAJ
prompt for July 30th… that’s a bit early maybe, but it bothered me that
I skipped the last one and I wanted to really be in time with a page for the
next prompt and have a page to show by the end of July.
After all, I am a guest host at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal! (For the
curious ones: my prompts will be up in September and November)

So I took my ‘A Year…’ art journal and yep, I came across that unfinished
‘thing’ again. I almost flipped the page, but I can’t stand ‘unfinished bussiness’
so I hold still and looked at it for a while.

Fresh eyes – and I suddenly knew what to do!

The title of the prompt was ‘Broken’…
this page was unfinished and ‘broken’…

So I ‘repaired’ it!

(21 x 19,5 cm - 8.3 x 7.7 inch)

It still isn’t the best page I ever made, but it’s OK now.
(and yes, I finished the next one too. I’m more satisfied
about that page but it won’t be online before July 30th)

My son was here last week (he left last Friday for a holiday in Portugal)
and we took the opportunity to watch one documentary/film each night
from his DVD box ‘The Blues’ (Each movie is made by a different director,
Scorsese, Eastwood etc. and handles a period or aspect of the blues)

We also had the movie ‘Cadillac records’ on DVD so we watched that too.

“Cadillac Records is a 2008 musical biopic written and directed by
Darnell Martin. The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s
to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based
record-company executive Leonard Chess, and the musicians who
recorded for Chess Records” – Wikipedia –

Being all into ‘the blues’ last week, I couldn’t help that some things
came straight on the weekly page of my chronicles. I glued the image
of Adrien Brody there because he plays ‘Lenny Chess’ in the movie…

The Chronicles of Marit – Week 29

(30 x 21 cm - 11.8 x 8.3 inch)

The lovely postcard I received last week (You can click on the image
to enlarge) is made by the awesome and talented Deb Christensen
from Dye-ing to be yours.  I just had to include it on the page!
I made a plastic envelope to put it in.

(30 x 21 cm - 11.8 x 8.3 inch)

Here’s the page without the postcard. You can still read the journaling
and guess what was hidden behind the mermaid…?
A sneaky scuba diver! Love it!

Last week, my blogfriend Sandra celebrated her 40th birthday.
I am waaaaaay older than her, and so are my braincells ’cause I had
another date in mind… to be honest, I thought her birthday was today!

Anyway, the card that I made her is double fitting.
That is from ME (with braincells as wrinkled as the face of that woman)
to SANDRA (with shiny and joyful and hard working braincells)

Happy NON-birthday dear!

(21 x 15 cm – 8.3 x 5.8 inch)

You noisy ones probably want to read the quote that I journaled on the card.
I don’t want to have you all hanging sideways in front of the computer screen
to try and read it, so here it is:

‘Het komt er niet op aan hoe oud men is doch hoe men oud is’

It’s a bit difficult to translate, but it has more or less the following meaning:
“It doesn’t matter what your age is but how you come to age/how you
act on your age.”

And that was it for now dear ones!
Thanks for stopping by, I always love to see you come visit and comment.
I know you love to see me visiting YOUR blogs too, but I have little time
at the moment so it may take a while before I’m caught up in blog reading.
I will try though, sweeties, I will try…

Have a nice week!

So although I DO have something to show to you today, don’t expect
the best artwork from me this time. It’s either unfinished or ‘blaahhh…’
But hey, don’t we all have periods like that?!

The latest prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal was published
last Friday. Every 15th of the month, a prompt is brought to you by Rachel,
the founder. The prompt at the end of the month is brought by one of the
guest hosts. I am one of the hosts, and I always try to get every prompt
done in time, so that my page can be used as inspiration.

This is the latest prompt:

THE PROMPT: Broken
THE SONG: Mama’s Arms by Joshua Kadison
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Kisses

I had trouble to find inspiration this time… the song (and lyrics)
is quite depressing and the word ‘Broken’ didn’t make it any better….
I decided to give this prompt a positive twist and stick to the song title
‘mama’s arms’ in a good way (in the song, the person is longing for
‘mama’s arms’. I can’t recall how that must feel, ’cause my mum’s arms
are always there for me!)

Anyway… I worked on the page for a while and although I liked what I
was doing at first – it became a real burden in the end.

The page is too neat. Inspiration gone. Prompt date getting closer.
You know the feeling?

I decided to skip the prompt this time instead of working some more
on the page that would certainly get me more frustrated as I was not
‘feeling’ this prompt. There would come no good out of that.

So here’s the unfinished page.
I might work on it some more one day but I might as well not…

The ‘weekly art journal page’ has become a habit which I can’t do without.

This week’s page isn’t very consistent… it suffers from a lack of balance
and the colours are too harsh. I don’t mind though. I jotted down what
happened this week and I move on to the next page. That’s the fun part
of this journal. After all, it’s purpose is to be like a diary – to remember
the things that happened in my life.

The Chronicles of Marit 2011 – Week 28

So.. my pages suck this time.
The weather in the Netherlands is awfull (wind, rain and low temperatures)

In case you start to worry about me – is there nothing good left? –
Ofcourse there is!!! Like:

• watching ‘The Blues’ with my men – my son got the DVD-box for
  his birthday and together we watch one documentary every night.
  (The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin
  Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the
  seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the
  development of the blues.)
• The flowers that I bought on the local market a few weeks ago
  are flowering and blooming wonderfully, because of all the rain.
• The ‘mussel season’ started, and although I am old fashion and
  don’t eat them before ‘the R is in the Month’, I am already looking
  forward to a mussel diner!
• My son, who connected his new record player via a pre-amplifier
  with his music system and is happily playing old Neil Young records
  right now. (yep, they do exist: young men who like ‘sixties music’…)

And last but not least… something that will make YOU happy!
My friend Lena at Six Lilies Studio is celebrating her one year blog anniversary
with a giveaway!! All you have to do is leave her a comment and you will be in
for the drawing! So what are you waiting for…? Hop on over and say HI to her!

I’ll be back on Friday.
Enjoy your week dear ones!

Is it Friday yet? Aaargh, my head is spinning lately.
The days are filled with work and deadlines and on top of that
I have a lot of ideas and ‘have to’s’ and ‘want to’s’ swirling in my mind…
so when I saw the new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal
it really fitted my mood!

..

THE PROMPT: Vertigo
THE SONG: Right Round Ft. Kesha
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Circles

I gave it a funny twist and went physical vertigo!
I would love to have time to play like a child on a swing…

The photo is cut out of a magazine and I stamped a lot of circles
(so this is what I hand carved the stamps for!)
I colored the circles with water soluble oil crayons.
The text comes from the lyrics and says: ‘Time is precious’.
(That’s so true these days!)

Are you inspired by this page or the promt?
Come on over to A Year in the Life of an Art Journal and play along!

The page reminded me of my childhood, so I wrote a haiku about that.
Here’s for Haiku my Heart :

(This is an old photo of my mum, NOT me... yes, we do look alike)

Want to read more haiku’s today?
On Recuerda mi corazon you’ll find the list with the other participants

I have all my work done for today,
there are a few hours left before dinner,
I’m off to see if I can use them creative!

Have a nice weekend dear ones!

The past few days I’ve been busy uploading all the documents
into the community. This afternoon, I already received emails
from participants… they can hardly wait to start 😀

I feel a bit like a scout leader (what’s that called in English?)
with a whole bunch of laughing and screaming kids waiting
at the gate to come in. Patience, kids, patience…
I’ll open the doors tomorrow!

On to my own creativity now…

..

The new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal is up!

Our host this time is Glenda.

THE PROMPT: Faith
THE SONG: Heaven help me by Gretchen Wilson
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Wings

It felt a bit odd, to come with this ‘simple page’… it’s just the photo (sanded
on the edges) and some words from the lyrics, but the image is so strong
that I didn’t want to add more to it. I find the page finished this way!

(21 x 19,5 cm - 12.2 x 9.1 inch)

It’s not an ‘autobiographic’ page or something, and the woman isn’t me.
My personal opinion – and way of life – is that it’s better to face
your ‘demons’ (yes, I have them. We all do, you know) and by facing them,
they become less frightening…

And here’s my weekly page

The Chronicles of Marit 2011 – week 21

31 x 23 cm - 12.2 x 9.1 inch
watercolor paint - water soluble oil crayon - grey fineliner

The spiral of stones re-emerged on my art journal page this week…
I like the way this came out as a ‘Zen-page’.
I can do with some ‘Zen’ these days 😉

Alrighty folks – I still have some last things to do before I can go to bed.
Summer Camp needs to be spic and span.
I’ll better hurry and get to it…!

See you soon!

Guess what I did 😀
I spend the afternoon creating!
I worked in four different journals at once.
None of the pages is finished yet, but I have something else for you.

It’s the 15th, so today is a new A Year in the Life of an Art Journal prompt

AYITLOAAJ offers you three-part-prompts every 15th and 30th of the month,
including a theme, a technique and a song. You can use any or all parts as the
inspiration to create something.

This prompt was brought to you by Rachel.

THE PROMPT: Really?!
THE SONG: Tell Me Something I Don’t Know by Selena Gomez
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Speech bubbles

I hardly ever use speech bubbles, and it sounded like fun so that was my main
inspiration for this page. When I saw this photo in a magazine (a just-married
couple of gay-guys  – yes, homosexuals can marry in the Netherlands) I knew
that I would use my favorite stamp-guys-heads with the funny pose and suits
they’re wearing. I cut out the figures, gave them new heads and it was only
after I’d done that, that I looked at the lyrics to see if I could use any of the
words. I was happily surprised that the lyrics contained a perfect sentence.
Sometimes everything falls into place!

And I have another ‘Really?!’ to show you…

A few weeks ago, Mary Beth had a give-away on her blog.

The prize was a beautiful piece of art, made by her.
She also wrote “We better hope that my hubby doesn’t read this post
cause he really likes this piece.”

I was delighted when I found out that I won.
But I was really speechless when it arrived and I opened the box.
Really?! Is this what I won? Oh my goodness, it’s fabulous!

Because Mary Beth was at Art Fest at the time, her hubby had mailed it off.
Inside the box I found a nice, little note from him, that said that he was
sad to see this piece go but: ‘That’s what happens when your wife is an artist:
the most beautiful pieces leave the house – but since she’s an artist, she can
make another one for me.’ (or words of similar import) and that he was glad
to send it to a loving home.  The note made me smile!

My beloved is as much in love with this art piece as I am.
I put it on our side-table opposite the couch.
It’s there for two days now.

And you know what’s weird?
It becomes more beautiful every time we look at it!
We both are touched by it, and it’s as if this feeling grows.
Isn’t it amazing, that art can do that?

(8x8) Encaustic with Wood Icing and Tar

I hope you can see how awesome the structure is on this detail photo.

I’m looking forward to a nice, sunny and – above all – FREE weekend!
I wish you all lovely days too, dear ones.
See you on Tuesday!

But right now, the work for today is done and I’m looking forward to have
a relaxed evening. My beloved already bought me a bag of chips; he knows
I love Friday nights, curled on the couch  watching ‘The X-factor’.

You will understand that I don’t have as much work to show you as
last week, but I have some – enjoy!

..

The new prompt at A Year in the Life of an Art Journal is online!

As you know, the blog offers a three part promp every fortnight,
including a theme, a technique and a song.
You can take any or all the parts as a springboard for a journal page
in any way you choose. It’s all up to you, we just want you to join in!!

This prompt comes from Glenda, and she wrote: “Ok, you all know
my total obsession with the Goo Goo Dolls so I’m sure you weren’t
surprised by the song choice right??”

THE PROMPT: Love
THE SONG: Not Broken by the Goo Goo Dolls
PRODUCT/TECHNIQUE: Silhouettes

Haaa… No, I wasn’t surprised! I knew that Glenda would pick a song
from her fave band! When I looked at the lyrics, there were so many
beautiful lines that I found it hard to choose!
Eventually I choose to work with the line: ‘…and scroll the words
upon your wall remind you to believe’.

I used a Hambly overlay that I had in my stash for years. At that time,
everyone seemed to use transparencies and I didn’t want to stay behind.
Turned out that I just can’t work with the stuff. Even on this page, you can
hardly see that I used an overlay. I never know what to do with those things.
I suck at transparencies. Period. The wall-pattern was the exact right pattern
to use on this page though, and I thought it would also be an easy way to
get rid of the Hambly sheet that I kept coming across every time I looked
through my paper stash. I cut out the silhouette of a ‘broken man’ and used
black Stazon to ink it on the sheet. The silhouette has a ‘shadow’ effect to it,
which I like. I doodled the borders with my Copic markers.

Remember the ‘wristies’ that Rosie send me?
(I wrote about it – and showed a photo – in this post)

I made Rosie a thank-you card, and since she received it last week I can
show you what I send her.

I forgot to take a photo of the back of the envelope, but Rosie made photos
of the card as well as the envelope on both sides. You find it in this post.

It’s Friday afternoon, almost 4.30 p.m. and I find that I deserve a glass of wine
after a hard day’s work! I hope your weekend is relaxing and creative!
The weather forecast in Holland predicts a sunny and warm day tomorrow
(23 degrees, which is 73.5 Fahrenheit) so Dutchies: have fun!

(And while enjoying the sun, please think of me, pitiful in a little corner of the
house writing articles 😉 )