Castle in the Meadow

What a wonderful day! It started with breakfast with Chel in the beautiful atrium at the Embassy Suites, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet the rest of the Queen of ZNE's family! Then I drove the royal rental coach ,with the Queen, to the Castle. ( Ok, a little deep.) What a joy to meet Chel, and spend a little time chatting about politics, religion, Ann Lamott and shoes. We even stopped at the Majier store and bought those infamous "jump rings". We stayed focused and bypassed the other crafts, it was a struggle.

We arrived "un petite retarde".....uh...we were almost late. God was definitely working a little overtime....as wrong turns somehow ended up being the right way....we did arrive, alive! It must have been the spiritual conversation about Ann Lamott and the Presbyterian Church (USA) ( Where everyone is welcome, no exceptions.)

We arrived to find, Bernice, who is not 98, ( even though her "My space page" says she is) , Cathy from Georgia and Sarah. We stuffed the gift bags and oooohed and ahhhhed over all the pretties.

Then the whole crowd started to arrive, name tags helped. I couldn't keep track or get enough pictures. Hugs for everyone! Then on for the tour.

What a house! Meadow Brook Hall built by the Dodge family from 1926-1929. It has 110 rooms and 88,000 square feet of space. Imagine all the mixed media supplies and ephemera you can stuff into that space! It was lovely, from the silk wall coverings to the linen fold wood carvings on the panels in the library. There was even a Tiffany lamp, actually made by Tiffany. We may have stressed out the docent a bit with our get aquainted chit chat. But she made a lovely presentation.

Appetizers, wine spritzers, beer, soft drinks and fruit were consumed in between Chel's efforts to give instructions to a bunch of mixed media artists. Would it be easier to herd cats?

We finally got started, my project has vintage music( from PinkyLouLou) layered on to a neutral wall paper, the box is wrapped with crepe paper. Vintage images of queens and castles are from Luna Girl. Fluer-de-lis and crown charms are from my home town's own Red Lead Paperworks. More later about the other goodies we received.


Sadly, the happy day had to come to an end, but not before a tornado warning which kept us in the basement past our departure time. The castle staff and area police, wisely asked us to stay until the warning expired. Driving back to the hotel I was amazed at the number of trees and power lines that were down. I hope everyone is ok.

Then on to a lovely dinner at TGIFRIDays, where delightful Chris our server, helped me decipher the map, (since the Queen was picked up by the King for more family outing adventures. I had to find my way back....on my own....not nearly as much fun. ) A grand time was had by Bernice, Cathy, Hope, Jill and me....followed by a group hug in the parking lot, and wishes of traveling mercies and promises of future contact on the ZNE boards and attendance at art retreats throughout the midwest.


It was a royally delightful day!