Category Archives: art

Picture Picture

April 8, 2020art, Familysusanmanzke

Wednesday is the usual time I gather with others to do volunteer work. My favorite thing to do is to cut old calendars and make flipbooks for special people in nursing homes. It’s a way to entertain them and to keep calendars out of trash or recycling.

This morning I was looking at a 2018 calendar. It still hangs on my wall, not the dates, but the beautiful photos continue to entertain me.

Every year our daughter, Rebecca makes a photo calendar for us. Her photos are so beautiful, I can’t bear to throw them out or make a flipbook out of them. Now I’ve found a way of re-using my calendars.

I fold them up, using the photo as a decoration on my kitchen wall.

I’m currently enjoying these ducks. They also remind me of the summer vacation we took as a family just a couple of years ago. Seeing the ducks makes me smile.

May you find beauty in your day today, too.

A day for a special visit

March 14, 2020art, Familysusanmanzke

Our daughter Rebecca and our son-in-law Andy came out to the farm for a visit this morning–yesterday they celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary.

Today they were nice enough to carry all the heavy bags out of my car: softener salt, cat food, bird food, cat litter–everything I bought at Fleet Farm yesterday weighed 40+ pounds each.

I thank them for their help and for the visit.

If that wasn’t enough, Rebecca brought a treat for me, one of her copper tree creations.

This new copper tree has stone leaves.

I’m always impressed with Rebecca’s copper tree artwork, especially this one because it is MINE!

More will soon be made and for sale. Maybe you’ll be lucky to buy one of your own.

Unusual creations

November 23, 2019art, craftssusanmanzke

I paint small.

Today I’m showing watercolor earrings I just finished.

Here are a few. They are coated to protect the art.

They are $5 each pair and $1 postage from me. There are more at Sissy’s in Seymour.

Thinking of buying local? From the artist? Need a unique gift? Contact me at sunnybook@aol.com.

Movies at Muehl Public Library

October 7, 2019art, funsusanmanzke

It was the last showing at our library. I didn’t know if I’d make it, but somehow I managed to squeeze out three hours to join the fun in Seymour.

This was the second year our little library was included in the worldwide showing of the ten films featured in the Manhattan Short Film Festival.

Imagine little ole Seymour being included in this global event.

The other three showings had more viewers. Sunday afternoon is football time, after all, but we had enough people (all women) to make comments and share reactions during the break. Also, the free popcorn added to our movie event.

I can’t wait until next October when we will host the 23rd Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival.

Picture Perfect Day

September 25, 2019art, crafts, Friends, funsusanmanzke

Today I joined a group of women from the Outagamie County University of Wisconsin Extension – Association for Home and Community Education at their fall Picture Perfect program.

The people there were dedicated to repurposing cards and calendars.

Some of the women were taking old cards, cutting and pasting them together to form new cards.

One finished card example

I worked across from Lois Schwister. We and others were taking old calendar photos, putting them into plastic sleeves, and making flipbooks. These would eventually be used by people with dimension.

The repurposed cards are given to other people to use as they wish.

It was a good day to work with industrious, talented ladies who also made a great pot luck lunch.

Susan Manzke

Writer, Speaker, All-Around Good Person