January 07, 2026 More Moments of 2025 Halloween 🎃

Kenso eating he is just so adorable and funny. Crystal will send me little videos of him as often as she can. He makes us laugh. 😂 He’s a sweet little boy. 

Briar is growing and changing everyday. She is almost two months now. 

Thought I would throw in some artwork from early fall 

Paul, Kelly and me. 70’s have called to let us know we are right in time with the beat. Haha yes Kelly and Paul are holding me up. Haha 🤣 I have never been a heel wearing female. So it was only for the pictures. I am always so impressed with women I see wearing some beautiful high heels. 👠 

No heels here I am just that much taller than my daughter Alexis. She is from stepbrothers the movie. I loved their costumes. Alexis couldn’t believe it was me in that red hair. 

We had a field trip day with Brooks and Baker to the pumpkin patch. It was just magical. 

Baker 

Brooks 

Levi and his cat 

The boys love a shoulder ride 

We went thru the sunflower field path 

This little cat followed the boys around the whole time just loving and playful. 

Samantha was Ms.Fizzle from the Magic School Bus. 

Ledger and Riggs 

Paul and Kelly, Garrett’s parents. Alexis is married to Garrett. 

Garrett and Alexis 

Well, hello everyone and welcome. I am sorry that it is taken a little bit longer today to post. I had a few classes this morning and they were live on Zoom so I was unable to get everything done as quick as I thought I could.

I really need to set alarms to keep in time. I will show you some more Halloween things or fall. Should I say throughout the next few post then we’ll be heading into August in a few of those good moments just a recap of 2025. The recaps will continue throughout January as well as daily highlights. 

      I am so glad that you can be a part of this. I appreciate it greatly yesterday we had to ride to town to get some apples and some lettuce. I know I can grow lettuce but this time of year I need a break and I need to focus more on my artwork because that brings me joy as well as taking pictures. We only had a few things in the bags and it came to $60. I know you guys understand that, but we are living on a very, very low Of $1600 a month that is it. Suspend $60 is extremely hard. Colby rode to Green Bay, yesterday as he had gotten a gift card from his job to a meat shop, which is a wonderful thing he got $250 which is amazing he bought some pork ribs so tonight Bruce is gonna cook them on the smoker and even got some spices from meat church the place was called Maplewood  Meats in Green Bay. His boss even gave them money to State line which sells like Carhartt clothing. He was able to get some really nice winter boots and some winter gloves, pants and a pair of socks. All very quality clothing. That was $500 the boss gave for their Christmas bonus very nice. Also from Christmas from the Azure Lady Donna and Chris gave us a ham for Christmas and it was wonderful. It was by Hormel. The boys ate a lot of sandwiches. We ate it for breakfast split pea soup. It was very very well enjoyed thank you Chris and Donna. That was really thoughtful of you to call and offer it to us. She’s so good always she even gave me a bottle of oil, olive oil, oil, and apple cider vinegar all from Azure. They are also the ones who gave us the roaster a little over a year ago. I don’t know. Maybe almost two years ago now it’s hard to keep up with these days. My mother has sent me several Hair Care products. It’s called Sweet Spirit and then the mousse as well. They really are nice products. The sweet spirit smells really good. Thank you to my mother. 

       We received a few letters from Cooper that have been  wonderful welcoming surprises in the mail. We are so excited for Cooper. It’s coming up fast too fast actually probably not for Cooper but it is for us. The mail just got delivered. So I’m really late today. Oh well better late than never., eh? 

       Well guys, I’ll see you tomorrow. Stay artful sending all the good vibes and all the warm hugs your way take care much love Dan GALLOP.
 

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January 06, 2026 A Day with the Grandchildren

Hello and good day happy Tuesday and a welcome to January 6, 2026 cold and sunny here. This is Baker and Brooks eating oatmeal homemade with Greek yogurt and fruit plus peanut butter. They love it. Brooks never wants to be on videos or a picture sometimes. He is so funny in this one “off” 

On the way to Cody’s we saw these turkeys out by the road 

Day 5 of the 30 day sketchbook challenge “favorite foods” of course if you know me it’s pickles. I used a jar of our pickles and sketched it out then I watercolored it with LuKUs paints. Then fine line ink 0.3. This time I used watercolor paper. So much fun. Very easy and satisfying. Feeding that artist soul everyday. 

The boys had made me a card thanking me for coming right before Briar was born. It’s beautiful and Baker even pointed to his hand. 

I love it. Thank you Baker and Brooks. I am thankful to be a part of your family. 

I took this picture trying to see the exact color of Bakers eyes. They are so beautiful. Like a steel gray around and hazel inside. 

Laugh at this one, Bruce told us to say “arghh” like a pirate. Well I was definitely doing it. Haha Bakes loves his picture taken. He always wants to see it afterwards. 

Briar has grown so much in just a week. 

I love it she is looking at me

Bruce took a few pictures I love to edit them. That used to be a huge part of my art work editing photos. 

I love Briar so much. She’s adorable. 🥰 

Remember when I had said how much the deer eat the birdseed. Well we often wake up with the feeders on the ground. Note the snow in the trampoline. 

This was day 4 of 30 day sketchbook challenge. I will make a post just for the challenge around the first of February to share. I love sunflowers and have grown them every year since my early teens. I hand drew this on mixed media paper then watercolored it in. Using 🫟 splatters and a fine line pen. Very enjoyable. It brought sunshine to me on a cold and snowy day. Thoughts of the warm sunshine on my back as I stare up at the sunflowers in the garden. The smell of summer and seeing all the pollinators flying around. Yellow finches stopping by for a quick seed. Soon those days will be upon us soon. 

These are backgrounds I did for another one of my classes. I still have to cut it up and add to my journal. I had so much fun this is a lot of my old school art stuff. Very textured and abstract. It’s all done on Kraft paper. Bruce and I were at Home Depot one day and found this giant roll for $4.75. Yes less than five dollars. We bought it and walla easy paint substrate. Plus it’s very freeing and puts you in the zone. 

Ready for my Book club this was like my fourth meeting together. It is so nice to meet with like minded people. We always vote on the books we read. I have my next book on order I always get the second hand books if I can. I will share more on the book club later. 

Pork roast tenderloin with sauerkraut and seasonings. I paid 2.50 each for them. A great meal for us. The butternut squash we had grown which we are still eating them. It’s a great blessing to have all the grown foods. So this meal cost us 5 bucks in total. Well I added butter and the sugar free brown sugar. Those do cost but a small amount used. The cost of power you get the idea. 

More proud moments walking with the grandchildren out trick or treating. It was so good to be back out there. I had two years off. I have been trick or treating with all my kids since 1987. 

Baker and Papa Bruce 

Ledger and Baker with Papa Bruce. 

Amelia, Cody, and Baker and Brooks with Briar. Cody and Amelia waited until she was born to find out what they were having so at the time we weren’t sure. I knew as I knew they were having twins before they even went to the doctor. Two little very new deers crossed the road in front of me and I said they are having twins. Amelia had just found out she was pregnant. When they went to the first ultrasound Cody called me and said look at your phone he had texted me the ultrasound pics. He said you were right it is twins. ❤️❤️

Yesterday was a good day to be with the babies. Of course once we got back home I was exhausted. I had one of my zoom classes start on the way home which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was others “champions” sketchbooks them talking about them and showing us ideas. Very good meeting. Then right after that one I had a group meeting with the slow drawing mindful with Amy. It’s very relaxing and comforting.  Then we had a breakfast for dinner. Bruce made a corned beef hash with Swiss cheese egg omelette. I made pancakes. Everyone loves a great breakfast meal. Sending all the love and good vibes. Take care and much love. 

Love you guys, 

Dawn Gallop 

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January 05, 2026 The Polar Express in Green Bay

 

Hello and good day. Here we at January 5, 2026 in my neck of the woods. When I put these pictures up it is a bit backwards from what I am thinking it should be.  It’s like the first picture I pick should show up first but it tis the opposite. 

     This is what I call my ancestral piece. It’s all done intuitively. The flowers at the bottom came from holding the paintbrush at an angle. This is all Sumi ink and this was very first painting ever with Sumi. We left the zoom class that morning and when I was thinking of doing the basic stuff “practice using the Chinese calligraphy brushes. This is what showed up for me. I felt like it was my ancestors reaching out. Two little girls picking mushrooms. 🍄 when I was done I was like yes I like this medium.  Last night it snowed quite a bit again. No biggie here. It’s just that out gator is broke down right now. That has our snowplow on the front of it. Bruce is having to clear the snow with the snowblower. So we can get in and out of the driveway. Our driveway is about 3/4 mile long. He has also borrowed Garrett’s four wheeler with a small plow. You gotta do what you gotta do!!! Bruce has been working on our bathroom he had to put in a tub easy for me to get in and out of. I have new handles to hold on to as well. The kids are calling it the five year bathroom. Haha 🤣 not really it’s been six months since he started. It has basically been completely remodeled. He had to redo all the plumbing, replace the floor and floor joists. The other shower stall was leaking when we bought the house so it was a necessity to be replaced. Everything is so expensive now but he has done it mostly with the things we already had. The tub is new, the vanity, and a standard shower. He painted it too after replacing some drywall. I will show you when it’s completed. He also built cabinets and used doors from an old cabinet. Probably as old as the 70s. He added a light in the cabinets so I could see inside. It is a much nicer bathroom. It’s almost done. We hung up the mermaid Beverly gave me years ago. She’s up and showing her best self. 

I had made these for the weekend everyone was hunting. Potato rolls cut in half and filled with pizza ingredients. Cover and bake 400 degrees ten minutes then uncovered for another 10 minutes. The top has butter, garlic, and pizza seasonings. 

The first day Dusty got his glasses and the first day Riggs my grandson got his glasses. 

Riggs got his glasses right around Thanksgiving. He is so 

The park we went to with Kim and Jr the morning of the Polar Express. It was a quiet peaceful place. I enjoyed it so much. Manitowoc County, Wisconsin 

A tree I thought would be great to paint. 

Kim took the picture once again. She’s the best!!  

Kim had bought us PJ’s for every one for the Polar Express.

They brought their elves with them to the Polar Express. 

The grandkids with Santa on the Polar Express 

Look at Levi’s smile 

The bells Santa handed out 

The kiddos heading in the train. I love the colors in this picture 

Hot cocoa 

The hot cocoa machine 

A lot of beautiful trees at the Polar Express 

Mail for Santa 

It was a magical magnificent experience. We all enjoyed ourselves. I was very thankful that Kim and Jr. took us on this journey together with the grandkids. It truly made me feel like a little girl. 

    Today I am at Cody’s house sitting with my grandchildren. They certainly do love watching videos of themselves in the videos. I was showing them some of their videos from a year ago. They were so small. Briar is doing so well she is bright eyed and bushy tailed just smiling and looking at me. I will share those pictures tomorrow. Remember stay strong and keep your head up sending all the best of love and hugs with super sweet good vibes. 

Love you guys, 

Dawn Gallop 🏇 

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