Well, I think I hit a record!

Three posts in one week! Who'd thought I could do it?

And here they are! More lovelies from the pages of Lady's magazines from the 40's and 50's. They always seemed so perfect to me. And I'm sure they weren't. And here's the proof!

Did you see that one coming? And "darn" for Pete's sake?

I always feel at a disadvantage when looking through a magazine, especially a magazine geared for women. So, I guess my art work is a way to fight back. I was never perfect, nicely clothed, thin and fit, poised or confident. In fact, I would hazard a guess that very few of us really are. And the ones who are don't think they are. Kinda sad, huh? So, if we don't have what we think we ought to have or are blind to the fact that we've got it, what's the big whoop?
Relax! Life is what it is and there are plenty of things to be thankful for!

Time to go and get some priorities straight.
CIAO for Now!

Getting ready for this weekend!

It's the time for this weekend's Downtown Art Market.

The studio is a flurry of activity. It's fun to see the work space filled with images waiting to be "found".




I'm excited. I've decided to do some serious refocusing. The goal has been to clean out a lot of the debris in my studio and remove the excess. I can now see my work table and there are several projects that should be done in time. It's still a little messy, but I'm straightening as I go and I do see a light at the end of the tunnel.

A batch of new journal covers.

They are ready for pages and stitching and finding new homes and purposes.It feels good to get my hands messy with paint and glue again. It's been too long since my last time at the art table.

Art every day!

Cliches and other utter nonsense!

It's a new day and a new year. I know that's corny and cliche, but it's the truth. I feel a need to get back to the things I love to do and clear out all the cobwebs. Been working too hard trying to please too many of the wrong people. Now, it's time for my emotional health.

Since nobody really reads this blog, I know I'm talking to a wall, but hey, I gotta get it out!

Here's the deal: the next 365 days need to be spent in creative endeavors one way or another. The creative spirit will manifest itself in different ways. I'm excited to see what happens next.

This year we were blessed with a white Christmas.

It's always inspiring to wake up on Christmas day and find a nice blanket of white stuff on the ground. Lubbock doesn't get many pretty Christmases, so this was a real treat.

Jim had to go out and wipe the snow off the backyard "C-band dinosaur" so we could view the TV festivities, but that's a small price to pay! Real live snow! We went to church the night before to the candlelight service, but all day Christmas was spent a warm house, watching TV and eating Christmasy food! What a deal!

Absolutely Lovely! I love this picture!

And now on to the rest of the year! One day at a time!

Thoughts about Charlene and Morning walks in June

My lovely step-mom passed away early this summer. It's been a strange time and a lot of my schedule suddenly had to be adjusted to accommodate the changes in Dad's life. This wasn't really bad, just a shuffling of priorities. It's kinda sad that the times that make us re-evaluate what's really important usually are the tragedies we encounter.



After the funeral there was quite a bit of time thinking, walking and looking. Penny, Charlene's cat found herself lost without her normal lap to sit in. She spent a lot of time hiding under the bed, wandering around



and my personal favorite: sitting in the front window looking out for her Mom to come home.


She has recently found herself on Dad's lap quite a bit and this is good. They both need each other right now.

I take a lot of walks when I go up to Dad's. There's a wonderful exercise path close to his house and I usually make use of it. Early in the day, even in the summer, the air is mountain cool and the view is extraordinary. Jim and I walked down to the little town and found a nice lake nestled in the hills. It was lovely and serene. Calming and refreshing.






I could just swear this little guy was posing for us. He never got off the lawn he was on (if you could call it that) but kept close to us as we walked around the property.

It always amazes me how people react to grief. Everyone does it differently. Dad was immediately overcome by a sense of loss and loneliness. It's been a couple of months now and I think he has healed some. At least he doesn't seem so down. He got the battery charged on his motorized chair and has decided to start moving around the neighborhood. He is seeking to touch the world outside, even when it's hard for him to get there. Where there's a will, there is a way! When the new Senior Citizen Center is built, I think he's going to be one of the first ones going. I'm glad. He needs people and he knows it. The hole created by Charlene's passing is still there, it'll take while to heal, but life goes on.

Who knows what the next chapter in our story will be? Not I.

Sometimes I wonder how life would be like without so many "dramas". Nice and serene like the bovine before us waiting in the field for the cowhand to come and move them her back into the barn for the night. No stress, just eat and get nice and fat. No deadlines, no PTA meetings, no meals to prepare and houses to clean. As serene as it is to just watching her, it's not what life for human beings is. We have been given more to do and a human cannot be fulfilled by sitting in a pasture. Our minds are busy and we feel we need to move and do something. We are happier with the time tables and responsibilities than we realize.

It is good to step back, enjoy the beauty of nature and find some peace in the world around us. But to want it all the time just isn't natural for us. I don't really believe in "retirement". I know I'm going to want to do something until I step up to the Pearly Gates and I'm truly grateful to have plenty to do right now.

Artful breakfast!

We've been watching "Iron Chef, America" and it's rubbing off. I tend to play a little bit with the plating, especially for breakfast. This is an omelet with avocado, bacon, cheese, mushrooms and tomato topped with a garnish of my own homemade sour cream. It was delectable!

Birthday

My 60th birthday! What a day!



It was a landmark day in several ways. I hit a decade. 6th decade to be exact. I'm still pretty healthy for my age. And I want to make some promises to myself for the next decade, at least, if not the next 20 or 30 years. I have a few good years left and I'd like to make them count.

So, how does one go about making the promises and How the heck do you keep them? Seems like every time I've made new year's resolutions, I've found myself slowly slipping and after a while just forgetting them completely. Every time I start a diet the same thing happens- I get tired of the discipline and doing the right thing (i.e.- not eat the wrong thing) and one bite of cookie leads to a small scoop of ice cream and so on and so forth!




These are some wonderful little guys my daughter made for me for my birthday. I actually got to help her make them. It was fun and I wasn't all that tempted to eat them. I got lots of pictures and happy memories of a great birthday!


Okay, back to the health rant, I do know one thing: I am going to have to get into much better shape to be able to handle the next what ever days (months/years?) I have left. 20 min of Yoga a couple of days a week is not enough. I'll just have to see what I can do to up the health ante!

"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."
Provers 15:22