7 things

OK Doug...it's only 7 things so I think I can come up with them!

No other people required to make these 7 things pleasant:

1. Painting,(whether acrylic or encaustic), and/or drawing (from life or imagination) ( I know I could have made this into 2 things but I felt like that would be cheating)
2. Reading a good book with a good cup of coffee early in the morning
3. Trying to write poetry...and it is always best done alone to avoid the laughter.
4. Watching the sunset over Fish Lake
5. Shopping...for anything.
6. Going to the Art Institute
7. Listening to music either on pandora.com or my Ipod

...and 8. reading my few favorite blogs.

Note to self

What a lovely weekend!

5 girlfriends joined me at our little place in Wisconsin for our September bookclub meeting.There is nothing better that spending time with really good friends, talking about a good book (and lots of other trivial things) at a beautiful peaceful place during a perfect fall weekend. This will be an annual event!

Once they girls left, I decided that I have abandoned my art for too long. Time to get serious again. I did some small drawings and sketches the next day and a small assemblage for the new garden, but not enough! I need to take the small drawings and do something with them or do more. Maybe do a painting/drawing-a-day again.

It doesn't just happen...it takes work...and it is in the working that the joy lives.

Back in the studio...thank you God!

Just have to say that it is so lovely to have several days off at a time! It gives me time to get serious in the studio. This is Sunday night and I have been enjoying the wax since Saturday morning and will be back in there tomorrow morning. Wish I could be in the studio on a full time basis!

So this is a work in progress. It is an encaustic (that's the wax) work done on a piece of tree bark attached to a piece of rusted metal.The first picture is an overhead shot (but not a very good one!) showing the bark and the metal. Good luck figuring this out! If I ever submit this one, I'll have to have some really good pix of it! The tree bark is about 15'x12' and is curved on the left side, almost folded over (can you make it out in the first pic?). It is attached to a larger piece of rusted metal which is also slightly curved and has some wonderful chips and cracks that I hope to incorporate somehow. Dunno how yet! There is something about the juxtaposition of these pieces that appeals to me. It's tough to see what going on here, and I have to say that it needs a lot of work yet. It is way too busy. It really helps me to see it in this impersonal, distant way. Gotta say that I'm liking the "road" that is encircling the chaos. We'll see waht tomorrow brings.

Damn thieves!

Wednesday, my wallet was stolen from the office at work. I am still so angry about it and I am hoping that writing will ease these vibrations. I work in a nice little independently owned retail store that sells women's clothes. We have a reputation for being a very friendly and welcoming store. We all love to help our customers find what they are looking for. There are only three of us on a regular basis so most of the customers know us by name. It's kind of a Mayberry thing. Well, Wednesday two women came in the store. One was pregnant, or appeared to be, and the other appeared to be her Mom. The pregnant girl asked about a purse and if it could work as a diaper bag. This pushed a button in me that said "she can't afford a diaper bag so be nice". So we talked about the bag and when the baby was due, "any day" she said. She and her "Mom" started looking at the clothes moving to the back of the store. I had other work to take care of so I left them alone. She asked to try on a shirt that she could wear "now and after the baby is born".Then she asked to use the bathroom. Naturally, I said sure...she was pregnant, never refuse a bathroom to a pregnant woman! I know now that they were casing the store. I'm sure that by then they saw that I had left my purse on the floor of the office and that the door was open. My wallet was just waiting for them to snatch it! I'm guessing that that "baby" was just a nice little hollow for stolen things...like my wallet! Anyway, she decided to get the shirt, but when she opened her purse she realized that she didn't have enough cash...and this is just a wierd feeling...but I think the cash she counted out was MINE! So she said she would go to the ATM and be back. Well, she never returned. But they did go to Target and a few other places and charged about $800 on my bank card. My card, by the way, says "See ID" on the back so that noone can use it but me ...NOT TRUE! I am a blondish middle aged white woman...they aren't. So not only am I angry at them, but I am angry at the idiots who accepted the card! But even more, I am angry that these women think it's OK to just take my stuff and use my credit. Because of them, we are going to have to keep checking our credit report to make sure that they haven't opened other credit cards in my name. NIGHTMARE! The worst part of this is that my heart has changed. I am finding myself way less trusting and much more suspicious and prejudiced. I HATE that I feel this way!! All my life I have believed that there is always some good in everyone. I know that sounds sappy, but it's how I was raised. Occasionally I have realized that some people have very, very little good in them, but I still believed that there was some. Now I'm doubting everyone.Watching everyone, everywhere. I suppose this will pass but right now I feel as though something is rotting in my stomach.

Boating

I took this series of pictures of my 3 year old grandson as his Dad rowed us to the end of the lake and back. Yes, that is correct. He fell asleep!

A different kind of heaven

I spent several days last week at the lake with a couple of my children and their little ones. Those little ones being my grandchildren.

I recently wrote about my favorite place. This is where I spent at least two weeks every summer growing up and then brought my children to as often as possible. Seeing these little guys (and the big guys too!) experience my heaven was a delight!

There is something about this place that just surrounds you with joy and peace so that every day is a new adventure, even if you do the same thing as the day before.

My brother said of the place once that it is a place ,"...where you go to do nothing".



And so here is the nothing we did...

running on the beach

s'mores

cooking on a wood fire

ice cream

sand castles

snacking at the beach

wearing great-gramma's hats

climbing...and climbing

serious conversations

swinging

...and nothing much.

Thinking on the value of friends and books and humor

Once again, as I do every second Wednesday of the month, I met with my book club. What a joy it is to gather with these intelligent, diverse, and wacky women! Our books range from the ridiculous (Pocahontas,by Paula Gunn Allen...you don't want to read this one!) to the sublime ( "In the Time of Butterflies" Julia Alvarez) to the impossible ("One Hundred Days of Solitude"). All of these books have , in some way, enriched my life. Yes, even the bitter dogs that we have read. This is because of the discussions that they encourage. It is amazing to me that we can go from discussing the affair that Frank Lloyd Wright had with Martha Cheney (the book tonight was "Loving Frank", Nancy Horan) to the spiritual wellbeing of society and then to the multiple dimensions of life forms. We do, occasionally, dally in trivial and silly talk, OK, maybe more than occasionally, but it is mixed with this other intelligent and amazing dialog. So, as usual, this was an evening filled with intellectual stimulation, trivial blather, delicious food, and blessed warm friendship.
Everyone should have a group of friends to gather with on a regular basis for some reason, any reason. It's the gather that is important.