Can't Seem To Stop Myself

EVEN THOUGH I have little to say - nothing too remarkable happened today - I feel the need to blog again. I thought this was gone; this excitement to keep track of the days and the moments. But I guess not ... .
This morning I overslept and woke with 30 minutes to get ready for work. Wasn't going to happen. I took a long, luxurious shower and felt very good afterward. Friday is casual day at work so I got to put on jeans and a shirt and not worry about stockings and the proper outfit. Extra sleep and blue jeans. Maybe today was more remarkable than I thought.
It was raining on the way to the desk, computer, and chain to hold me there. That was lucky actually, because yesterday a bird passed over my car and left a truly ugly stain down the passenger's side window. (Must have eaten something really, really bad - and orange colored.) So the rain washed it off a bit and that was good.
The coyote was gone this morning. The city doesn't usually send out crews that quickly to pick up dead animals. Maybe they didn't want the citizenry frightened. I'm wondering if someone wanted the coyote for his carcass or his ears. There's another side of me that believes the "right people" picked up the coyote and took it and gave it a decent burial under the huge oak out in the field near their driveway.
Listen, do you think there's something wrong with me that I dream up stuff like this? Sometimes I wonder.
I loved the image of Steve from Bloggertropolis waving his hand in front of the elevator door, when he knew it was going to open anyway, and then pretending it was him that did it. I'm trying to think if I do any weird things like this or if it's just strange stories I cook up in my head.
I talk to myself a lot, you know; not expecting answers, and mostly to keep myself on task or help me remember things. And I dream up the most extraordinary stories where I turn out to be the heroine, saving someone some trouble or injury. I don't leap off buildings or dodge bullets, but folks end up being grateful. Then I shake my head wondering where "that" came from and go back to whatever I was doing before I started daydreaming.
I can't believe I'm actually typing this out. I guess I'm more tired than I thought and there's plenty to do tomorrow. I'm posting a photograph I took of a window in the Mister's old house and a bouquet of flowers I picked for him, in my efforts to show what a great little housewife I would make - so he would fall in love with me - femminismo
p.s. Candace, what is the name of these orange flowers? Oh, I remember! Globe flowers!

I Love Autumn!

FALL is too dull a word for what's surrounding us today.
Red, orange, yellow - piles of leaves on the sidewalks and pine and fir trees shedding their needles. I would scoop them all up and take them home IF I had room and IF they would stay lovely.
Here is a bouquet I made today and you can see the pine needles on the table in front of the container. (Yes, Photoshopped.)
I took a walk and had on good shoes for sloshing my feet through nice dry leaves. On rose bushes there were rose hips of all kinds. Bright, fat, orange ones, soft red ones and some still green and just turning red like an apple.
The tree I am watching hasn't put on any color yet. I'm in no hurry.
On my walk I found a beautiful smoke bush (much taller than me; doesn't take much!) and the leaves aren't nearly as red as our neighbor's smaller potted tree. I think maybe the taller one hasn't gotten as cold and will turn color a little more slowly. Can't wait to see it happen.
I am still reading Michael Chabon's book and want to watch "Ship of Fools." It came in the mail yesterday. I haven't seen it in forever. Fanciful Twist's Halloween worldwide blog party is happening this Saturday. Candace is going to "spook" things up on her blog. I will try, but I cannot promise too much. Maybe pumpkin pie. Stop by for some - femminismo

Taking Care of Love.

TAKING care of this thing called love - or this thing called marriage - is not for the faint of heart.
Like being a parent you can't let this "child" out of your sight. It mustn't lose its significance, its promise and its purpose.
This lady knows it. When the pages of the book close, ooh la la! What's that she's singing? Is it a song of love to him, or a song of woe to herself. (She looks a bit sad, doesn't she?)
Days turn into months, months turn into years and before we know it we can lose sight of the desired object we once wanted over anything else.
Perhaps her sweet voice will charm this Romeo again.
And this dry leaf of summer is getting a tiny bit of rain in Oregon today. Very tiny. Almost gone now. Thanks for sticking with me if you're reading this. More tomorrow, I promise - femminismo
p.s. I'm going to do a Labor Day shrine with Candace at EyeCandy! A shrine to love, perhaps? ; )

It's A Really Good Thing We Have A Big Mailbox!

LOOK what arrived today! The giant plane load of misplaced packages finally landed in Portland and this delightful gift from Candace in Athens, Ga., made its way speedily straight to me. I thought it was an awfully large package in which to deliver a paper doll.
You can imagine my surprise when I opened it up and found layer upon layer of wonderful, delightful bubble wrap. (I love bubble wrap because that's what I most often "paint" with.) And inside the bubble wrap was this most beautiful thing: a specially bejeweled dragonfly picture!!
It wasn't one of her paper doll girls that I thought I won; it was this lovely beauty. (Do you think she knows I collect dragonflies?) Can you see Candace's picture in the upper left hand side? What a nice touch. Thank you so much, Candace! I have been very blessed lately, winning Julie Fillo's giveaway of prints and then this. Too much! But thank you, all.
It's been a good day. I got an X-ray today on my hip that's been hurting lately, but to tell you the truth - after all the exercise I got camping - I've been feeling much better than I did. I think sitting around at a desk too much in front of a computer is seriously bad for the body.
So with that, I'm going to shuffle off and move around a bit. Got to write a thank-you note tonight, also - femminismo

Beginning An Art Campaign.

GREETINGS! We are well into September now and everything is drying up around Oregon. Fire bans in the forest have been in effect for some time and so there will be no more campfires up on our piece of woodland property. It's not that we've even been up there to enjoy the solitude and quiet - unfortunately - but we sure would like to camp overnight a couple more times this summer before our good weather is all gone.

I have been very busy and I have to tell Candace at EyeCandy that I don't know that I can continue the Javablu Award. I'm pleased she thought of me (more than she can know) and I see the good things that awards can do for blogs: More people connect with you, you pass on other's blogs, and they pass the blogs on to their friends and hopefully everyone finds some good thoughts or ideas that can help them along. However, I know the blogs I would nominate for a Javablu Award are probably in the same boat as I am. So I'm just going to ask Candace to understand and I'll let this one - and any feelings of guilt I have - go. OK?
As you can see by the photo I have posted I am undertaking an advertising campaign for Valley Art Association, the nonprofit gallery where I volunteer. Actually, the entire gallery's operation, since 1966, has been totally volunteer-run, which has to be some sort of minor miracle.
Each November the gallery has its Annual Artist Event and all members get in early to peruse the latest offering of Northwest artists. They have one night all to themselves to mingle, eat, laugh, drink, gab and buy the freshest stuff from really great artists. (Just in time for holiday giving, too!)
I was asked to produce advertising and the chairwoman's theme is "Vote for the Arts," since the day after the November event will be Election Day.
My thought was to have this American Lady striding through the fields (thank you, Candace, for alerting me to this painting by James Montgomery Flagg), carrying a paintbrush and a sign that says "Vote For The Arts." (The little box and scissors are only to hold down the matte gelled-image.) I was hoping also to somehow work in a "crop" of artwork "growing" in the fields.
I will do other collage on this piece and hope it turns out usable as a background for our posters and other advertising. I'm trying to combine art and advertising so I can do this in a little more "hands-on" way. I hope it works. I'll let you know.
In other news, we were saddened this weekend to lose a sweet man, a member of our extended family - Billy H. He was one of those men a girlfriend spoke of recently - a man like our own fathers, strong and brave. "Gone" is such a lonely, final word. Gone on a journey that others have taken before. Off to witness something magnificent, I truly hope - femminismo