Yippee Skippy! See What She's Done!

ALL hail, Christy, Web guru extraordinaire! I am so pleased that my banner is now stretched across the top of the blog. One simple request to Her Highness, and voila! Before I knew it, there it was before my eyes. If only she could be put to work on some of the more pressing issues of the world, who knows what might be accomplished. (I can tell she's blushing, so I will stop for now.) Well done, Christy.
At left is my desk today at work. Atop my 2009 appointment book is a blood orange slice and star fruit from JoAnn, my work colleague and art co-conspirator. She was slicing fruit, placing it on her window ledge and taking pictures. I can't wait to see what she's come up with. She takes great photos and has a knack for getting in close and capturing the best of a subject. Check out her blog to see for yourself.
Last night was the first class in the winter term for yoga. Oh, my, today I can tell by my tender muscles that I was far too lazy over the holidays - not doing a darn bit of stretching. Without the yoga I would turn into a creaky old lady. And we can't have that!
I had a magnificent dream/thought the other night when I couldn't sleep that turned into a story idea - and I actually remembered it when I woke up. I furiously scribbled it down on the back of an envelope and now it's sitting on the kitchen table looking up at me each time I pass.
There are so many stories bubbling around inside me that I hardly know where to start. Retirement from "real" work is the only answer, I fear, since keeping up with the house and this blog and my extracurricular activities seems to take any time that paid work doesn't. Trading health insurance for my precious time!! Argh! Anyone else feel this way?
Well, I told Christy she should post her work even if she didn't like it. She had been working on self-portraits. Now I find myself in the same predicament. But "walk the talk," so here it is. (I used Stabilo pencil to ourline and I forgot it smears horribly when wet. Good sometimes; bad just now.) My own face isn't nearly that gray.
And then there's one more art journal page to show you, and then it's to the sink. I think it's my turn to do dishes. Then a little knitting and then it's off to bed. I got this "window" from Judy Wise, on her blog. Check the link on the left. I found the lady via Blue Lantern. Ditto: check on the left. I made her pretty white gloves myself. I wonder if she knows what's going on atop her roof? - femminismo
p.s. I bought myself flowers today and I absolutely love them!

Is It Really Wednesday?

TIME, time, time! Trying to take it one day at a time is a good thought, but often it seems they are rushing by two or three at a time instead.
Monday night I caught up with a writing buddy in the vegetable aisle of a local grocery store. Stuck without my trusty digital camera I had to make do with taking a cell phone photo (actually a stranger pitched in and took it) and then e-mailing it to myself. Here we are, CJ and I. After a good talk together by the lettuce, about how life goes by fast and doesn't always turn out the way we'd planned, she has inspired me to send out some of my writing. And maybe even check in with some of my story characters that have been sitting on the page waiting to see how their lives turn out. Thanks, CJ! (Let me know if you are a "lower case" cj.)
I have also been visiting a friend who is very ill. She is 98 years old and as her nephew says, she has "had a good run." In her years as a teacher she gave so much of herself to all her students. She will live on through every good thing we do.
Her nephew, Dennis, and I were in the same high school class together and he is lucky enough to live in Alaska and sent me this photo which he took in his back yard. (Big back yard!) He put out a salmon carcass hoping to invite a bald eagle and got one. (Look sharp!) A loon paddles in the background. Can't you just hear its lonely cry? There was also a fox running around, but Dennis wasn't quick enough to get a picture of that fellow.
So much has been going through my head regarding living and dying, celebrating and mourning, and I've been considering how I spend - or mis-spend - my time. Sometimes it doesn't seem my brain is big enough for all the thinking I do, so maybe it's time to slow down. Any suggestions on how to do that? Maybe meditation.
Here is a journal page I have begun. With matte gel medium coating the picture, I stuck it face down on the book's photo of two boys fishing in a stream. My mother used to tell us that she always knew where we were. I wondered how that could be when she was always at home and we were traipsing through the woods and all over, up and down streams. So when I found this woman's photo it just seemed to belong watching over these boys.
One more photo and then I'm off to bed. It's newspaper production day tomorrow and there are plenty of loose ends to tie up bright and early.
Here is a calla lily after yet another of our Oregon rainstorms. I hope you are dry and warm tonight with someone you love close at hand - femminismo
p.s. Happy Birthday to Pat who doesn't have e-mail ... or, as far as I know, a computer!

Last Post for April 2008.

LAST chance to post during April. Another month gone, one day at a time.
I hope we will see warmer spring weather again this weekend. Which reminds me that I'd better plant some more sweet peas while the weather is cooler as it may all become way too warm very soon.
I did a little bit of art today but I don't have a photo to post so I'll show you what I drew with my right foot in Mexico. Stunning, isn't she? Of course she was a very impermanent creation and was probably gone before we left the beach that evening.
I hope you have been doing creative things. I finished a writing project today about an experience during my teens - one I've been thinking about a lot. One thing about growing older: We have a lot of memories to draw on. - femminismo