Maude-White-www.boredpanda.com
Zoe Bradley-www.zoebradley.com
Filed under Creativity, paper art
Contentment
Thanks to Bill Lites for his email.
Filed under your 'awwww' for the day
Martin Karlsson-martinsfotopoesi.wordpress.com.
I’ve told you that I think painting water is impossible. I’ve also shown you by many examples, like these, that I’m wrong. I can study these all day long and have decided to just appreciate the talent of these artists.
mountain landscape-www.etsy.com
Filed under Creativity, water paintings
As with the file cabinets, I’m good about putting things IN, but not so good about taking things OUT. Our buffet has gotten to the point that we cannot get anything more IN. TIME TO PURGE! My husband hoards pill bottles. He’s not sure why. I’m going to solve this problem today. I love place mats, tablecloths, cloth napkins…..
Here you get an idea of what came out of the drawers of the buffet. Some I packed nicely in plastic, but most were just stacked and slid into the drawers. Then, when I changed place mats, I pulled out two of the four and put the ones I was not now using in the drawer, on top of the pile.
Time has passed and we’ve changed our daily pottery – a nice combination of aqua and brown. I’m going to go through what we have with that in mind, trying to keep only the things that look good with the pottery, my china, or other things I have, donating the rest.
This is another project that has been a long time coming. I’ll feel better when I have things in more control, where I can remove something from a drawer without half of the contents trying to come out, and actually be able to put something back IN to the drawer with the other place mats, for example, where they belong.
Waste basket and donation bag are ready!
Filed under Creativity, Fun with Fingerpaint
“Italian Church from Bucharest” – Paul Militaru Photography
I absolutely love this beautiful church photographed by Paul Militaru. I have always been drawn to small, beautiful “treasures” of churches. The fact that this one – a piece of the old world – is in the middle of a city that has moved on in time fascinates me.
Second, it reminds me of when I visited the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas years ago. My husband had some kind of business conference. We spent most of the free time we had on the River Walk – one of my favorite places in the world. I think I would be happy living there. :0)
One day I walked up some steps to the street above and saw the Alamo right across the intersection in the midst of modern city. In all the postcards and books I had ever seen it only showed the building. I imagined it sitting in wide, open spaces, but it was like time had stood still, leaving the building, and now it was crammed into the middle of the bustling city.
I will never forget my visit there. I went over, interested, but it wasn’t high on my list of things to see while I was there. I walked around inside and then sat on a bench in the courtyard. All of a sudden I felt swamped overwhelmed by emotion. There were a couple of other people walking around, but I was feeling something quite different. I felt the force of the lives that were lost there. It felt like they wanted me to acknowledge the enormity of their sacrifice. I sat there for about an hour, FEELING something I’d never felt before.
When I tried to tell my husband later about the visit, I found myself tearing up, still swamped by the feelings. I’ve never had this happen before or since.
This beautiful photograph is also telling a story of lives past. I hope that it has a large membership still, with people cherishing it. If it is now a museum, I hope it’s visited and valued.
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
I enjoyed playing “Pick Up Sticks” when I was young. I was pretty good at it, too! :0)
This is our 10-month-old yellow lab, Amber’s, collection of sticks this morning. Every day she makes a collection. Today I watched her while she put each stick where she wanted it, having some design in her head. She would stop, walk around a bit, go to the woods in front of the house, bringing another to add to the collection, then move one from one side of the yard to the other. When she was satisfied, she came to the door and barked.
We let her in and gave her a treat, but I think she was quietly disappointed that we didn’t admire her latest stick collection profusely.
This may also be a plot to get me to MOVE more, since I go out and ‘ruin’ the collection sometime during the day….
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
“October Forest”-T_C_Chiu-www.absolutearts.com
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
curatti.com
I’ve been working in my dining area and kitchen for parts of 3 days now, trying to purge/reorganize/clean. I have now done
It’s amazing how much ‘stuff’ accumulates around here. I swear to you that there is some hanky-panky and things are reproducing when we’re not watching. What is helping me on the counter tops is picturing my husband with too many plastic bags in each hands fighting with the dog when he’s trying to bring in a load from the car and plopping the whole bunch down on a part of the counter top. I’m trying to make sure that there is nothing breakable, “spillable,” or “dumpable” on a good part of each area, having learned the hard way that no thought will be given as the bags come plopping down. In this effort I’ve relocated a lot of things and gotten rid of the rest.
I’m enjoying a rest now and then I’ll tackle what we call the ‘go-out’ table (holding things we want to take with us the next time we go to town) which unfortunately also acts as a dumping table.
The remaining project for today will be trying to make sense of my hats and scarves in the utility room. This is more complicated than it sounds because nothing can be down low, due to the cats. Nothing can be high, because then I can’t reach them, and hard decisions will have to be made on which things should be given away…
As I move through the house, though, I’m feeling better about being in better control of my space. I’m getting rid of a BUNCH of ‘stuff,’ relocating some things that should live elsewhere, gathering things that I’ll donate to the library or the Veterans Thrift Store, and things being easier to clean when there are fewer THINGS.
I’m hoping that this urge to get my things in better order will continue. It’s quite unusual for this old broad, so I’m doing a bunch of it as quickly as I can…
Filed under Cork Art, Creativity
Filed under Creativity, snow people
“Dove” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Sleeping” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Amazing Animals, Paul Militaru Photography
Jack Kerouac via Lisa Bearnes Richey
So MANY controversies – so little time.
On 60 Minutes last night, Lesley Stahl spoke with Margarita Simonyan — the head of Russia’s state-owned news network. At one point, Margarita Simonyan said (paraphrased) “The U.S. prides itself on allowing freedom of speech. What happened to it? What has happened to the United States?”
She raises a very good point. I never remember such discord before in our country. I don’t remember many instances of not allowing someone to speak, although I do remember instances where the Ku Klux Klan announced they would be in a location and protesters coming. A good yell was had by all. No one listened to anyone who disagreed with them, but I don’t remember property damage or bloodshed. My memory may be faulty.
My point is that it seems that –
One example – Women – particularly in Hollywood – are speaking up about sexual abuse they have suffered in the past, insisting that things change and that the men responsible be punished. I think this has been a long time coming and that powerful men should be learning that, along with increased power comes greater responsibility to be respectful of those around them or be ready to lose it all.
Some women, though, have accused men of abuse and rape, only to be proven liars – sometimes years later. They have ruined men’s reputation and lives. If/when it is known that they accused falsely, though, nothing seems to happen to them! I can’t believe that a woman merely has to accuse someone in order to ruin them. Now THAT is power! People who falsely accuse should be sent to prison with THEIR reputation in ruins, or something equivalent – maybe some way of trying to make it up to the person they wronged.
People who are abused should feel free to speak up about the wrong and get help with making the abusers pay for their crime. Falsely accusing someone should come with STIFF penalties. Otherwise, it will get to the point where no smart man will EVER consent to being alone with a female for any reason, fearing their lives could be ruined.
Our country is divided on too many issues to count. The people holding different views are really hostile, some threatening to end the lives of people who oppose their views. This is NUTS!
May 2018 bring awareness, of what we’re losing, bigger brains and ears, and more tolerance.
Filed under Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Encouragement, Favorite Quotes
Hedgehog-GeethaKaarthikeyan.com
Mr. Riu-www.boredpanda.com
Filed under Creativity, paper art
animalpicturebeautifulanimals.blogspot.com
loveartabc.blogspot.com
Filed under Creativity, Oil Paintings I Love
“Willy” – Allison-Baer-www.planetcustodian.com
Chinese-cconzemius.blogspot.com
Filed under Cork Art, Creativity
Amber will be 10 months old tomorrow. She is still basically a ‘bull-in-a-china-shop,’ lumbering around, knocking things over, running over Molly, messing with the cats, and knocking US down if we’re not paying proper attention. We’re told by people in the know that she will continue ‘puppy-hood’ for another 14 months, until she’s two. Oh, joy.
We ARE making distinct progress in several areas, though, and she is adapting to life in the Lewis household better and better. Molly and Amber now will sleep on the same dog bed in the living room in the evenings – unless Amber sits on top of Molly. The cats no longer freak out and disappear if Amber is in the house, although there is hissing and spitting from time to time if Amber tries to pick up a cat with her nose.
I told you recently that we’re trying to get Amber to bark at the door when she’s ready to come in from being outside. We actually had to start with getting her to bark at ALL. Now we may have created a monster.
This morning she came and responded to my, ‘do you want to go “OUT?” We went to the door, she smacked her mouth soundlessly a few times and then finally barked. She actually barked to come in, though it was a pretty pathetic bark. I opened the door, told her “GOOD GIRL!” and gave her a cookie. A few minutes later, she came and sat beside me, looking at me expectantly. I said, “SAY IT!” and she smacked her mouth again soundlessly, finally barking and getting to go out. A couple of minutes later (it seemed) we heard a bark, let her in, praised her, and gave her a cookie.
A couple of minutes ago I was concentrating on the computer. Suddenly a huge “WOOOF!!!!” errupted from the dog, who was sitting beside me.
I jumped straight up about two feet out of my chair, tried to say “Good Dog!” on the way down. I let her out, and sat down again, only to hear a loud “WOOOOFFFFF!” from outside the door. I let her in, gave her a cookie and sat down again.
When she said, “WOOOOOFFFF!” 30 seconds later, I finally began to see that she was definitely enjoying a power trip, working the system in order to get another treat. I got her a chew toy, told her it was too soon to go out again, and told her to get into her “PLACE!”
So far, this is working. What does a person DO when her dog is smarter than SHE?
Filed under Amazing Animals, Family
curiousphotos.blogspot.com
Elsa-Mora-www.thiscolossal.com
Filed under Creativity, paper art
“Portrait of a Seagull-1” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Portrait of a Seagull-2” – Paul Militaru Photography
“Portrait of a Seagull-3” – Paul Militaru Photography
Filed under Paul Militaru Photography
123RF.com
I’m already a lucky woman – but I would LOVE to be a gazillionaire who could change lives. To that end, I bought –
I’m also entering the PCH Sweepstakes regularly….
If I could win one, two, or all three of them I would smile my face right off the front of my head. :0)
These things are so large now that I HAD to participate. They say the odds of getting hit by a meteorite are much better than winning either of these games, and are probably the same for the PCH sweepstakes. But I know my chances of winning are “0” if I don’t enter.
The drawing for the MegaMillions is tonight.
The drawing for the PowerBall is tomorrow night.
The PCH contest winner will be announced Feb. 23rd.
And – while the winners have not been chosen or announced, I have a little bitty pinpoint of hope that “I” might be the one!!!!!!!
Filed under Attitude, Encouragement
Niagara Falls – Frozen Solid – CTV News via Robin Gras, LinkedIn
Filed under Mother Nature
“Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
tpkorean.wordpress.com
Warning: These three conditions – stupidity, doofosity, and obtusity – are contagious. Read on at your own peril. –
I know this personally, as I committed an act of doofosity just the other day. Instead of making SURE I knew to which account a money transfer site was linked, I ASSUMED I knew and transferred money. The Vice President of our local bank was kind enough to call me, letting me know that the account that the money was supposed to come out of didn’t have the required funds. When I figured out what I had done, I was really embarrassed. Rozanne was very tactful about my doofosity, saying she would transfer the money from where it was to where it should be so that the transaction could occur…
I don’t think I’m alone in committing acts like this. I do know that I commit more of them as I ‘mature.’ But, as George Carlin said, “Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” I, at least, have the excuse of diminishing brain cells, but I wonder about all the other people who can’t use that excuse?
I read or listen to the news and am amazed (and depressed) by so many things I’m overwhelmed. My age might also be causing me to have less patience, and I know for a fact that there is no lower limit on ‘dumb,’ but so many people are WORKING at it! Every once in awhile I hear someone discuss a topic using a well-reasoned argument citing facts to support it. That’s becoming rarer than hen’s teeth (to coin a phrase.)
I’ll stop my rant (my mom always told me – “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” but I’ll leave you with this thought –
“Beauty fades, dumb is forever.”
― Judy Sheindlin, Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever
Filed under Attitude, Favorite Quotes, Pet Peeves
creativeartworksblog 
When ‘Favorite Thing’ Meets ‘Pet Peeve’
Matthew Stockman, Getty Images
I LOVE to watch figure skating. It’s one of my favorite things in life. My husband found that the contest for who would go to the Winter Olympics in figure skating was on television Friday and Saturday nights. I was in Heaven. The ladies skated on Friday and the men on Saturday. Seeing so much dedication and talent in one place is awe-inspiring.
Matthew Stockman, Getty Images
The women were all very talented, but it seemed to me that the contest wasn’t as close as the men’s. I have to say I’m really pleased to live on the same planet as these talented people.
The reason I titled this post “When ‘Favorite Thing’ Meets ‘Pet Peeve'” is the people who ‘help’ me watch the performance. Yes, they’re professionals. Yes, they know better than anyone how well the people skate. They’ve watched these folks in practice. They have been where these young people are and know what they’re feeling and how nervous they are.
My pet peeve is that I don’t want to listen to them! I want to watch the ice skating. I want to listen to the music they’ve chosen. Even “I” who can’t tell the difference between a ‘quad,’ and a ‘triple lutz’ (spelling?) can SEE when someone does a brilliant job of skating. I can tell if they almost fell or actually fell on their butts. I don’t care what the name is of the thing they’re about to do. I don’t want to know how nervous they are or that they had trouble in practice. I JUST WANT TO WATCH THEM SKATE AND LISTEN TO THE MUSIC. The commentators can talk in-between performances, even showing ‘where-little-Johnny-fell-on-his-butt’ over and over again, if they would like.
The result of this pet peeve is that once the skater begins, it’s about 4 seconds before one of the commentators HAS to tell me what is coming up and how important it is that little Johnny doesn’t fall on his butt this time. I mute the sound and watch, then unmute to see if I can hear at least a few seconds of the music before another commentator HAS to break in to tell me that little Johnny said that this performance was really important to him tonight. Well, DUH!
So, the performances are largely done in silence in the Lewis household. Amazingly, even without listening to the commentators, we can tell who did a good job and who didn’t. We realize all the years each of these talented people have practiced. We have an idea of what they’ve given up to get to this place. We want them to do well.
I just WISH we didn’t have to appreciate them in silence…
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Filed under Delightful Surprises, Encouragement, Favorite Things, Pet Peeves
Tagged as commentators in figure skaing, when favorite thing meets pet peeve