Metal Sculpture
Joseph Gagnepain – ArtbyJoseph.com
Monthly Archives: July 2022
Stupid Signs – Even More!
Funny Signs – Giedre’ Vaiciulaityte – BoredPanda.com
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor
MarjansArt
Filed under Watercolors I Love
Milk and Cookies
We’ve been moving toward the Mediterranean eating plan for several weeks now. I’m having to do my own version of it since my husband would definitely leave me (yes! after 53 years!) if I started serving him meals with eggplant, Brussels sprouts, quinoa, black olives, chick peas, ‘zoodles,’ etc.
I’m concentrating on adding as many of the veggies he WILL eat (or I can sneak in) as possible to soups, stews, casseroles, salads, and side veggies. We are also eating some of the healthier frozen dinners (both of us are avoiding sugar, and Healthy Choice Steamed Bowls are heavier on the veggies for me).
I’m feeling better all the time after having my whole digestive system out of whack due to too much fat for my body with its lack of gallbladder, (with my lack of thyroid a complicating factor) and then my system going nuts. The concentration on less meat and more veggies is working well for me now, though the weight is not coming off yet. I figure that eating healthier is first, learn to either skip or choose my afternoon snack very carefully, and THEN I’ll worry about the lard.
Most of the diet articles figure that their readers are craving sweets. That isn’t my problem, although I do enjoy them when I can get them. My problem is I love salty foods. Though I try to limit added salt, I would salt my SALT if I had total freedom. One step at a time….
Filed under DIET!, Mediterranean Eating Plan + Recipes
Friday Love
awwwwww.
Filed under Amazing Animals, love, your 'awwww' for the day
Thoughts on a Friday 7-15-2022
I just love this photo. I WANT this sweet animal!
As far as I know, everyone will be at Lunch Bunch today. It’ll be a nice reunion. We have a few errands to do, but won’t be out long.
I’m having a lot of fun in my art room, working on the presents I’m painting for my friends for Christmas. I’m making 8 things, and I’m almost finished with some of the first sides. Apparently I smile while I’m painting – I’m finding my cheeks are hurting a bit in the evenings. :0)
I’m going to do an extra-long session of yoga this afternoon. I missed it yesterday and my body is reminding me about it today. You would THINK that after so many RE-learnings of this lesson, the message would stick. All I can say is I’m fighting sloth, stubbornness, and stupidity – a pretty lethal combination.
This morning’s harvest. We went into withdrawal yesterday because we didn’t have any ripe tomatoes from our garden to eat. Today makes up for yesterday, with more coming, probably tomorrow. YUM.
Hoping for a safe, quiet day for all of us.
My 2nd All-Time Favorite Performance
Brandon Leake changed America’s Got Talent forever by performing his original poetry. Simon Cowell admitted before Brandon started that he essentially didn’t ‘get’ poetry, understand or like it. Brandon smiled and quietly said he would introduce poetry to Simon.
My favorite is his first performance, but you might be interested in watching the whole video. He is a true artist, changing lives. I didn’t want you to miss him.
The URL is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ZuF45EXcU&t=5s&ab_channel=TalentRecap if the arrow above doesn’t work.
One of My All-Time Favorite Performers
Merrick Hanna was 12 years old in 2017 when he did an original dance performance for America’s Got Talent. I saved the video then, totally blown away by his talent. I still watch it from time to time and react the same way each time. I hope he finds no limits in the appreciation of his talent and creativity.
This is the URL if the arrow above doesn’t start the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wE79Bkgyak&ab_channel=Popcorn
Filed under Videos
Mary Philpott Ceramics
Filed under ceramics, Clay Art, Mary Philpott Ceramics
Fun in My Art Room
Each afternoon I’m spending time in my art room, working on the presents I’m making for my friends for Christmas. I try to make progress on two of them each day, waiting for paint to dry on each before the next step. I’m making 8 presents, and each is different, so I’m taking my time and really enjoying the process.
We converted a third bedroom to be my art room several years ago. I go up there, shut the door, turn on music I don’t listen to anywhere else, and start experimenting, immersing myself in color, determination, hope, and fun.
Even when all I create is a mess, the time there is well spent. I emerge refreshed in spirit, free and happy. I’m very lucky to have a space like this.
Filed under playing in my art room
Heh, Heh, Heh…
We are foiled once again in our efforts to catch racoon # 8 in our humane trap. He ate the seed all around the trap, but didn’t go inside. We are frustrated, but persistent. The birds will be happy when this one is caught and we fill up their feeders again.
When we went to do errands the other day, we had to slow down to give two young deer room to run along-side us and decide if they would then run into the woods or try to cut in front of our truck. Happily, they ran into the woods.
To finish off our ‘wildlife report,’ there were two white-tailed rabbits who sprung out of the way in huge leaps across the grass yesterday when I walked out to check the garden. Living outside the city limits exposes you to a whole life full of possibilities and joy.
Now I’m fighting happy tears. My husband is at his computer across the room from me. He asked me to check an email he was going to send to our son, who had written to him via email because my husband hasn’t taken the time to write to him on the chat program our son set up for us.
Several times a week our son says to me, “Please tell Dada I love him.” I always do. It isn’t the same as hearing from someone directly, though, so our son reached out more directly to him, thanking him for all the time and effort he spent teaching him about computers and programming, etc. He was thanking him for making it possible for him to enjoy the lifestyle he has now.
I teared up reading his email. And then again, when I read my husband’s answer. I talked to him about how lucky we are that we’re close to our son – other than in geography – and how special the love is between our son and him. I told him that I see so many people just doing ‘duty’ things, or not feeling close at all. We’re lucky that our son not only FEELS the love, he reaches out to give it back tenfold. My husband has been a wonderful dad and is now reaping some well-deserved rewards. Simply beautiful and overwhelming.
Filed under love, Thoughts on a ________
Downton Abbey – A New Era
I finally got my rental of this movie after waiting for what seemed like forever. I’m probably the last person on the planet to see this, but just in case, I wanted to make sure you had the chance.
If you didn’t like the series, don’t bother with this movie. If you loved the series, as I did, it’s more delicious icing on an already perfect cake.
My main feeling was that it was more a ‘reunion’ than a stand-alone movie. It was a celebration of seeing faces you had come to love and hear the voices you had missed. The writers did a good job of introducing some new things while taking care to tie off many loose ends.
As usual, I both laughed and cried. I can’t really relate to all the wealth and their extravagant lifestyle, but the rich characters transcended that technicality. I feel a sense of closure now that I didn’t before.
The movie is well worth your time.
Filed under Book - Movie - TV Reviews
Bryony Jennings Textile Art
More Button Art
Filed under Button Art
Book Bliss
One of my all-time favorite books is The Help by Kathyrn Stockett.
“The Help is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about very different, extraordinary women in the 1960s South who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project — one that breaks society’s rules and puts them all at risk. Filled with poignancy, humor and hope — and complete with compelling, never-before-seen bonus features — The Help is a timeless, universal and triumphant story about the ability to create change.” ~ Amazon
Kathryn Stockett drops you into the middle of lives you may have known peripherally, but may not have appreciated enough. However much you THOUGHT you knew, you will learn and appreciate more. This book made me laugh aloud. It also made me cry. I was afraid for the risks they were taking and how much they had to believe in the project and trust Skeeter in order to go through with it. It is written with love. You will be a different person when you finish it.
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books
Good Morning!
Happy Wednesday!
We started our day off at around 1:30 a.m. this morning when Amber started barking. She did this two or three times before she finally settled down for the rest of the night. The next thing we knew, our driveway pad alarm went off several times in succession early this morning, usually indicating a vehicle. We got up and dressed, but when we checked outside on the garage pad and then at the front door, there was nothing.
We tried, but failed, to catch raccoon #8 overnight. That was probably what had Amber barking. The trap had been triggered. The seed was all gone, but no one was inside the humane trap. So we’ll set it again tonight and hope for the best.
There was a wildfire between Fort Chaffee and one of Greenwood’s neighborhoods north of us yesterday. Fire departments from several surrounding towns helped to try to contain the blaze. About 35 homes were evacuated. The fire is about 80%+ contained this morning. No damage to houses. No people hurt that we know about. Scary.
I’ve had TWO character-building exercises over which I have been victorious so far this morning –
- I was trying to call in a refill for one of my husband’s medicines, but the pharmacy was having some kind of a phone problem, then I got a recording, and FINALLY reached a real person and was able to request our refill. Only took about 5 calls over 90 minutes, but I prevailed. :0)
- I was attempting to pay some bills online yesterday. When I tried to log in, I was told my username or password was “incorrect.” I fought with it several times, finally deciding to give it up until today. Sometimes these things heal miraculously, and so I had hope. No such luck. They still didn’t like me this morning. I finally went through the process of saying I ‘forgot’ my password, jumped through several hoops on proving I was who I was, including a text sent to my phone, and was finally put onto a page where I could change my password. THEN I fought with all the requirements they had on a new password. I finally passed muster, was let into my account, and was able to pay the bills. WHEW!
We’ll do errands in awhile, but nothing exciting going on today – I HOPE. I’ll be very happy if I can do what I’d like to do with no drama. I would LIKE to continue painting my Christmas presents for friends, do some vacuuming, and read my current book….
Happy Wednesday!
Angry!
- We have another raccoon (#8) and he trashed our feeders after eating all the seed last night. Amber woke us up barking at him.
- My husband INSISTED we NOT leave our trash at the bottom of the drive when we were leaving for errands. He was insistent that the guys don’t come until afternoon and the animals would get our trash and leave it all over for us to pick up again. We got home to find all the trash cans in our area empty. They had come and gone and we still have our trash. It is now back in the garage to wait until we put it out NEXT Tuesday, along with the trash we gather between now and then….
- We were sleeping happily after lunch and the phone rang. We have an answering program that asks the caller if ‘he is human and is NOT selling anything” to push a button before we hear it ring. It turned out to be someone asking ‘for the business owner.’ I asked if he spoke English. He said, “yes.” I asked if he listened to the message on the phone. He said, “yes.” I asked him if he REALLY thought that I would buy anything he was selling when he listened to the message and pushed the button anyway. He was silent. I waited several seconds and then hung up. Too angry to try to go back to sleep, I’m up now and ready to bite someone in the leg. Watch out.
Filed under Favorite Pictures
To ‘Yog or Not To Yog”
I’m expanding my afternoon yoga practices, finding new poses on the net, plus in the Big Yoga book I bought recently.
Just a pose or two at a time added to the ones I already do. It’s making for a better and better session, one that makes me feel loose and relaxed.
Filed under exercise
Tuesday 7-12-2022
We’re about to leave for lots of errands this morning. Our news and weather website reported that we should expect it to be 2 degrees cooler today due to a ‘cold front.’ Oh, the relief!!!! Only 101 plus heat index today. Be still, my heart!
I’m hoping we’ll have more ripe tomatoes for me to gather when we get back. We ate the last one yesterday and may go into withdrawal if we don’t have more…
I’m having a truly wonderful time working in my art room on the Christmas presents I’m making for friends. Each day brings a bit more progress. Yesterday my husband came up to say, “Hi,” and remarked that I was smiling while I was painting. YEP.
No exciting news today – just deep down happiness that things are going nicely here.
Take care and have a wonderful day.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Never Enough David Zinn
David Zinn – Street Artist – article by Hidreley – BoredPanda.com
Filed under David Zinn - Street Artist, drawings
Amazing Pencil Drawings
Filed under drawings
Comparing Food Pyramids
I’m trying to wrap my head around this. I grew up with what I consider the ‘regular’ food pyramid. As you can see, there are a LOT of differences between that and the Mediterranean lifestyle food pyramid shown here.
- They agree that we should eat very few sweets. We have been trying to cut out all, if not most, added sugar because 1) my husband is Type II diabetic, and 2) because we know sugar is bad for us.
- They agree we should eat more fruits and veggies. I’m not finding many recipes to try because the Med diet includes WAY too many veggies my husband not only dislikes, but dislikes with a vengeance. I’m sneaking in more veggies here and there that he DOES like where he can see them, and sneaking in even more in soups, stews, and casseroles where he CAN’T identify them.
- The ‘regular’ pyramid says to avoid fats and oils, while the Med one encourages you to embrace extra virgin olive oil.
- The Med pyramid encourages you to eat fish and seafood at least twice a week. They also say poultry is good, but discourage red meat (only use as a flavoring).
- Beans are DIS-couraged in the regular pyramind and EN-couraged in the Med.
And so it goes. I’m making small changes each week, trying to incorporate as many of the differences as I can without causing my husband grief. So far, I’ve been successful…
Filed under DIET!, Mediterranean Eating Plan + Recipes
Promise?
I’m really enjoying Linda Howard‘s books. I’ve read 7 so far and just ordered 3 more used ones –
- Up Close and Personal
- Tears of the Renegade
- Overload
My good friend Marsha recommended her work to me and I feel as if a whole new world has opened up. My husband decided he wanted to try them, too, and now HE has now read and enjoyed the 4 I bought used. (The other 3 are on my new Kindle.)
You might enjoy her work, too. :0)
Filed under Favorite Authors & Books
Monday
I wanted to sleep a lot later than I did this morning, although I can’t say I got up with the sun. I’m gathering my energy slowly the past few days, getting energetic after lunch, rather than in the morning. I’m not sure why. It’s just different.
My husband thinks we have another raccoon. He just refilled the bird feeders and we’ll see if they’re empty again tomorrow morning. We’ll probably end up setting the humane trap again, trying to catch raccooon #8 of the season.
We’ll leave in a bit to run to the hardware and grocery stores to replenish supplies, get our mail, etc. No big plans for the day. There is the CHANCE that we might get some rain tomorrow or Wednesday, though my husband really likes our grass brown and crunchy, as it is now, so he doesn’t have to mow. I can’t blame him. The Christmas presents I’m painting are coming together now. I’ll work on them more today.
Our son sent us these pics with no explanation this morning. I’m assuming this is a new fruit he’s found. I hope it’s as delicious as it is pretty!
A quiet Monday morning for us. I hope that your day is a pleasant one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Wonderful String Art
Filed under String Art
creativeartworksblog 