Matt Dixon – Robot Art – “More Robots Enjoying The Quiet Wonder of the World”
I Love Matt Dixon Art
Filed under Matt Dixon - Robot Art
Halloween Pumpkin Art
You’re Welcome :0)
Indian Hills Colorado Signs – Vince Rozmiarek
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Indian Hills Signs
Still Drooling
Filed under Morten E. Solberg, Watercolors I Love
Paul Militaru Photography
Pumpkin Faces
Jack-o-Lantern Creativity
Thoughts on a Wednesday 10-27-2021
It’s very overcast outside as I type. the forecast is for a possibly severe storm this afternoon, and we’re supposed to get around 3 inches of rain by the end of the day tomorrow. Despite this sweet puppy’s love of romping in the rain, I think it’s a great day to stay inside.
I’ve been busy the last few days adding more stuff to my Etsy site. Getting things out, taking pictures, describing products, etc. makes for really fast-moving days.
I had a nice chat with our son this morning. Some times of the year there is 12 hours difference, and other times 13 hours difference, but we can usually text chat briefly right before he heads to bed and I’ve drinking coffee in the morning. There are few things that make me happier than knowing our son is where he wants to be, living as he wants to live, doing what he wants to do. I’m so grateful we are close – if not geographically – and that we talk several times a week.
I’ve done two impasto paintings so far. They are both awful, but I’m starting to get a better feel for what I’m trying to do. I keep watching more demonstration videos on YouTube and then trying again. I probably look like an idiot, playing my music and grinning like an idiot while I play, but that’s a quality of life thing for me and I love it. :0)
I finished re-reading a Nora Roberts trilogy – The Guardians – yesterday and have begun another, called, The Chesapeake Bay Saga.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Hang in There
I’m watching the news less and less as the days pass. It seems it can’t get any worse, and then it does. I find myself angry, frustrated, and depressed. Another of life’s character-building exercises, I guess. I can’t DO anything about it, so I’m now trying to keep up with what is actually happening and then shut it off and live elsewhere, at least in my own mind.
Happily, I have a wealth of coping mechanisms and they are getting a good amount of use now. I thought I would mention a few of them, in case YOU are having some trouble coping, too –
- I’ve been using Pinterest lately for two reasons: 1) to listen to music from people I haven’t heard before. It’s inspiring to find so many talented singers. When I hear them, it seems as if their voices fill me up. 2) I’ve also clicked on interesting things and have discovered some really talented artists using various media who take my breath away. (Since I don’t mind others knowing what I’ve clicked on, I find it great that once you click on something, the program gives you more of that.)
- I’ve been reading a lot. Instead of relegating things I enjoy to the “end of the line” when I’ve finished ALL the ‘have-to’s’ and ‘shoulds’ on my to-do list, I’m consciously taking time to dive into a great book. Right now I’m finishing a re-read of one of Nora Roberts’ trilogies, The Guardians.
- I’m also making time to play in my art room. Right now I’m experimenting with the impasto technique – lots of texture laid on with a palette knife. So far, I’m awful, but who cares? :0)
- I’m getting better at looking at exercise as a stress-reliever. I’m doing 35 minutes on my elliptical trainer in the garage on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, plus doing yoga stretches every afternoon. I’m trying to put this in the category of ‘my time,’ although basically I’m a slug and have to push myself to get up and get at it.
If you have something that helps you cope with stressful things, I would be very interested in hearing about It. We’re all in this together, and it’s good when we can help each other.
Filed under taking care of yourself
Halloween is Coming!
Wow – I’m Drooling!
Filed under Morten E. Solberg, Watercolors I Love
Halloween Joy
More Kids and Animals
Filed under Animals and Kids, Awe-Inspiring Photography
Lazy/Sleepy/Happy
I slept fine last night. I have no reason to feel lazy this morning. After the storm last night, our weather is beautiful, though too cool to open the doors yet.
Filed under Attitude
The Hunt is On
The hunt is on for two things:
THING ONE – The spray container of the stuff I bought awhile back to kill mold/algae/fungus/elephants.
THING TWO – the actual gallon container for the rest of the magic stuff.
I bought this ‘stuff’ particularly to treat some of our yard art – and in particular, the “Greeter Robot” at the bottom of the driveway. He is much too big and heavy to bring in for any type of refurbishment, so cleaning and repainting will have to be done down there.
It would SEEM that a gallon container of something – anything – would be easy to find. ALSO easy would be the finding of a large spray container. And yet the ‘elves/gnomes/and other mysterious critters have made finding whatever you’re looking for a character-building exercise around here.
We came through our severe storm last night well. It’s truly gorgeous outside and I haven’t found any damage yet. It’s a PERFECT day to drive down to the bottom of our hill and hose down the robot -IF I could FIND the magic stuff….
Filed under Challenges, character-building exercises, Lewis Art, Lewis yard art
Wonderful Teacher
A student was bullied for so long that his teacher finally decided to do something completely crazy.
By Dreamer 
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There was recently a news story about an 8-year-old boy who was horribly harassed for wearing a red backpack with a pony on it. Stories of children getting bullied or harassed are pretty common and it seems like a lot of schools either ignore it or just don’t really know how to handle it. But there are some positive cases out there. A really nice story about a teacher who found a way to teach his students a little something about interpersonal relations has been circulating around the internet recently:
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“I decided to stop by the store this morning and buy a couple apples. During our morning meeting (where we sit in a circle and do spiral lessons), I told my class we were going to try something different and I showed them my two apples and asked them to list the differences and similarities between the two apples. They were both exactly the same color and shape… one was a little brighter and bigger, but that was literally the only difference.
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Then I held up the other apple that was only slightly discolored and smaller and I said, “Gross. This apple looks disgusting!” and dropped it on the ground. My kids all looked at me like I was INSANE! A couple laughed uncomfortably, but for the most part they thought I had lost my mind.
I then picked it up and passed it to the student sitting beside me and said, “Isn’t this apple just stupid?! You should say something mean to it and do this!” Again I modeled dropping it in front of me. “Now pass it to the person next to you so they can say something mean to the apple, too!”
Long story short, my kids got very into saying mean and hurtful things to this apple and dropping it in front of them. “I hate your skin.” “You’re an ugly color red.” ”Your stem isn’t very long.” ”You’re probably full of worms.” and on and on and on…
So, by the time this little apple made it back to me everyone had had a chance to really rip this little guy apart. I seriously started feeling sympathetic towards an inanimate object… but moving on… I held both of the apples up for my kids to look at and asked them to now list the similarities and differences between the apples again… It came back the same… There really was no difference. Even after they had repeatedly dropped this apple you couldn’t really tell that it had any damage.
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I took out a cutting board and knife and proceeded to cut the shiny apple open. It was perfect. And all my kids ooooh’d and ahhhh’d…
Then I cut open the second one and when I opened it, it was covered in mushy brown spots and completely bruised inside from where we dropped it. When I held it up my kids were like, “EWWWWW. I don’t want to eat THAT apple! Yuck! That looks disgusting…”
That’s when I just looked at them and said, “But didn’t we all contribute to the apple looking this way?! We did this… why shouldn’t we eat it?” They all just kind of stopped and got really quiet and I continued, “See guys… this is what we do to other people when we say mean and hurtful things. When we gossip or call someone ugly or fat or tell them they aren’t good enough or that they can’t be friends with us… we are just dropping them and causing ONE MORE bruise… a bruise that may not appear on the outside is VERY REAL and can be very destructive inside of them! It doesn’t just go away, the bruises just keep getting worse and deeper… THIS!” I said as I held up the bruised apple, “is what we do to each other. We have to stop dropping each other.”
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I’ve never seen my kids ”get” something so fast before. It was so real to them… people cried and laughed and it was very emotional but absolutely amazing and they got to journal about everything and some of the responses I got… well, I sobbed all the way through lunch. I had so many kids come up and hug me later and tell me that they were so happy that a teacher “got it.””
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Bullying is a ubiquitous and timeless phenomenon. It is a problem that is often over parents and teachers’ heads. Maybe this teacher’s lesson will start some meaningful conversations in schools. In any case, it is an important message to share.
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The Gift of Love
“True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.” – Jason Jordan
“The best things in life can never be kept;They must be given away.A Smile, a Kiss, and Love.” ~ Tony Farrar
“What greater thing is there for two human souls that to feel that they are joined… to strengthen each other… to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.” ~ George Eliot
Filed under Favorite Quotes, love
Before the Storm
We are due for some possibly severe storms this afternoon and evening, so I got out yesterday to take more pictures of my elephant ear plants, just in case the storm is ugly and mean, and batters and breaks my plants.
I feel lucky to have be able to enjoy these all summer long and into the fall. I hope they last until we have a hard freeze. Every time I go out in the yard they lift my spirits. :0)
Filed under Gardening
Oooooo!
Isn’t this little guy cute?!
I drove to the bottom of our driveway yesterday afternoon and started another refurbishment project on one of our yard critters. This will be a multi-process refurb –
- He’s outside and as far away from supplies as possible while still being on our property
- He weighs about 150 pounds and is chained to a tree.
- He is almost buried in branches and weeds
- He is covered with algae/mold/fungus/mystery.
I’ve been putting it off for quite awhile, but since our weather is finally cooling off, I decided to tackle it.
I took some branch loppers (large and small) and used both to try to cut back all the ‘greenery’ around the robot so that he is no longer buried. Here are some pictures of the sweet “Greeter Robot” (before refurbishment) –
The weather really does a number on our critters and this is no exception. Now that I have the greenery cut back around him, I’m going to try to find the spray container of algae/whatever spray I bought and start hosing him down and see if that does any good.
Filed under Lewis Art, Lewis yard art
Glorious Halloween Decoration
creativeartworksblog 