To be honest, I’ve steered away from any new versions of “Sound of Silence” because I loved the Simon and Garfunkel version and thought that no one else would be able to stir me as much as that one did. I was wrong. I heard this one yesterday. I had never heard of Todd Hoffman. Now I will look up other songs by him on YouTube. I told my husband about this last night because I still had goosebumps after listening to it. I just finished listening to it again this morning and I’m trembling inside. I think this truly special and wanted to share it with you.
Bethany Kerr Fine Art Prints
Filed under Bethany Kerr, drawings, paintings I love
Thoughts on a Friday 8-27-2021
Good morning!
We will join our friends for Lunch Bunch today – always a comfort.
I’m hoping to spend some time in our shop this afternoon working on the Christmas presents I’m making, plus re-painting the dragonfly. I may break down and turn on the a/c out there.
My heart continues goes out to all the people in harm’s way.
Stay safe and well.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
Thoughts on a Thursday 8-26-2021
“The world is too much with us…” ~ William Wordsworth
My heart is in my throat as I watch the latest on Afghanistan on TV – helpless to do anything – afraid for U.S. citizens, the Afghan people who have helped us for 20 years, Afghans at risk, women and children who will be left there to live under Taliban rule the best they can, and, of course, our men and women in uniform trying their best, under incredibly awful restrictions, to try keep everyone safe and make it out of there alive. I watch all I can, then come in here and try to calm down and catch my breath. A truly terrible situation. The coping mechanisms about which I wrote yesterday aren’t helping much today.
Filed under Challenges
Coping Mechanisms
With all the pain and suffering going on in our world today, I’m conscious of trying to stay emotionally afloat. I thought you might be having some trouble from time to time, too, and thought it might be good for us to share ways that we try to cope. These are some of the things that help me – in no particular order. I hope you’ll share what helps YOU.
- Writing this blog. I love finding things that I think are heartwarming, amazing, or wonderful to share.
- Trying to learn new art techniques and trying them in my art room.
- Working in the yard and/or square foot garden and taking pictures of successes.
- Reading books by favorite authors and/or discovering new ones.
- Refurbishing our yard art and working on making Christmas presents for friends.
- Discovering new websites and reading articles giving me new information and new perspective.
- Reaching out to friends and family
- Listening to music
- Hugging my husband and making him laugh
- Making a ‘SHOULD’ list and checking something off
Filed under Attitude, Beautiful Boxes, Challenges, coping mechanisms, Encouragement
Beautiful Children
Filed under sculpture
Clay!
Filed under Clay Art
Elephant Ears
These are from the bulbs I gave up on when nothing happened in the spring when I re-planted them after over-wintering them in peat moss in the garage. Even though our heat index is still around 105 degrees F., these continue to bloom. I threw them off “the edge of the world” in the front yard. There is no irrigation there. Amazing.
These are in the planter to the east in our yard. This planter has a lot of shade – I think TOO MUCH shade for the plants to be happy.
These are much happier. They are in a planter beside the front porch.
And these make my heart sing. I don’t know whether they will get taller than the windows behind them or not. They are way over my head now and seem to be smiling.
Filed under Gardening
Trampoline Weight
Still playing with the same 2 pounds. Today I’m down 1.2 pounds. Yesterday I was up. Up and down. Down and up. Trampoline weight. Since my scales are so frustrating, I’m concentrating on trying to do my exercising and hope for the best.
Today is Wednesday, so it’s several short sessions with weights and yoga.
Wonderful Paper Mache’
Filed under paper art, paper mache
Heartwarming Animal Friendships
Animal Friendships – Jonas Grinevicius and Mindaugas Balciauskas – BoredPanda.com
Filed under Amazing Animals, animal friendships
Dubanci Acorn Elves Art
Acorn “Elf” Art – Dubanci.cz – Petr Vaclavek
Filed under acorn art, Petr Vaclavek - Dubanci.cz
Sculpture by Louise Peterson
Filed under sculpture
Fingerpainting Art by Iris Scott
Iris Scott – Fingerpainting art
Filed under Fun with Fingerpaint, Iris Scott
Celebrating Owls
“Owl hasn’t exactly got Brain, but he Knows Things.” —A. A. Milne
Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Amazing Animals
More Creative Art from Found Things
Feeling Frazzled
We woke up to some challenges this morning.
First, we got up over an hour late because the power went off during the night and scrambled our alarm’s brains. I wish sometimes I could ‘reboot’ my own brain as easily as I rebooted the clock. It’s fixed and working fine, now. Mine, not so much. The biggest concern on our getting up late today was getting poor Amber outside to pee. She was fine, thank goodness.
Second, we pass our office on the way to the kitchen. Everything was off in the office – no Internet – nothing. Also, our heat and air system for the house was off. Our UPS in the office was screaming LOUDLY – driving me nuts in a matter of seconds. My husband couldn’t HEAR it! We decided to TRY to ignore it and handle our morning chores and then figure out what we needed to do.
We finally figured out that there was no problem with our heat and air. We were on the generator for power. That runs everything EXCEPT the heat and air. My husband got frustrated with me because I was climbing the wall over the UPS still shrieking. I was threatening to rip all the electrical cords out of the wall to make the shrieking stop. I left the office figuring I would try to find some ear plugs, if nothing else.
By the time we finished the morning chores and had gathered the trash, I noticed immediately on coming back in that it was QUIET. The generator had gone off and the regular public power was back on. THAT meant the a/c was functioning again – thank goodness! AND the UPS was happy and quiet again.
My husband is still working with the TV to get it functioning again, but that seems to be going okay.
SO – UPS is quiet, a/c is ON, Internet is working, TV is in good hands. HOORAY!
Kind of strenuous way to begin a Monday, but it’s all good now – AND I found some ear plugs! :0)
Filed under Challenges
Stop!
Filed under Food for Thought, Funny Signs - Humor
Children by Nino Chakvetadze
Nino Chakvetadze – Vanda Art Gallery –
Filed under Nino Chakvetadze, paintings of children
More Matt Wilson Art
Filed under metal art, motivators
The Art of a Dog
Filed under Amazing Animals
Mouth-Watering Sculpture
Filed under sculpture
Despite the Weather –
I’ve had a good morning.
Our weather experts are predicting scattered showers and a heat advisory this afternoon and evening of 100+, so I got out this morning and did another session of weed whacking in the waist-high area behind our shop and beside our garden. You can actually SEE the 250 gallon propane tank now! I also cleared the area around the trash cans where we keep the ingredients for Mel’s Mix for the square foot garden.
While I was out there, I went into the shop and worked on the Christmas presents for my friends some more.
We’ll eat lunch in about an hour, so I have time to cool off, drink a bottle of water, treat myself to another cup of coffee, and enjoy being at the computer before I need to get our meal together. :0)
I hope your Saturday is shaping up to be a good one.
Filed under Thoughts on a ________
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