Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

It feels as if our world is falling apart around us... but in the midst of our governmental chaos, I went out and forgot about all our troubles for a few hours. My friend and neighbor, Beth, invited me to attend a fused glass class with her. She'd been eager to try it and asked me about it when we were out together in December. It sounded like fun and so I agreed.

I went into the class with no expectation at all. On the table were sheets and shards of colored glass, all kinds of glass beads, and glass straws. I picked up pieces of green and red glass, fingered rainbow colored beads, and stared at straws of orange, blue and yellow... 

Years back I dreamed of broken glass mosaics... I have a Pinterest board dedicated to brokenness... I even bought a nipper and a pair of goggles, but I although my own broken pieces are coming back together, I hadn't yet put it into a picture. Not until yesterday. It's a fabulous beginning.

Bits and Pieces

- Monday. Today is Monday. It gets hard to keep track when my schedule is all over the map.

- My oldest daughter posted this photo of her little girl eating breakfast. Looks oh, so much! like her Uncle Ben a few years back. Gotta love Life cereal.

- My youngest daughter is having fun with her baby. Getting him into reading early, and he actually looks quite intent on that books he's "reading." They've already instituted a bedtime story routine.

- We still have eleven chickens and that rooster is still an idiot. I carry my broom to the coop every morning just in case he needs a swat.

- Naughty One has taken up the very bad habit of sleeping on Grandma's table. He gets away with it only because we rarely go in that room. Well, that and he's been hiding behind a box. It doesn't help that I'm gone so often...

 - This is Day 28 of my 30 Day Challenge. I've lost 6 pounds, which is what I gained over the holidays. The best part is I've been drinking lots of water. I'm aiming for 60 oz or more a day and my skin actually feels different. Now to make it a lifelong habit.

- I went to Color-Me-Mine a week or so ago and glazed my first piece. A coffee mug, because I don't have enough of those already... Plain boring white cup with "Now Jesus loved Martha" written around it. I couldn't recall the scripture reference at the time but it's John 11:5.

Lunch in Buffalo

Yesterday I took a ride to meet my friend Patricia for lunch. I drove from Rochester to Buffalo, she drove from Erie, PA to Buffalo, and we met up at Cracker Barrel which is a very nice place for lunch. (They have fried okra...)

It was a beautiful day, a nice lunch, and a wonderful meeting. Since I had all afternoon, and she would be meeting her brother later, we took a little stroll through a nearby Salvation Army Store and a walk about the incredible sculptures outside The Garden Place Hotel just off Thu-way Exit 49 near the Buffalo Airport. Wow! Pretty impressive.

I loved "Lunch on Top of a Skyscraper" as much as I loved the statues of the children playing and took a bazillion pictures. (Please forgive another rash of photos.)
:0)

One of the residents at the nursing home where I sit was a former steel worker. I'll have to ask his wife if he ever ate lunch on top of a skyscraper.

Loved the boots, especially the pair with holes in the bottom.

Looks like a game of Follow the Leader...

 Love the detail!

Giving little sister a boost, I think. Reminds me of when we would pick up our own baby sister.

I hope he doesn't drop her.

 Toy airplane. Remember when all the noise and motion came from us? No mechanical parts or batteries?

Even though they're all metal and fiberglass, these kids were having a great time. Almost makes me want to go play in the woods. Okay, it really does.

The Barn Collective

Welcome back to winter. Last Sunday my grandchildren were running about the yard shirtless and barefoot. Today we have ice, snow, and a bitter wind. Don't find the weather to your liking? Well, you know what they say? "Just wait a minute."

Today's barns may or may not exist out there in the real world. One of my previous pastimes is decorative painting and barns are a favorite subject. I found an artist I loved, bought a few of her pattern books, and commenced painting. This is something I'd really love to get back into and I really should. I find painting both productive and relaxing, if not exactly "profitable."

I think, perhaps, I should collect up a few of my own barn photos and preserve the old structures in liquid acrylic.

The Barn Collective with Tom.

"Happy New Year!"

That's what it said inside the box containing my friend's "baby".
"A baby in a box?" you ask.
Well, that is what she called it.

It began as an idea and morphed into a dream come true; the bringing together of the Bronx Artists. The work of my friends Daniel Hauben and Judy Lane.

I've watched it develop from a distance; a mention of it in emails. a few photos on Facebook. I even had an invitation (believe it or not) to the reception last year. Of course, New York City is a little far for a day trip, and though I'd have loved to have gone, it didn't happen. However, my socks were blown off yesterday when the book showed up in the mail. Honest! I'm barefoot!

Maybe one day The Grandfather and I will take a vacation and visit the Rembrandt of the Bronx and his lovely wife. It could happen...

Tummy Mountain and Mountainous Tummies

The tummy tempting aroma of fresh, bought-in-a-can, sweet rolls wafts through the house... Do I even dare attempt to resist the allure? Or shall I give in and take another moment to enjoy the sweet savor of life? How does one say no to such delicacies? I think I'll take at least one bite. Just one bite can't hurt...

Speaking of sweetness and tummies, this print on my wall is making me smile again. The simple childhood pleasure of jumping on the couch captured on canvas (even though this is actually printed on textured paper...). I once read that a home should be filled with things that make us smile. Hey! My grandkids will be back again tomorrow. (No, I don't let them jump on my couch.)

And then there is my beautiful daughter in law Sabrina whose tummy is also looking slightly mountainous. We're planning a baby shower for two weeks from this coming Sunday. Before you know it we'll be snuggling another new baby.

:0)\

Artwork is for the Birds

I am not a very good "poster child" this week...

I had to smile at a photo my friend Susan posted to Facebook yesterday. Apparently there was an excessive amount of dead fish down at the lake yesterday morning and this resulted in an overabundance of seagulls.

They did a little "rock painting" and since Susan is down at the lake taking photos every morning, she took a wonderful picture of some rather unique artwork.

Photos courtesy of Susan DeNagel.

Surprise!

Here it is, the middle of March. I know my birthday will be here in a little less than a week, but I honestly haven't had the brain room to think much of it. Perhaps this is one of the perks of growing older. As the excitement of rising numbers wanes, so also does the time to dwell on it. However, when a friend purposes to remember my birthday and unexpectedly sends me something special? Well, that just makes the day sweet all over again.

Yes- terday's mail brought a package from my dear friend Judy in the Bronx. (She has done this before...) I've been thinking about her lately, wondering how she and her husband Danny are doing. I'd planned on sending her an email, but hadn't done it yet. I wondered at the envelope on the dining room table, and after putting my groceries away, set out to open it. What I found inside made me smile.

Inside the package was a small book, an auto- graphed copy of "A Sense of Place" by Daniel Hauben, a bookmark, and a small card from Judy. The book is a printed collection of the paintings Danny did over the course of three years for the Bronx Community College, some of which he was working on when Hannah and I visited New York City a year and a half ago. I found myself feeling blessed.

There have been days when I remembered birthdays much better than I do now. At this point in time, the special occasion typically creeps up on me, not quite totally unseen, but not altogether noticed either. Maybe one day I will have the presence of mind to do better and have the privilege of blessing my friends and leaving them smiling too.

Thank you, Judy Lane! You are truly a special friend.

Paintings in the Attic

My father's aunts were painters. They aren't world famous, and they don't show up on the list of American Painters, but their artwork is still treasured. On the wall in Mom's room hangs a painting of an old mill in Ashantee NY. In the bottom corner is the artist's name, H. Torpey. It has been in my parent's possession for many years. Some of Aunt Harriet's grandchildren had never seen it.

When we moved Mom from her own house to ours, a couple more of Aunt Harriet's paintings came along, but rather than be hung on the wall, they were stowed in the attic of our barn. The other day I went in search of them and brought them into the house; two elongated, yellow floral paintings.

I took their pictures. I posted them on Facebook and tagged my second cousins. They were delighted and the father of one asked to photograph them and add them to his "Harriet Torpey Artwork Collection". In March, when they return from Florida, I will take the paintings to his house and we will enjoy a visit. I'm rather looking forward to it.

My online search lead me to another painting. I'm not the only one posting her artwork. :)

Pretty Pictures

Hidden away in my mother's room is a folder full of papers, old news articles, pictures, and drawings. On a typical day Mom does word search puzzles, but today she had visitors instead. Priscilla stopped by for a bit and then my Aunt Margie.

Aunt Margie stayed for most of the afternoon. I don't know when or why the stack of papers came out, but they spent hours looking through them and pouring over articles. It was nice to hear Mom talking and sharing her treasures with her sister. I especially liked a couple of Mom's drawings. I don't have much of her artwork, so these were fun to see.

As they poured over the papers, they came upon a drawing, a page full of faces. Aunt Margie was impressed and I made her a copy to take home. I had caught just a snippet of them discussing the picture which my mother said she drew, but on closer examination, I am thinking this is one of my father's creations. I wonder what my sisters will think? (Rachel and her boys are quite certain this is "Grandma Lene's drawing. I'm glad my nephews were around when she was drawing with the kids she babysat.)

P is for Painter

P is for painter.

My friend's husband is an artist. He lives in the Bronx and does most of his painting there. He challenged Hannah and me to come up with ten American painters. I'm afraid that I was at a loss to come up with ten well known American painters. I am rather uneducated in this area... Um, how about Georgia O'Keef? Norman Rockwell?

To see the other participants in the new round of ABC Wednesday, click here!

O is for Osage

O is for Osage Orange which I know little to nothing about...

however my friend's artist husband evidently found them interesting enough to paint. The painting hung on the guestroom wall when we stayed there overnight and I happened to snap a picture. (It was one that caught my eye online and there it was for real, right in my room!)

I did a little googling and found the fruits of the Osage orange are also known as "hedge apples." This little bit of information jogged my memory. A fellow blogger once wrote about "hedge apples" so I went back and looked it up on her blog and there they were! Evidently they smell much better than black walnuts...

To see the other participants in the new round of ABC Wednesday, click here!

Wanna Paint?

I have dragged my bucket of painting supplies back up from the depths of the basement. It may be wishful thinking, but perhaps I shall find my self immersed in a project or two. Maybe I'll finish an old project... or two. Maybe my dear sister will find her way to my house and paint with me some day... Wouldn't that be fun?

PS Aren't my paint holders "Darling"?

I Like This

My adventure to New York City gave me a new per
spective on the world around me. It's not really a grand discovery, just a fresh way of looking. I'm sure it's related in some way to my list of 1000 Gifts, as well as the cry of the artist buried deep within. Staying in the home of an actual artist contributed greatly, partly because of looking at the world through Danny's eyes, and partly because of his vehement statements that we should avoid the "furniture" section of the art museum at all costs. He was rather disappointed when he found we had toured the furniture section and actually enjoyed it. "You see furniture every day!" he lamented.

I found myself smiling at the thought of this man, a plein aire painter, distressed at our interest in furniture. Of course, my husband builds furniture and he has very little interest in paintings and sculptures. (At this point I was somewhat relieved I was there with Hannah rather than James.) "But you see paintings every day," Hannah replied. I shot her a look and hoped she wouldn't say anything else, but it was true. In his zeal for what he had identified as "art," Danny had failed to see art of another kind.

For the remainder of the trip I found myself looking at the world around me in a new way. "Look, Hannah," I would say as I pointed to an ornate building, "Art!" On our last morning, as I was chasing Hannah through Battery Park, I pointed to a structure and said, "What do you suppose that is?" (I was serious...) She gave me one of those "really Mom?" looks, quipped "Art" and kept on walking. I stopped and snapped a picture.

A Couch Jumping Party

The children have arrived all the way from Tummy Mountain. :)

It's couch jumping time!!!

Body Language

While rummaging around in forgotten corners of old drawers at Mom's house, I found two small treasures, smiling faces painted on small, smooth lake rocks.

Even expressions set in stone come to life when paired with a body. (My good friend Judy painted the rock with the shades.) That is Mr. Carp from "A Fish Out of Water." I found picture books a great resource for small bodies on which to put my little Rock Heads.

(Sorry, I think they're hilarious!)

The Unexpected

Sometimes treasures are expected and other times they take one completely by surprise. Priscilla and I took a look up in the attic at Mom's house today. We pulled out a lot of garbage and inhaled a load of dust. (Does anyone else out there have the propensity to collect empty shoe boxes?) I have to admit there were only a few items of real interest to either one of us, but we did find a few things to laugh at and a few things to carry home.

Priscilla pulled this painting out of the darkness and we found it to be a piece of my grandmother's artwork. This makes a total of four paintings, three of which are in the possession of our cousin, John. My grandma's sisters, Harriet (here and here) and Margaret (here and here) were also painters. My dad was an artist in his own right and we spent many winter evenings gathered around the family dinner table both drawing ourselves and watching him draw. Mom drew with us too, she once took an art class with my grandma, so I guess it's not at all surprising that we love to paint and draw too... maybe I ought to keep those craft paints after all...

Sleepy Saturday

The sun is bright and it looks like a great day to be outside, but I am inside instead. My eyes are achy and my head feels tired. This is what sinus headaches do. In spite of the headache, I am enjoying the quiet. I should be cleaning the house, reading a book, or sorting through stuff at Mom's, but I am not. Instead I am thinking about a dose of ibuprofen and a quiet nap.

Anyhow,... this painting now hangs in my mother's room. For many years it was on the wall in my parent's house. It was painted by my dad's Aunt Harriet and I have just learned that there is an autumn version or two of this very same mill. Her grandchildren had never seen this one, but could tell me that the mill was located in Ashantee, NY. I think it might be fun to compare this painting with the autumn versions. Kind of makes me want to dig my craft paints back out of the basement...

President's Day

It is President's Day and we celebrate with a week off school and a federal holiday for banks and other public buildings. At the Jelly Belly factory they honor past (and probably present) presidents with Jelly Belly jelly bean mosaics. I doubt George Washington ever imagined he would look so great in candy. I don't think Abraham Lincoln had ever heard of jelly beans, but I'm pretty sure seeing his portrait in beans might have made him smile. It made me smile. And everyone knows how much Ronald Reagan loved jelly beans. His Jelly Belly portrait has been done several times over. He is the president honored by the creation of blueberry jelly beans in order that there would be red, white, and blue jelly beans at the White House. "President Reagan's passion for jelly beans inspired Blueberry flavor, which was cooked up so he could serve red, white, and blue beans at his inaugural parties."- The Jelly Belly Company I think I might have been tempted to capture all the mosaics on my camera had we not been told taking photos on the tour was not allowed. (These were by the front door when we first came in.) You can check out the others here.

Arctic Air

The last few days have been exceptionally cold. Though it is my preference to stay inside my nice cozy den when the temperatures are in the single digits, I put on my warm mittens and went out to face the world today. We were in dire need of a few essentials, like milk and toilet paper... The roads were clear and once the van warmed up the ride was quite pleasant.

I have not been taking many pictures lately so this evening I give you a couple of paintings done by my great Aunt Margaret, one of my father's artist aunts. They seemed fitting on such a cold and wintry day. Aunt Margaret is now about 96 years old. She has outlived all 10 of her brothers and sisters. I wish she was still able to converse and tell us about the days of her childhood, but age has taken its toll and her mind is no longer clear.

Time is a funny thing. When we are young it seems as though the world will continue to go on just as it is, that our friends and family will always be available, that the places we know and love will always remain. By the time we come to grips with reality, we have often lost our best opportunity to learn from those in whose steps we follow and to take in the beauty that surrounds us even if it is cold and wintry.