MEET FOR COFFEE

Driving down the road I see birds all lined up sitting on the wire. My husband and I frequently laugh, imagining that they are all gathered for the "coffee club". What fun. What about you? What do you think they are up to??????

SWEET SWEET SOPHIE

On Friday, April 13th, Sophie died.

We move through our days in a fog. We cry a lot. This sweet little cat that we rescued in the wilds of 20 degree below zero weather and 10 feet of snow has been our angel for nearly 16 years. My heart is simply bursting with grief.

Words are hard to come by right now. I don't want to let her go. I don't want her to suffer. I want to live on in the vacuum of kittie happiness with my Sophie. She has been a joy. Sweet, sweet Sophie.

ANOTHER LOVE DOVE

Last week I took my first ever painting class. The instructor is a lovely woman who introduced me to what she calls a "rake brush". I've never heard of that and so off to the store I went and only found "filberts" that looked like the rake. They were on sale so I thought "what the heck, buy some brushes" ! I really enjoyed trying out the brush on this postcard. A sweet blue dove, sent from heaven !

HAVING FUN ~ WISH YOU WERE HERE

Stop by ! Visit ! Sit a while out on my patio and sip on a nice glass of wine. When you have gone, I'll miss you.

She never really showed up in my thoughts much. Growing up as a Catholic I knew of her. Later in life I abandoned her all together, out searching the universe for the greater meaning in life. Now in my menopausal years I return to her, realizing the power of the mother's love, the constancy of her devotion. I have returned home....to a greater sense of spirit and confidence. Life has been won with joy and sorrow, peace and pain, all the necessary components for a time well lived.

Today I wish love upon you.

Funny, comical, expressive. This is how I see red winged black birds.

"Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. " I didn't learn that poem until I was a senior in high school. I worked as a nurses aid in a retirement home. One of my duties was to get the residents into bed each evening. One lady who was so sweet, would sing this to me every night. Of course, eventually I learned it and we sang together. I was happy to give her that little bit of love. I like to think her spirit is soring with the red winged black birds. Free and easy.

MY LOVIE DOVIE

This sweet, soft dove is fluttering about your heart and soul, blessing you each day with tender touches, soft reassurance that all is well and no matter what the decision, the universe will catch you.

LAID BACK LOVE

This heart I painted is reclining.

I don't really know why. I guess sometimes love can be laid back.........hippie style.

Not much to add today.

THE EXPLORATION

All of life is an exploration.

I tried carving stamps out of erasers. The leaf and eye are the result of that.

My heart explodes with joy when I create something new. A piece of art. A chocolate torte. Gardening.

For some reason I must have a bit of Mondrion in my blood. Just love those offset squares. There is something in the design that comforts me. What do you think?

YOU ARE HERE

This is the postcard I painted and sent a friend who was working as a chef on an island for a short time last summer.

Aside from that...............it begs the question - where are you? Where in the world are you. Where is your heart? Where is your soul? Where are you, emotionally? Are you an island? Do your emotions send out ripples like the waves around this island? At your center, is there a red hot, glowing star, surrounded by growth and then tranquility?

I HATE MY BRA

I have a bra on today that causes me to feel like I am in a sandpaper straight jacket ! Who make these things anyway!

My friend Colleen wrote a great piece about French Lingerie. To read her words makes me wonder what the heck those French women know about their undies that I don't. I need a lesson !!

Truly, I want to look all sassy in my red bra. I want my husband so sigh with disbelief when he sees me revealing such a wonder. Truthfully he'll never see it because I'll probably be in the office ladies room ripping it off before I even leave my job today!

I did have fun creating this little piece of art though. Might as well get SOME enjoyment out of that red bra.

LIFE IS COMPLICATED

This heart adorned with a crown of thorns is taken from the many retablos seen here in New Mexico. I made it in honor of a man who died of a heart attack nearly a year ago and his son still greiving the loss of his father.

Life is complicated.

The grief process is something I've experienced. It is a unique pain in the heart that I don't wish on anyone.

In a busy world we tend to forget the tender, sacred joys of living and loving well. It isn't about money, prestige or who you know. The grief process causes us a moment of pause wherein lies the pit of all there is, the chance to let the pain transform our lives. If we rest in that pause, if for just one moment we can breathe through that pain, we might learn, grow and sometimes even learn to embrace the change. It can be something like childbirth. Some do that, some don't.

Life if complicated.

MY SPARK OF SUNSHINE

This is a portrait of my friend, Colleen. My spark. She is this ball of sunshine and light. I originally created this as a postcard and sent it to her. It was scanned after it had gone through the mail so it looks sort of ragged now, but the sprit with which it was created remains.

Here's to you my friend. May everyone be as blessed as me.

WHO WILL LOVE YOU WHEN I'M GONE?

Who will love you when I'm gone?

Who will know that you love pizza with jalapenos, pineapple and pepperoni?

Who will laugh at the quirkly dry sense of humor?

Who will kiss your forehead, tenderly in the night, when no one else is looking?

Who will hear words uttered only to the lover here for just a fleeting moment and then gone like the morning mist evaporating in the warming sun.

Who?

LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU

I'm thinking a lot about Valentine's Day this year. Plan ahead. Who do you love? How will you convey your feelings to them? I met a woman recently who told me that every day she prays for people. I've thought alot about prayer since my conversation with her. Every time something comes up in the news, at the office or wherever, I think about praying for that person,situation, etc. Say a little prayer today. Send out loving thoughts even when it isn't Valentine's Day.

AN EIFEL TOWER MOMENT

I was thinking about this world famous landmark. Everyone knows it. But for some reason the name just wouldn't come up in my memory bank. So frustrating! This menopause thing gets the best of me sometimes. I wandered around for a couple of days flipping through all the files in my mental vault, getting more and more agitated that I simply could not pull up the name. FINALLY ! It came to me! The Eifel Tower ! How could anyone but a menopausal woman forget the name of the Eifel Tower !!!!!

It used to be that when I forgot something I'd say "I'm having a menopause moment", but now I've updated that statement to one of more relevance "I'm having an Eifel Tower moment".

I guess one has to learn to laugh at one's self.............

THE OBVIOUS

This postcard is my illustration to Colleen's piece "The Obvious" . I so enjoyed the story she wove in my mind's eye.

You know, sometimes I wish my husband WOULD miss something !!!! He never misses any little detail with me. Even if I get a new pair of socks, he'll surely say "are those new??". Ha!

PLAYING CATCH UP !

I'm trying to get caught up on my postcard posts.

I send a postcard to my friend Colleen and my daughter Cherise once a week, sometimes more, sometimes I skip a week. I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be.

These two went to Colleen last week.

I nearly threw out the Guadalupe postcard by my husband had a fit, saying it was really cool and I was crazy, so folks, here it is. you be the judge !

The Red Shed sits on the side of the road on the way to Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Next to it sits the "Thread Shed". I've never seen them open for business, I think they are abandoned but I have always been a bit taken by them and wonder what the story is. Maybe you know the story???????

LOVE TO YOU

Today, my love flies out to you on wings, sailing through soft billowy clouds, crisp with the frost of a winter's morning.

Have a great week.

A TEACUP KIND OF DAY

Well, here it is Friday. A busy work week coming to an end. Seeing this beautiful teacup and dessert plate reminds me to relax, keep my cool, remember the elegance of life in everything I do, savor the sweet moments. This year I've vowed to keep fresh flowers on my desk everyday. It is so much nicer to come to my desk when I have those flowers to look forward to. Live a creative life. Make things nice to look at. Make a choice about what you see. Use a teacup !!!!! Have your lunch on a nice plate. And............have a great Friday !!!

It strikes me as funny that all of a sudden a memory of tea/coffee cups just popped into my mind. Is this maybe really meant to be a coffee cup?????? I used to be a member of a group of ladies who had a monthly tea.......they used plates and cups like this but they served coffee. I was quite young (mid twenties) and they were all grandmothers. They never quite knew what to think of me, I suspect. But I always enjoyed their company. We all lived in a small town in Wyoming and I found it quite sweet that they found a way to keep the elegance in their lives, even out in the middle of nowhere.