chance in his snuggie & i in my LEGWARMERS?!?!?

snowflakes in florida this morning ...you must be kidding...i understand that those of you to the north are  snickering in you ugg boots at this point...weeelllll, this is the thing....we don't have the insulation or the clothing for this... do i see legwarmers?!?!  (a little deviation from my usual sunrise photo)

yes that's me, at sunless sunrise, in legwarmers (thank heaven i still have my dancing apparel from the 60/70s)...sweatpants over my pj's...t-shirt/sweater/sweatshirt/pashmina...earmuffs/scarf...(no bra, i burnt that in the 60s but i am reconsidering that action this morning...it could be a warm fire starter) you can see the dead banana tree and sad palm in the background....

that's sir chancelot in his snuggie...he is either under the bed covers or smack in front of the quartz heater...if you try to move him he snarls big time!!!! moi?? i am embracing a cup of jasmine tea or raman noodles for warmth...

of course, i have a fireplace that has NEVER seen more than a candle's flame...and i don't have any logs anyway, nor do i know where to get some......i think i will be baking the majority of the day today and tomorrow...the oven seems to knock the chill from the great room area with it's bigggggg open expanses of windows and high ceilings...cookies anyone???

not to make a living, but to make a life...

The point of your activities throughout the day is not to make a living, but to make a life; not to 'work' but to create joy. If you are doing what you are doing merely to 'pay the bills,' you will have missed the major reason for All Of Life.

The purpose of life is to know and express Who You Are. If you do other than that during the days and times of your life, you will have not used those days and times in a way that profits your soul. It is soul profit we are after here, not body profit.  from Neal Donald Walsh....I believe God wants you to know

We had a loss in out family last week...our 15-y-o maggie passed away, leaving a big maggie shaped hole in our hearts...we miss you and love you always...

happy birthday My Sweet Lord...

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

Blessings of the Season to All who stop here...Wishing you Peace and Love

My baby Jesus

 Anne Geddes Happy Birthday Jesus


 My Church Nativity with roses
Each Christmas eve I lay roses at the manger, before Jesus is placed, to welcome Him...

 Mary's Grotto

Saint Francis' birds are fed on Christmas Eve - a new tradition launched

Sir Chancelot helping feed the birds

Sir Chance Christmas morn Scenes from My Beloved Fernandina Beach

 

Surfin' Santa in Fernandina Beach, FL   Oh, God-With-Us,
For so long you have promised
forgiveness, peace, salvation.
Now in my heart, I am filled with joy
because of your coming.

Thank you for your promises
and for the way I can trust in you.
I feel a new freedom in my life
and a courage I have not known before.

I know you came to save me and bring new life
and I am so grateful to you.
Let me show my thankfulness
with my life.
You have brought me through the darkness
and into the light of your saving grace.

Guide my feet on the way of peace.

seaside sketches....the zen of temporary art

temporary art as meditation...

i am not able to take my usual morning walk because of my broken foot...but i can sit by the sea and let the water soothe my foot and my soul...this morning i started sketching faces with my cane...

i named my sketches the zen of temporary art... for the present, i will be doing temporary art as meditation...there is something very fulfilling about sketching in the sand...i am aware of the impermanence and it will only last for a short time...yet it feels so freeing...as i continued i felt myself become very present and centered...peaceful and lifted...

Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. He painted the Mona Lisa with her mysterious smile and his legendary interpretation of the Last Supper. He didn’t [produce] a lot of paintings because it took him so long to paint a 'great' painting; he was very careful and precise, and was always looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was copying him. He even went so far as to "mirror write," writing everything backwards, which was easy for him since he was left-handed. Though most of his research and discoveries were great, he did not publish them, but we still have accounts of his great genius. -myhero.com

da Vinci did not know if his work would last...does any artist really know...temporary art is very gratifying for an artist because you can always return another day and create again... NYC has Temporary Public Outdoor Art Guidelines for goodness sake...

i have always been fascinated by Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty (below)...

Spiral Jetty, 1970. Robert Smithson, Great Salt Lake , Utah

prisonphotography.wordpress.com

the Spiral Jetty is Robert Smithson's monumental earthwork at Rozel Point in the Great Salt Lake, Utah...completed in April 1970 it is 1500 feet long and 15 feet wide...composed of basalt rocks, mud, water and salt crystals...it juts out from the shore and coils into luminous red water...it is temporary because it has disappeared and then re-emerged from the lake over the past decades.

how do i get paid for this art?

in sand dollars of course...

have a blessed day...

Family Time...

sir chancelot under the green tree

twins Matt & Mike were both here yesterday
 after dinner last night
Left to right - Matt, Carrie, Mike, Meghan with Cre8Tiva and Mike in front

Chip and Cre8Tiva at South Coast Winery in Californiaearlier this month

Chip and Susie at South Coast Winery

blue tree
we missed you Casey and Chris...
tomorrow i will show you what i made for the kids...

I am Still Here...

i am sure that those of you who regularly stop by have just about given up on me this time..i am sure that i would have...i do have a good excuse for being awol...i have been really ill...

butterfly outside studio the day i got sick

when i was teaching a weekend class and a week-long class in north carolina the first of august, i developed bacterial pneumonia that turned into toxic shock syndrome (the one that killed jim henson of muppet fame)...

students from my weekend class

according to emedicine.com mortality is high with toxic shock syndrome or septicemia - "a toxin-mediated multisystem disease precipitated by infection with either Staphylococcus or Streptococcus. The clinical syndrome is characterized by a rapid onset of high fever, hypotension, diffuse rash, severe myalgia, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, and nonfocal neurologic abnormalities."

according to my doctors, if i had waited another hour to go to the emergency room, there would have been nothing they could have done to save me...it was very scary because i was fine at dinner (6:30 PM)...during dinner i started to feel chilled...and for me that is very unusual because i am hot flash hot most of the time!!!

by 8:30 PM i was too sick to call for help or get an aspirin...i had body-wracking, teeth- chattering chills...severe pain throughout my entire body...i was confused and dazed...thank heaven someone returned to my lodging and helped me get to the hospital...and thank heaven the doctors and hospital were quick to act...

an angel watched over me

earlier in the day i thought i was getting a kidney infection...i was going to the bathroom a lot...and it was hurting worse than ever before with an UTI...i was teaching, so at noon i went and got some cranberry juice and some AZO tablets...they helped me make it through the rest of the class day...i was so very tired that i almost fell asleep at the teacher's meeting after class...i left early and went back to my room to rest...

i tell you about the UT symptoms because sometimes you can get referred pain from the lungs in the urinary tract...who would ever know that???

the first round of antibiotics and fever reducers did not work...i got much worse with a temperature over 104 degrees...that is when the ER doctor decided to get a chest x-ray...and the rest is history...i had to be in the hospital three days on two intravenous antibiotics... oxygen...fluids...and rest...

rest is the cure for pneumonia...and rest i am getting because i can't seem to do much else...

JCCFS musical saw students in concert

needless to say, i could not finish my week-long class...my students were wonderfully gracious and the staff at John C Campbell Folk School caring and kind...

i am back home in florida...recovery is slow...i am very weak and dizzy if i overdo...i am coughing a lot still and have chest pain...and lots of body pains due to the toxic shock...

a study for a portrait

however, i have been getting lots of work done for my future classes and workshops...writing a new book and starting a new magazine...and readying for a move sometime this fall...est of all, i have been doing lots of artwork and journaling...very therapeutic and meditative for me...

a self-portrait of me with my beloved sir chancelot

i am blessed to be alive and on the mend...and i have missed each of you...i will be around to see you soon...

Sir Chancelot...takes a dirt bath...

Chance on a roll...

to see full screen click here...and press button on bottom right corner...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i23eL5FWmCE

Music Shephard's Serenade by Brobdingnagian Bards

Fear Less...Hope More

Fear less, hope more;
Eat less, chew more;
Whine less, breathe more;
Talk less, say more;
Love more, and all good things will be yours
Albert Einstein


photo from http://thebuckstopshere.blogspot.com/
This is the fear less, hope more week for me alright...my happy cow laptop took a turn for the worse last weekend...and i realized that i am overly attached to this piece of metal...i was actually annoyed to have to use my beautiful, expensive Mac and be chained to a desk...so after many hours with my new bff, Norton...the laptop seems to be feeling better...i hope...


On Tuesday, for some reason i believed was right at the time...i had both of my dogs operated on...Sir Chancelot lost his manhood ( i am still crying over this one)...and Miss Maggie Mae had a tooth removed...Miss Mags has behaved herself and stayed quiet...but Chance, the Parson Jack Russel he is, does not want to rest quietly until he heals...still i hope...

Wednesday i got a new do...very short for me...but me thinks i like it...i hope...

I should have been forewarned...
photo from http://foxdendesigns.com/FOXDEN-WhatsNew.htm
but yesterday, I had my first job interview in over 15 years...yes my 'circumstances' (a genteel way of saying i am afraid of being a bag lady and my art has not made me the next van gogh...) have led me to the workplace...the interview was in a coffee shop...with this young entrepreneur...

TEE HEE...photo from http://foxdendesigns.com/FOXDEN-WhatsNew.htm
a 28 year-old (mind you my baby is 28)...in the midst of me trying to convince this young gentleman that i could work circles around the other 20-somethings he was interviewing because: 1) i am an award winning graphic designer; 2) i have designed for some of the world's biggest companies; 3) i have done graphic design for some 30 years now; 4) i will do the grunt work that 85% of graphic design is with a smile because i already know this; 5) he needs a mentor who has been where he is...yadda yadda yadda...i caught a case of giggles...about this whole situation...me, who has been so successful but for the $100,000 mistake/life lesson moving to Georgia in 2006 and back to Florida in 2007 created...me, who is actually employed by artists to help them start and grow their business...me, sitting across the tiny bistro table trying not to mother this man or mentor him or call him kiddo as a so would do in any other situation...if you read this future boss, i forgot to tell you i have a wicked sense of humor...the humor of it all struck me...now i am very thankful that i was able to find any graphic design job to apply for on this tiny island...actually there are 4 printers in my county who i also dropped resumes off to for any overflow work...hope i must...

Which brings me to the last best newses...my art has been accepted in another gallery in west palm beach...yippee...except i need to find time to paint some pieces...i have been asked to give a business seminar at an industry event and perhaps, be a speaker...i have been accepted to teach at The Creative Palette convention...and i have a design for my exhibit panel for Salon 2008 (the meeting of world class decorative painters)....

Fly Forth O Gentle Dove
On January 1st, i set my Guardian Angel(s) on a task to bring job opportunities to me...so far it looks like they are working, doesn't it...now you may think this odd, asking your Guardian Angel for things like this...but most Guardian Angels are underused and bored...they can do anything except interfere with your appointed time of death...of course they are protecting us from harm...but they can do so many other things for us...if we only ask...my most frequent request is asking for a parking place...this has worked so often that others who have seen this happen for me, now believe...my second is asking for them to speak with the Guardian Angel of people who are offensive while driving or cutting in line...i can't tell you the number of times these people have stopped behaving badly after i asked...so i recommend that you give your GA something to do...let them spread their wings...hope on....