March 4, 1918 - March 22, 2000
Posted by Hello

Bouquet of Shamrocks.

Bouquet of Shamrocks for Good Luck!
I'm in absolute shock! I turned my back for a few minutes and the month is over! Tomorrow is the first day of the month that I fear, the month that marks losses and stressful times . Five years ago my father died and since that time I've had gallbladder surgery where it was discovered that the darn thing was so diseased it was a miracle I was alive; Stacy had problems with seizures and her dialysis treatments and we made numerous trips to the ER; Mom started having anxiety attacks that cause blinding headaches; and last year my daughter, Corey, lost a baby boy in her eighth month!

Shamrocks are supposed to bring good luck! My yard is full of the kind (above) that are prevalent on the Central Coast. I'm prone to pulling the pesky things out from the garden but this year I'm allowing them spread their luck throughout the yard. May they grow hearty!

Figurative Series #2

Figurative Series - Digital Play #2

The month sure isn't going very well. I've been ill since late Monday night, probably a flare-up of the immune dysfunction stuff that pays me a daily visit, but at this major level it stiffles creativity and that I have a difficult time dealing with.

I was able to have another outing with my brother and sister-in-law on Monday before they left for home in Minnesota. Even the rain couldn't dampen my happiness about being out of the house with people I love and wish I could see more of. I had hoped to photograph more while they were here, but will have to take myself out a photography date.

The digital, above, was created from a photo of the pink blooms on the Plum tree in my front yard and silhouettes appropriated from a magazine photo of Elton John, in the middle, with two friends.

All Twisted Up!

All twisted up!
That's me, all twisted up! The day started out like any other day might, just okay. But once I heard Mom's voice on the phone my stomach twisted up into knots! Thanks heavens for Cell phones and a brother on the other end who I could send over to collect Mom and take to the ER.

I was in the middle of finally have a guy from The Dish install a new cable (to hopefully take care of a year-long problem!!) and I didn't want to him to stop. Once he did a check of the satellite dish I was out the door before he even drove off. Nothing like an emergency to get my adrenline going. I found Mom already in a cubicle trying to answer questions the doctor was asking her and my brother saying, "I think my sister might know that."

Three hours later my first guess was correct, Mom was having a major reaction to a medication and not a heart attack. I got her home and settled in and did a few errands. So much for having a nice quiet visit with brother and sister-in-law!

The Tuck Box

The Tuck Box restaurant in Carmel is about as quaint as you can get! It's rare that a car isn't parked in front of it blocking it from view and I would have missed the shot if I hadn't had my trusty camera in my hand! It wasn't long before a car dove into the spot.

You'd think that Carmel is hundreds of miles away rather than right over the hill from where I live, because it's been a couple of years since I wandered about the village! It took a week-long visit from my brother and his wife to get me out the house. Once we found a parking place on a side street we had a blast browsing through shops where they bought a lot of collectibles to add to their collections. A horse statue was added to my collection (www.trailofpaintedponies.com to see Earth, Wind and Fire. Click on Merchandise > native ponies.) I have no idea why I've always been so drawn to horses, but perhaps it's the freedom in which they run and part of me is always trying to escape/run from my life.

I had one request while we were in Carmel and it was granted. I had wanted to see Joan Miro's month-long exhibit in a gallery where I nearly had to leave a deposit on a lithograph just to be able to leave! My mistake was in telling the salesperson that I was in the gallery to see the exhibit and when I passed on purchasing the $5,000-35,000 art pieces she decided I had to have the $900 one. It nearly ruined my time in the gallery having to deal with her hunger to sell me something! My brother wandered off and for a few minutes and she followed, probably thinking that she was chasing the person with the money, wrong, he had no intentions of purchasing anything, but it gave me the opportunity to study Miro's work. I'm always amazed at how essential it is to see work up close and viewing his work left me with a sense of wanting to add some playfulness to my work. Thoughts about that has kept me awake for the last two nights, well that and a killer migraine! Good thing I had something fun to think about and not just the pain.

"The spectacle of the sky overwhelms me. I'm overwhelmed when I see, in an immense sky, the crescent of the moon, or the sun. There, in my pictures, tiny forms in huge empty spaces. Empty spaces, empty horizons, empty plains, everything which is bare has always impressed me."
Joan Miro, 1958 Twentieth-Century Artists on Art