EDITH'S WATER CLOSET

Before I knew I was going to have Edith

we had to fill up about...

oh....

6 of these?  That dang hot water heater was 

H.E.A.V.Y.

And we all know how expensive plumbing can be right?

so when you can make use of existing plumbing it's a great thing

as in...old potty spot...new potty

and I always say....don't scrimp on art in the water closet

no-sir-ree-bob!

Interesting story...we found this old oil on canvas..unsigned

while moving a cabinet at Zulu Art Gallery

~on the day of the Tsunami~

actually, it was one painting (that I absolutely loved)

but I thought the subjects were not in proportion

so I had it cut into two paintings and framed them alike

I fell in love with the colors and I will never forget finding them behind the counter on that sad day

Sunday, December 26, 2004

the one on the left looks like Edith to me

We purchased this on the cobble streets of Rome

long before I ever hoped to hang it here

I just love the texture and colors

I love to collect sea shells

The black sand and sea glass came from Santorini

this jar is a wine decanter filled with such precious memories of taking 

Mattie on her dream vacation after graduating highschool with a 102 GPA

and entering Texas A&M as a Sophomore

we let her choose the destination

we thought she'd choose Disneyland

but....

she had seen Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I brought this brain coral home from Punta Cana

I stepped on it and have been having heel pain ever since

art can be in many forms would you agree?

this roof tile was on the beach also...maybe washed ashore from some long ago hurricane...

did the house it came from ever think its tile would live in my home?

do houses think?

well..mine does!

Hi Edith

since you are naked, you get to live here for a while

until my money priority is such that you become authenticated as a treasure

at which time

you might move to

????

So there you see...a very teeny weeny tiny spot

can be so full of 

 art, texture, color, hopes and memories

and most of all

accomplishments

MY ROTHKO

Two (2) things I love...

ok three (3)

1.  I love to watch Antique Road Show where the person has some random something they bought at a yard sale for $1 and it's valued at $75,000

2.  I love to look for those kinds of things on eBay and elsewhere

3.  I love to buy lottery tickets when the lottery is very high with the change I scrape out of my ashtray

ok...four (4)..four things I love

4.  I love to dream that someday...I will get very very lucky

This past summer my artist friend turned me on to

MARK ROTHKO

I bought some books about him and his work..and I must say I really like it

especially the yellows

So...this fall...when I was trapped cozied inside one cold day

I googled his name for some further study

when up came a link to an eBay sale going on at the moment

the description from the gallery said the painting was purchased in a 1930 California estate

and had the name "Rothko" but no first name..help on this would be appreciated

oh man!

so first things first...

I BID!!!

because I like nudes

it was a good price

she had a cello

and the back of it was painted also

then I started to do a little more research

this is his wife Edith (with the hat)..who he painted long ago

ok...maybe I'm dreaming but I see some real similarity!

this is his signature

the one on the left is my Rothko, the one on the right is from his website

there were many more signatures, this is the one I used for comparison

..he signed and painted over the years so differently

later he signed his work on the back of his paintings..this is how you knew which was the front

and just for the record...he only began painting his abstracts in the late 40s

and only became quite famous after he met his untimely death by his own hands, 

in his New York City apartment

of course I can't display my nude Rothko in my breakfast nook

but when I opened her up...I kind of felt this electricity in my veins...

I mean a real live feeling

I love her face

and her round full womanly beauty

and her cello

and the possibility...oh yes...the possibility

that before he got serious...he just had some oil paints laying around and his wife

popped out of the shower and he painted her...and cast his work aside because he had no idea

none

that he would someday sell his work (after death)

for millions of dollars

and that if someone were going to fake something

they wouldn't have faked in it 1930

they would have faked something like this

now

I have done some research

and found an authenticator and an expert in appraisal

each for about...

$200

PER HOUR!

Ok...I love five things (5)

5.  I love to realize that I already am very lucky...

...and if this painting happened to be some obscure early work of

Mark Rothko

found in some random estate sale

and I could sell it for $75 million dollars

and I could share that fortune with the ones I love and like???

well...right now...today...I would rather spend

$200 per hour

on an electrician, plumber, carpet layer, tile layer and landscaper

so it will hang way back in the depths of

822

and gain value

if only to me

A MONDAY HIGH

MLK day

1.  sleeping in till 7, listening to the owls coo at dawn, knowing your banker hubs has Monday off and his outfit will be shorts instead of a tie

2. Your precious sister in law AND HER mom asleep together in your upstairs bedroom while cinnamon rolls warm and coffee brews...for a visit on the way to see her bo peep at college

3.  Your son and wife and bun in their oven popping in unexpectedly for a lunch visit

4.  Your baby bo peep calling to tell you about the radiator hose, the commitment of student loans for masters education getting paid off (not by you) and chicken in the crock pot recipe with homemade pico

4.  picking up your grandbaby at Gus Birdwell Elementary and fun 

washing the owl poop off your car soon after

5.  Hubs talking to his dad about measurements of bookshelves they are building together for his office

6.  Wheel of Fortune, blazing fire, Hamburger Helper

 with two precious blondies that live down the street

 who both now know how to ride a bike

7.  A Hot Bath Stiff Drink

I mean really...

how many good normal boring incredible real perfect things can happen in one day

to assure you...that....

life is abundant?

Thank you 

Martin

Luther

King

HONEY BEE

From time to time I like to decorate

 the baking station that nobody bakes at

do you remember me telling you about the dream I had before we looked at

822...the one about me growing lavender and having honey from bees?

and then when we came to look there was an actual wild bee hive that we had to get someone to come remove from our picnic table?

 ....to be brought back when our yard was completed?

and later when digging around in the yard putting in a new water line

we uncovered this old glass bottle?

maybe I'm just craving spring

(I'm not craving to bake)

but I just love bees

and hives

little bo peep even took a college class and

gave me her books

I think me and bees are M.F.E.O.

(made for each other)

I can't wait to have a real bee hive where I really go gather honey

did you know that if you eat honey that is raised within a 7 mile radius you won't have allergies?

kind of makes sense

so over in the white dish corner on a cold January day

I made myself a little reminder

spring days are not that far off

and my dream of bees and honey

and summer's fragrant lavender

are enough for now

it will be here before you know it!

WINDMILL TOWN TEXAS USA

This Thursday, our little city will be the host of the regional
Texas Municipal League Quarterly Meeting
to be held at the Civic Center in Amarillo

Our former mayor will give the program which I created for him and was so honored to do so.

As I was creating this program, it gave me great satisfaction to realize how much a part I had in this whole event. I was the chamber director and looking back I realize something I did not at the time...

it is possibly one of my greatest achievements that will benefit our town forever.  I am a behind the scenes kinda gal, and I highly doubt that 16 years later folks in this town even remember that I had anything to do with it at all.   I don't care about that..really...all I care about is that my husband and kids know it and that it will make a substantial impact...a very positive one.

 Our little oilfield pop up town is ...well...not that cute when seen by the highway. The idea was to place the mills (68 now) throughout the town so that folks could get a good look at how neat our little corner of the world is.  I can remember finding the way points of all the mills to list them on the chamber website....16 years ago, GPS was futuristic to our windmillers who are all 70+.  We also created a memorial fence and the local businesses adopted the mills...these proceeds fund the efforts of the association.

On this day, we were presented the flags that flew over the US Capitol by our Congressman Larry Combest; and the one that flew over the State Capitol by our State Senator Teel Bivins.  The first mill was brought in by a team of Clydesdale horses and raised by the power of a 1920 steam engine.  All 3 news channels were on the scene and we had a crowd of over 300.

One of these mills in the collection is at the Smithsonian and the collection was in the process of being purchased by Texas Tech University...that is until I said...

Wait just one dang minute here...

and the rest...

as they say...is history!

OK...LET IT BE A QUEEN

So...we went to Oklahoma City to buy a bed and came home with a mirror

which is a good thing

because when we got to looking at the space between our sconces...well...

it caused me to get out the measuring tape

me to hubs:  there's not enough space to put our bed 

hubs during football bowl week:  peeking over his glasses rims:  annoyed

me:  really...go look...go measure...there's not enough room

long story short

our contractor does know how big a king size mattress is

he just didn't think about that mattress being surrounded by a big fat fancy four poster bed

there is barely enough space for a QUEEN..without moving lots of stuff

stuff like sconces and electricity and plugs and holes in walls

so

Queen it is

don't let this happen to you...know your bed size

the mattress is only part of it!

PUNKED OR POISED

via google

Ok...I confess...sometimes I act dumb just for the heck of it

even though I am getting on up there in years 

and have over-baked paint-thinned stimulated this old brain in sun and fun at times

I'm really still pretty sharp, uh huh

let me tell you a recent and funny advertising story

I had a person from a big city contact small-town-me 

about putting a very well-known product on one of my online sites

we were doing all this via email as I detest talking on the phone..

which in this case would have been prudent

it literally took days to complete the transaction

to the point I told hubs.."I'm getting punked..she's punking me"

it seems that she had the "ok" from powers that be to place their logo on a specific story

dated November 2012

she thought I was a dunce because it took me some real effort to locate it in our archives and with each change/addition of logos and links...it changed the html code which was not the one approved

(btw..it took a bit of jiggling with all the additions,
to make the code stay exactly the same as the one that was approved)

I thought the same of her--as in--why would you want to sponsor a page that no one will ever read again?

but...she insisted and during the transaction 

there were two wonderful things that played out in our dealings with one another

1.  Patience

2.  Graciousness/politeness

to each other

have you ever wondered if someone was being difficult to you on purpose

to test your character in how you treat others

hmmm...it's kind of an interesting thought isn't it?

SURVIVING

is important

but to thrive

is

ELEGANT

PAPER

Tradition says

the 1st anniversary gift should be

paper

that'll do 

SOFTLY CALL THE MUSTER

I must admit that I have lost a little interest in blogging (writing not reading) but am trying so hard to get it back!

You see...I was really really so sad over the shooting of the school children.  I think it hit me so hard because my own granddaughter was just that age and I could only imagine...and quite frankly had a hard time putting it out of my mind.

I am writing a prisoner and have been for about 6 months now...it's a very very long story, but I'm so glad I'm doing it..he has been such a blessing to me.

I did have a wreck that totaled my car and though no one was hurt, it just made me realize how incredibly crazy and even dangerous the traffic was...and why?  Shopping?  It all kind of scared me.

All that being said, it seemed like anything I might want to write would just be so shallow and frivolous and almost....well the first words that come to mind are pathetically unimportant.  How can I post photos and content about curtains and paint and tile while so many in this world are truly living in such immense pain?

How do you write Merry Christmas on a colorful card to a young man who may be behind bars for most of the good part of his life?

I have really thought a lot about it and this is the conclusion that I have come to....

Our world will always be full of this kind of thing..no matter what we do or don't do
I am so blessed by reading about your fun and meaningful creative worlds--it has been quite healing
Perhaps it's very important, rather than frivolous, to know how much good still exists in the world
Do you suppose it's possible that all the little good parts of all our worlds...stuck together, could actually

Change things?

When our youngest was attending Texas A&M, one of the rich traditions they do each year is

Muster Call

they meet at a certain hour and call the name of all those that have died

some are old, some are young, some are tragic and some are expected

but they unite

light a candle one to another

those that are chosen to, answer "here" to the names called~

 and soon, the space is illuminated

yes, our world can be hard and scary and full of sorrow

yet

in our everyday lives there are

words and photos

poetic, humorous, engaging and informative

sons that cut hair locks for love, family, Swedish antiques, frolicky puppies, couples that have loved each other for years and years, letters to daughters, castles, water colored owls, recipes, 

fashion tips, Christmas wreaths, garden tips, art, makeovers, travel and just plain

everyday lives lived

 a light that beckons us

away from the dark

excellent

NEW YEAR RESOLVE

I love resolutions...especially new ones!  But this year I decided to keep it simple.  I am going to do one thing and one thing only...I already know it will be a thing that will matter and make a difference.

I am going to

seek ye first the kingdom of God

and let all the rest be added unto me

Matthew 6:33