Warts and All

 

In Praise of Beauty

 

Oh, Deer!

John looked up from his computer to see three deer, not twenty feet away on the slope directly behind the house.

They were munching on the ground cover--a mix of ivy, houttuynia, periwinkle, and weeds.

This is the best I could do--shooting through screens and embarrassingly dirty windows.

After the plague that wiped out so many deer a few years back, it's nice to see these pretty critters--though come summer I'll be cursing them if they eat my hostas. 

 

More Ordinary Things

Okay, it was childish of me, ten years ago, to buy the Spotted Dick pudding just because of the name. And probably even more childish to have saved the tin.  And now, to memorialize said childishness . . . 

But I'm really enjoying drawing (though not very well) and painting ordinary things.

Hit don't matter how lop-sided the end result is. What matters is the peaceful feeling I get, as I concentrate on a familiar object and attempt to really see it.

Maybe I should get stoned to further enhance the experience. . .

 

Snowy Morning

 

A Wedding Slipper

More painting from objects, not photos.  One of my maternal grandmother's wedding slippers. (Yes, I also have her wedding dress. . .)

 

BRRRR!

 

Mourning for America

                                                                   

Mourning President Carter, a good and decent man whose long post-presidency life set an unparalleled example of good works and selflessness.

Mourning those who died at the hands of the insurrectionists of January 6, four years ago.

Mourning the rise of the oligarchy and angry men in every walk of life.

Mourning the considerable peril our country faces in the four years ahead of us, as a vindictive and profoundly ignorant little man seeks retribution for slights--real or imagined and hustles to pay off the billionaires who have put him in office.

Mourning my loss of faith in my fellow citizens . . . and those friends I thought I knew . . .

Looking East, 7:30 AM

 

Ordinary Things

 The Tampa cousins (both painters) have nudged me into attempting more drawing from life (rather than photos as is my wont.) This is the mug that follows me around all day--usually with hot water, sometimes tea, occasionally grog (hot water, rum, lemon.)

Next up, my grandmother's biscuit cutter and spatulas. I don't use these--but can't get rid of them. Maybe painting them will allow me to let go.

                                                    

Josie Does Sewing and Organizes a Zip Line

It snowed today but school was out anyway and I wa up at Meema and Grumpy's.  First (after pancakes) I did some sewing with the sewing kit Sandy gave me for Christmas. 

It was fun and there was a big plastic needle that didn't hurt if I stuck myself.  I finished two projects, and they looked really good. We are sending one to Sandy and one to my cousin Fay who was here for New Year's. Silly Meema forgot to get pictures of them.

Jenny wondered what I was doing.

                                                                                

                                        After lunch, I snuggled with Jenny and Otter and watched some videos.             

Then I decided the cords on the roll-up shades in the dining room would be perfect zip lines for the Castle People and made a sign NOW HIRING to get Meema and Grumpy to be lifeguards for the zip lines.
                                                                                 

I slid the Castle People down the zip lines. Meema kept yelling WATCH OUT ! and DANGER! I told her that wasn't what lifeguards do but it was hard to make her listen.

                                              Carmen loved riding the zip line.

Memory

                                                                             

This old beauty showed up on a Face Book group about historic Tampa and I was delighted to see it. Back in the Fifties, my orphaned first cousins Ken and Logan lived there with their maternal grandmother Lula Logan-later Lula Broneer when she married an archaeologist.

I visited my cousins now and then. They had a pool table and a pinball machine in the front parlor, and Logan did his best to show me the elements of pool and pinball.

I wish I'd paid more attention to that amazing house. I mainly remember being awestruck at the two outdoor stairs. It had once been a place of some magnificence--do I remember a defunct fountain in the front yard?

Looking at this picture, I wonderful if it began as a straightforward two-story house and then acquired those two spectacular wings, fore and aft.

I'm pretty sure it's given way now to a high rise. The large lot on the Bayshore would have been irresistible to a developer. 

I kinda don't even want to know. 

Facing the New Year

There are still blue skies and good people. May we look for the beauty and the good that is around us and mirror that, rather than the ugliness and hate that threaten. 

May we keep hope alive, even with the smallest acts of kindness. 

May we persevere.