Thursday, August 25, 2011

Something Different

Sunday afternoon Rhett & I were walking by some luscious green, well maintained grass when I just had to step out of my blue St. John's Bay clogs and walk barefoot on it's softness. Rhett thought I had lost it. I told him, "Sometimes you just have to do stuff like this." It was like stopping to smell the roses. I asked him if he wanted to do it too, but he said he'd have to take off his socks and shoes so he chose not to do as I did; not to follow in my bare footprints! LOL His loss.

Sunday night I did something different than usual for me... I went thru my photo books I use in my art shows searching for a certain one. I had a few new small frames I wanted to try some pics in them. One was a magnet with magenta color surrounding the outside like an oval frame. Several photos fit this which was hard to photograph due to glare. I snapped a quick pic of a woman's face I drew awhile back and it looks really at home inside it like it was meant for her. All are ATC (Artist Trading Card) size! So I was tickled pink. I only had about 20 pics to upload, but I did this activity instead.

Monday morning when I parked the car at work, someone had dropped a Correll bowl or saucer on the pavement. There were parts of it lying scattered about. I picked up one shard that had part of baby blue design on it. I figure I will use it in a piece of art somewhere down the road. This reminded me of the hymn that goes, "Bring Christ your broken life...". I take broken bits and pieces to make art with them! LOL I wanted to get another broken piece when I picked up Rhett from school if it hasn't been cleaned up. It wasn't so I was able to get a 2nd shard of a broken bowl or whatever. I tossed it in my purse without thinking. It was very sharp. I probably should have left it in the car as it could serve as a weapon!

Later in the evening My leg was killing me for some unknown reason. I was looking through my purse for some Alleve, my miracle cure for all my aches and pains. I cut my finger on the shard. Like a dummy I put my finger in my mouth. This had been on the ground! I cleaned my cut and bandaged it. I placed the 2nd shard in plain sight in my craft room so I will see it whenever I decide to use it in an upcoming piece of art or make a mosaic. Perhaps I will use it in a piece I have been adding to that looks like things you would find at the bottom of the bloody sea! LOL Since I cut myself with it, my friend Annica suggested I paint a red background to represent the blood! LOL

I was able to get good copies of the ATC in the pink frame yesterday. Just more variations of my work. Always a good think.

Today on Tuesday, I was ever thankful for laughter and friends.

"only in silence can the earth be heard"
-Pete R. Stone-

It is sort of coincidentally ironic that this quote which was on my motivational calendar for Wednesday after the earthquake in the Washington DC area yesterday. I called my BFF Genie to maker sure she was ok and thankfully she was ok. The movers had just left from delivering her mom's furniture. She was downstairs with the dog when it hit. At 1st she thought it was a really loud car outside which got worse. Having lived in Calif., she knew it was an earthquake so she & the dog got out fast. Thankfully she had no damage. Some pictures on the walls and other places were askew. Her sister-n-law Sharon was in town for Sharon's daughter's emergency surgery. Sharon was on the road when the earthquake hit so she did not feel it. When she arrived at the hospital, people were all standing outside and Sharon didn't know what was going on. A lot of people in Washington thought it had been bombed. Genie said it upset her so bad she had to go to bed for awhile. I am so thankful she is ok and had no damage. That was my thankfulness yesterday and today.

My hubby is having back troubles He left work to go to the ER because he can't see his dr for days. They gave him a shot and scripts which he did not fill! I am having a crown done today so please keep us in your prayers. Thanks.

Well, I survived my crowning! LOL Took 2 Alleve and the pain is gone! I am thankful. What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then please join us at the following...
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

Quote of the Day:
Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.
~Doris Day~

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Our Magnolias

I recently read a poem about a tree from someone's childhood. This made me remember our huge magnolia tree which took up a good footage of our backyard. Back then as a child, it seemed like a tree from the Redwood Forest. It offered shade on a hot summer Georgia day, but come nightfall, it was menacing and spooky. With it's many fallen leaves aground that reminded me of elephant ears, there was always some noise underneath it's darkness. It always sounded as if some was standing underneath,shuffling their feet with the crackling leaves betraying a presence. I pictured the Boogie Man standing there, hiding, watching us inside our open back door. We left the doors open back in late 50's into early 60's. When I would walk to the door, looking out into the night, I always heard movement. The tree was alive with all sorts of strange looking insects. I was one of those fraidy catt kids who screamed bloody murder, carrying on if a bug came near me much like my son does today. He gets it honestly.

As a child, I loved to play with various parts of the flowers of the mighty magnolia. The white petals were velvety to the touch as was another brown part. What I loved most was it's huge center. It was like a big drumstick. We often used them as chicken legs when we played restaurant. Rocks were our potatoes. We'd break that big thing off, pull the red seeds out of it which was followed by a silky thread. I'd pull the thread off, shaking it off my fingers. How I loved those red seeds. I'd put them in my little tin pots and pans, cooking them on my imaginary brick stove on our front porch. My little plastic stove was too small to hold the pots. Later in life when I was grown up enough to don red nail polish, my nails would remind me of those red seeds.

Once upon a time, my childhood playmate, Steve and I decided to collect every every available berry, magnolia seed, tiny peas I loved to pick and shell like blackeyed peas and anything else we could find worthy of cooking. We put them in one of my bigger pots that the handle was missing and cooked them on his Creepy Crawler heating unit. We knew enough by watching our mom's cook to add water to the pot. So we put it on to cook. Being kids, we began playing something else and lost track of time. Much later in the afternoon we remembered our cooking experiement. By then all the water had boiled out of the pot. It wasn't burned black but it was a mess. We tried to get it out with a stick but it wasn't coming out. We didn't know about Pam back then. So instead we decided to trash it without any grown-ups knowledge. That ended our our cooking attempts with Mother Nature. It is still a wonder we did not set Steve's playhouse on fire!

I am not sure if it was because I complained so much about the many bugs or was always thinking someone was underneath the magnolia in our back yard or if my mom got tired of raking all the leaves, but it was cut down. It was strange no longer having that giant standing reaching toward heaven. When I read Jack in the Beanstalk, I imagined Jack climbing our magnolia. The magnolia attempted to come back several times with leaves coming out from the stump. Mom would always tell us to go kick them down so it wouldn't come back. It never did after that.

We had another magnolia tree in the front yard. It had a streetlight near it so it was not as menacing at night to me for some reason. Although someone could have stood underneath it if they could stand the bugs. It still caused a lot of bugs in and around the house. I'd still pull those red seeds out of the core, recalling my childhood. I would do this occassionally into my high school and college years as a reminder. By then I was wearing red nail polish. I'd still associate the two.

One day our dear sweet neighbor Mrs. Mary Chambless was having her many pine trees in front yard cut down from her yard across the street. She lived in the cutest little yellow house with her sickly retired husband Jimmy. They had no children. Mrs. Chambless was always very good to us, giving us money when we went on vacation. From her, I learned how to be a good neighbor, always checking on them. When they were cutting down Mrs. Chambless' trees, my mom asked the tree service how much they would charge to take down our last standing magnolia. If they did it that day, it was a lot cheaper than if they came back. It was a really good deal so Momma told them to cut it down. She used her money she received for doing neighborhood laundy. She wanted to get rid of all the bugs and leaves she'd have to rake or pay the old yard man named Ambrose, who Mrs. Chambless used, to rake the yard.

I don't remember much about magnolias after that. I know they were used in art a lot. There was a nursing home named Magnolia Manor in town. My friend David had a magnolia tree in his yard. I recanted my magnolia tales to him when I first saw his magnolia tree. There was a Magnolia Cafe near Blue Cross when I worked there in the mail room. They had the best beefaroni. On certain days they served it, I would get it to go in a 16 oz styrofoam cup complete with rolls for supper when Don and I were dating. Of course I cannot leave out the movie "Steel Magnolias". I still cannot watch the ending when Julia Robert's character dies without crying so I don't watch it. Just as I don't watch "Kramer vs Kramer".

My friend Bob constantly refers to me as a "Steel Magnolia" because of the strength he feels I have which I love. I have thanked Bob for this honor, but I am not always certain I am made of steel. I do know I am a stong Southern woman and damn proud to be one! I come from a background of strong women on my Momma's side.

As a southern artist, I would love to create a silver magnolia branch as a table figurine. I can just see it lying on a table now in my mind. I'd love to paint magnolias one of these days. All I have managed thus far is to capture it's core as a photograph. Several years ago when I first got my Pentax digital camera, when took the picture and uploaded the image to my friends, I recanated my magnolia tales of playing with those red seeds as a child and how they look like my red fingernails.

I have a photo taken of me holding my son Rhett as a baby at Christmas time. My fingernails were painted red for the Christmas season. One nail is near his mouth. Even then it reminded me of those red magnolia seeds and took me back to my childhood.
copyright Becky Bristow Voyles

Friday, August 19, 2011

Oh, What a Night!

Yesterday afternoon was something else. Mom called @ work but I was on the phone. The way she said my name, I thought something was wrong with Daddy! So my heart is racing. It was only their fridge that went out. She had to call a repairman & told me I'd have to write a check when I brought Rhett. Okay. I told her she scared me to death! My driving timing was much better yesterday on picking him up from school. I told work I might be a little longer returning as I had to go inside to write the check. As I was pulling in her drive, she is calling me to tell the repairman is through. Wasn't a happy camper at that moment. I told her she needed to let someone have time to get somewhere. I wrote the man out a check. $120 just for labor! If I had a business, I couldn't do that to an old person. I'd probably go broke because of it.

After work, I felt the need to get my hair cut & washed. I stopped at a place near work. I should have went to the one near Walmart on Gateway. One lady wouldn't do it. So that meant this German woman named Renatta would do it who is not very good. I told her I did not want it cut!

My tooth that needs a crown is starting to bother me now. So I have to call an make an apptment for that. Dreading that. The last time I had a crown, I worked at JCP. I worked afterwards, but I was trying to lay in chair you couldn't lay in due to the pain!

Last night Rhett & were on the way to the store for Mom. I was backing up when the low oil light flashed on the dash. Then the car was going jerky. I tried to stop in a gas station, but none are willing to help you out now. I so miss the old days more and more. We need more full service stations. We need people willing to help out others. We drove down to O'Reilly's on Wynnton praying we'd make it. Car didn't want to go over 30 mph. Thankfully we made it there. It did need oil. Got some. There is a nice, tall, lanky man who helped me. He had me move the car back to where the pavement was level so he could run a diagnostic on it since the check engine light was still on. It was not firing on all 6 cylinders. Never thought I'd say that. LOL One spark plug is not working. At least it can be driven just not hard. All my cars have been driven hard and dried wet! LOL

So if you need any auto parts, be sure to see this man at O'Reilly's on Wynnton. He told me to send him some business.

We got her few groceries. Had to get her cheaper bread than Colonial but I couldn't go here, there & everywhere. I had been craving Domino's pizza & wings all day. I was starving. We ordered. I thought the guy gave us extra wings. It turned out to be extra cheesy bread which we didn't need. I guess because he thought I was cute or felt sorry for me. It was nice and I guess I should feel flattered as well as grateful, but again I wasn't a happy camper with just one more thing that went wrong. Rhett will eat it whereas I won't unless I get pepperoni to put on it! LOL That guy screwed up one of the pizzas! After what I paid for it, I called to tell him he gave me the wrong pizza. We get a free pizza now, but I have to call from the home phone in order to get it which is near mom's so that will be hard to do. By then I was like a worn out mouse who just meekly said "ok" in an Eeyore like tone. Don was fussing because I didn't check them. After the day I had, who would have? I was hot, tired, starving and threadbare not knowing if we would make it home. I was pretty much just ready to cry, but the tears wouldn't come. Later I was finally able to enjoy "Suits". Love that show. It was my good ending to a bad night. I kept thinking about Rhett's fave baby book Grover's Bad Awful Day. I had one of those.

So I had to drive the monster truck today still sighing over last night's events on the way. After driving the SUV, believe it or not, I feel more comfortable in the truck now. It is hard for me to believe. Of course it needed gas! Getting gas made me a few mins late for work. I have spent over $90 on gas this week. I think I will just stay home the rest of the weekend! LOL Luckily there is a place near the house that can fix the SUV tomorrow. I will have to have it there at 8 am. Hopefully it won't take long. Rhett & could walk to the Goodwill to get him some more jeans! LOL

Hoping the weekend will be better & less stressful than last night! Cindy was wanting to do some Sharpie art to be submitted to sharpies.com That should make me feel better.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Music Made Me Happy


"Victory In Jesus" by ~theRAV~

At first it seemed this new protein that the dr prescribed for Daddy gave him diarrhea. He could hardly stand right after he took it a few weeks ago. Because of that, we will had to cancel his apptment with the foot dr I guess we need to not make Monday appointments from here on.

Mom's handicapped sticker expired on 8/10. Rhett started back to school on that day also. So I took the rest of the afternoon off to get that. I also saw old friends I worked with which was a nice change of place and a blessing.

Rhett has to be at school earlier in the morning this year & gets out earlier. Getting him there earlier won't be a problem (I hope if he will get up! LOL ). I will have to be the one to pick him up at least until possibly Oct when Don's job may end again. There goes my lunch hour again. They were nice while they lasted & I enjoyed them. I am thankful I am allowed to take my lunch hour to go pick him up. The nearest hot dog place closed down also. I can only imagine how long my gas will last doing this. I need another job but don't see how I can manage it all. The gas is killing me. Over $50 a week not to mention I am putting over 200 mins on the Trail Blazer.

One of our church members passed away and a memorial service was held after the morning service over a week ago now. It was sad but nice. Life just gets harder and harder now. I was very emotional.

The other weekend I caught up with everyone of Facebook. I sent my condolences to this family via that route. Polly told me I was the only one who said anything to her kids. I am sure she meant on FB. So that made me feel good. We had dinner following the memorial. I took a plate of food to my folks afterwards. I was lucky enough to be able to do this for them two Sundays in a row. Another blessing for all of us.

I had an undescribable moment during that lunch following the memorial... a lady church member asked me if I knew of any art galleries or where she could buy art. DUH! I admit my 1st reaction was just a tad bit of anger. What am I? Chopped liver? Because the Front Porch Gallery on Wildwood in Columbus may have to close soon, I did suggest it to her being the nice person that I am. I suggested the nice man at that framing gallery in East Highland as well. I also told her about the PC art gallery which is open on certain weekends. I did ask what she was looking for, but got a vague response about "just art" for her "new house to match everything". She would be hard to please anyway. I prefer doing art that pleases me. She is having her hard wood floors redone. I would hate to think I did some artwork that she would want re-done! LOL Well, I wouldn't re-do it. I'd just try to hopefully sell what I created to someone else.

I received all 5 postcards from my postcard swap plus from the blog owner who started this swap. 5 mini pieces of art. Cool! So thankful for these small blessings. Some of the handwriting is hard to read so I don't have any links to include for them. Sorry. I haven't had time to send my thank you's to each one yet. Keep saying I need to do this daily and it hasn't gotten done yet much like so many other things in my busy life these days. So I will say thank you here to all who sent me a postcard. I felt like it was Christmas!

I am sorry I did not have time to do a Thankful Thursday post last week. Even thought I did not post one, I was still thankful for my many blessings. The main being that we still have my Daddy with us. I like to think he is better. His appetite has improved which is a blessing unto itself. Life had it's usual ups and downs but thankfully the downs were not rock bottom. Just a lot of maddening moments and a few disappointments. All my days seem to run together into a blur now. Nothing really stands out as extraordinary. I had irritating, maddening moments as well good laughs here and there. I passed some of the laughter on in emails realizing my emails keeps our pastor going who lost his wife in March as well as others. I was FINALLY able to send all my pics from when Jason, Kristina and family were here along with newer ones. I might not have been artistic but I did take photos. I even got a pic of a car with eyelashes! LOL My photos make me happy.

I know we had a really good PC art meeting the 1st of the month. We had more new folks there. I passed out a bird idea to everyone. I thought it went really well. Our church much like my art groups would love to have new people amongst us.
The abstract group met this past Saturday to do ink art. Cindy brought in spray inks. I brought in my black bag of inks and rubber stamps as well as other things. At 1st mine was not really going anywhere. I wasn't sure about these spray inks working well either. As always we each were doing different things. Cindy came up with 2 really neat pieces as did Lugenia. I love offering my suggestions.

I told the other artists I had wanted to start doing art that was more of a religious nature. Because I kept seeing V's in my art, I went with them. I played some of them up. I used my V music note stamp. I also used my many key stamps, a brown inked maple leaf, my tiny raven stamp as my signature, etc. As always I found hearts in my art. LOL Because my favorite hymn is "Victory In Jesus", I knew that was my title for it. The colors are bit different.... browns, blues and sage green. I have a black cross in the center. I was pretty pleased with it. I did a 2nd one but I prefer this one. The second one is more browns and the sage with zebra like print and a broken newspaper word rubber stamp throughout it with a big brown heart at it's center.

Rhett even did one using my brown ink & stamps. His was more of a religious nature too. He came up with some neat ideas. When he used the broken newspaper word rubber stamp, he marked through some of the words. I would never have thought of that. So he blew me away once again. On certain background stamps, he wrote words across them. I was proud of him. I also must learn to just let him do art his way not my way. I thought he was over-doing the word stamp, told him to not over-do, but later realized it worked.

I showed the original to some church members Sunday and they all liked it.

I am thankful I got to see my Aunt Pearl this weekend. It seems her palsy is worse. I just wanted to feed her myself. She is as skinny as Daddy now.

I was able to pick up pics I printed at Wolf camera this week and will have more to pick up this afternoon. Their copies are 7 cents each on Tuesdays & Wednesdays. Their 5x7's are only 57 cents! I didn't have time to do 5x7's this week. Maybe next week... I am able to get copies for our preacher to enjoy as well as others. I gave a 4x6 "Victory In Jesus" to Velvet last night at church.

I am thankful my parents raised me right. I am thankful I would be a better house guest. I would not dare say, "I always have a banana and chocolate milk for breakfast" knowing those in the house are unable to go to a grocery store now. Or want to take chocolate milk from an elderly person who needs it to take his medicine.

Please keep our friend Joey who Don worked for a few months ago in your prayers. He had to have gall bladder surgery. I think they had to operate the old fashioned way. His had turned gangrenous. Thank you. Hopefully my BFF arrived back at home safely today.

Today I am thankful I got some of my art to upload on this post. It is about time!

This week I have enjoyed listening to Pandora radio. This is dating me here but I heard the song "500 Miles" by Johnny Rivers. I have not heard that song in probably 20 years. I have it on a Sonny & Cher album. I prefer Cher's version to Johnny's though. So I went back to the 60's. By listening to this radio, I learned I am more than a little bit country. LOL I heard songs from when Don and I were dating and going country line dancing. Even found Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" on there! So this week music made me happy and I am thankful. What are you thankful for? Care to share? Then please join us at Thankful Thursday at the following....
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/

PS. I added the words "Victory In Jesus" to the photo of this art.

Monday, August 15, 2011

"Artful License"

ART in front of me
ART to my left
as I shift lanes.
ART passing me by
ART passing by me.
I smile with reassurance.
Almost nearly surrounded by ART
Always.
ART surrounds me nearly
Surprised I don't sur-
pass myself
BKY
No one gets my jokes but me
Thankful I can laugh at myself
Taking artful license
with license plates
ART
BKY
ARV is just a variation of RAV
That's me.
Just another sign...
to do ART.
I need no license to create
but these signs remind me
I am doing what I should be doing...
ART.
Then I was behind ART again!
~Becky Bristow Voyles aka theRAV~

Currently reading I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson. It is a book about a teenage girl with a huge crush on David Cassidy. Ah, it brings back memories....

Thursday, August 4, 2011

4th Art Show

On Friday, I received the 1st postcard from the postcard swap I participated in. It was a wonderful photo of a flower. I think it is an Iris. On the back, it had
The2Buds Inc. then www.THE2BUDS.com It is mainly a postcard supply link. Nothing personal about the sender of the postcard.

It was another very, very busy weekend for me. Jason & family was here from Indy. We all went out to eat Friday nite at River City Grill. The food was ok. The company was great. In the middle of the night I had some bladder pain, throbbing and spasms. I went to the bathroom and went back to sleep.

Elisa, Kristina & I went to Market Days on Broadway. I was recruiting for the PC arts while there! Not many vendors were set up. The girls found this wonderful stuff... a lady had cake on a stick for $1 but if you bought a dozen, you got 2 free. We met up with Stephanie. Kristina bought more cake pops. The lemon was the best. Then we headed to the other Market Days at the Landings which is not as good as Market Days on Broadway. They got some stuff there. It is all out in the open hot sun which made me so thankful for the shading at the downtown market days.

Next we headed to Front Porch of the South. They couldn't believe how big it was. I took a lot of pics so I was in heaven. I didn't buy much. A roll of pink see thru ribbon which I tried to stamp on later. It didn't work but I will use the ribbon for something else somewhere down the road. I found a cute little wall plaque that had an old postcard image on it with a knob for $3. I already have it up on the wall. I thought it was serendipity that I found it. The girls were waiting for me near a Tiki bar Elisa wanted for their pool area. Kristina got a lot of stuff. I did good. I spent the least but was rich with photos.

We ate at B Merrel's. I had not been there in years & years & years. By then I wasn't feeling well. I felt a bladder infection coming on. I didn't have any Cypro with me so I took 2 Alleve for the pain which helped and I was thankful. Luckily I was able to order a grilled cheese from the kids menu. I drank water & got cran-grape juice later.

Elisa went back to buy the tiki bar. I went in search of small carrying case similar to one our preacher has to carry his paints inside. The one I saw was being used to hold $1 items. It had no sales tags on it to my disappointment. I did find a deck of cards that had a neat design on them I can use in my art for 50 cents.

Things bought at The Front Porch $4.50 plus tax
A Saturday spent with my girls..... priceless

Saturday I received my 2nd postcard in the postcard swap.

Another person got one of my postcards from the postcard swap I participated in last month and thanked me for it. She sent a link to her flicker photostream. She has some amazing photos. Thought you might want to take a look. I have added her to my side bar of blogs. Here is the link...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58394948@N03/

I was able to lay down for awhile before we went to have supper at Elisa's. I took my new bathing suit I got for Gulf Shores but didn't go swimming. I was content just sitting by the pool. Funny that it is cooler there at Elisa's pool than here at home.

Sunday was the art show. We took stuff to Elisa's after church as Jason & family were leaving at 2 which was when the show started so we didn't get to the show until after 2. We should have gotten something to drink when we arrived because they ran out of cups! My art was hanging above Ms June's art that she created from the class I taught. I told her to submit that one. Unfortunately neither of us won anything. I admit I was disappointed.

The painting of the horse that the white frame was altered to match the horse's coat won a green ribbon. I forget the exact title of the ribbon. Upon closer look, an Indian and a feather appeared in the horses coat so that really was cool. It was deserving of an award. The eye reminded me of the close up photo I took of a horse's blue eye. So I it is probably good that I did not submit my horse photo! LOL. It would have been too much alike. This altered frame did make me wonder if I had used the other frame and painted the dots, if it would have changed my chances of winning? Who knows? Probably not. Esp since the photo I saw when I turned mine in won an award. A maroon ribbon. It was taken by a lady I had never seen or heard of before. Didn't even know she was in the guild.

As always there were some really good art hanging. There was a flower made out of bark and painted to look like a magnolia. This was all on a piece of cardboard box then framed really well! Neat idea. I would have given it an award for just being different. A most excellent painting of water lilies that look so realistic. It should have won something instead of the same ole ones winning. There was a large one called Wasp Nest that won a ribbon that should not have won! Then a guy I have never seen before won for painting a Singer sewing machine! The pencil drawings were most excellent. Two of them won awards & deserved them. There was a large blue woman called "Removed" that was thought awesome by Rhett & I. Another artist's small portrait in perhaps pencil evoked an emotion much like photos of Carson McCulloughs does me.

There were new categories. Paper was one of them. I found it very irritating that these artists that have submitted work for years suddenly all had "watercolor on paper" on their info hanging beside their work. In the past, it simply read "watercolor" unless it was on canvas. I heard from another artist that there were some very mad artists at the show.

Then there was one which won that had wax poured over it! Go figure. I know this is supposed to be a new technique to do now, but I wouldn't buy it or have it in my home! That artist probably would not have mine either! LOL

Again I admit I was very disappointed I didn't win anything. In fact, it colored my mood the rest of the day. I know it shouldn't be about winning. Since I had Rhett, I realized how competitive I am. I know I should be thankful just to be apart of an art show and I am.

Daddy had a dr's appointment for a follow-up with his regular dr. The wheelchair is real sweaty chore, but somehow we managed. His dr prescribed vitamin d tablets as well as a liquid protein to be added to his Ensure. Medicure wont' pay for this liquid. Luckily & thankfully home health care can do the blood work at home so he doesn't have to go in to have that done in the office. He will have to go back in a month. I felt like I accomplished something's. One step forward, two steps back with other issues or you hit a brick wall.

Then we went to Wednesday night Bible class. I wasn't exactly prepared, but figured I could wing it. It was just Rhett and I. Rhett asked me if I noticed the wall I had decorated had been taken down. Once again I was not consulted about the room. I admit I was mad especially because of the scrapbook birds I bought with my money and others I made from the template. I walked down to the storage room only to find the background paper had been wadded to fit into a shelf slot! It is doubtful it can be reused. Who would want to use wrinkly paper? I searched the other shelves. Luckily and thankful I found my birds. No care was taken when the were removed. They were simply ripped down so now they have tears in them. Holy birds! LOL Not a happy camper about this. I would never do that to someone else's stuff.

So I made lemonade. I took notebook paper, traced one of the birds facing one direction and was able to trace another outline below it. Two birds on the page. On one I wrote the word "SOAR" and the next I wrote "FLY". They are childlike, but still they are art which I had not done in awhile. Because of the lines, I knew I wanted to write something inside the birds. So I did two more. Inside the 1st bird I wrote this...

"8/3/11
Today was hot!! Sweltering. Worked. Paid a bill. Ate. Dr's appointment. Wrestled with a wheelchair and won! Accomplished somethings. 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Always hitting a wall. Obstacles everywhere. Nothing is ever easy anymore. Paid more bills. Not my own. Filled scripts. Tried a new peachy lemonade. Liked it which surprised me. Needed a shower. Just too hot. No respite in sight. Just another day in the life of me. Boring. Not. Not artful. Maddening moments. Added more heat."

on the 2nd bird...
"Then when in a place of peace you find your ideas have been torn down, cast aside like trash! Waded up and discarded. Left wrinkled. You thought your scrapbook birds you paid $ for, made & cut out had been thrown away, but thankfully they were found, but wounded. Angry that others care not as I do about things. Yet out of my anger came this new bird idea. Not so angry birds now. Calming down. Art does this 4 me. -RAV"

"CATHARSIS" written at the bottom.

It got good to me so I did a 3rd set of birds. On the top bird, I wrote the following...

"Write your cares, burdens, woes and problems on a bird. It will make you feel better. The burdens will lessen somewhat. You will have created art. Art soothes the tired soul. Any soul tired or not. The bird brings peace to a troubled day. Troubles fly away on the wings of a dove."

This brought to mind the song "On the Wings of a Dove" which has always been one of my favorites. Despite all the maddening moments of the day, I was thankful for this artful blessing I received from above. What are you thankful for this week? Care to share your thankfulness? Then please join us at the following....
http://womentakingastand.blogspot.com/
where Laurie talks about the heat.