WEDNESDAY

Lonely Bird, Pencil

THE CONTINUING SAGA OF MZ. WEE: The peanut butter sandwich trick lasted one day. Not even a full day. She was wise by noon, and by evening we were back to the syringe and the stress. Today I tried something else. We took her medicine together. STOP LAUGHING! A bite for mommy, a bite for Mz. Wee. Now, you moms remember that trick, don't you? It works for Macaw moms too. I had her licking her medicine off the spoon......no joke!!! Of course, I just pretended. Hoping the trick works til the pink stuff is gone!

Speaking of gone, I will be for a few days. Just life happening! But I'll be back.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: " A page a day. You have to write a page a day if you want to be an author. In 365 days you'll have a book. If you don't write a page a day, you might as well hang it up." John Grisham

A LITTLE MORE ART AND SOME MZ. WEE ANTICS

The new header is a mural I did awhile ago on my guest bedroom wall. Botticelli's La Primavera. MY version! You don't sleep alone here! :)

OK, some of you know this Diva. This little monster. This demanding little brat! But she's sickie. She has some kind of infection in her nares and her throat...same thing she had a year ago...so I took her to the avian vet last week. I had to hover around the waiting room. I was more upset than she was. Even that far away, I could hear her honking and crying while she got a couple of shots (one medicine and one hormone) and got her blood taken and her wings clipped. It seemed to take forever and I was sweating like a rail worker! The girls in the office were laughing and cackling because they said she sounded like a duck! Well, she does, but she's MY little ducky and it really distresses me when she is stressed. Anyhow....I have to give her medicine three times a day via a syringe. She KNOWS when I shake the bottle what's coming. She KNOWS when she sees that syringe full of pink stuff what's coming. She KNOWS when I grab the towel it's going around her and she HATES all this. So...as soon as she catches on, and believe me she WATCHES all the time...doesn't miss a thing, she slides like a fireman down her ladder, tightens up her feathers, and streaks across the floor like a blue torpedo. You think you can catch her? Think again! She heads straight for the dining room table. It's bamboo and has a low place underneath, and she KNOWS I can't get her if she's under there! Then, when I finally do capture her and give her the meds (it takes two of us to do it) she holds it in her beak and when I let go she spits it out, like a little kid. Grrrrrrrrrr! So, tomorrow I'm going to try to soak some bread and peanut butter with her meds since she loves that, and see if it works. I don't have much faith. As soon as she realizes her bread is pink, it will get flung - and it will stick to the walls and stick to the floor and stick to my cheek..... Sigh...........

Photo of Mz. Wee

A little reality check here. These are a couple of the 2 minute poses I did in Life Drawing class Saturday. We had a male model. I did have more frontal pics but I just didn't post them. This model was an older gentleman who must work out because he had a six-pak. He also had a....um....uh.....a ring on his.... well, you know. I didn't draw the ring.

If you'd like to visit my drawing instructor's website, it's http://www.douglaslandartist.com/ He also does court drawings, and was the court artist for that trial of the two guys that got picked up in SC for having bomb makings in their car. I believe they are USF students and the trial was in Tampa.








THIS, is a treasure I found in my mailbox a couple of days ago. It's soooooooooo very beautiful. I love it. It's glass and it's made to hang in a window to catch the light. It's from Nature Girl (sidebar link). Isn't she just the sweetest? It's far more beautiful in reality than this picture shows. Thank you again, NG!


Long day today at work and I'm tired, but I'm off tomorrow so I'll be doing some blog visiting. Missing everybody!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much!

Please say a little prayer for our blogging friend - Cre8tiva -(see sidebar link). She could use some big hugs!

SOME ART AND A REALLY NICE POETRY BOOK

After working "too much" the last week or so, I was ready for some artful relaxation today. I turned on NPR to the Metropolitan Opera Live, and settled down for a painting session. This is a great program to paint by. Although I cannot understand the words they sing, the moderator explains exactly what they are singing about, so you can follow along with the story. It's really conducive to putting one in a relaxed painting mood. These are the results.

Untitled, 9 x 9 watercolor and pen

Untitled, 4 1/2 x 5 1/2 pastel on paper. This was a thumbnail sketch I did in drawing class (not the life drawing obviously...I'm taking two) and I just lifted most of the graphite and added color.

ABOUT THE POETRY BOOK

My neighbor, Rhonda, has just published this book of poetry called "Eclectic Thoughts". I believe some really deep, heartfelt thinking went into her words and I'm going to put some excerpts from her book here so you can get an idea of what this juicy little treasure is about.

IN THE WORDS OF THE AUTHOR:

"BURNED INTO REALITY" is an observation on what is real in our everyday lives.

War and peace.

Hatred and love.

Cruelty and kindness.

Such contradictions........

"EXTREME MAKEOVER - LIFE EDITION" is a sort of commentary on today's way of thinking.

In keeping with today's theme,

The emphasis on reality.

Hoping to change the outside,

Blending with the "new me" mentality........

and "OF THE EARTH" will hopefully express how precious the earth is to us, and that we must protect it.

Eagles soaring in the sky,

Dolphins playing in the sea.

Majestic mountains reaching upward,

Forever will they be?..........

Don't you love it? There's lots more, and if you are interested you can purchase this book at Amazon, or if you want to get in touch with her directly, let me know and I'll ask if I can give out her email address.

Until next post.........remember:

The Universe,

like a bellows,

is always emptying,

always full.

The more it yields,

the more it holds.

Tao-te-Ching

AND THE WINNER IS.....

FEBRUARY 14 - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

It's been a long day at work, then dh and I went out to dinner, so I'm late getting this posted. Well, late for Eastern Standard Time. The West Coasters still have daylight, and it's nearly my bedtime! Anyway, this is the finished painting "Backyard Birds" for my OWOH drawing, and the winner is........

Drum roll please......

KATHY

of Kathy's Quilts

http://www.kathysquilts.blogspot.com/

Please go check out her fab quilts. They have a meaning and are made with love.

Kathy, I'll be emailing you to find out if you want me to put this on a dowl stick so it can be hung, or if you want it as is, to cut, paste, trim, alter, quilt, do whatever you want. It's yours!!! I have a feeling you can do something wonderful with it.

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR PLAYING. I cannot believe how many people wanted my humble offering, and I am so pleased. I wish everyone could have been a winner. But I am the real winner, because now I have dozens and dozens of new blogs to visit and new blogging friends to make, and delicious new blogs to explore that I never would have known about if it had not been for Mz. Oceandreamer and her heartfelt plan to bring us all together. Thanks Lisa!

See you all in a day or two. Be kind to someone and it will come back to you twofold.

TIDBITS

A little of this, and a little that. Something for everyone......or not!

22 x 28 acrylic on canvas, crows are painted on a separate wc paper and glued on. Crows are also covered with paper glaze to make them dimensional and shiny. This is what is painted on top of the gesso that is on top of that spanish looking girl that is on top of......who can remember?? You never know what will appear in my paintings! Actually, I had this all in a sienna color, which would have gone with my walls, but I decided to glaze it with alizarin crimson. MISTAKE!!! Now, it won't go anywhere! Sigh...this is probably the last time I will use this canvas. It's about the 3rd for 4th time. But...it was a fun experiment and any artful project is always worth the time.








The above sketches are from my life drawing class. Three are 2 minute sketches, the sitting model is a 20 minute sketch. I may develop that one...or not! If you ever have a chance to take a life drawing class, do it! It's a wonderful learning tool.



OPERATION MIGRATION: A year ago I posted about the 18 whooping cranes that followed the ultra light to Florida and then 17 were killed in a storm. Later the remaining one died. But.....this year....17 made it, all healthy and fit! It took the young cranes since October 13 to come from a preserve in Wisconsin, following the ultra light through fog and rain and high winds, with many stops in between due to that weather. But they made it and they are now at their winter home in the Chassahowitzka refuge in Florida. They will fly back to Wisconsin on their own in the Spring (now that they know the way!), and hopefully return to Florida next fall. Kudos to the people of Operation Migration who are trying to save these endangerd birds. There are fewer than 500 remaining. And special kudos to the ultra light pilots. That's a long, long trip in an ultra light!!!



This is "Hurricane", a 24 year old male manatee. Isn't he a cutie? He is being lifted by crane onto a truck to be transported to Blue Spring State Park where he will be released into the wild. He is the third captive-born manatee to be released and since manatee's are very adaptive, he should be fine, but he will be monitored with a tracking device. Yeaaaa!! Freedom!

Speaking of freedom, Bobby is still flying free!

If you have noticed the award on my sidebar, it came from Janet at Just Bee Cause (see sidebar link). Thank you Janet. I so appreciate it! I am supposed to pass it on to five others I think should have it for their writing, but I'm going to send it on to only two.....just because I'm not sure who else is interested in writing. So....the award goes from me to TINKER and to TARA...because Tinker's writing keeps me laughing and happy, and Tara keeps me informed of happenings in the world and of the beautiful things Paris has to offer, not to mention other places. Please, ladies, take the award from my sidebar. You deserve it.

WISHES: I wish I could put on a slinky, red flowered dress and do the jello wiggle like those girls in the commercial! :)

CYA

Whooper and Manatee photos courtesy of St. Petersburg Tmes

A DAY FOR SOME WRITING

I know it isn't the regular on-line poetry day, but this morning I was struck with these words all of a sudden so I had to write them down. Maybe I can call this Prose Wednesday?

FROM THE INSIDE OUT

Where, in the throes of this daily confusion can I find answers

As I sit here in my rocker on this wide veranda with others who are mute strangers,

An Afghan on my lap?

Here at this place where I don't really live, a building foreign to me,

Full of thriving, uniformed beings running to and fro like an ant colony,

Each with a purpose that has some sort of end somewhere,

Some short-term goal.

My mind puzzles - is this my home?

They tell me it's my home now, but I know it isn't. Why do they tell me that?

Where are my familiar belongings? Where is the soft, tattered chair near the window

Which had become my favorite place over the years? My security corner?

Where are the precious little shelf items - the glass owl, the set of dainty teacups,

A gift from my own mother long ago?

My mother?

Where is she? Do I hear her calling me to come in from chasing fireflies

In the twilight with my small friends?

Do I detect the delicious scent of her cooking wafting on the gentle breeze,

Or is it an imagined dream floating briefly through my mind's cobwebs?

Did I even have breakfast yet?

The warm rays of the sun splashing over my arms are lulling me to nap.

It seems I nap a lot lately.

The sunshine envelopes me and takes away the permanent chills I feel constantly now.

My nap takes me to a dreamy place where there is a soft cat snuggling on my lap,

Purring and kneading as I stroke her silky fur.

I don't think it was too long ago. It seems like only yesterday that I sat in my favorite chair by the window

In my warm, secure home, as the stresses of life permanently left me,

And I could finally transfer them on to my son, my daughter. And my dear husband of so many years.

My husband?

They told me he left because it was his time. What time is that? I don't understand.

He said he would always care for me, protect me. Where did he go?

Now who is this person, unfamiliar to me - have I seen her before - speaking loudly near my ear,

Telling me I must come to dinner?

Go away. I'm not hungry. Why are you always taking me to dinner?

I just want to nap in the warm sun.

Go, I'll be along soon.

I want to sit here awhile longer in my chair by the window.

Welp, that's all for now folks. Work tomorrow, drawing class next day, be back in a few. Be safe and don't forget to stop and smell the rose. It may be wilted tomorrow. And Love yourself!

ONE WORLD ONE HEART

FEBRUARY 3: Ok, I've always been a late starter! Why change now? :) So anyway, I'm in the ONE WORLD ONE HEART GIVEAWAY started last year by our sweet Oceandreamer (link on sidebar) and continuing this year bigger than ever! So, there are only two rules. One, you must have a WORKING blog, and two, you must leave a comment in THIS post so I'll know you want to be in the contest. Here's the giveaway:

A 12X16 acrylic painting on unstretched canvas titled "Backyard Birds". This is only a corner of the painting which is yet UNFINISHED as you can probably see. My scanner will not hold it all so I'll have to photograph it when it's done, but you get the idea, I hope!

There are seven birds on the painting, and a few florals with the birds not true to real life color, but just colorful fantasy! I'm not sure yet how I will present the final painting, but it will not be framed or matted. Perhaps hung via a dowl rod. I'll see how it goes. It will also be slightly smaller when it is finished. I can see it hanging with nature's sticks from someone's back yard glued all around it......but of course that's up to you. One could even sew it to a quilted backing (Ah, if only I could sew!). Or even glue it to a wood backing. Lots of possibilities. When it's yours, you do what you want!

So, leave me a comment that says you want it. DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 13. And...thanks for playing....and thanks to Mz. Oceandreamer for her wonderful original idea!

http://www.oneworldevent.blogspot.com/

GO THERE!!!

QUICK UPDATE...

For those of you who are interested, Bobby is apparently still doing well with his freedom. Although the Seabird Sanctuary has not updated their website regarding this, I did read in a local neighborhood paper that the director of the sanctuary has reported that Bobby is still being spotted, apparently finding food, and now has lost one of the straps on his tether! Come to me Bobby, I'll take the rest of it off, give you an apple, and set you totally free!

Off to work. Bye for now.