Birds on a Wire

I have watched these birds congregate here every morning as I drive my daughter to school.  It doesn't matter the weather (it was foggy this morning), they come and go but a steady presence remains and a lot of chirping ensues.  I wonder what they are saying to each other, if they bore each other with stories of the weather of if they impress each other with tales of near misses by fast moving trucks.  They are all black birds so I can't really tell if they are male or female but I have a hunch it's the males out there escaping the nest for the morning while Momma is weaving a new piece of hair in the bed or sitting on some eggs.  Who knows, but one thing I love to consider is that we are all social creatures, we all enjoy someone to talk to and even better, someone who listens.

Playing in Puddles

I've always enjoyed looking at the reflection of neon in the wet streets.  Now, Ricks Dry Cleaners is not nearly as sexy as the neon of Vegas, but it still makes a cool, glowing blur.  

Work Out!

Today was my Monday, which means back to the gym.  I have a love/hate relationship with these ropes and that darn ab roller.  Sometimes you just gotta do it and today, I did.  Yay!

ps. Little shout out to my amazing trainer at my Boot Camp class at Synergy Fitness!  http://synergyfitnessbootcamp.com

Still Life

Still life.  What beautiful, complex and calming words when put together.  I think we should all enjoy a bit of still life every day. This is mine, today.  I admire this little tile every day and remember the sweet friend who gave it to me years ago.  She called me her sunflower friend because those were the flowers I gave her when she was going through chemo (during her first of four years).  We remained friends to the end...and now I smile and remember. 

I think still life photography can be incredibly beautiful and inspiring, here are some examples I found on a fun website:

http://speckyboy.com/2012/07/22/30-stunning-examples-of-still-life-photography/

Corn Poppy...and she's all mine!

...ok, so she's a card that I framed, but I can enjoy seeing her every day now!  My friend, Lauri, and I took Siena to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, yesterday and we were both thrilled at how much my 7 year old loved it.  She devoured the Antonio Berni collection in which he artfully used recycled materials to embellish his series called "Juanito and Ramona" (http://www.mfah.org/exhibitions/antonio-berni-juanito-and-ramona/).  She asked the security guard if she was allowed to photograph them and was delighted to learn she was able to capture each piece with her iPad.  

Next, I fell in love with the piece you see here, "Corn Poppy" by Kees van Dongen.  She is so French to me.  She is simple but that bold, red hat and matching lips just mesmerize you.  So, I bought the card and happily framed her tonight to spice up our little apartment.  Here's a little more info on Dongen, if you please.  

Dongen, Kees van (1877-1968) - 1919c. The Corn Poppy

Kees van Dongen, was a Dutch painter and one of the Fauves. He gained a reputation for his sensuous, at times garish, portraits. He was born in the suburbs of Rotterdam. In 1892 van Dongen started his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam. Between 1892 to 1897, he frequented the Red Quarter seaport area, where he drew scenes of sailors and prostitutes. In 1899 he went to Paris. He began to exhibit in Paris, including the controversial 1905 exhibition Salon d'Automne, in a room featuring Matisse and others. The bright colors of this group of artists led to them being called Fauves ('Wild Beasts'). (If you're reading this, I LOVE that term!  hee hee) He was also briefly a member of the German Expressionist group Die Brücke (The Bridge). He was part of an avant-garde wave of painters—Maurice de Vlaminck, Othon Friesz, Henri Rousseau, Robert Delaunay, Albert Marquet, Edouard Vuillard—who incarnated hopes of a renewal in painting stuck in Neo-impressionism. In 1906 he moved to 13 rue Ravignan, where he was friends with the circle surrounding Pablo Picasso.

Under the influence of Jasmy Jacob, amongst others, Kees van Dongen developed the lush colors of his Fauvist style. This gained him a solid reputation with the French bourgeoisie. As a fashionable portraitist his subjects included Arletty, Leopold III of Belgium and Maurice Chevalier. With a playful cynicism he remarked of his popularity as a portraitist with high society women; ' The essential thing is to elongate the women and especially to make them slim. After that it just remains to enlarge their jewels. They are ravished.' A remark that allies itself to another of his sayings - ' Painting is the most beautiful of lies.' In 1926 he was awarded the Legion of Honour and in 1927 the Order of the Crown of Belgium. In 1929 he received French nationality and two of his works were admitted to the Musée du Luxembourg.

Waiting for a Butterfly

Here's my little girl, just sitting still, waiting (hoping) for a butterfly to land on her head.  We spent the afternoon at the Houston Museum of Natural History and stopped in the Butterfly Conservatory for a while with hopes of capturing a few beauties.  I caught this one and that's all I needed.  

Golden Arches

Raise your hand if you didn't think of McDonalds when you read the title of this post.  :)  We drive past these places ever day without thinking twice--until you're on a road trip and you're nearly out of gas and hungry enough to eat fast food!  We drove 6 hours today and 30 minutes from our destination we stopped here and I was reminded how much comfort I take in the familiar.

Happy Places

When I stand before the waves I often feel like this little bird, small but safe.  I think this is why the ocean (or any large body of water I can't see across) is my happy place.  Some days, though, I feel like a scared, overwhelmed little bird who can't remember how to fly away.  Like my wings aren't talking to my brain and I forgot that I could fly away before the powerful waves suck me in.  I felt like that when I woke up in the middle of the night last night.  I felt powerless and scared and completely overwhelmed by my perceived problems.  Then I remembered to pray.  I remembered that  my wings are my prayers and I could use them to fly from danger and into a safer, happier place.  It wasn't the instant relief I craved but it was a start...my path feels a lot less challenging today.

Happy New Year 2014

It's a new year, there's so much hope for better things, fresh starts and fulfillment of self-made promises.  Are you the type of person who makes a list of resolutions?  Do you stick with them?  Does this make you happy?  

I would rather promise myself to "try harder" at something or "do better" than last year...work harder at sticking to my diet, try harder to get published, get my work into a gallery or meditate more often than last year...but this year, I'm trying something new.  I'm setting a goal and I'm going to try my best to stick to it.  I'm not telling though...just in case.

The Elysian Fields

Here we are in Oahu, what a heavenly place.  I love the smells, the rich colors and the relaxed attitudes.  It's really an amazing place to spend a week (at least) with the ones I love, my family.  I love the line in Gladiator when Russell Crow shouts just before a big battle,  "…for you are in Elysium and you are already dead!"

If that's heaven, I'm happy to think of the ones I love there.

Fall

It just wouldn't be Fall without a photo of pumpkins and gingers...I love them both.

xxxme

Happiness Is...

I took this shot as we were leaving our happy place...it really says it all.  I made this chalkboard myself from a scrap of wood from Tommy and some special paint.  It was one of many fun art projects we did over the summer.  The lavender above the board is from the Tuesday Farmer's Market.  :)  

xxxme

Starfish

Pretty amazing, eh?  I was inspired to research starfish after I took this shot but when I googled "purple starfish" I was given such a shocking definition that I decided to just acknowledge this naturally beautiful scene and leave it at that.  Smile...

xxme

Happiness is a Red Balloon

Well, I did it, I painted my first piece for someone else (other than myself).  It was so much harder than I expected to create a piece for a friend.  I found myself over thinking the art and until I let my mind go, I couldn't let my hands work.  I finally freed my mind and created a piece today.  It's acrylic on wood.

Here's my artist statement:

My painting represents some of the things that make me smile.  The ocean has drawn me in and soothed me in more ways than I could have ever expected.  It has made me feel safe and small, it has taken my stressors and made me light, like a colorful balloon.  The red represents my fiery spirit, my redheaded daughter, and my heart, all of which make me feel happy and free.  The lovely seashell is my steadfast love, my everything, my safe place, my beautiful, complex, husband.  He rests and waits patiently for me to fly until I am ready to settle back down and float to him.  He is not jealous or anxious, he enjoys watching me float around smiling in the breeze.

The tiny sunflower is my signature…it is another symbol of all of the friends and family who have given me so much sunshine and love throughout my life.

love,

k

Eyeing the Needle

Hey Babe,

I captured Siena in this pose and thought it was really cool.  She is obsessed with these rock formations as well as the tide pools at the base of them.  It's really nice to have our daughter enjoying, appreciating and learning so much about nature.  Neither of us miss Chuck-e-Cheese, bouncy houses or fast food...

xxxme

Sand Dollar

Hi there!  We went sand dollar searching today and struck gold on Gearhart Beach.  It was so fun to walk up and down the beach with a mission.  I wondered if they were dead when the "beached" I was told (by Teaka) and she told me they probably were but just to be safe, shake them and see if I can hear the doves.  I didn't know what she was talking about so I asked and then further researched it when I returned.  She said there are 5 doves that represent peace and Christians believe it is a gift from Jesus.  Here's a poem I've found on many websites tonight:

The Legend of the Sand Dollar

There's a lovely little legend
that I would like to tell,
of the birth and death of Jesus,
found in this lowly shell.
If you examine closely,
you'll see that you find here,four nail holes and a fifth one,
made by a Roman's spear.

On one side the Easter lily,
its center is the star,that appeared unto the shepherds
and led them from afar.

The Christmas Poinsettia
etched on the other side,
reminds us of His birthday,
our happy Christmastide.

Now break the center open,
and here you will release,
the five white doves awaiting,
to spread Good Will and Peace.

This simple little symbol,
Christ left for you and me,
to help us spread His Gospel,
through all Eternity.

Author Unknown

Pretty special little thing, isn't it?  :)  One thing I did learn is that the live sand dollars have tiny, velvety spines all over them (and they are dark), while the dead ones are have a smooth "test" or shell and are usually bleached white by the sun.  Learn something new every day...if only I remembered half of it, eh?

xxxme

Nehalem Trees

We ventured out again this week and hit a charming little town called Nehalem.  We met our neighbors at their favorite camp ground (where Siena learned to fish) and I couldn't get over the green explosion around me.  It was like a mossy blanket covering the entire area.  You will love it when we take you back there in the fall.  We enjoyed watching the chipmunks run around, the birds hopping from branch to branch and the squirrels leaping from tree to tree.  I wonder if they know how good they have it here?

We do.

xxxme

ps. On our way home Siena said, "I really like this place.  There are no street lights anywhere.  They must have not wanted to disturb nature here."  Nice observation!

Cousins

Hi There,

I am finally looking over some shots I took when my sister and Aiden were here and here's one of my favorites.  I love the sense of humor and the sweetness all rolled into one moment.  It's so typical of her. (My mini-me, no doubt)

They are sitting on Tommy's bench...it will probably look different when you get here (if he can help it), but I think it's just fine the way it is.

xxxme

Farmers Market

Hi Sweets!  Here a few shots from the Cannon Beach Farmer's Market today.  It was small but they had everything we could have wanted, artisan cheeses (I bought some), blackberries, cherries, vegetables, bread (yum), honey (I bought some), salmon & crab from Chilkoot, meat from local farmers, flowers (bought one of those bunches of lavender (couldn't resist), fresh juices (bought one), and even wine tasting (have enough)!  Siena made it her mission to pet every dog at the market and that black shirt she chose was covered in dog hair by the end...but she was giddy.  We saw a sweet weim and an equally friendly husky (both made me think of you).  This place gets better each day and makes me want to share it with you all the more...yep, I know where I want to spend your R&R for sure!  And next summer!

xxxme

4th of July

Here's a photo that sums up the Cannon Beach 4th of July Parade!  It was a charming parade with kids sitting in the back of police cars, fire trucks and grandpa's pride and joy throwing salt water taffy to excited children.  Siena gathered several fist-fulls of candy and has already asked me to eat all of it!  The parade reminded me of a few that participated in when I was in Girl Scouts in Illinois.  Fun memories.  I'm glad we went but I wish you were there...next year.

xxxme