Checkin' In

You turn your back for one minute and another month passes. Hello Ms. March!

03/06/18, 6:15 p.m. backyard sunset by: Me

• I'm finding it hard to believe this June will mark ONE YEAR of my being at the store.
• Nothing more in life has been happening here. I haven't been to Italy, Greece, The Coastal Georgia Islands or any place else that's been on my bucket list forever. Often times I wonder if I'll ever get to any of those places.
• I feel like I live a very quiet life which is cool, but at times can be quite maddening. This lovely quote comforts me in some way:

"Solitude" by: Me

• On the reading front: "A Confident Heart" has become another one of my favorites. I love my faith, God and any good reading that makes me feel even more grateful in my gratitude walk
• "The Story of Arthur Truluv", because I love anything Elizabeth Berg writes
• "They Left Us Everything" because I love a good memoir and it kinda reminds me of what my sibs and I will have to face with mom...
• "Happier At Home" because who doesn't want their home to be simple, comfortable and full of love?
• "Living In Full Bloom" because I'm all in for books that share how to live in constant bloom; and
• "Daughters of Men" perhaps because I didn't have a father/daughter relationship in my life and I love reading about Black Women who do/did

On the art front: Paint chip butterflies on canvas board, hot glue on canvas board covered in foil and polished w/black shoe polish, my contribution to Valentine's Day (acrylic paint on canvas board), and "Loretta and Devine" (named after the amazing Loretta Devine), my first time with Orchids. Side note: "Loretta" is THRIVING: ALL the petals have since fallen off "Devine." 😭 Research says don't trip - she's not dead.

"Loretta"

"Devine"

 Until next time - from this quiet life.

Hello, Ms. New Year

Photo by: Me

Happy New Year to all out there!! They say the new year is the start to a clean slate, but truly - everyday is a clean slate if you think about it.

I haven't for the past couple of years made any resolutions. I just do whatever it is I'm going to do. Besides, I suck @ staying true when I 'resolve.'

However, here are some things that would nice if they would/could happen:

• We find a solution of what to do with mom as her dementia increases
• Mom will allow us to act on her behalf in her best interests
• I will continue to be able to stay in my home. With things shifting, sometime I get just a tad antsy but have to remember God telling me to "be still and know..."
• Carve out serious practice time for the guitar instead of letting it go so long that I have to keep repeating lesson #1
• I can make some type of road trips (or a flight would be even better) to take some new, fresh pictures
• Someone would look @ my FB Photo Bus. page and think, 'OH MY GEEZ, I JUST HAVE TO OWN AN ORIGINAL 😀
• I can get asked to shoot more weddings/parties and charge what I'm worth
• Perhaps at the prompting of Sister #2, create that Photo Book of my pix
• Hoping my creative spark returns. Everything I've touched lately turns out like shit in my eyes
• I can be more real and honest with myself
• I will make time to write here @ least once a week
• I will make time to plop my behind down onto the mat and do yoga again. I know some aches and pains I have sometime can be cured with a solid routine
• Find time to give more attention to my dogs. It's a lot of work taking care of two on your own when it was SUPPOSED to be a joint-project
• Stop spending so much time alone and forge real friendships. Introversy be damned
• May I stretch myself to grow in all ways positive and trust the process

Life is such a beautiful, crazy, mysterious, scary thing.

Photo by: me "Reflections of..."

Catching Up, Part I

Let's see if I can recall what's been going on in life.

In the previous post, I already talked about the new job (I Think I Work There), so let's check that off the list.

I've been getting rather irritated with all forms of social media, including the news on TV and right now, just about anything electronic except my iPod. The 'Pod' is my quiet friend that holds my music (everything from Journey to Joe Sample to Adele to The Crusaders to Heart to Maxwell, etc.) and my Podcasts. It's soothing, like a book.

While the computer is so very necessary, it's all too much some days. FaceBook is the same ole thing; Twitter is too much, too fast coming at me (minute by minute thoughts), I post my pix on F.Book, so why do I need Instagram?? (I refuse), I still don't know what Snapchat is (and don't want to), and I DON'T own a Smartphone. "BREAKING NEWS" alerts & on the TV every time someone farts; if you let it, it can burn you out and make you kinda sad. Well me, anyway.

I've clearly subscribed to too much into my e-mail so I end up deleting mounds of things that become overwhelming. Even at times, the art tutorials I watch on YouTube end up making my armpits itch because 1) there are so damn many of them, and 2) since I have the attn. span of a gnat, if my 'creations' don't resemble what the artist is doing - I'm done. Grrrrr....

I'm still crazy in love with my Cannon, Sony & Nikon cameras, but without 'fresh things' to see, I'm getting tired of my own photography. It's gotten to the point that when I post, folks say - 'hey - were you at the 'so-n-so' right there? (Sigh...... so much for mystery). I need to saddle the cammies up and leave town! New things; new sights.

This is what I'm having in mind to soothe my savage beast. Mmmm..... travel. Inexpensive travel.

Yes, my shots are lovely, but how many frickin' ways can you look at a flower?

Zinnia: by me

See what I mean?

{Laughing}

I've also been reading. Let's catch up on that tomorrow. I promise I'll return. God willin' and the creek don't rise.