Once upon a time I felt brave to take a beginning drawing class from a working artist. She was totally into calderas. All over her studio were canvasses, finished and not, of all sizes of calderas, realistic to abstract. They were all awesome and amazing! Such passion! I wondered if I ever would be passionate about something like she was of painting volcanic calderas.  I painted this landscape for our upcoming July calendar. When I was younger, July was all about backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas, thus the mountain scene. I have no idea what I’m doing when I paint. It just happens.  Today’s link up is with  Art for Fun Friday . Come along and visit with me. 

Zip, rip. Wrap. Zip, rip. Wrap. "That looks like fun," said the Husband. "Want to make one?" See the yellow butterfly in the above photo mosaic. That's the Husband's creation. I love it when the Husband plays artsy-crafty with me. Over the past few months, we transformed hangers and colored and patterned tape into four butterflies. The fourth butterfly was shy about getting its photo taken. We think it may be hiding near the back fence. I thought it would be cool to hang butterflies around the backyard. I was done after making three. I still have a lot hangers. What to do with them? What to do? A PLYWOOD BOARD Who has made a desk by setting a solid piece of plywood (or door) over two file cabinets (or something like that)? My canvas of a plywood board was once my desk top when the Husband and I lived in the big city area almost two decades ago. Pshew, wow. I wrote a whole bunch of good stuff on that desk. Before being my desk, the plywood board was the

Can I get a "cute"?  How could I resist showing off that photo of Molly the pinky-nosed (wild) Cat's recent cuteness. So, what kind of little of this, little of that have you been doing while staying at home? This afternoon I made a delectable dish of creamy brown rice and mushed red lentils that I savored slowly, the way I do with desserts. Sure I'll combine brown rice, lentils, fresh garlic, kim chee, and eggs again, but the exquisite taste (there I go floating) won't ever get repeated, even if I knew the amounts I used.  Oh well, c'est la vie. :-) Clackity clack clack clackity clack clack. . . . I've been sewing covers for the outside pillows. See the top two pillows. The covers were made from Mama's nightgowns that she liked but hardly wore. Must wear out the old stuff first you know. The fabric of the flowered pillow on the bottom is from the Husband's mom's stash. I wonder what she was going to do with the upholstery quality mater

1. Been working in the yard, I have, I have. It's so much fun, especially when the Husband and Molly the (wild) Cat are hanging out there with me, doing whatever they do. (By the way, the Husband took my photo.) 2. "How did you get out there?" asked the Husband when he saw Molly sitting on the front steps through the screen door.  "Did you climb the fence?" 3. Oh, oh. I forgot that Molly came out the front door with me earlier today.  I get easily distracted, which means I need to come up with a system to remind me that Molly is still wandering around the front yard. 4. Thankfully, Missy Girl forgave me. So I think. She laid on my lap for a while. 5. Good medical news #1 that I got on Monday: Doctor Eye has me down in mid-May to remove the cataract in my other eye. Whoooo-hoooo! 6. Good medical news #2 that I got this afternoon: The result of my routine mammogram is normal. Yippieeee! 7. The Husband and I voted yesterday by mail-in ballots.  Yaa

It certainly has been awhile since I've peeped my sweet peepers out of my not-so-dark hole in the ground. I love the way you say things, Jeana, of The Ched Curtain . You, too, Widders, of Widdershins Worlds . Thank you very much for wondering outloud if I was still kicking.  :-) So, what was I doing while silent crickets and frogs took over the blog? I've thought about things such as why girls couldn't also be made up of "snips of snails and puppy-dog tails", and wondering if anyone has coined future fossil fuels yet. I've raked at least two years worth of dried leaves from beneath the flowers and plants in the front yard.  Not to say, learning yet again that I, no, we need to rake leaves right after they've fallen.  Also prune brittle and drying branches. Deadhead the flowers, too. And, pick up the fallen fruit sooner rather than later. It certainly has been a long time since I've strung sentences together for fun. I am simply dancing with

The White Rabbit said he was late. What was he late for? The tea party? Curious minds, such as mine, want to know. Oh my. The Husband is doubl y smart. Initially I wrote "Curious minds, such as me, want to know." That seemed off. Should it be "such as I"?  Still didn't sound right, thus I asked the Husband. Neither appealed to him either. Ever the good grammar student back in the schooldays, the Husband asked, "Is it an object or a subject? My eyes crossed. "Read it again," he said. "Curious minds, such as me, want to know." "Mine." "Mind," I repeated. "Mine." "Mine?" "It's curious minds that want to know." My eyes uncrossed. I'm giving an example of a curious mind. Awwww. The Husband is a genius. Alas, he didn't know either what the important date was the White Rabbit needed to make.   HOPPING BACK TO INITIAL THOUGHT I brought up the White Rabbit

Do you remember a 1940s cartoon in which a slick wolf sitting in a nightclub starts howling and making big eyes at a sultry femme fatale voice singing stage right? No, then check this youtube link and come back, please. Back, good. We can proceed. That wolf was me when I laid first glance at the decoupage rocks in the sunlight. Whoaaaaa! These are my first experiments decoupaging rocks. Yup, they are. (Imagine my big smile!) A decoupage rock is one of my planned entries for the county fair in a few weeks. Maybe one of these if I don't get a chance to play with more possibilities. Easy-peasy: Paint one side of rocks white. Dry. Paint other side of rocks white. Dry. Tear pictures to fit rocks to your pleasure. Glue pictures to rocks with decoupage medium.  Dry. At first I wanted to use pretty paper napkins for my pictures. I got excited about shopping at the party supply store. Then I recalled the last time I was there. The aisles were messy and little kids talked loudl

Hi'ya, dear friends! Big hugs to all. I thought I'd be back sooner on the blog, but you know how it goes with summer distractions. I'll write about more of them mañana. One distraction has been a local photography exhibition. A week or so before our party (the day after the Solstice), I got an email saying my three submissions were accepted and I would need to deliver them matted, framed, and ready to hang on what turned out to be the day after our party. All good, because that distracted me from getting too anxious about prepping for the party (including cleaning house and yard), as well as the party stuff sidetracked me from becoming nervous about preparing the photos for display. The photo above of an apple blossom is one that's on display in the exhibit. I took the picture in the backyard on a late Spring afternoon, then played around with Photoshop filters to get the final effect. Getting the photos ready for display took a village. A local business servic

I like to keep a bunch of rocks nearby when I paint so that I can use up any leftover paint on them. Wouldn't it be funny if the rocks in the yard seek hidey holes because they dread the thought of being splashed with clothing? Now that would make for an interesting story. Be my guest. This afternoon I happened to notice the various faces of a green painted rock. A different story on every face. These are only four of its faces out of eight, possibly 10 or more. What stories do you see? On Mondays, when I can, I like to participate in Angie's Mosaic Monday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf . Come check out the other bloggers with me. By the way, here's what happened at last week's City Council meeting that I was in a hurry to check out live on TV: The Council voted 3-1 to disregard the mayor's appeal to stop the construction of a project to build condos on top of retail stores and another building to house nonprofit organizations on a downtown lot that h

1. The outdoor work table is set up for the summer. Whooo-hooo! 2. I wore a bra all day yesterday because I had planned to work in the front yard (which didn't happen). Must not scare the citizens, you know. So different from the days of youth when I thought nothing of wearing nothing beneath a cotton ribbed tank top. 3. Flower seeds in my bra! I have no idea how long they've been wandering within that space between the cups' lace and backing. I can't get them out without cutting the lace, and that I'm not going to do until I buy another bra. The flat seeds look familiar, which I'm sure are of flowers I've grown, but what kind of flower eludes me. How did the seeds get in my bra? Probably when it got washed with a pair of shorts which pockets I didn't search. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.   I enjoy slapping paint on wood. These pieces of redwood were once part of a wooden barrel that I broke apart earlier this year. They'll look good in the yard somewher

A few weeks ago Saturday Night Live featured a video about two women talking about their hobbies. Oh my gosh,  I recognized myself. When I was a young single thing living la dolce vita in San Francisco, a guy I met for coffee asked, "What are your hobbies?" "Hobbies?" "Interests. What do you like to do?" Totally stumped, I was. I liked to read and write, but I didn't consider those activities as hobbies. They were simply a part of what I did.  Without trying, in the last three years, I've embraced hobbies. Sewing, drawing, painting, gardening, and crafting are what have showed up at my door, thus far. That guy at the cafe 40 years ago? I never saw him again. SO, MOLLY DID The other day I didn't feel like folding the pieces of fabric I laid out on the bed in L Studio. It wasn't going to bother me if Molly the Cat felt like lying on top of the fabric. I told her so, too, before I sat down to contemplate how much of the vari

The other day, friends (whom I've known since elementary school) and I were kidding about not knowing what we want to be when we grow up.  Then I realized that I did know and that I was doing it: Playing at being an artist. And, not just with words. Whooo-hooo! A couple weeks ago I finished my first painting. It's on the concrete step outside the patio window. Some of you may remember the bottles I painted earlier this month. I let a few of them dry on that concrete step, which left paint stains. I decided that painting over the stains was the best way to get rid of them. And, so I did. BOOK PLANTER I made one! It was easy-peasy. If you want to give it a try, do a search for "book planter" in your browser. One of these days, I'll share my method once I've got it down. I have another book ready to be planted and four more prepped to carve. My first book planter became a housewarming gift. The yellow glassy thing (in the middle photo above) i

Once upon a time there were people who collected other people's trash and resold the items. Some of these early recycling entrepreneurs were said to go down the street calling out something like "I'm here for any rags, bottles, and bones." Rags, bottles, and bones. For me, it would be books rather than bones. But, I'm not looking to purchase any rags, bottles, or books. Not at all. I mention the phrase because the past week, I've been repurposing fabric scraps, wine bottles, and old books. RAGS The elephant scene (above) is my first try at fabric art. I machine stitched everything but the the red flowery thing, which is the top of a tree, onto a purple napkin. The zipper is the second, if not the first, one I've ever sewn. I have several more purple napkins and a whole bunch of scraps so I might experiment with more fabric art. We shall see. BOTTLES Last year I decided to make a garden border with wine bottles that I collected mostly from our