Back at it...and feeling WONDERFUL!

Sometimes, we just need to "feel" what we need to feel and I have to admit I went through a time of "feeling" but I am the better for it. I worked through all the "stuff" around RBJ and I think I've got it figures out. At least enough that I am feeling good again and back to painting, sketching, studying, gardening, and HAVING FUN! Every day is a gift and I unwrap it slowly and savor it, starting my morning with my spiritual work.

I'm facilitating an "Artist's Way" workshop at in my studio and we are on Week 2 in the book although we're meeting for the 3rd time. The first week was about how the workshop would run, what's expected, and a basic introduction to the plan. The second week, we covered the first chapter in the book "Recovering a Sense of Safety" and did a fun exercise together. This week, we'll cover "Recovering a Sense of Identity." I am excited about the next 10 weeks and my journey with these wonderful ladies who have joined me in this voyage inwards to discover, recover and explore our creative selves from a place of spirituality and trust. "As you teach, so you will learn" rolls around in my mind and I am learning so much, not only about my fellow travelers but about my own self. I'm liking my own, too.

I think the month I took off was about learning to love my own self again. I let myself go into "victim" mode. I needed to experience that and then, one day, it was like waking up from a dream. Maybe delving back in to the Course in Miracles shook my soul enough for me to see that I was choosing to play the victim role. It was a choice and I was choosing to be miserable. So, I wallowed in it for a while. I wallowed in self-pity and self-abuse long enough to KNOW that I was making the wrong choices for the way I want to live my life. I forgave myself. I forgave RBJ. I forgave everyone who I perceived had ever "hurt" me because I really don't think anyone I have or have had in my life sat down and thought..."hmmmmm, what can I do to really f-up Sabra?" Nope, I don't believe that was the case but I was just wallowing around in the deep hole I'd fallen in to and bathing in the self-pity, martydom until I looked up and saw the sunlight at the top of the hole and noticed the rope and I pulled myself up out of the mire. I like the sunlight much better than the scary hole but as I climbed the rope out of the hole, I got stronger with each movement to get up the rope. I got stronger and stronger and it became clearer and brighter and when I got to the top of the hole, I looked down and gave thanks for my time there because I was sure a better person as a result of having been there. I make the conscious choice to be all that God wants me to be and to enjoy every single moment, to the best of my ability, for the rest of my life.

I've been on the South Beach diet for about a month and my clothes are starting to be more comfortable. I want to be physically healthy so I can enjoy all the opportunities available to me. I want to ride my bike and feel the freedom of movement and the wind in my hair and the sun on my head. I want to walk, swing my arms and feel the fresh air entering my lungs as I breathe deeply. I want to find love again. Yes, this was a biggie for me but I do want to have someone to share my life with and I know, when the time is perfect, he will appear in my life. I'm not looking but I just know it will happen. I know everything I DON'T want in a companion so that must mean I know what I DO want...I want someone who will read poetry to me, bring me flowers and do thoughtful things for me just to see me smile. In return, I'll go to baseball games and do the same thoughtful things for him. I want someone independent who doesn't NEED me but wants to be with me just because I'm fun to be around. So, to make that happen, I NEED to be fun to be around and the Sabra that was in that hole was NOT fun to be around and that's why I "went away" for a while. I needed to get things sorted out.

That having been said, I am also aware that perhaps a companion is not a part of my destiny and I have things that I am meant to accomplish. So, that could be a possibility and if it is becomes a reality, I'm okay with that, too because I won't live my life "waiting." I will LIVE my life, every day, in the way I want to live it. I will do what I want to do and be who I want to be and I can do it with or without someone at my side.

I found a handwritten note in one of my books that RBJ has written when we first got back together. It had a list of things "we" wanted. A home, a garden, a picket fence, etc. Guess what...I brought every single thing on the list into my reality. I did it and I have all of the things "we" wanted. I made it happen and I guess I pushed him out of my, too because his words didn't match his actions. In many scenarios, his actions didn't match his words and I finally realized it. It was an epiphany and something I had resisted for too many years. I didn't want to believe that he was NOT who I thought he was and finally, I did. I believe it. That's when I started seeing the light. I first had to forgive my own self for seeing only what I wanted to see instead of seeing the whole, true picture. It doesn't mean he's a bad person, at all. In fact, he's a very good person. He's just not the right person for ME and I accept that now and I believe it and I am ready, at last (after over 40 years) to move beyond trying to hold on to something that was never there.

You'd think I'd have gotten to that place many, many years ago. I would never have dreamed that I wouldn't have it all "figured" out by this age. But "this age" is just more of any other day that came before. I'm still a newborn, but more. I'm still a toddler, but more. I'm still a teenager, but more. I'm still 30, but more. We're still EVERYTHING we ever were, but MORE and yet sometimes, we get stuck in a place and time

Going on a journey until June 5th...see you then!

Okay, I'm going offline for 30 days. No INTERNET for 30 days. No blog. No e-mail. It is a challenge I have set for my own self and one that is needed. I need to be successful in this (better than I was with the fast, I hope and pray).

I'm in such a wierd place right now, I don't feel like I can be of any help to anyone until I can help myself. So, I'm shutting down, going within and looking for the strength and resources needed to find my ...I don't even know what it is I'm looking for so I don't know how to finish that sentence. I guess I'm looking for some peace of mind, peace of spirit and a healing not only for my body but moreso for my soul. I'm looking for some hope. I am sick. I can't get my breath. I finally went to the doctor yesterday and loaded up on sterioids to knock out the inflamation and other drugs to help but I know that my physical illness is a direct result of the sickness within my soul, my spirit. I am gasping for breath in more ways than one and feel as if I'm sinking fast.

So, that's why I'm shutting down. I accept responsibility for my own happiness. I accept responsibility for my own self. If I am feeling as I am feeling and I believe that I create my own reality, then I need to do some very serious soul seaching and focus on within which is where my answers lie. I am almost 60 years old (okay, closer to 59 but what the heck at this point) and I am still feeling the pain of an 18-year-old that I just never got beyond and it keeps coming back to me, over and over again, so that I can move on but instead of moving on, it just puts me in a tailspin and it's like having to start ALL OVER again. Just when I think I'm good to go...there it is...in my face again and I'm right back to square one. It's like playing the game "Sorry" and I'm always getting bumped back to home. I don't have too many more years to get bumped back so I need to get this figured out pretty quickly now.

So, the question is...am I feeling this way because I am sick or am I sick because I am feeling this way? Perhaps a little of both. Normally, I am a positive, upbeat person that you just can't keep down but I'm in a dark space right now and I know that I am the only one to pull myself out of it. So, I can't get online every day and write joyful things and send out positive, happy e-mails when that's not what I am feeling and it makes it me feel like I am living a lie. So I have to shut down and get my head together. It's difficult even being honest about this because it feels as if I failed in some way to accomplish something I was supposed to accomplish. I haven't gotten IT yet, but I'm trying.

I'll be back on June 5th and I will be in a much better place than I am this day, I AM SURE. I still have faith and "Faith is the little bird that feels the sun and sings though the dawn be dark." So, it's dawn and it's dark for me right now. But I know the sun rises shortly. Just give me 30 days and I will back to being myself and I guess I will always be...an artist in transition.

Happy month to you and we'll talk again on June 5th. I promise. I'm off on a journey...an adventure...into a deep, deep forest wherein sits a wise woman and a wise man...who are there to show me the way back to the light...they're waiting...and I'm packing up and going in...

I'll tell you about my journey on June 5th...

A new day...

and I had lots to do but the day didn't go quite as planned.

Today is the day my painting group meets but before I could get out of here, my sister called and asked me to look for her dog. She had him outside on his lease and he got away from her. She was worried about him getting caught up in a fence or entangled because of his leash. Well it was a good thing she called me. I grabbed my dog for a walk and starting walking the neighborhood and calling for Joey (Mechelle's dog). I walked over to the next street and down to where it ends in some woods, all the while calling for Joey. When I got to the end of the street, I heard a whimpering off in the woods so I decided to investigate. There he was! Poor thing stuck and his leash was all tangled up in some vines and he couldn't move more than about six inches. I felt so sorry for him. So, I extricated him and he was so happy. I walked both dogs home and let Wiz stay on my deck while I took Joey in to his house. He drank almost a whole bowl of water as it was already hot by 10:00am this morning. He went right into his kennel and settled down. I think he was worn out from his little adventure. I felt like Wonder Woman because I'd saved the poor guys life!

I never made it to my painting class but I did h and paint some book marks and get off my registration for the 3rd Annual Historic Buford Arts and Jazz Festival on May 9th. I completed the Chakra cards that go with the Chakra stones I'm going to sell so the book marks are done and the Chakra bags and cards are done. Now, I need to work on making some more cards and a couple of Angel creations. I already have some paintings I'm going to take but I need to put hangers on them and then they're ready. I've got my table and set up and need to find a canopy/tent to borrow because it will either be hot or rainy or both. Hopefully it's just hot because I'm hoping a lot of people come out for the festival.

Off to bed now. Hope you had a good day. I did.

Namaste

Sometimes so together...sometimes NOT!

I've always said the only thing consistent about my life is inconsistency and it one of the truest statements I've ever made. I do great for a stretch of time and then I fall down and stumble and have to pull myself back up again. I've been in a dip for about a month now and although so many good and wonderful things have happened and are still happening, I have had such a heavy heart and this morning, I finally let myself feel what I needed to feel, shed a few tears and hopefully, can move on now. At least for a while, until the next time it "hits" me and I go into a dip again.

I'll use first person as I write because, after all, I am writing about ME...but it may be exactly the same for you and you'll understand what I mean, or not. I guess the important part of it all is the pulling myself up and getting it together again. We just have to do it and keep doing it.

I met someone when I was 15 and that person has always been on the periphery of my life, if not actively then in my heart and in my mind and for some reason, in my soul. I have tried, in every way, to release him even to burning 40 years of letters and momentos that I had held on to and cherished. I thought once I'd done that it would be a release and I want a release. I do. I reallllly do. I felt like I'd made some good progress over the past year and then I found myself in a situation where I had to come face-to-face with him and it was killing me to know I was going to have to see him and to be near him and I hated that I felt like that because I didn't want to feel ANYTHING...I wanted it to be the same as if I were looking at a tree. I DON'T WANT to feel ANYTHING for him. He's been my greatest disappointment, as well as my greatest joy, in this life (well, aside from my children, of course).

When I saw him, I did not look him in the eye and I gave him the obligatory hug and held my walls up as high I could so he could not get to me. Inside, I was churning and whirling and spinning and totally out of control with my SELF and I hated it for me. I just don't understand why I feel this way. It is totally irrational. Over the course of a couple of hours (which is the amount of time we were in close proximity) I kept my distance. Then, it happened. He was right in front of me, joining in the conversation and I had to look at him. It was for only a second but in that one moment our eyes connected, for me, time stood still. As quickly as it happened, it passed and he left shortly thereafter and I drank four glasses of champagne quickly and then I left as quickly I could with good graces, went back to my room and went to sleep. I think I gave a good appearance to everyone and looked okay on the outside but inside, I was a total mess. Later that evening, I went to dinner with my kids from Denver and my ex-husband, who I love dearly, almost like a brother at this point. I think I acted completely normal and I felt okay by then because I'd "slept on it."

What I felt, when I allowed myself that brief moment to see into his eyes, was a SOUL connection. I know we have been together in other lives and I know that was not our destiny this time around. Yet my soul just suffers so. The last time we were together (as a couple...and there's been more than one time that was so in this life) was for six years. On a soul level, we totally connect but on this earthly, physical plane we can't seem to maintain a give and take and he acted in ways that were totally unacceptable to me and I acted in ways that were totally unacceptable to him and we were on two totally different levels of being and neither of us was willing, or able, to be anything but exactly who we ARE.

He's materialist, religious, a control freak, a neat freak and very concerned with "outward" appearances and what other people think and he's scared to death the devil is going to get him...all the things I am NOT. I don't need much to make me happy, I get messy and quite frankly don't give a shit what other people think of me as long as I am loving myself. I try not to judge others and I don't want to be judged by others either but if I am...it's THEIR stuff and not mine. I do what I do with a good heart. So, why, why, why, why, why...do I still yearn for this person to be in my life? It's just totally crazy and I do not like this about myself. In fact, I hate it and I just don't know what to do about it. I've gone to therapy, prayed and prayed and prayed for God to take away these feelings and let me be free of it. Most of the time, I am.

So, all of that having been said, I'm climbing back out of the pit today because I've wallowed and suffered over this enough. There is too much to be joyful about to be sad about this any longer and life goes on. I have a great life. I am alone as a woman and I can't see myself being with anyone else so I will end my days alone but that's okay. I guess it's my path this time around and I need to learn something, to grow from this experience. I have had such a good life, in so many ways...and it's not over yet, thankfully!

Well, the answer to my own question has just come to me. God ALWAYS gives us what we need but he doesn't ALWAYS give us what we want. Isn't that the truth. I'm a stronger person because of this experience and I have so much compassion for others who are feeling emotionally fragile, vulnerable, heartbroken, etc. I'm not unique and I think these are common emotions and experiences. What is significant for me, is that I can't seem to let it go, as much as I want to let it go. I live on and life is good, but there's that tender place in my heart that's like a wound that just will never heal. Perhaps that is part of my reason for being in this life? To know how this feels and to learn to live with it. Maybe that's a part of how I grow spiritually? Even if he walked to my door tomorrow with every intention of being together, I know I couldn't do that either. I wouldn't want to do it. Therein lies the dichotomy. Webster's defines dichotomy as something with seemingly contradictory qualities. That's what this is for me...I want to be together, I don't want to be together. Now I ask you, how can I figure that out? It's like trying to look North and South at the same time. Just won't happen. So...life goes on and I live with it.

I met some friends for drinks and dinner last night. It was a farewell dinner for Sandy who is moving to Huntsville. She's started a new life and this is the next step in her adventure. I hope it's all good for her and that she finds the happiness she deserves and that has eluded her in the past. She is a beautiful person, inside and out but sometimes she just can't see it for herself. She seems to have found someone to share her life with who is supportive, loving and sees all of her wonderful qualities. That makes me feel so happy for her.

In about an hour, I'm going to meet another friend for lunch. We haven't been able to get together due to schedules and LIFE getting in our way so when she said she was available today, I said I'd be there. I have other things I'd like to be doing but I wouldn't give up an opportunity to have lunch with a friend because friends are more important that anything else I may have to do today and I cherish and love my friends as much as I cherish and love my solitude. It would be much too easy to become a recluse but I push myself to enjoy friends and family at every opportunity. I think that's part of the aging process in that we can prioritize and housework, for me, is ALWAYS near the bottom of my list of things to do (along with grocery shopping and going to Destin...which is at the very, very bottom of my list).

It is a gorgeous day here and I walked the yard early with my coffee cup in hand. Every day I am gifted with something beautiful bursting into color. I talk to the plants and the flowers and I thank God for all the beauty and for my many blessings. Now, I'm going to take Wiz for a nice walk and then off to meet Debbie for lunch and this afternoon, I'm going to spend CREATING. I'm working on my inventory of cards because I have a booth at the 3rd Annual Historic Buford Art and Jazz Festival on May 9th. I have to get focused and stay busy after today. So, I leave for now but tomorrow, I'll talk more about the Art and Jazz Festival. It should be a blast!

(P.S. ~ The Reid thing is really okay and now that I wrote about it, I'm feeling much better. I've tucked it away again and won't think about it for a while and when I do, I'll remember something with fondness. He's here, in my heart and a part of my soul. That's just a fact of my life and I live with it. It's the best of him and as much as I want so that's a good thing. Yes?! Yes.)

Namaste!

Back to making "Scrappies" and "Angels" and trying something new.

Monday morning. On my 2nd cup of coffee, sun's just peeking through and weather forecast calls for a wonderful Spring day. I'm going out to mow the yard later today, pull some weeds and move some plants around. I need a full day in the dirt but my house needs some attention today, too so I'll be domestic before I get outside. I play a sort of game with myself. Once I've got my inside work done, then I can go outside to "play." This is one of the first Iris I was waiting excitedly for it to bloom...there are double the number of blooms on it today and it is an amazing site to see!

Of all the flowers in my garden, these three are the most beautiful! That's Gracie, Ayden (2 of my grandchildren) and my vivacious niece, Rachel. They had a big time yesterday and I sure enjoyed their energy around my home. Of course, I had to have them pose under my arbor so you could see the lovely Clematis climbing up the side!

So, that's it for today. Much to do and looking forward to a day of peace as well as productivity.

Namaste!

Plein Air Experience

Well, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of the Plein Air festival and felt good work came from soul to canvas over the two days of painting. Yesterday was 88F and it was the record for the hottest day for that day of the year and I felt every degree of it! By the time I got my paintings turned in, I was feeling tired but once I came home and showered I felt much better. At about 6:50pm I drove to the Tannery for the Awards Ceremony which began at 7:00pm.

My type of painting was different from that of almost EVERYONE else that was participating in the Plein Air event (which means mine were "unique" which should count for something?). Obviously, they were desiring of realistic, landscape type work and that's not the way I paint. My work was placed at floor level or not at eye level and was about the only paintings that weren't spotlighted (I guess because they were so low) so I was a little disappointed in the placement of my work. They may as well have placed my paintings outside the room and down at the end of the hall. Not only that, those that won the awards were largely (but not all) part of the group that have studio's at the Tannery or are already friends of those who are at the Tannery and one of the organizers of the event won an award which didn't feel right to me (she also has a studio at the Tannery). Also, there was only ONE judge. Oh well, live and learn. It was not about the awards for me, although some recognition is always nice but it was a delightful experience and I enjoyed being with the other artists. I'd do it again but next time, I'm skipping the awards event because there is obviously bias involved but perhaps that's just the way it is regardless. I've found there's not a lot in life that is "fair" because we're all humans, after all. I will just participate for the experience next time with no further expectations and then I won't be disappointed.

It's sunny and hot already at 11:08am and I just finished making breakfast for two of my grandchildren and my neice. Sunday's are lazy days and we got started late so I guess they are really having brunch. I have a lot to do today to catch up (house AND yard work) so I'm keeping it short this morning. Next week, I'll get back to work on my cards and start planning for the Arts and Jazz Festival on May 9th. I'm going to have a booth there, too.

So ends my first "paint out" and it was fun!

Namaste.

Plein Air Festival again today!

Yesterday was so much fun. I set up my "area" across from the Buford Variety Theatre as I had planned. I take two small tables. One table is my "sacred space" area and the other is my work area where I put all my paints and brushes. On my sacred space table, I put a vase of flowers, some Chakra stones, a couple of books that I love, my business cards and I would have put a little candy dish but all I had was M&M's leftover from Easter and those would have melted in the heat yesterday so no candy! I put a pretty cover on the table and lace on top of the cover. I also burn a candle in a small stained glass candle holder my sister gave me and I burn incense, at least first thing in the morning. I do a "clearing" and a "blessing" of the space where I will be working. It's a little ritual and I do it when I'm painting plein air at home, too. I do it to bring up the good energy and get it "roiling around" so it will translate to my canvas. Anyhow, I have earth/fire/air/water at my sacred space so I'm good to go! (The water is not in a fountain as I would have at home but it IS in my bucket for my used brushes so I have all four elements represented.) I thank God/Goddess/All there is for the opportunity to be standing where I am standing at this moment in time doing exactly what I am doing. It's a gift to me and I express my gratitude. This is my ritual and it works for me!

I put my new plein air easel in the center of the two tables and at 9:45am yesterday I put my first stroke of yellow paint to the canvas. It was a hot day yesterday reaching up into the 80's. The first part of the day I painted directly across from the theatre and the painting that came was mostly yellows and greens. I was getting great energy from the theatre because yesterday was it's opening day. The trees behind the theatre were a vibrant green and the sun was brilliant as it moved across the sky and I think that's what brought out the yellow and the green for me. I was painting "in the open" with no shade from the sun. The owner of the theater came over around 11:00am and very kindly brought cold water for me and another artist who was painting just down from me. She also offered the use of her "facilities" should I need it and I thought how kind she was and lifted her up for a brief moment in my mind and thanked God for kind people. I also said a little prayer for success for her new Variety Theater. I am thrilled to death to have it in Buford.

Shortly thereafter, I moved under the tree that was about 15 feet away and the afternoon passed more comfortably for me. I stopped and enjoyed the lunch I'd brought (a ham sandwich with cheese and baby romaine lettuce and some black seedless grapes) and watched the traffic on Main Street for a while before I started my next painting. I thought I would try to do a landscape but that's not my talent and I was getting frustrated. So, I chose some Peruvian music on my IPOD, cranked up the volume and that painting turned into a huge party. I was dancing around as I was stroking on the paint and I'm sure I looked like a party of one (and someone who HAS to be eccentric) but I didn't care what I looked like because I was having an absolute blast. I brought out the reds and the purples and the blues and just let myself get into the colors and I reached in to my memory bag and pulled out those memories of Macchu Picchu and the train from Cusco and all the colors of Peru that I so loved.

Painting, for me, is a total mind/body/spirit experience. I have such fun and I don't agonize over my paintings as some do. When I find myself getting frustrated or feeling like something' is not coming out right, I hear a gentle voice in my mind telling me to "trust the process." So, I do. I just trust the process and keep painting and when it's done, I just KNOW it and I step away. I think it's my guardian angels voice that I hear and she keeps me in line when I most need it. Oh, jeez, if my kids read this they'll call the doctor and say that "Now Mom's hearing voices..." What next! Actually, I think we ALL hear voices but we don't ALL listen but that's a topic for another day. I do have an inner child, a higher self AND a guardian angel and they are all an important part of me. But...like I said...that's a blog for another day.

My precious grandson had to go to the hospital yesterday and he was transferred to Scottish Rites last night. He had an asthma attack and even after treatments and oxygen was still having a hard time so that's why they transferred him to Scottish Rites Children's Hospital. They are wonderful there and this is the second time he's had to be hospitalized for this problem. I, too, have breathing problems (COPD) so I understand the panic he must feel and it breaks my heart for him because he is only 12. He should be out there running with the best of them. There is a bad lung gene in my family and that's a fact. My grandfather on my paternal side died of TB. My grandfather on my maternal side died of complications of empysemia and my Dad died of lung cancer. None of them a good way to end this life. The good news is that there are now medications available that are helpful that were not available when my father and grandfathers were ill. Oh well, enough of that. I brought it up because my other grandchildren will be coming to stay with me today so they'll have to hang out in "historic downtown Buford" while Mimi paints and they can find a way to amuse themselves. Just got a thought that I need to bring more water in a bigger lunch box so they'll have some, too as it's supposed to get up in the mid to high 80's again today. I think I'm going to bring Wiz with me, too and let him stay under the tree. I'll take his bed with me so he can be comfortable although he'd probably enjoy just laying in the grass. It will be a fun day, I am sure and I'm going to be a party of one again today...no, that's not true...I'll have Wiz and the grandkids so it will be a party of four!

Tonight, there is an awards reception at 7:00pm so I will take them with me to that also. I went to the "Meet and Greet" last night at 5:00pm at the Pizza-pub at Tannery Row and sat with some of the other artists and the people who organized the event and it was a delightful time. We shared our experiences of the day and the more seasoned painters shared tips for us newbies. I had a moment of feeling totally "out of my league" because some of these artists are absolutely amazing artists and can capture on canvas exactly what the eye can see. I don't paint like that because I paint what the soul can see so I had to give myself a little pep talk because I was feeling dwarfed by the star power in the room. My work is Divinely inspired and I just have to remember and be grateful for whatever comes. In my next life, I am going to go to art school as soon as I graduate from high school and then I am going to create life-changing paintings! Oh, if I knew then what I know now! :-) I did take Art Appreciation (when I was going to Okaloosa Walton Junior College in Niceville, Florida) and Elements of Design (when I wag going to San Diego City College) and I would have taken more art classes, I think, but...I had babies instead and my life took a totally different direction. Like Walt Whitman, I came to the place where "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both." I wouldn't change a thing (well, maybe one or two) but the road has come full circle and I painting now and still enjoying my "babies" and "grandbabies" so I guess I have had an opportunity to travel both roads...one as a young person and another as a not-as-young person. I guess if you live long enough...ah, well...I divurge and that's a subject for another blog!

I did want to give a little plug for the pizza/pub at the Tannery Row. They had a "classic rock" band that started at 7:30pm (actually, I think they were supposed to start at 7:30pm but they started a little later last night) called "Livin Proof" and it was a rocking band. I stayed after everyone else (from the Plein Air event) left because I wanted to listen to some music and I'm glad I did because they were fun. When they first came in, they were looking a bit spooky (like the gang from Deliverance) but they cleaned up real nice for the "show" and put on nice clothes and combed their hair (LOL) and then they just looked like an aging rock-n-roll band with thicker middles and some wrinkles but they were still rocking it and I was loving it! (There was that one guy in overalls though that looked like he'd just fed the pigs or plowed the back 40 before he came to help the band.) The nice thing about the band was that they were "classic" rock so I knew all the songs because I'm a "classic" myself (or a dinosaur...I haven't decided which...no, I'll go with the "classic." I'm aging like fine wine (or so I tell myself...not a damned thing I enjoy about aging except that I no longer care what anyone else thinks of me...I just do my thing...can you say that about yourself...and is it a good thing, or not? Hmmmm, don't know, don't care! LOL again!). Anyhow, if you live in this area, the Pizza/pub at Tannery Row was a hopping place to be on a Friday night and the food was excellent, too! Y'all come now!

From my window I can see that the dawn is breaking as I write and that means I can go out and walk the yard and see what happened overnight! I'm waiting on those English and Russian Iris and Lilies to pop open and it will be glorious I have no doubt! I know one of them is going to be a peach color and I think it's one of the ones I transplanted last year from my sister's garden. It's big though and has three buds on it that are huge so it's going to be real show-stopper! I noticed my English Irises that I planted under the Dogwood tree are blooming. They are a very interesting color and I bought them from Breck's and I've not been disappointed. They have browns and yellows and speckles of orange which make them unique. I also have some of the common (oh, I hate that word because they are all "UNcommonly" beautiful) blue and white Iris on the NW side of my house and in front there is a row of the bright yellow about to pop open. My big lily/iris/peony island is in front of my house to the left and it's going to be a sight to see in about a week! I'll see if I can get out there and take some pictures.

So, off to walk the yard and then to beautiful downtown Historic Buford to paint Plein Air again! I'm hoping there are more people in town today and I'm taking a few of my other paintings with me to put out so people can see what I do! Fun! Fun! Fun! I'm also expecting some friends to stop by (and, of course, my grandkids and Wiz to keep me company). I've charged up my IPOD and I'm ready to "get down" on canvas! God is good.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Namaste!