IF Toy

Red Riding Hood likes her LITTLE wolf toy. This is just the right size for her. I seem to be obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood lately. I guess the color red makes me happy. I don't have much pure red in my home but touches of shades of red are all around.... I heard today a young man that I knew had passed away. He died peacefully in his sleep and the night before he passed he shared with his Sister how happy he was. He isn't the first one to go lately that had stated just how Life was really good for them. We joked and said we would try to remember not to say if we were really really happy. I'm not really really happy as I believe there is so much more that I can do. I would love to see my Grandchildren grow up and know more of the story and how it turns out. I am pleased for my friend as he had a tough time with a mental illness. So to know he felt so good pleases me. I know we never know what lies ahead and I truly try to take it one day at a time. I try to remember just how short life is and to tell those I love that I do love them. I try to remember to really feel the Sun on my face and the wind in my hair. And to capture and save the smiles on my Families faces. Life can be wonderful and can be sucky too. I think we all just put one foot in front of the other and try not to trip and fall. I know I do just that and when I fall I get up and as the song says dust myself off and start all over again.......

IF Cultivate

Sorry to have missed last weeks topic but I had a horrible cold and my computer caught a virus too. No matter what I do I seem to find myself online in the wrong place and a nasty virus disables me for a while. My Son is so good and fixes it asap but I always feel guilty for catching it. I don't know how I do it. We have virus detectors and no forbidden sites were viewed, nothing fancy but I forget to look at the sites names and my Son says that is a dead giveaway for something that isn't right. I was looking for my old ballet teacher from when I was a child and some of the places that came up were confusing. But I won't go there again!...... Went to the Doctors yesterday as the cold that kept on giving just wouldn't go away. I feel better already and was just plain old tired of being sick. Thankfully it is minor compared to what many people go through on a daily basis.....especially those in Japan....I can not even grasp what they are going through and what they have if anything to look ahead to. I'm not sure we are being told the truth about the power plants and the impact it is having on the environment....somethings are just to frighting to even think about.......back to the IF topic Cultivate. I chose this painting of this little gardener happy and proud of what she has cultivated. We have some bulbs that are tiny yellow freesias. My Grandfather gave them to me 40 years ago. Each year in spite of being poked and mowed they come up around this time. What a sweet smell and how it brings back the wonderful memories of my beloved Grandfather. It is amazing how the sense of smell can bring back things. I talked to my Sister and she had one flower come up in her backyard. She ran around sharing it with her family and finally realized that Mother and I were probably the only ones that would truly appreciate the miracle it was. And she was right...we giggled and remembered together...I hope the people in Japan will soon be on the road to getting some kind of normalcy in their lives. But I wonder if they ever will, sometimes you just can't rebound !.......I am thinking of them and sending healing thoughts across the sea..........

IF Warning

This motley trio is trying to decide whether to heed the warning on the gate sign! Should we stay or should we go? That is what they need to know. If it wasn't so dark they could clearly see the danger that lies ahead behind the gate. Just like in real life it might be easier to know what lies behind every decision we make and to clearly see the outcome of that choice. That might save us from things going wrong, but in the long run I think the way we react to unpleasant things shows what we are made of. I try not to beat myself when I believe the choice I have made might have been made with more thought. And at night when I go to bed and look in the mirror I know that I have done the best that I could have. I try always to be kind and to try not to hurt anyone. But sometimes, or should I say most of the times we can't all get what we want. And facing the word NO really shows how we deal with life. So should the trio stay or go into the unknown?......I tend to be on the conservative side so I would vote for safe. And look for adventure somewhere else.......Had a good week and I had forgotten how beautiful Laguna Beach Ca. truly is. The view from my friends house is breathtaking. They are high on the hill and the coast below is sooooooo great. Had a wonderful lunch discussing our lives and what lies in the future for us. We are optimistic and full of hope for a better world even when it seems to be falling apart all around us. We vote for keeping our immediate surroundings as pleasant as possible and trying to make life better for those around us and those that need some help. Back to making someone feel happier and good for a while is a good feeling. So maybe I should vote for going behind the gate...unto the unknown...after all isn't that what we do everyday that we are lucky enough to wake up? We don't really know what the day will bring as my Grandmother used to say sometime it is all we can to but to "Scratch our Ass and feel glad"! Please excuse my language but without the word it looses in the translation.....have a great weekend and hang in there it is the only game in town make the most of it.....and maybe carefully check behind the gate!!!!

Swarm

Every year at this time the Queen Bee waves her white handkerchief and starts the annual Swarming.This has been kept a secret until now and I feel this is a good time to tell the story. Queen Bees everywhere are doing the same and the drones swarm to the nearest garden and gather pollen for their Queen. I think it would be fun for a while to be that Queen! Much like when we were children our parents gathered what we needed to survive and happily gave it to us. Guess I'm just getting lazy in my old age and a bit tired of gathering my own goodies that I need to survive. I'm proud of being able to take care of myself in some way. Not in the manner in which I would like to be come accustom to, but doing it in some way. I saw a saying one time that said "I'm tired of looking for the meaning of life, all I want now is a cookie". I agree bring on the cookies, cakes and candies....tee hee....A bit cold here but sunny and that makes my Mother in a good mood. The cats are cuddly and I think miss their solar power they get from the Sun.....My friend is coming down tomorrow and a good time will be had. Sharing our feelings, trying to make sense out of getting older and only a few complaints about how it is harder to get around with the aches and pains of life. It is nice to have a cohort in crime and when our children are tired of listening we can share with each other. A trip to Laguna on Thursday to visit a friend. Life can't get much better. Hope you have a pleasant week ahead of you and if you are still and look very hard to might just see the Queen waving the bees on!

Layer

It was cold last night and I wished I had a few more cats to keep me warm. I just like this little girl have several blankets on my bed and most of the time my beautiful cat Sadie joins me. I survive much better when the weather is warm. I know 47 degrees is not cold for many of you, but for me it IS COLD. The sun is out today and I feel it is warming a bit, none to soon for me. The kids are out of time for the week and the compound as we call it is quiet. It always seems funny to have the lack of children around and not to hear the daily comings and goings of many people. I think I will paint something , do some paperwork and just be. Always to the market as my Mother is not able to make a meal needs something for dinner. I have a cold so as unusual as it is for me I'm not hungry. I like to make a meal that will last for a few days so lunches and a dinners are taken care of. So I will put on my thinking cap and try to come up with something to cook. I will be working on Wednesday and Thursday at the art gallery so lunch for those days is needed. The month that I will have my paintings in the gallery is almost over. I haven't sold any paintings but I think this experience has showed me that my heart lies in illustrating. When I work on canvas it takes way too long. And I enjoy the smaller size of most of my artwork. Exhibiting my work as been a good experience and I have met many interesting artist and seen some fabulous work. We are all so different with one thing in common the need to express ourselves through art. I enjoy when someone smiles when they see my work and tell me it makes me happy. That is a small thing but like your health it helps make the world seem a little better. So I will keep trying to make someone smile....I can be really funny......so can the world...sometimes to just have to look very carefully and have a margarita in hand!

Sweater

I agree a sweater is for when a Mother gets cold. I remember my Mother always questioning my body temperature when I left the house. She used to bundle me up and made sure I had shoes on so I wouldn't get sick. I seemed to get just as sick as anyone else in fact the kids next door never wore shoes and sweaters and never seemed to be under the weather. I now seem to stay warm most of the time and don't need something to keep me warm. It doesn't get very cold her so I don't know how I would feel if I lived where it snowed and the weather was ugly.On another subject I want to wish you all a Happy Valentines day! I was attending a party at the gallery I have my paintings at and was surprised with a red rose from a nice Man that I had met earlier. Of course he was giving out roses to many Women but it was appreciated any way and made me feel special. He reminded me of a dear friend I had that always had the ability to make me feel special and attractive whether I felt that way myself. I hadn't seen my friend for some time when we saw each other at a local club. I didn't recognize him and he came up to me and told me who he was and looked at me as if I was nuts for not knowing him. I felt bad but I wasn't expecting him to be out as he was married and his wife was not with him. He wasn't hitting on me or being disrespectful to his marriage he just wanted to dance and in turn made me feel happy to see him. He was a police officer and had worked with my ex husband undercover and they as all officers that depend on each other for their own safety had become fast friends. I was glad I had that night with him dancing and catching up on our lives as he was killed with another officer shortly there after during a robbery gone bad. It was on Valentines Day about 10 years ago. Talk about living for the moment, we saw him one more time as he attended my Daughters wedding. He is missed and I sometimes miss the camaraderie the police department had. We were all pretty tight and all of the wives had the underlining fear that we might not see our husbands again when they left for work. Good times but hard at the same time. I always smile and wave at the officers in my city when I see them. Sometimes I hope they don't wonder why I do so or wonder what I am up too. Oh well I can't pass up the chance to say THANK YOU for all the hard work they do. So all this was off the subject of sweater but is it really? A sweater is made to protect us and so are the police. So maybe next time to see a officer of the law be sure to smile and if you have the chance to say thank you do so. You never know what lies ahead......

Reverse

I sometimes seem to go in reverse so I understand how Sam the fish feels. I have been working at an Art Gallery I have joined and I'm not used to working out of the home. I feel really spoiled but that is how my career has been. I enjoy myself once I get there and use the down time to work so I'm just being a baby...I know boo hoo. The gallery is new so it is not very busy. It is in a shopping center that has a lot of restaurants so they are busy. Once in a while the people stumble in and seem to be glad that they have. I'm not sure I would want to do this forever maybe if I was getting paid I would love it. You know Money really does count.... as much as it seems to be the root of all evil.... I would love to be evil as I could...tee hee.....getting tired so will write later...I will try not to be in reverse tomorrow......