Where Have They Gone?

Some folks have fallen off the radar this year.

They were friends of my parents and so are in their sunset years.

Perhaps the sun has set for some of them.

I sent Christmas cards to the few that I have been in contact with

over the last years since my parents left this world.

They, and I, have been grateful for the continued contact

and for the pleasure of remembering my incredible parents.

But where are they in fact?

I tried finding two of them on the white pages in Google, no luck.

One was dear enough to send out cards with her new address

now that she lives with her daughter and son-in-law.

When my parents were here with me we spoke of a long-time friend

with whom they had lost contact.

I decided to try and find out what happened to her and so

managed to get in touch with the retirement community administration office

of the place where she had moved years earlier.

She had died some years ago, they told me.

I told my parents.

We just sat quietly for a while.

People leave this life.

But they are always with us even so.

Fare well old friends.....

Happy New Year 2011!

Many places have had a lot of snow this year over the holidays.

We, having had 3 major blizzards last year seem to have been

spared, at least for now!

Here are a few of my treasured pieces of winter jewelry.

My Mother gave me the great big snowflake pendant and

matching earrings.

My sister made the holly leaves pendant

and

my cousin gave me the wonderful star pin for Christmas last year.

I love them all for their beauty.

But I love them best for their sentiment.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

With all my sincere wishes for a beautiful holiday with your

friends

and your families.

Winter moon

Middle of the night moon out my window.

There is something about the cold and a winter moon that goes together.

The silvery quality of that sight with the tips of leafless trees in the frigid night.

Just a bit of a poem beginning in these words.

My homemade wreath

Each year I make my wreath by taking a grapevine wreath and cedar bows from

the trees in my yard.

Then I add the decor and a big red bow!

The last touch is a light which I shine on it for the dark and cold winter nights.

So here it is for you, wherever you may be this Christmas season 2010.

Merry Christmas!

My Mother's wooden spoon

First you see the entirety of the spoon.

Then I had to shoot it close up so you could see the worn edge from the many years my Mother cooked with this spoon.

As the holidays approach, I am doing more cooking of various kinds and I often find myself reaching for this particular spoon of my Mother's because it is so obvious she used it so much that it wore down.

You may think it is dirty, but it isn't. Just has been burned somehow and nothing short of sandpaper would take it off.

But you know that I would never do that.

It's the patina gained from many years of her dedicated and wonderful meals lovingly prepared for us. Not all mothers are like this. I know I was blessed.

Thanks Mom, I'm adding my own patina to yours.

Love, Lynne

I have other wood spoons of my Mom's, and a few of my own, but this one is the one that connects me to her in the most special way.

Ready set GO!

I have a LOT of cookie cutters gathered over many years.

Here are just a few of them.

I haven't made any cookies for a few years now and so recently I got these babies out

and made some sugar cookies.

There were a few cutters on the counter and I noticed how interesting they were with

the overhead kitchen lights coming from the left and right.

Then I had to make an arrangement (you know artists!) for this photo.

So there you have it!

Now that they are out, I have made three batches so far!

Get busy!

Cookie Treats after the BIG meal!

My contribution to Thanksgiving dinner was a side dish and these star cookies!

I was thinking that after the BIG fabulous meal,

a home-made sugar cookie would be just the thing!

The photograph of my dear friend's DEAR father is the proof!

Gratitude's face

This is the face of a statue I bought because I loved the

sweetness of the expression. Just under the flower

are the hands in a prayerful position.

It always makes me think that he is saying -

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

May you have a very long list of things you are

thankful for!

I do!

Cloud painting

When the weather gets cold and colder, we often do not get outside enough.

We all need space....

Most of us work with our focus on things that are just a foot or so away.

Recently I went for a drive in the country just to break that fixed focus and it really felt wonderful!

So remember to get out and get some space!

Decisions, decisions!

I was able to grab this shot before this darling child moved away or others came into the picture field. She is just so taken by the array of decor that she never even knew I was there.

I am particularly loving her outfit and stray curl on her forehead!

You never know what

Now you can see why I have my camera with me at all times!

Hard to explain why I am posting this on my

'Art and Life Interwoven' blog, but here it is nevertheless.

Remember, art is in the eye of the beholder!

And remember to keep your eyes open!

Poised

Poise....

Interesting to contemplate the difference in meanings of the same word.

Here we have a butterfly poised on a flower.

We say a young lady with good social graces has poise.

In both cases, we can see the shared idea of balance which you find if you look up the definition.

Both words have the root meaning of 'weigh', 'ponder'.

I love words.

Especially ones that sound good when spoken.

But they also have to have a good meaning.

Like these: symphony, delicious, magical, ridiculous, besotted, sparkly, tickle, camisole, roundabout, fuzzy, Lake Wononscopomac.

Sharing Love

It is easy to understand Monet's intense love of water, of water flowers, of reflections, and of gardens.

But his images give us what he loved so that we can love it too through his eyes, and then,

through our own.

Thank you to all artists who show us their loves and share it.

My Aunt Milly

Yesterday morning, my dearest Aunt passed on to her next adventure.

I cannot begin to say how much I will miss her because of her great good sense of humor and fun that was, for me, what gives Life to Life!

I was looking through some family letters this morning and found this poem.

It was in a very faded letter that my wonderful Mother, at the tender age of 28, had sent to her new mother-in-law.

It could not be a better description of my Aunt if it had been written expressly for her.

Build for yourself a strong box.

Fashion each part with care.

When it's stong as your hand can make it

Put all your troubles there.

Hide there all thoughts of your failures

And each bitter cup that you quaff,

Lock all your heartaches within it,

Then sit on the lid and laugh.

Here's to you my darling Milly.

Thank you for every laugh you gave and for every one we shared.

And for every time you said to me 'How're you doing, Lynnesey Baby?'

I will see you down the line.

But til then, I seek to follow your example

Inspired by this photograph of you and Dad.

Love always and forever,

Lynne

A very hot summer.......

When I took this picture which was sometime in the last month, it was a very very hot day.

I was taking visitors to see this beautiful place and it was the only time we had to go there.

When you look at this photograph, you can't tell that it is a beastly hot day with no shade for relief.

It is hot today too.

It has been really really hot all summer this year.

Then I started thinking about the people who live in Moscow where there are toxic fumes and smog in the air from ferocious forest fires, as well as extreme summer heat.

I heard one report that it is so bad there it is like smoking 1-2 packs of cigarettes an hour.

Then I started thinking about the people in Pakistan who have had their lives and possessions washed away by heavy floods.

Then I started thinking that the heat here isn't so bad. It's only hot, it's not life-threatening because we can be in air-conditioning.

Well not everyone maybe....we had a very intense thunder and lightning storm early this morning and many of my friends and colleagues are without power and it is still HOT.

OK.

I'm good now.

Just had to rant.

And then realize that I have so very much to be thankful for.

And I am.

Basic Choices

My Mother

Today marks the anniversary of my Mother's birth. It is now 103 years ago that she showed up on this crazy little planet and lived her long and valuable life.

Here she is in a photograph taken of her by my Father when they were first married.

She never thought she was beautiful, but everyone else could see it.
I never have to try to think of wonderful things to say about my Mom. They just were evident as soon as you first met her.

I, of course, had the great privilege of being part of her life for all of her 95 years here.

Her stellar qualities are:

Humor

Caring about others and helping them with her

Wisdom

Flexibility and willingness and interest to try new things

A love of color and knowing how to use it, especially in her watercolor paintings

Her love of art and artists

Observing what others wanted or needed and then doing that for them if possible

Sweetness and no nastiness, just a streak of great humor about others and herself

Her smile

Her love of my Dad and her support of him always

Her love and help to my sister and to me

Her devotion to her grandsons

Her incredible sense of fun and mischief!

Her courage

Grace and dignity (unless she was making a funny remark!)

Not complaining but going off to herself and not putting what challenged her on others.

Again, her ability to always see what was funny about life and the gift

of making others laugh about it too.

Her lifelong ability to listen and to understand.

Thank you Mom.

My life is what it is because of these gifts from you.

Love always, Lynne

Sparkling color of another era

The title of this blog is Art and Life Interwoven.

The art is the beauty of this necklace.

(Click on the image to see it large and gorgeous!)

Life says let's clear out the great accumulation you have amassed.

I let Life reign here over the beauty.

But now I know someone else is enjoying this piece.

It was one that someone gave to my mother after their wife died.

Still, it was beautiful and I can visit this page to see it once in a while!

I am happy with the decision to pass it on.

There is always new beauty to find in life.

It is the search I love most!

Sailing away from me

This is a place, this blog of mine, where I say what delights me, interests me, moves me.

A dear friend came to visit me from very far away.

Now he has returned to his own land and the full life he has created there.

I also return to mine.

But he has sailed away and I am feeling sad today.

The day after.

Summer colors!

After being without a finch feeder for some years, and having racoons get to the one I used to have and pull it down and eat all the contents, I got this one!

I have hung it high enough (I hope) to keep them from reaching it,

and for the visual delight of seeing these brilliant feathered friends use it!

A student gift for me!

This little guy is just over an inch tall!

He is a gift brought to me all the way from Bolivia by a student of mine who

has just visited her home country!

She saw it in a market (she has good eyes to spot something so tiny!) and

thought of me.

Now that is special.

Very special.

I glued him onto this block that has a piece of one of my watercolors.

If you click on the image you will see it bigger!

Cool, huh?

Sombrero in unexpected place!

Waiting at a stop light I notice something shiny off to my left.

I turned my head to see what it was.

Here you have it!

A gorgeous embroidered sombrero on a young lady in a very spiffy convertible.

You have to stay alert or you miss these delightful things in your environment!

Surveying the kingdom

Black, white and red all over.

An old joke applied to my Lucy.

She loves surveying her kingdom from the

screened-in porch!

Of course I have to wipe off the table before we have

dinner out there!

All kinds of students!

OK, so I have to admit that the painting on the easel is

not one of Lucy's. (Hers are still drying in the back room)

But after one of my students got up from her stool, Lucy

had to give her critique and check out the palette. She

didn't say anything, just looked and then got down.

She does this all the time. I know she's going to come

back in another life and be a dazzling prodigy with no

one the wiser (except me, because I'll be on the look-

out!)

Cats who supervise

Here you see my studio mascot intently watching one of my students at work.

When students arrive, she greets them all and then

supervises their creations.

Her usual mode is to sit ON top of their notebooks which lay open on my desk.

Occasionally she will jump up on one of their stools in front of their

drawing or painting.

I just know she's going to return in another life and be some hot shot artist

and only I will be the wiser!

A friend has gone

In the lovely wooded yard behind my friend's home there is a stand of bamboo, just like this one.

As I looked through my photographs to find one that would be just right

for this moment, I found this one.....

An empty bench in front of beautiful bamboo.

And so my friend Doug has left us.

He lived a very good and long life, carrying it on all the way to 92.

His marriage of 68 years was a very good one

and I am happy to know that his dear wife is doing well, though as she told me,

there is a hole in her heart.

I have know this remarkable family for many many years. There are lots of them! In Doug's generation, there were 6 siblings. I have been close friends with 4 of them and their special grace and humor has been a constant gift in my life.

No one I know in my life knows them except my son, and he was too young to really have the relationship I have had.

So I am finding it somewhat lonely not to have anyone with which to share this loss.

Of course there are the others in Doug's family,

but that is not the same as having friends that have a real idea, a deep understanding of what this means in terms of the loss that it is to me.

There are some people that have made life so precious, so celebrated, so funny, so full of care and attention,

that their departure leaves a hole of magnitude....

and an empty bench.

Today I sit on a bench like this and know that anyone who may read this will understand, especially Doug.

Abundance of pleasure

This seems the perfect illustration of what this blog is about and why I am writing it.

Life has much in it that is not so beautiful and is hard to admire.

Perhaps if we didn't resist those things we don't consider beautiful they would change for us.

After all, it is we who determine beauty and ugliness.

Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741, wrote:
"Beauty, like supreme dominion

Is but supported by opinion."

With this cherry blossom loveliness, I daresay the opinion of loveliness is

unanimous!

Springtime in Washington D.C.

It has been many years since I saw the quintessential cherry blossoms

in the heart of Washington D.C.

This year I had the great good fortune to be invited along with friends of mine and WOW

What a Day!

It was, as you see, all blue skies and blossoms at their peak.

Even if all the things one can say have been said about this experience,

it is still so absolutely marvelous and enchanting.

I loved seeing the people taking in the loveliness of the day and its visual treasures.

Thank you once again to Japan for this tremendous gift.

Beauty and drawbacks

I photographed this very long icicle out my bathroom window early one morning last week.

I have never seen such a large icicle on my house in all the time I've lived here.

There were other large ones that formed as well, but this one, a real beauty, presented

problems that developed over the days of our very intense 2-punch blizzards here in the northeast.

An ice dam formed, jutting out over top of the icicles.

Oh oh.

Several years ago before the new roof went on, there was water pouring down the INSIDE of the bathroom wall. Was this to happen again?

Yes.

BUT it only last a short while and it did not run down the walls, just dripped from the window onto the window sill.

I am told the the insulation needs checking.

Next job.

This is the life part of life and art interwoven.

I know, I didn't have to tell you that...

Gifts of the very best kind

This is a thank you to my son for helping me over the holidays. He stayed a week longer than originally planned and made sure all was well here before returning to his home.

This gorgeous stargazer lily is a gift he brought me on one of those days.

I call this blog Art and Life Interwoven and that is

what this is to me.

The art of living,

of celebrating what is beautiful

interwoven with love and caring.

Gifts, beautiful loving gifts

I have been regaining strength after getting a new hip.

Throughout this somewhat lengthy and intense process,

I have had many blessings.

Friends and strangers were truly there for me - were kind and loving and supportive during the challenge of these weeks.

Above you see a beautiful lady in front of a graceful tree that echoes her loveliness.

These are both gifts to me and like everything that I have experienced,

they compliment each other and yet were not planned to be so.

I think it is a life lesson to receive what others give you from the deep kindness of their hearts.

It is a treasure in my life to experience this.

I am deeply thankful for such blessings.

Before its entirely over

One of my neighbors across the street had their lights down by New Years Day. But yet another still has their small white twinkle lights gracing the cold winter nights we've been having lately.

As for me, I have candles in the windows and my wreath still gets lit by

a spotlight that is on for several hours each dark winter's eve.

I usually leave my candles in the windows until the end of February. Things are so bare that I feel it all needs a little visual warmth!

This image is one I made while playing around with my digital camera as I photographed our Christmas tree.

I almost like it better than the realistic photographs I took.

Artists - they play around! Here's to a year of happy playing around to us all!