Family

My sister and my cousins at my 16th birthday party!

Such a long time ago and yet so sweet to see all of us in party clothes honoring the natal day of one of us. We did this for each one, but of course this is the one my Dad recorded and therefore I have the photo.

I'm feeling the presence of the older generation around me these days as I have delved into

many files of letters and photos.

We just held a small get together of some of us.

It was so precious.

Nothing else can substitute for family.

I would wish that everyone had the amazing one I grew up in.

Great Foundations!

My Mother and Father!

Full of mischief and good humor!

Lucky me and lucky sister!

It is a joy to me to see their smiling faces and how much this reminds me of the

best childhood ever.

I'm doing all I can to carry on what they did for me and how huge a difference it makes in

this world to see the fun in things and the pleasure of living.

Look Up (did I say this before?!)

We miss a great deal when we don't look up.

I found this out recently when visiting a museum presenting a retrospective of a

famous artist.

I was intent on the paintings until my son said to me,

Look up!

When I did, I saw marvelous quotes by the artist that had been put on the walls.

They were actually quite far up the tall walls, and without his nudge to look up,

I would have missed some great deep thoughts!

Here's one of my latest cloud shots from looking up.

It's a good summer here for fabulous clouds.

So start doing it!

Look Up!

The company of a cat

As I sit at my desk there is this window to one side of me.

Last year I got a carpeted shelf for my companion to watch the world go by.

Here she is, no doubt having spotted a bird in that luxurious tree.

She likes it and I love seeing her enjoyment.

Art and Life interwoven.

Lucky me, a garden!

Here is the beginning of something wonderful. Next door there is a gardener, someone who last year started a garden where previously there had been three huge pine trees which we had taken down. Now, on this side of the property line, this wonderful neighbor and his son have put in even more garden. We will have pumpkins, watermelon and lots of other cool stuff to share!

Last week his young son came over with the first lettuce crop of the season!

Life is a team effort, folks!

Surround yourself with beauty

I have no idea why the text is appearing at the top above my photos now. But anyway, here is a gorgeous new glass bowl I found for $10.00! WOWEE, doesn't it look great? Put the irridescent balls and shell on it and voila! Cobalt blue is my new 'go-to' color this season.

My friend flies free now

My dear friend has left this life and now flies free of its cares and difficulties.

As I thought about what to post to share what I feel about him, I imagined a heart.

I began looking through a few of my thousands of photographs and within a few seconds,

there it was. A picture of a heart.

Just what I wanted.

Somehow I know that he is around me just now and helped me find the heart.

He was and is very dear to me.

Someone who was a teacher of mine many years ago.

A man full of passion for life and for people.

A man with GREAT interest in life and all it has to offer.

A man who did really wonderful art and who wrote me

wonderful long newsy letters, always with photos or pictures in them.

A man who cared about other people and often spoke of his children with that

care, concern and love.

I remember that he always wished he knew how to help them better if they were having some difficulty.

Oh how he LOVED to talk and yet he truly listened as well.

Over the years I don't know how many times I saw him because he didn't live

where I lived. But when he came to town to visit an elderly aunt of his, he

would always stop to see me, see how I was doing, share the doings of his trip.

He had the greatest laugh.

I LOVED hearing him laugh and he did it so easily!

He knows how to play and joke and I know for certain

that he is playing and laughing.

I can hear him.

My heart glows with admiration and affinity for this amazing spirit.

You made my life richer for knowing you.

Bon Voyage til we meet again.