Moonlight at Christmas

A full moon is working to outshine the Christmas decorations
and doing a very good job, I'd say!
Something rather enchanting about the dark cold nights
and the lights of many colors all through the streets
of my town.
Then to top it off is the big white moon in
her majesty.
Delicious.

Form and color

It was an overcast day and somehow it made the golden colors

of this tree even richer.

The mist adds to the dreamlike quality of it.

When the colors are gone we have to learn to love the

subtleties of greys and browns.

Can it be?

Oh my.

What you find when you go through old family papers.

These are from a stack of letters I wrote my parents while I was

1000 miles away at the State University of Iowa.

I loved it there.

But I missed my family terribly. We were very close.

If these had been emails, I wouldn't be photographing them today.

Nor would I have the chance to revisit evidence of how close we were

and how happy I was.

I think it is a very sad state of affairs.

Snow in October?

Yet another shot of the remarkable October snow here.

Poor mums are weighed down. But they bounced back!

Nature is resilient.

We're part of Nature!

The past, the past and the present!

The subject line for this post is full of layered meaning.

We have here an absolutely beautiful pastel done by an old friend

who is very dear to me.

This is Lillian Russell (no, she was not my friend!).

The artist once was my babysitter. Has to have been well over

sixty years ago, too long ago to count.

I just received this image in an email and HAD to print it out

and put it on my studio bulletin board.

There you have it.

Someone from the past drawn by someone from my past who is

now in my present.

This vase is loved

This lovely iridescent vase has been in my

family for many years.

I use it often and every time that I do,

I think of my Father carefully and

lovingly washing it after

the flowers that had faded away

were gone.

I can see him at the sink with his

hand down inside its narrow length.

Washing it oh so carefully so all the

spots of residue were gone

and no quick moves were made that

might break it.

Now I wash it with the same care.

And here it is for you to see.

It is about 14" tall and has such lovely

colors that play over its surface.

Behind it

on the wall

is another memory of

love.

All of a kind

 

Recently, when I decided to group all my stuffed animals and figurines of animals on one shelf in my studio, I had no idea that my Lucy was paying so much attention to my plan. She was!

Juxtaposition

 

Sometimes things present themselves unexpectedly. I was having lunch with a friend and was looking around as I always do....for compositions that might make a good painting. How's this!

Love Potion recipes

 

I can't see my photograph as I type this. I hope it is there! Just wanted to know if anyone has some recipes that WORK! Found this in Frederick Maryland.

Clouds Part Two!

Now you're talking!

See them galloping across the sky?

Cloud Pictures

I remember my Dad telling me that he loved his Grandma Wiggins very much.

He told me that she would hunt for cloud pictures with him when he was a little boy.

And so in these lovely summertime days, I think of my Dad and his Grandma as I

look up at the fantastic clouds all around me today.

What can you see in these?

A fat lady with a topknot beckoning?

A baby seahorse cavorting?

Look up.

Find the pictures in the clouds.

If you know a little child, show him how to do it, or

maybe he'll show you!

Summer glories

Ahhhhhhhhh the hydrangeas reign supreme on this early July day.

I am grateful for my zoom lens giving me this look into the intricacies of the center of

my beloved Lacecap hydrangea.

This started out in a pot as a Mother's Day gift to my wonderful mom.

Now it is huge and glorious.

Everyday I receive the greatest pleasure from its beauty.

Here' a little look for you!

Washing Machine Rant Saga

OK, first of all I don't have any beautiful photograph to show you this time. I just want to say that some days you have to run as fast as you can across the flat but shaky rocks in a fast moving body of water so you don't fall in. That is what I've been doing these past three days.

I've had all my 'spare' time taken up and then some, trying to get just what I need in order to replace my defunct washing machine. I went to Sears to buy a new one and they didn't have ANYTHING that would work in the space I have. The one I got from them is 'out of stock' and the salesperson didn't get me any information as to how long would that be the case and said she thought it had actually been discontinued.

No one wants to read all this nonsense. So I will do my best to not prolong all this annoyance I have had to contend with. Good thing, and VERY good thing indeed, is that with one exception, ALL the people (a LOT of them) that I have contacted (repairmen, store personnel, knowledgeable friends and family) have been so very very helpful.

My task is to try to keep all the long lists of data straight on the myriad post-it notes I have on my desk and then decide on a sequence of action. I may just have to spring for a dryer too, even though mine is working just fine thank you. The thing is, there are no guarantees that the old dryer will fit a kit that secures it to the new washer. AND will the men bringing the new washer even TOUCH the old dryer. I'm serious. Touch it. Much less take it off the old washer, and put it back on top of the new washer secured. Crazy.

But at the very least I finally found a top recommended brand that is the size I need to fit in my space. That was a big deal. Only it will take two weeks to get here from Michigan!

OK, before I just end in a huff, let me say that Tom at Lowe's in Gaithersburg rocks! He has been fantastically helpful and patient and funny and I am grateful for him today!

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.

Seeing what is right in front of us

Sometimes beauty just comes together in the simple things

that we use everyday.

Look for that beauty where you are.

It is there.

It is up to you to behold it and to perhaps make a bit of an arrangement

out of

such beauteous elements as present themselves to you.

Related....

Mother on the left and me on the right.

We're about the same age in these two very different presentations.

Mom is holding her favorite doll, one that had a bisque head and was lovingly outfitted by friends of her mother's who gave it to her one Christmas.

Mrs. Wiley cut out the silhouettes of all of us that were in her first grade class.

I look pretty grown up, I'd say.

Do click on the image so that you can see how sweet my Mother looked.

You will see, however, that the paper of my profile is pretty tattered.

I just decided to frame it last year before it disintegrated.

I'm not planning to do the same thing...

Disintegrate, that is!

Elegance and a gift

This lovely porcelain bird was brought to class by one of my

students.

I fell instantly in love.

What a gorgeous form, origami-like in its sharp angles and the

paper white look of it.

The shadows it cast just doubled the visual pleasure.

Here you see two shots I took of it as it sat on my desk.

Then, my lovely student, and new friend,

gifted it to me.

Sigh................

Oh tree of winter beauty!

Sometimes when the weather and season is particularly wonderful,

I drive around the streets in my neighborhood to enjoy it.

A recent wet and heavy snow did amazing things to the trees.

I came across this gorgeous weeping tree and now I am sharing it with you!

Doesn't it look a bit like a stork? Or a crane?

See how it is made!

These youngsters were getting quite a treat!

Seeing how glass can be turned into something beautiful and useful!

This is at the Art of Fire in Laytonsville, Maryland.

artoffire.com

Right now, with our wintry weather, this summer scene and the heat of

the glass furnace is especially appealing!

Gifts for our studio mascot

I admit that I can take my wonderful cat for granted sometimes.

But my students never let me do that.

And so here you see her the week before Christmas with

her new toys courtesy of one student who loves her more than anyone!

Of course how to you measure love anyway?

You don't.

You just know it is.

Words of Love

My Mother would be more than surprised to know I am going to share a beautiful message she wrote to my Dad for a birthday card in the 42nd year of their 70 year marriage. But it makes me see so much of what was the vital factor in their relationship ~ BEAUTY. Here is the letter:

To My Darling

On a most important Day (my Dad's 65th birthday) we've been going around together for so short a time ~ our life a kaleidoscope of color, so much enrichment, so much of joy, that whatever shadows crossed our paths the brilliance of our life has kept them all subdued.

Well, that is how I feel on your birthday ~ I hope you feel that way too.

Many many more wonderful years.

I love you.

Your Ginni

October 20th 1976