A Few of my Watercolors

Summer's Last Day

Summer's Last Day

The rain is sweeping the dust of summer away.

The earth is mourning this season's last day.

Autumn is due.

A tinge of color kisses the edges of trees,

The cool nights leave very few bees.

The finch's feathers change hue.

The dust of summer is being swept away. 

The growing season knows its last day.

Sun's brightness will now begin to wane.

Next equinox the warmth will come again.

My Other Work

What I did on Mother's day.  Still working on this.

Return of the Artist

I have fallen in love with watercolor.  I dabble in art and have done so for most ofmy life.  I don’t seem to be able tomotivate myself to sit down and do original works of art without having sometype of structure associated with it.  Idon’t know why.  Maybe it was because although I seemed to have some talent as a child it was never nurtured and artof any kind was always considered a hobby not a vocation.  Or it could be that I never seemed to be able to sit in one spot long enough to really work on a piece of art.  Or maybe, just maybe, no one ever took thetime to teach art to me.

I remember my first real drawing class about 10 years ago with a real art instructor.  What an eyeopener.  It was a skill that could be learned and, like doing math or anything else, with practice it came easier.  I really created some beautiful things.

 Then life got in the way. I began working full time, the classes that were available at the juniorcollege level were on the wrong day, and the Art league only had classes in things that did not necessarily interest me. Suddenly I was out of the habit again and I stopped picking up a pencil to draw, I put my chalk away and my paint brushes remained in their drawer. I did start knitting though but that is a whole other blog.

Then this winter I noticed a watercolor course offered at the Naperville Art League.  I began to take the class a few weeks ago and the instructor is wonderful and I have learned to love watercolors.  I am working on a floral right now and it’s so much fun that even if the final product isn’t art gallery quality, it will all be worth it. I am sure the whole class will be worth it for getting me interested again!

Spring thoughts

Spring 2013, cold rainy...just like the winter was.  I had have never been much of a spring person while I was growing up.  When asked what my favorite season was, it was anything but spring. Spring was never a pretty month in the city.  The melted snow would reveal all sorts of trash.  And the odors that emanated from the sewers and the ground itself did not appeal to me, although I remember a friend telling me that it was the smell of the earth waking up.

It’s odd how I have very few memories of spring from my youth.  Let’s see, there was the time  a bird pooped on my new Easter bonnet just before we were leaving for church. Wasn’t that special?  I cried and cried.  I remember getting excited about baseball season starting, but none of the particulars.  I remember my Mom’s tulips and the first Robins of spring.  That was big stuff when you’re a youngster.  It was not spring until Mr. Robin redbreast lighted within sight of our back door.  I always knew school was coming to a close, but I do not remember being particularly sad or happy about that.  That is until high school.

I guess riding my bike was exciting after winter but most of my bikes riding memories are from the long, hot, glorious summers.  As I grew older there are memories of lying out on asphalt in the sun in temps that were unimaginably low to get a start on that deep dark tan we all sought.  Nothing remarkable seemed to happen in the spring of my youth.  And if it did, I probably don’t want to remember it, which at this time in my life is OK; I have come to terms with spotty memory.  I have friends who can’t remember a thing from when they were young.  I am lucky. I remember quite a bit.

As I grew older, spring became more eventful. In high school there was prom and college a lot of fun happened in the spring.  But the most vivid memory I have is the night I truly met my husband.

We had originally met when he and a group of friends began buying drinks for one of my classmates from college and me at what was then the Snuggery Pub in Edison Park.  Janet and I were celebrating yet another milestone in our nursing school career.  I believe it was the pediatric final.  We all began talking and over the next month or so we ran each other at our local watering hole Tommy’s on Higgins.  When the pub closed at 2 everyone would go to this 4am bar down the street.  Even when friends split up, we all knew to meet at Teasers at 2 which became a commonly used phrase for let’s all get together at teasers at 2am.  Like “hey…. what are ya doin’ later?   Teasers at 2?”

My most memorable spring night then occurred. I had arrived at Teasers at 2 am.  Having lost track of whoever else I was with, I began searching the crowd for a familiar face.  I was about to leave when through the crowd bops my future husband with a big grin on his face.  And what an amazing smile it was and still is.  We danced and then decided to go to Dapper’s, an all-night restaurant, (which no longer exists) for some breakfast.  We talked until 8am.  A few weeks later I graduated from nursing school, two years later we were married.  It was May when I met the love of my life and began a journey that would continue to fulfill me to this day.

So spring has grown better over the years with memories of my children’s successes, trips Gar and I have taken but as long as I live, the snapshot I have in my mind of Gary’s smile coming through that smoke filled bar will always be my favorite memory.  After almost 28 years our love just keeps growing.

A Room with a View

                   It was September of 1979. I had embarked on a new adventure.  I was doing something I had always dreamed of; I was going to live on an island.  It was a long, long flight to an unknown life. The three of us arrived in the dark of night.  When the plane doors opened we were hit by a wall of heat and humidity that would make Chicago in August feel comfortable.  The bus took us to our home which was a few miles down a very dark road.  I was at once excited and afraid, wondering what I had gotten myself into.  Mary, a few years older than me, seemed to take this all in stride.  Tom, who was to be our leader but turned out to be a close friend and anchor, was very businesslike as he left our company being dropped off at his residence first.  We were tired as we arrived at our destination and were led to our room.  It was dreary inside; the poor lighting did not help to brighten our accommodations.  I had a feeling of panic in my heart as we each picked a bed room. I, as usual, kept my doubts to myself but it was so quiet that my fears were almost audible.  Telling myself that I had to sleep, that sleep would make it better, I made the decision that when I awake in the morning, if this was not what I had wanted, I could always go home. 

                     Dawn came and I remember the feeling of total bliss as I walked out into the living room.  Mary and I looked out our window to a sheet of white sand followed by the gentle surf of the deep turquoise of the Caribbean. And so began my Caribbean adventure.  This  was a lesson I learned.  Never judge a hotel by what you see at night, and this also holds true for the dreariness of cloud cover.  That room, on that beach became the measuring stick by which I measure all hotel views.  

Isle of Palms came close, but, alas, the Atlantic lacks the color.  

A Christmas Letter

Merriest of Christmases

to you all!!

This year has been a year of change. Moving into a supervisory position at work and working primarily from home has been interesting to say the least.  I am off every other week, which has increased my time at home with Gary and so far we are still in love!  Gary is becoming quite a gardener and he stays busy with working out and investing.  We have been traveling more.  Took the camper out a few times this summer and also visited Wyoming in the fall for our 25^th wedding anniversary.  That is beautiful country!

                 

   My boys are in and out of our house.  I had them both home for 6 months as Dan decided not to continue his graduate work at Michigan but to pursue a different Masters Program at Eastern Illinois in Historical Administration.  He worked at the Peabody Estate in Oakbrook cataloging collections until he left for Eastern. (The price and course of study was right)

                 Thom completed one last semester at COD and worked the summer at the forest preserve again.  He left for Valparaiso in August to pursue a business degree.  He lives in a German speaking residence and he is involved with the a cappella group Hooked on Tonics.

                

 Early in the year I lost my cousin Steve and his wife Donna, both to illness. We are all so saddened by this loss.  But on a happier note, two of their daughters both gave birth this year, Lindsay and Brian had Myles and Lisa and Kenny had Emery. I love new babies! 

                 So change is abundant. Some of it good, Some of it is not so good, but Gary and I have a lot to be thankful for and we hope you have many blessings in the year to come!     

Wishing you a beautiful Christmas

 Season and a very prosperous and healthy 2013