Viking Ship

Cool, cool colors for a hot, hot day! I cross stitched this hanging in 1978. We had been back in the United States for only two years, and I was still mourning the exit from Brazil. I remember sitting and working on this piece, a kit from Norway, with dogged determination. As each part of the puzzle came into being I would feel a bit lighter. By the time it was finished, I felt a good deal better and more happy to be back in the U S of A. This endeavor signaled a return to "being with it" once again.

I love the colors in this piece. It hangs where I see it everyday, and now the kitchen cabinets are also a beautiful teal color. Cool colors are great in the summer... I wonder how it will seem in the winter. Will it seem cold? I imagine it will be fine, as I do love the color, period.

Yesterday I worked up at the art gallery in Battle Lake. It was lots of fun and I worked with a woman whom I only knew slightly before. One of the wonderful things of being part of an art society is the new friendships one forms with people who share some of one's interests.

Today we are trying to get started packing for our camping trip. The way we camp takes lots of preparation. The people who like to go to motels and then eat out are right in one way. It is a lot easier. We got started camping because we couldn't afford other types of vacations, and we discovered that we loved it. The people you meet are great. You are next to nature. It is beautiful and brings up a wonderful feeling of "roughing it."

The thing about having a cabin at the lake. You have money invested in it so you have to take care of it. So when you go for your "vacation" you are honor-bound to go to the cabin. Then you have to work like a dog to keep the place presentable. Some vacation.

When we started camping in 1956, we took a five week camping trip through to the west coast, up the coast and then back through Canada. We stayed in a motel either 4 or 5 nights, I don't quite remember. The trip cost us about $500. We had a blast. There weren't very many other campers at that time. George had built a sort of camp kitchen for the back of our station wagon, and everywhere we camped, the other campers would stop over to ooh and ahh. Another plus with that kitchen is that we could stop at the side of the road and eat our lunch. Just open the back of the station wagon, pull out the kitchen, and there we were.

We had a sort of clunky umbrella tent with the umbrella part inside. George is a great camper. I had never gone camping before, but I was soon completely converted. Who doesn't like camping when someone else does all the work of setting up, etc.? All I am responsible for is the meals. There is one thing about being a perfectionist camper. George can get the tent all set up. It looks perfectly fine to me. He will then proceed to take it all down and move it a few feet to a "better" spot. This has been known to happen more than once during a stay. As long as it keeps him happy, I don't complain. I just comment!

We even camped in Brazil. That was a whole other adventure. Such fun. I'm excited and I should be full of all sorts of tales when I return. I promise photos. And hopefully, paintings.
In a few more days.... Wahoo.

Good Night Shirt!!!!!!!!

This is an expletive that I use when I am excitably dismayed. I got an e-mail from my sister telling me that she had my Tuesday blog but where was my Wednesday blog? I mean, I ask you. The pressure is too much. And then she doesn't even leave a comment to cheer me on my way. As you may have gathered, if you DO read my blog, I REALLY like comments. Ah, well, it shows that she is actually reading my blog and I like that... but I do like comments, too. What will she do while I am camping? She won't have her blog fix. It will be a nice vacation from blogging. That might be good. I will come home all fired up and try to have some good snapshots, etc. I'm sure I will be glad to get back in the saddle again.

I have tons of stuff to do before we set out camping. Getting ready to go, of course. But other things, too. Carol, Nancy and I will be setting up our art exhibit on Sunday afternoon. We are going to call it, "Pastors' Wives are Painters, too (or Three)." Pretty foxy! It should be great fun. on August 29th we will be having an open-house tea thingy from 5-8:30 pm. It is the same night as the openhouse at school, but people like to make two things in one night, so that should be no problem. It will be art by Carol Ulrich, Nancy Lee and I. Should be fun.

Tomorrow I work at the gallery in Battle Lake again. And next Tuesday at 9:30 at the Methodist Church in Alexandria, I give a talk at Brush and Palette Club.. I am going to talk about one of my favorite living artists, May Stevens. I had the privilege of hearing her speak and seeing her show when she was at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

In between these adventures, we must get ready to go on our trip. Going on a camping trip is rather a complicated deal. Meals: "let's keep it simple this year." Supplies: "let's keep it simple this year." Art supplies: "let's make it complicated this year." Sigh. We'll see how it goes.

Off to get ready to go to the gym. I will have to walk when I am on my camping trip. Hopefully.

Imagine a picture of....

a little boy in a swing at the amusement park. The kind that goes around endlessly in a circle. I have such a picture that I am trying to insert in this blog, but the blog is refusing to do its work. Oh, well, you have the idea.

The picture (which I can't show you) reminds me of a trip George and I and our nephews took to Riverfront Amusement Park in Des Moines, Iowa. That must have been at least 45 years ago. They had the same kind of ride only for adults as well as children. I had always loved carnival rides of every kind until that day. Around and around, no change in direction or speed - just around and around. I got sick as a dog and have never gone on a ride since. I do miss the Wild Mouse, the rollercoasters, the bumper cars, oh, the list could be endless. But then I remember that one seige of mal de ride, and I stay with both feet on the solid ground.

Sometimes I think everyday life can be like that ride. It feels as though one is endlessly going around in circles, never arriving, always doing the same old things day after day. That's when a vacation is in order before the barfing starts. If you are retired, it's time for a trip to the northwoods on an art vacation, RIGHT? Absolutely right. I have made up my mind to do the sensible thing. Camping, here we come. Wahoo. No barfing for me. No, sir. I'm going camping.

Say what?

I was just waiting for my own blog to come up so I clicked on a random blog and it had a picture of a refrigerator with the door open. That was basically it. Three pictures of the open refrigerator. Well, it didn't look too interesting. When I get so desperate that that is the picture I have up, you better mount a rescue team. I mean, the refrigerator was even clean and rather organized. Not a bit interesting. No green mold or dried up cheese, or anything. Just a nice refrigerator full of food. Hmmm.

It is a nice hot July Saturday afternoon. I watched the British Open of Golf and then some sort of Tennis tournament - Andy Roddick vs. Genepri. Roddick looks as though he has his mojo back. It evidently is a series of tournaments leading up to the US Open. Fun to watch. I am a rabid tennis fan. As is my sister. Fun for us. We can compare notes and call each other when something is on. Actually, I am usually the one doing the calling. I don't want her to miss a single good match.

I am busy getting my art supplies organized for the camping trip. I am going on an art trip with my husband along to take care of me. I promised him he could take time out occasionally to go fishing. We are going to the north woods... North of Grand Rapids, MN. Those of you who are reading this blog are invited to come along. Get in touch with me for directions. You can get in touch with me by leaving a comment. If you don't know how to leave a comment yet, you are immensely dense. Look back for the post called "Comments" and you will find out how to leave a comment. C'mon - get with the program.

I'm going to head back to my studio for more serious organization of supplies. I will probably get to my favorite spot in the woods, look at the lake and freeze up, unable to paint a stroke. If that happens, I will paint anyway. I promise to share some GREAT paintings with you when I return. Yes, I promise.

The Empty Bench

This painting now has a whole new meaning for me. The brownish thing in the middle of the foreground is my cell phone and the white marks going out from it are the sound of the rings. I am heading for the bench to take the call and talk to whomever is calling me. (Or is it to whoever is calling me? Which takes precedence, the "to" or the "is?" Which is it, the object of the preposition or the subject of the verb? I am way rusty when it comes to grammatical rules. Come on, now, help me out!)

Anyway, I digress. The phone is working great. I can call from inside my home without the blasted antenna, no problem. I have a foldover, so the earphone is near my ear at the same time as the mouthpiece is near my mouth. Fabulous. Now I have to figure out the attributes of this new technical marvel. I think I only want a plain phone, but I have a feeling I will be lured as by Homer's sirens into many new and enticing features. Stay tuned for the adventures of a cell phone novice. Should I use text messaging for a mere pittance per month? How about taking and sending pictures? Or downloading music? Or?????????????? For now, I am determined to do the simple things. We'll see how it goes.

My circle is serving lunch at the funeral service of an old time friend tomorrow. She was struck down by cancer. I can remember when I thought the lunch thing after a funeral was barbaric. I no longer hold that opinion. It is a comfortable setting for old friends to get together and remember the life of the deceased. A time for crying, a time for laughing.. a spin-off of the old wake. A nice way to comfort one another at the absence of a friend in this world, and a send-off into the next.

Karen l left a message that her brother Gary has just discovered he has cancer. She asks for our prayers. Will do. Such young people. Another young woman called home and asked for prayer on our prayer chain for a friend... a young woman who was planning to marry in September, found she had cancer of the adrenal glands, and is in hospice care. Oofta.

I hope they will soon find a way to prevent cancer altogether. There are a few bright signs on the horizon, but how far in the future is the horizon? That's the question. When one achieves my ancient age, the thought that I will die fairly soon from something is not shocking. I try to keep track of my health as best I can, take all the medicines prescribed for me, exercise, eat right, etc. But the fact is, my earthly life cycle will inevitably come to a close, and fairly soon. Every one else's will also do the same thing sooner or later. 100%.

As someone said, "I don't fear death, but I do fear dieing." The passage can be painful or sudden, we don't know. I feel very fortunate that I have faith so that I have the strength to face the future knowing I am not alone. The Good Shepherd is with me.

A different subject: Ok, you guys who have my cell phone number - call me. That little item is on and in my pocket just waiting for your call. Take care.

The beach

I like the soothing effect of water washing endlessly up onto the beach. There was a program on the History Channel tonight warning of the devastating effect Tsunamis could have on the West Coast. But for now, the beach is tranquil.

I have had an interesting few days. A sort of strange mixture of soothing times and stressful times. I was very excited to get back to the gym and have lots of talk and exercise with my friends. And then I took on the challenge of signing up for a new cell phone. I don't know why I chose today to do it, but I was convinced that I should get it done. Sigh. One of the things about my old cell phone was that it didn't work at my house. For some reason that was just a dead spot. The new one was purported to have circumvented that problem because it was reading the signals from a CDMA tower, while the old one was reading the signals from a TDMA tower. Got that? Well, I'm afraid it's a bunch of hooey and I'm signed up for a two year contract. I'm sure the phone will be fine, but I will still have to use the antenna. I should have smelled a rat, as they were so good to point out that my antenna would fit in the new phone. Well... we'll see how it goes. mutter, mutter.

It is always stressful getting to know new technology. At the phone store, I waited patiently because their printer wouldn't print. Luckily I had a book along with me so waited without stress. I always try to carry a book with me exactly for this type of emergency. I should have charged them by ten minute segments for waiting time which would have gone to alleviate some of my feelings of ire about the antenna use. Oh, well. mutter, mutter.

In my next posting I will undertake a critique of the new phone. I will have gotten past the necessity for the antenna on to other attributes. Hopefully that will be the only drawback.

Truck upright

I promised you a picture of the upright truck after the amazingly wonderful snapshot of the underpinnings. My world is brightly lit and upright. The heat of the day is not overpowering. We have just enough airconditioning to render life possible. All is well. Here in our little corner of the world, all is well.

The horrendous uproar in other parts of the world is unsettling. I look back over my life and it looks so serene. I'm sure I have had a few times when someone would like to throw a punch or two. They didn't do so because I am rather fierce when aroused and would probably fight to the death in return. It's amazing how effective that look is. The look that says, "Ok, fella, bring it on. I will never give up. Be prepared." It is off-putting, that fight to the death look. Especially when I really would... fight to the death.

But this only happens if someone attacks me first... or threatens to attack me or mine. I never would go on the offensive against some innocent person. Never.

One of the most interesting occasions in my life was the encounter I once had in St. Cloud with a young man who was approaching me in an isolated spot. I had separated from my friends to go to a store for larger sizes, and was walking to meet them at a restaurant. The man was slanting across the street toward me. I had a bad vibe.

Without thinking, I walked toward him and said, "It's been so long since I've seen you! Be sure to say hello to your mother!"

He took one amazed look at me and took off running. I've often wondered at this action of mine. It was entirely nonvolitional and unplanned. But it certainly worked. If he had been innocent, he would have said, "Do I know you?" Not run off. I think by introducing my script, I threw his script out the window and he couldn't think on his feet fast enough, so he just ran away.

I was lucky, pure and simple. Perhaps God gave me a nudge. For whatever reason, it worked. I would not recommend it to others!

But I am powerless to affect the mayhem in the world. I hate feeling powerless. So I guess I will just try to stay alive in my small peaceful niche, do my painting, write my blog, and stand upright by the truck.

No such luck

Well, no rain for us. It went north of us and south of us, but not at us. Evidently it didn't like it that we looked prepared. The picture scared it off. Do ya suppose? Right.

Today I am just staying in the house painting and keeping cool and reading and resting. A great day. George is out golfing... right through the heat of the day. He should be having a good time though with Jeff, Paul and Kelly. The old gang catching up on all the news. I just hope he keeps cool enough. Then he can come home and take a nice long nap in our cool house in his recliner.

I got a much appreciated phone call from Karen this morning. She has been having a good week in Kentucky. They are on their way home to their new house. I wonder if the new place feels like home yet. It might take a while. It is such a beautiful place I know they are going to love living there, but it takes a while for it to feel comfy!

We are going to meet at the gym next week Tuesday. (Saturday is ARt Studio Tour and Sunday I work at the gallery. I am meeting a new friend and and paint with her right there at the gallery. That should be interesting. Monday I have book club and we are reading Night of the Radishes by Sandra Benitez. I liked it a lot. Carol J said she didn't think the writing was very good. I will be interesting to hear our discussion and find out what she didn't like about it. I will try to remember to report.) But Tuesday is Gym Day and boy will we be talking up a storm!

Have a good day and keep cool!

Rain

Remember the childhood ditty, "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day?" Well, this is the day I want it to come. Fat chance. Our beautiful six foot tall corn is going to be fried if we don't have some rain soon. I picked this picture trying to give the sky a gentle hint. We'll see if it will work! Prayer is a better idea. Although I do like this picture and picked it especially. It can't hurt.

I promised you the web address of Greta's Pepy (Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself) group: http://www.pepyride.org Fabulous outfit to read about and support as you are able.

I plan to go to the gym today and call up to get a hair appointment. My hair is out of control. Way too long and bushy. I think I will go to Alex and get a hair cut and go to an airconditioned coffee house and read. Yes, that's my plan. I'll let you know if I actually accomplish it. The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley... or something. Poor old Robby Burns is remembered for the strangest things. But at least he is remembered!

Hi There!

It's so much fun to choose these pictures at random. This picture of childhood glee should make the day for all of us!

The weather is supposed to be brutally hot for the next few days. The absence of rain is already being felt in the condition of the gardens and grass. Our corn, however, is extraordinarily tall. Rather than being knee high by the fourth of July, it was six foot tall, at least. Phenomenal.

I hope to get to the gym today. However, with my pals not in attendance, it is a bit off putting to go. I think I get more from the fun talk at the gym than I do from the exercise, although the exercise is essential, according to my doctor. Laughing and talking about this and that is therapeutic for me. I leave feeling all pumped up and rarin' to go. When silence reigns supreme, I leave a bit downcast. I miss youse guys.

Yesterday I got my cake made early. Angel food cake with whipped cream, peach slices and lemon sauce. Yummy. Everyone seemed suitably stuffed. I made everything (but the cake) with Splenda (tm) so I could eat it, too. Double yummy.

We met at a beautiful home on the north shore of Lake Clitherall. Part of its interest is a lighthouse that has been there for many years. It has a widow's walk way up high. The view was entrancing. Lots of fun talk. As you are detecting, talking is high on my list of desirable activities. Yada, yada, as Seinfeld would say.

Well. Into survival mode. How to beat the heat, Episode One, tomorrow.

Looking at Life

When you're depressed you are looking at life this way. Hard to make sense of what is happening and everything is rather distorted. This is a picture taken of a truck while lieing underneath it. Absolutely accurate, but the view is unusual and not helpful for living the everyday life of the ordinary person.

As you can see, I am desperately seeking subjects for this blog. This was another random picture choice and a picture taken by my son to show him one of the steps of putting a running board on his new truck. Stay tuned and you will probably be seeing another view of the truck.

Greta gave a talk at our ladies' meeting yesterday about the work in Cambodia by her group, Pepy Ride (which has morphed into Pepy and Pepy Tours). Absolutely fascinating to see what a couple of young women have accomplished with an idea that has mushroomed into a well established tax exempt charity. If you want to check it out, go to their web page. I will include it in the next blog entry, as I can't stay on this one and look at hers. I would put it as a link, but I have to wait for Naomi to come to do that, I'm afraid. She showed me how, but you know how that goes!

I am going to try to go to the gym today, but I am also baking an angel food cake early before the temperature gets too high, so we'll see if I get done soon enough. I suppose I could go at a different time, but habit dies hard.

My parting advice is stand upright to look at life! (Unless you're an automotive mechanic.)

Say what?

Writing a blog sometimes weighs heavy on the spirits of the blog writer. For the last few days I have just had nothing to say. I know some of you find that difficult to believe, but nevertheless.. there you are.

I went to a series of pictures which are labelled with numbers and no descriptive material and just picked one at random, and this is the picture which came up. A picture of super gardener and superboy. It was glorious having our son and grandson here for two weeks, and this is one of the pictures which was captured. Great.

I am working once again at the art gallery at Battle Lake today. The Art of the Lakes Gallery is a collection of more than 100 artists who have a club and a gallery. Our mission is to support the arts in the area while offering many services to the young. Right now we are sponsoring a project at the BL school where the local kids are painting a huge mural on the wall of the all purpose/lunch room. We have two professional guiding artists and are hoping for a response from the kids. It has often proved difficult to find those kids who are interested in the arts and are able to commit a day or two to painting. I will report on the response later.

Another project we are doing as an art club is painting two benches for people to sit on on the main street. We are going to paint them as an homage to Van Gogh... Should be a blast. I hope to be involved in the painting.... if I am in the neighborhood at the proper time. I will try to include a picture of those benches when they are done.

It also is time that I should shuffle the paintings I have hanging in the BL gallery for some new ones. But which paintings? Hmmmm. I will give it some thought.

Take care and have a good day. Our weather is supposed to be very hot here, so keep cool.

THE 4th

Today is the actual day. We went to the fire hall to see the time capsule unearthed from the 1981 Centennial celebration. There was nothing in it from Naomi's class, although she and her class mates have definite memories of putting things in a time capsule. I think the important word there is "a" time capsule. They have the idea it was done in 1983 and buried in the park. We are definitely on the scent of THAT time capsule.

This one was very wet although every precaution had been taken to keep water OUT. It was evidently caused by moisture already in the paper, sealed in plastic and subject to the changes of temperature. Condensation, perhaps??? We have to do some research on the whys and wherefores before we bury another. Perhaps we will get in touch with the State Historical Society for some hints. At the moment, our discussion has come up with the idea of sealing each group of papers in one of those vacuum pack plastic sacks that people put meat for the freezer in. But would that do it? Do you have any suggestions?

The deal was a disappointment to Naomi and her class, but some of the other "kids" found things that they had written. Many of them were surprisingly readable, although damp. When they dry out, they should be ok.

It was great to see people we hadn't seen for a while. Some of the "kids" I had taught in high school. We took pictures and chatted a bit. The weather is great, although I got too hot and had to head for home and some water. Many people got sun burned the day of the parade. We have to remember to put on sun screen. At least in the heat of the day there usually are no mosquitoes. The mosquitoes are simply fierce this year in early morning and late afternoon. Oofta and double oofta.

I will write more another day. Now for a snooze.

Festivities

Please notice that Naomi and John Ya Ya (Naomi and Tony's dog) are here for a visit. She is responsible for the fact that on the right hand side of this blog there are now LINKS! Wow. She showed me how to do it, but I doubt I can replicate her motions, so for now, these are the available links.

Our small town is in full swing. There are myriad events planned for today including parades, meals, tractor pulls, co-ed volleyball tournament, men's slowpitch softball tournament, church service, Garden Club flower show,bed races, money in the straw, dunk tank, pedal pull, bounce house, food vendors, giggle the clown, pony rides, horse drawn wagon rides, petting zoo, live entertainment. I am going to take part this evening in the variety show. I will be reading my poem, "Fly -Mania." Wahoo.

After the variety show there will be a baseball game and watermelon feed... and then the main event! The fireworks!!!

Today I will be sitting the Coffeehouse Art Center so people can meander in and look over the art and artefacts we have collected. The parade will go past so I can watch it, too. George will be riding on the American Legion float... A fine time will be had by all but John Ya Ya, who will have to stay home. Poor baby. Ah, well.. there is always someone who must suffer. Right. I'll tell you tomorrow how it all went. The little kids should have a blast.

Storm

Last night was a monumental display of the power of nature. A thunderstorm rolled over us with all the accompanying noise and play of light. The big trees around us waved and tossed themselves in unbelievable contortions. When it was all over, there were only a few evidences of its passing. A few branches and lots of leaves. Our back yard neighbor's trampoline has moved about 100 feet to the east, but seems to be no worse for the trip.

The art display is hung down at our local Coffeehouse Art Center and the memorabilia is slowly coming in. We have found out that we have lots and lots of closet artists in our area. And we are also fortunate to have paintings that our citizens have painted in years past. It is an awesome collection. By now, the garage sales people are busily selling their wares. Some of them are a bit sodden, I would imagine, after the rain. Human nature being what it is, a few intrepid souls must have put things out last night in preparation for today.

If you noticed the comments that my "comment" post engendered, you will now know that there are two people named Karen who are going to be leaving comments (hopefully). As you have noticed by now, I love comments! One is just Karen and the other Karen l. That is Karen L but the l is in lower case. I hope that Barb will soon have courage and leave a comment. C'mon, be brave! Now that your computer is back up and running again.

And, Fran, I am overjoyed that you left a comment. Keep up the good work! Think of us and our celebration this weekend. You will have plenty to keep track of where you are! I have this picture in my head of you with your dark glasses and binoculars keeping track of all the building activity around you. Have a great 4th!