Touching bases and ready to rumble.

Hi there bloggie buddies. Hope everyone is doing well. Wow! I can't believe I have not posted since the 13th. and here it is the end of the month. Well I won't be posting much, but I did want to let you know that all went well with hubby and his op. and now he is recuperating and will be home from work,  until the 23rd. of August. Ayeeeeeeee! :) Yes I am so glad he is doing well, and I also have to admit that the house has gone to pot.

I can't seem to get any housework done, but I have managed to do a lot of art journaling. More on that on a later post. I've given up on doing a lot of housework for now and that is a break for me. There have been a few things that have happened since I've been away from here and that is that our Springer Spaniel,
Sister May has gone to be with our beloved Chorizo. Sister was 14 years and 2 months, having pain and losing her eyesight,  and her hearing was practically gone.

We made the decision to take her to the vet one last time. It was heart wrenching. This all happened before my husband went to the hospital. The vet told us we made the right decision in not letting Sister get worse. He had previously told us that it was getting close to us having to put her down. After a few times of watching her fall, I just couldn't handle it and knew it was time. Her pictures show how tired she looked and was, but she still wanted  to keep eating. That's what made it so hard to take her to the vets. She will be missed.

Sister May looking at me with her sad tired eyes. In her younger days she was a beautiful family pet member. She still is in the picture but you can see how her eyes seem to be begging me to do something about the way she was feeling.

As you can see though, After she looked at me with those sad eyes, she turned her head and ate the majority of her food. Rest In Peace Sister May, you brought us much happiness.

5/96 to 7/10

So I uploaded a few pages of my "doodling" in my journal. Before I go I wanted to say that I have been visiting some of your blogs and leaving some comments but only when I have had time. Today is one of these days/evenings and it sure feels good to be typing my thoughts. I have been writing my thoughts on paper as well, that helps in releasing bad energy and replacing it with the good stuff.

My arm and hand. Looks like it's tanned but it's the paint, don't be fooled. Two faces eyeing each other.

A bunch of Doodling, I guess I do doodle a lot. Pockets and bookmark.

 This is an alien sent to earth.                                                

  Book marker and a card I received from Anne. Thanks Anne. 

                               

Okay partner's, I'm glad I'm back and I'll be ready to rumble in the coming days. Right now though, I am getting those awful cramps in my legs from sitting, so I better stand and say, "See you tomorrow."

Time to lay low....

I'll be away for awhile. I'll continue to read your posts as time allows, and leave comments, but I won't be posting for a while. I wish you all a good and enjoyable rest of the month. Probably see you next month or so. Take care. xoxo


July 17th....Just popped in really  quick to say I miss you all. Have a great Sunday.

It's going to be a hot weekend, I don't like hot.

Things have been a little slow out this way. It's been hot and not much has gotten done but the usual stuff. I haven't taken the time to paint the walls in the studio. No big thing though, it will get done. I have been making some bookmarks, but it gets so hot in the studio. I don't want to start lugging things back in the house to work on because I'll get a mess in there. So I've limited my time in the studio to early mornings and late evenings.

Today there is a MEET UP at a park not very far from here. I may go there and see what the local artists are exhibiting, IF IT DOESN'T GET TOOOOOO HOT. It was windy yesterday and there may be a little wind today so hopefully their easels and canvases won't go flying all over again. I did a short video yesterday on my Flip on the garden. It takes so long to upload at You Tube, so it's just a 4 minute or so video on my small garden. My husband has his garden way out back. This year my little garden is doing great. Just wanted to share it with you. What's growing in this garden are about 5 different varieties of chili's, zukes, butternut squash, tomatoes, and we threw some berries in here too. They probably won't give this year, but next year. It may have been the wrong spot to put them in because of how they grow. We'll see.

THE GARDEN STILL

What I said about the bay leafs, if you need some, let me know and I can take some down, dry them and send them to you. HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND I'LL SEE YOU LATER. LIFE IS GOOD!

BOOK MARKS I'M WORKING ON.

BYE NOW.

SCYTHE WOMAN

So I thought I would dedicate this video to "Scythe Woman" Anne who if you missed her post of her outside doing yardwork with a scythe, you missed out. Wow!  That was some post.  Everyone hoorayed her and henceforth I nicknamed her Scythe-Woman. This is a cute video I think.  Be back later, have to clean house.

THANK YOU BLOGGIE FRIENDS

Just a quick post to my bloggie friends for your kind words of support. I'm getting ready to go exercise but I couldn't leave without first saying:

THANK YOU SO MUCH

FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

I'm sure it won't happen again because I am going to change my settings to what Serena said about not accepting ANONYMOUS messages. I have to find out how to do it first.

I was called a MORON by a person who didn't have the courage to use their name.

In all my life, I have never been called a moron. I was today by someone "anonymous." It's weird because I thought it strange when I seen "anonymous" and chose quickly to delete it. That was a mistake because I can't remember all they said but I could have reported them to Blogger at that time. If there is a next time I will definitely notify them. The person actually sounded rather MAD.

1. I was called a moron
2. A comment was made on my paintings which I think meant that they were nothing but doodles.
3. A recipe for scrambled eggs wasn't needed, since everyone can make eggs. I guess that's what was meant.
4. I'm making a fool of myself with the posts I do and my paintings.

There was more but I can't really remember it all. Probably because it REALLY WASN'T IMPORTANT. I do wonder though,  why people do things like that. Why do they take the time to go to someones blog and  leave a mean comment and not say who they are? I'm not taking anything that she/he said to heart because I can see they are suffering from a disease called JEALOUSY. I figure they can't find anything to blog about and go around trying to torture people with their mean and actually STUPID comments. Why do I say that?

First of all, you don't have to stop by my blog if you don't care for it. It's my BLOG and I can post what I want. I actually think my PAINTINGS are very good, thank you very much. The recipe wasn't actually SCRAMBLED EGGS, more like a zuke omelet, if I may. As far as being a MORON, the only MORON around these parts is the person that left that comment on my blog.

But because I am a forgiving person, I FORGIVE Mr/Mrs./Miss ANONYMOUS. But next time you pass by, if you do leave a comment and it isn't to my liking, I will turn you in to BLOGGER. They always find out who is doing what. Now that I have all this said, I think I will sign off for just a while or maybe go visit other blogs  so that I can think of what to post next. Tee Hee! Oh if there are any mistakes in this post as far as spelling, please forgive me. It doesn't make me a MORON if I make a mistake or to, AH I MEAN TWO.:DDD
VIVA LA VIDA!!

Zukehappiness

With a lot of Zukes coming to fruition, I have to figure out what to do with them. So I do the same thing year in and year out. I give a lot away, I grate and freeze, or make soup with them or put them in soup or zuke fries and the list goes on. But today I decided to make some patties of zuke. A friend of mine from another country showed me how to make these zuke patties, many years ago. You can eat them cold or hot. I prefer them cold because they are easier to handle and taste somewhat fresher. They are delicious hot as well. They are really good.

Grating the onions is fun. I can use the processor but I like to do it myself.

I bag some and leave some out for today. I'll be freezing these two bags  for later use. Make some zuke bread or zuke cookies.

Grated zukes

This is a little bleary, but it's a little bit of flour, maybe 1/2 cup. Just enough to create a not so thick batter, couple eggs, chili's and red onion. These ingredients are poured into the zukes. I beat the eggs a little before pouring in the mixture.

Onions and chili's chopped

Add all ingredients with a little salt and pepper. This is about two zukes grated, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, 2 chili's, 1/2 onion. It will make about 4 to 6 patties for frying.  As you can see by the mixture, the flour added is just enough to bind, along with the eggs. All mixed and ready to refrigerate until they set a little.

This picture came out a little dark. A little olive oil and they get browned on both sides.

And here they are ready to eat. They are delish!

Don't forget to drain them on paper towels. You can serve with a salad and really, that's all you need.

Okay I shall see you later. Take care. Hope you give it a try.

Oh I just wanted to thank Anne for the Greeting card I won at her giveaway. I'll have to do a post on it later. Thanks Anne.

I CAN FLY...well in my dreams.:)

Whew!!! Well I can take a deep breath, that is until the 12th when I go for the big "M" and I hate those things. Apparently new laws want more paperwork on the patient and I was called for a follow-up after test  results were in. The doctor sat there for at least 5 minutes making comments on paperwork, without saying a word except "how are you today?" He's the one that is supposed to be telling me that, isn't he? Tee hee.  When I couldn't take it any longer I just came right out and said, "Am I dying, or what?" What's with all the paperwork, you've never done that before?

He turned around and looked at me very slowly and I expected something I didn't want to hear, instead he said, "new laws, your insurance company wants more paperwork." I looked at him and asked, "Why am I here." "I just saw you last week."  "Oh, he says, you have to have your followup after the results are in, rules are rules." What!!!! He just wanted another $10 copay. Sheesh.

Were my tests okay, I said. He looked at the paperwork and said, "lets do your BP first." 130/80 that's good he says. So how were my sugar levels? He looks and said, well a little high, about 122, should be about 99, your cholesterol levels are 188, you can stand to bring that down. Lay off the bread, rice, starches, unless you want to take something to bring it down.

No, no I said. I'll moderate. I thought I was called in because there was something terribly wrong, like it was time for me to kick the bucket.He laughs and says, not by a long shot, you're fine he says.

So after checking my breathing, my heart, my eyes, my throat, banging on my chest, he says okay that's good. Well I suppose it is, but now I wait until next week and have to go through this over again. Last time I got the big "M", I immediately had to go in for a followup.

Never the less,  I feel good so I will soar on high like a bird. I got that saying from another bloggie.
SOAR ON!  Watch me fly, I can fly. Oh, that's a bald eagle, I'm not bald yet! :))
p.s. Thanks for the good thoughts.

.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIDA KAHLO-Born July 6th 1907 – Died July 13th 1954

 -Frida Kahlo

HAPPY 103rd. BIRTHDAY

There have been so many books about Frida and so many stories told about her life. All I know is that I totally love her work, her dress, her beauty.There are some parts of Frida's life that are a little "spicy," but that was Frida. Other than her paintings, one of the most notable things about Frida were her eyebrows, she had what they now call "UniBrows." If you want to know more about this woman with all the tragedy in her life, go read about her in the links below. She was quite the woman.

I have also made a promise to myself to continue to add paintings to my "Women of the Eyebrow" series which I've been painting now for a few years. Last I counted, there were about 15-20 paintings and 3 of them have been displayed and actually won first place. I am so proud of that and hope you excuse me for bragging. If what I'm  painting ends up having the "eyebrows," then it becomes a part of WOTE series. I'm doing this post ahead of time because I am trying to get another painting completed before her birthday.

The paintings below are my 3 winners in acrylics, back in 2004. (Humanities of the Arts award) Would you believe I won $100? I did! I was so darn proud of these interpretations, but it was a bittersweet thing. 2004 was the worst year of my life and I so wanted to share it with my artist son. He would have been so happy for me. It was a very hard thing to get up on the stage  because I wanted to see him out in the crowd. When I look back now, I don't know how I did it. Since then I vowed to keep adding to the series, and I have, and continue to do so.

The first one is called Woman with matte face, Woman with high collar and Woman with earrings, in that order. I'm sure you've seen them all but please be my guest and see them again. Tee Hee.

I found a link that gives you a tour of her Casa Azul (blue house) and it's worth it. If you never make it there to Coyoacán, Mexico where her home is, then this tour will suffice until maybe one day you can get there. I hope to one day go see her home which is a museum now.


....If you go to this link below, you can see a tour of Frida's Casa Azul (blue house).
http://www.recorridosvirtuales.com/frida_kahlo.html


Here is a link that gives you a short bio on her life and some of her paintings.
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/surrealism/Frida-Kahlo.html

A few of her quotes follow
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• I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration.
• I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best.
• My painting carries with it the message of pain.
• Painting completed my life.
• His capacity for work breaks clocks and calendars. [on Diego Rivera]
• I cannot speak of Diego as my husband because that term, when applied to him, is an absurdity. He never has been, nor will he ever be, anybody’s husband.
• The most interesting thing about the so-called lies of Diego is that, sooner or later, the ones involved in the imaginary tale get angry, not because of the lies, but because of the truth contained in the lies, which always comes forth.

You Tube video about Frida

Other July 6th birthdays:
50 Cent,  George W. Bush, Merv Griffin,  Frida Kahlo,  Janet Leigh,  Tamera &  Tia Mowry, Nancy Reagan,  Geoffrey Rush,  Sylvester Stallone

This is my latest painting and addition to my Women Of The Eyebrow Series called simply, "Birthday Girl,"  and my tribute to the ever lasting Frida Kahlo. Acrylics, permanent markers,  flowers, material for her blouse, some basting and a lot of love.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRIDA KAHLO.

Hope you enjoyed.

TAKING CARE OF MYSELF.

I'm the type of woman who has come to discover that I can take care of myself if I had to. I've always been a strong person and taken what's been dished out to me with an open hand as well as an open mind. Some things haven't been easy but we all go on, no matter what. Really this doesn't have anything to do with the pictures I uploaded or maybe it does. Perhaps that's what got be to thinking in this manner.

 First of all, I don't need much to survive. I'm not a frilly person so I don't need special attire. I'm a jeans and t-shirt type of gal who likes to be barefoot, fingers covered with paint, and out in the sticks. Although now my feet tend to hurt when I walk barefoot AND I DON'T LIVE IN THE STICKS, MAYBE THE NOT SO GOOD AREA/COUNTY,  BUT NOT THE STICKS.

 I know how to cut back on costs to keep expenses down.

 I've always been a good accountant. Yes, I can call myself that because I have had that training. Mainly though what my thoughts were as I looked at these beautiful veggies from the garden, (except for the french bread and mushrooms), was that I can survive on things like this.

I can do a lot of things with mushrooms, tomatoes, zukes, cucumbers, onions, chili's. Just give me french bread or what the heck I'll make it and then I'm all set.

Frozen habaneros are just wonderful

.99 cents a loaf, can't beat that. Of course as I said I can make my own. Then I would have to buy flour, yeast and use the utilities to bake the bread. So I'll just buy it for .99 cents and be happy with store bought bread.

And this is what I do with the veggies and french bread. I'm only eating ONE of these and the other I am storing it for later or NOT. :)) If I'm hungry enough I'll eat both these slices of french bread with veggies. It won't be many calories. Of course the veggies are sauteed in about 1 1/2 tbsp. of Olive Oil.

So there, I can live on this and other simple foods. I've got chickens so I don't have to buy eggs and I can always buy that 3 wheeler bike with the basket in back to go grocery shopping. I've been wanting one for the longest time. I bet you can live on this too, HUH? :DD Who needs meat? Sometimes when I think of meat I think of it as what it really is.....DEAD MEAT! yup, that's what it is all right, DEAD MEAT! I mean picture it, the cow was KILLED, or the pig (lol) and now it's hung up on cleavers ALL CHOPPED UP WITH THE BLOOD DRIPPING,  and waits to go to market,  and it isn't even going shopping. hehehe. Oh well gotta go, I'm rambling and trying to cover my fear of going to the doctor tomorrow and hearing some bad news. Ayeeeeeee!

HAVE A GREAT DAY BLOGGIE'S.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, there's no place like home, there's no place like home.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

I hope everyone enjoyed the day. We came home early. Just can't stay away from HOME where the heart is always at. We spent the night out of town just to get away, but when we started twidling our thumbs  we knew it was time to go back home. We said our goodbyes and came home and have been here for a couple of hours now.

Since this the month where we give thanks to our fellow men/women who make it possible for us to be safe in this country, I will say one thing:

 God Bless America and our Fellow Men/Women!

.......and on another topic, this is also the month that the great artist Frida Kahlo was born, and her birthday is coming up on Tuesday. I decided to post a huge painting I did back in 2003. I think this is the first time I started painting my impressions and I titled it, "Women of the Eyebrow" (c) and kept on adding more paintings to the series as time has gone on. This particular painting in acrylics is huge, about 30 x 40. This first one is the whole canvas, but I broke it up so you can see the different faces. My photo skills need a lot of training, so forgive the light, the fading, tsk tsk gloria. :)

I started out with this face with the blue earrings and necklace and couldn't decide what to do because there was so much room on the canvas.

So I just started adding faces and more faces with the eyebrows,  and plants, a mermaid and even a skeleton.

                     How the cat got behind the woman with the white blouse I have no idea.  It just did.

This is really bleary but as you can see I kept adding more and more faces. I think I was possessed. I couldn't stop.

I really enjoyed painting this and keep in mind that it is all ONE painting on a canvas. I'm happy to share it here with you and for Frida.
I'll be posting my latest impression of Frida on Tuesday.

Here is the box that I started painting with no thought to where I'm going. I'm thinking of making it like a little playhouse. I'm not very good at doing things like this but it's always fun trying.

Again, I hope everyone had a very nice Fourth of July and now it's on to the start of the week. I went to the doctor about a week or more ago  for the yearly tests and I got a call to go back in on Tuesday morning. My tests are back and doctor wants to discuss them with me. Ayeeeeee! Don't you just hate it when that happens? I'm hoping it's not my sugar levels again. I tell you when it rains it pours. Oh well, I'll keep an open mind. Have a great week and be back later.

A sign, Boxes, and more Boxes

I'm waiting for my esposo to come home from work. Right now he's working Saturdays and when he gets home we will leave. We're taking a short outing and will be back Sunday evening. Nothing special, just a getaway. We normally don't go anywhere for Fourth of July because we want to be sure that we are around should someone toss fireworks in our yard by accident or whatever. It's just an overnight. In the meantime I was in the studio painting up a sign to hang outside the studio. It's not completed yet, I have to paint the sides and spray some outside sealer on it.

Here is a box that came from out of state with Fillet Mignon steaks. Yummo.:) Very nice sturdy boxes they have and I saved them all. This is one of them and I'll use it to mail out goodies or bangles, etc. I painted it, added gems, material, copies of "Gypsy Lady."

This is the inside with pictures and the bottom I glued some batting and the material. I later glued the cording.

The flap of the box. It's a lot of fun painting and decorating boxes.

And here is this Gatorade 24 pack box, very heavy duty.

Not sure what I am going to do with it, but I know I can't  throw it away.

I like that it has an area to put "stuff" on. I may make it into a shadow box. Something will definitely come to mind. In the studio it goes for a later time. It's very heavy duty. Nice.

Okay I'm out of here. I already said my enjoys to you all.:)  I have to get ready. Take care.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

Looks like we will be headed out of town this afternoon  and we will be back Sunday evening. Just wanted to stop by to wish everyone a very.....

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!

Drive careful!

Yawn, and again another Yawn.

Going through the motions of life helps tremendously, especially when there are other things that are in the back of your mind. It’s important to keep doing  the things I’m expected to do, because normalcy helps to keep me grounded and in control of my life. I get this way when there are events that are causing me dismay and sometimes I just want to stay in bed all day, watching the boob tube that doesn't really interest me. (except of course General Hospital.)

It sounds odd,  because I'm not a person who would do something like that. I have to be about who I am. I have to find things to do. My painting of course always helps. I think though when you are isolated from the world, it tends to exacerbate the difficult things that are happening in your life at the moment. I read somewhere that if you are alone too  much, the walls start to close in on you, Where there are supposed to be people, happenings and experiences are nothing but the walls and they seem to have a mind of their own getting louder and louder. Not that I'm alone all the time, but a lot of my time is spent here at home since I don't work.

Then there is deprivation of sleep, if I'm deprived of sleep, there is no way that I will be able to handle stress. When I can't sleep, I just stay awake and find things to do so as not to wake my husband. Sometimes I get a lot done in these times. But, I still didn’t have the sleep I needed.

Lately I just stay in bed waiting for the sleep to come. By 3 am I realize that I may not get any sleep because I have to be up at 6am to  make my husbands lunch. Right now though because of the "hospital" stress, I know I have to get rest so I've been heading for bed extra early. When you’re clear-headed and rested, the road ahead is a smoother one. What I do like is that I have a sense of humor,  and can laugh my way around all this, because I know tomorrow will be a better day. Excuse me while I yawn yawn, yawn, yawn,yawn.

Viva La Vida!

I hope your days are going good.

HAPPY JULY TO EVERYONE

HAPPY JULY 1ST. to all. I hope you have a healthy, happy, and enriched month. I hope I do too.  I am ready to go out the door to go exercise. I'm taking a lot of ZUKE'S to the ladies,  because the plant is starting to give a little too much now. Some I will save for zuke bread, zuke sticks, and just plain zuke.

I'm spending time in the studio to paint "Birthday Girl" (Frida) painting and hope to get done with it very soon. My interpretation's are definitely NOT exact and they are not meant to be, they are what they are. I've learned to accept that an interpretation is never exact and that's why it's so much fun painting.

Hopefully it won't be a hot hot hot day today. The studio get's hot. There is a overhead fan, but it's not enough. We have two window AC's that aren't being used and one of them is going to go in the wall when the studio is extended. Of course now with my  husband having the hernia operation, it won't be anytime soon. That's okay though, his health is more important.

Below are some events that happened in July of 1900. Why 1900? No reason, that number just popped in my mind.

JULY OF 1900

2nd - Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin 1st airship LZ-1, flies


2nd - Sibelius' "Finlandia," premieres in Helsinki

2nd - First zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.

5th - Compulsory education law passes Dutch 1st Chamber

7th - Boston hurler Kid Nichols notches his 300th career victory

8th - 1st night baseball, league game (Zanesville at Grand Rapids)

9th - Australia accepts its constitution

11th - Boer general De la Rey captures Scots Greys & Lincolns

12th - 114°F (46°C), Basin, Wyoming (state record)

13th - Phillies beat Pittsburgh 23-8

15th - President Steyn/General De Law escape Brandwater Basin

17th - NY Giant Christy Mathewson begins career losing to Bkln Superbas

19th - Michel Théato wins 2nd olympics marathon (2:59:45.0-40,260k)

21st - Pope Leo XIII encyclical to Greek-Melkite rite

23rd - Pan-African Congress meets in London

24th - Race riot in New Orleans, 2 white policemen killed

25th - Gilbert Jessop hits his 2nd 100 before lunch in same cricket match

28th - Hamburger created by Louis Lassing in Connecticut

29th - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

31st - Boer Generals Prinsloo & Roux surrenders in Brandwater Basin
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Got to go exercise, be back later. Have a GREAT day!!