Sunday, December 27, 2009

Good Rats... 1,2,3,4!

Almost New Years... so how about a good old drinking song? The first voice you hear on this is none other than Shane McGowan of The Pogues. Cool beans! What could be better than The Dropkick Murpys AND Shane Mc Gowan? The answer? Not a whole lot!


Hey I had a nice day... hope you all did too. Not that I did much that was exciting. Okay there was one happy one! Otherwise... A nice normal slow Sunday. I opened my day talking to my current favorite frog. This time I am not telling which. Go ahead and guess if you like. Not really important is it? Naw. A different frog asked me out on a date this week. Hummmm.... this one lives fairly close. I will meet him and give him a fair chance, but I have to say... I don't think I have much in common with this one. He is older than me. No Sean Connery. But you never know unless you try right? Fair is fair.


Otherwise, I worked in the house for a time. Did a bit of grocery shopping. These boys here all think they need to be fed. Imagine that! Let's see... Boo popped in for a bit and drove me around, spent a bit of time with his old mom. Then he took Max up river to visit Max's friends and to get him out of Dumb Potter's Hell. I ran into Max's current gal friend while shopping. I've actually known her for a very long time. So it goes in Dumb Potter's Hell.


Squeaky is home again and he and Lorn are fighting the good battle on any number of games. I have not seen X much of late... we are settling into a good pattern of letting each other live their lives apart. But we still touch bases daily. His crap of a boss left town without paying him is wages for the week. Girrrrr... people like that bug me. So I have worried that he had what he needs. Its the holidays for heaven's sake and no one should go without. But he is holding his own.


The Bear has been difficult to find. What's up with that Bear?


I have been thinking a lot about rain. Yes... I know, what a weird thing to think much about. But you see, I was born on a very rainy day and for years on end, it rains on my birthday no matter where I seem to be living. Granted, it is the rainy time of year that I was born.


I loved the rain in California. There, where I grew up in Fresno, it would rain hard for an hour or so, then the sun would break through and the day would turn to glory! As a child I would rush outside and push a stick through a leaf and set it free in the wild gutters, then run along beside it until it spun around the corner and down the rain grate into the sewer below. I never tired of that game. The stick acted the way a bow does in a kite to make the boat worthy of the rushing water. Very cool beans.


Here when it rains, it drizzles, mists or pours for hours on end. There is no glorious end to the day filled with blue sky and golden light. No Maxfield Parish finish to glory in. No leaf boats to chase. Heck... no gutters to float a boat in either. Just dull, grey, misery followed by more. So today I thought of rain. How it makes my hills as green as Ireland and crazy rainbows that come and go but have no pot of gold. Only drab grey. (For those of you who are sticklers for spelling... yes, that is too a correct spelling of grey. Go look in any store that sells art supplies.... grey is the color on the acrylic or oil tubes. So there! No corrections please!)


I miss California rain. I miss sunshine on Christmas vacation. Yeah... it was the norm when I was a child. I feel like I can grow moss if I stand still here. But it makes us green... and gives us enough water to loan to California. Everything has a purpose in life. I must try to have a better attitude. And here, earthquakes are rare, but they do happen. We rarely have floods, though there have been those as well. I am glad not to have snow... so let it be, I tell myself. Be thankful. I am. But it took some thought to get there today.


Speaking of grey. You have heard C4C urge me to get back to being creative. I relent, dear... I have decided to take back up my pen and ink. I've even chosen a subject matter for the fun of it. But I must put it on hold for a time yet... wait for Tax-mas. My supplies are gone. The years have been long since I last tried my hand and I am rusty. Its like handwriting... it goes to hell if you don't keep it up. Have you written anything in long hand of late? I've gotten so used to typing that my handwriting skills are crap! So I must spent some time exercising that flabby muscle that once drew like I breathe. That's my plan for 2010... to get that back and to begin to do things that once made me very happy.


I forgot to mention something important. Sebastien sent me a wonderful Lighting Bear T-shirt. Sebastien... I have been remiss... look for something very soon in your mail box! Thank you sir for your prompt response! I LOVE IT!!!!! Oh, and DH is designing and making a frame for my print too. Soon I will post photos of both my T-shirt and MY LION! Goodness I love that wonderful piece of art work. Thanks and thanks again sir! I can't wait to get my room redone so that I can properly hang it.


Well, there you have it. My Sunday in a nut shell. And my big plan for the new year. I have others of course. I still intend to keep looking for the right frog who will turn into a prince. I still plan on following my Murphy's rules for life. I will continue to do my walking thing and getting my life back on track. I am hopeful for this new year.


What is your plan for the new year... or do you have one?



17 comments:

  1. I rather enjoyed your meditation on rain. I have little appreciation for it in the course of my day, but when I think of it in theory, it is a lot more beautiful.

    I think it is very smart of you to give even unlikely frogs a chance. Even if they aren't your prince, they could be friends in the making...or they could even introduce you to your future prince.

    Isn't Sebastien amazing? I love my shirts and my art. And I am so glad to hear that you are going to be reactivating the artist in you! I am not at all artistic, but am definitely an admirer.

    You have great plans and goals for the new year. Right now, my plan is pretty much 'steady as she goes'. Things are good now. Not perfect, but I do feel I am in a good place. So, maintenance is the word, I suppose :-)

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  2. laura b.-- Stellar plan for the new year! Steady as she goes.

    Rain has long been something that I enjoy and rue in equal measure. But I am trying to get behind it in this strange grey world.

    Yes, Sebastien is amazing! I love his art. I have taken a selected print of his work and put it up in my library. The children love it. It is of course, MY LION as I call it. And I do adore it.

    I am not the artist that Sebastien is, but I once did well. I do hope to do so again. I will be sure to post my work when it happens. But my first love remains writing. I can't seem to stop!

    Yes, I have rules for frogs that insist that I be fair and equal. He may be a lovely man. Or he may be a lovely man that I do not feel that spark for. We shall see. It is a tricky business. And as I said, my greatest hope lies elsewhere. But even that is subject to change. Sigh. You just never know.

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  3. I can't wait to see your work. Is pen and ink your only medium? I used to use pencil a long time ago, but ink only a few times. Not enough control for me.

    I keep a journal so my handwriting skills remain as good as they ever were. This is where I write the stuff I would never share on my
    blog because of privacy issues.

    As far as the new year goes, my resolutions are to try to keep my sanity in an increasingly insane world. To find joy in an increasingly joyless world. To write more. To become more organized. To stop procrastinating. I could go on and on, but that's a good start.

    I agree with your froglosophy. You just never know...

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  4. Cube-- I also painted with acrylic and oil. I use pencil. I like the control in ink. I used to play at watercolor but it is at the other end of control. I like things to look on paper the way they are in my head. I use a repedigraph, which gives me much more control than traditional nibs.

    I should do that...write a journal, if no other reason than to keep my penmanship up.

    I like your resolutions. I could use some work on all of those.

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  5. I used gouache, but my painting always looked cartoonish or something out of acolor by number kits. My pencil drawings had a depth and reality that I could never achieve with paint.

    Funny you should say that about my resolutions. I pretty much have the same ones every year. I never really get around to changing much ;-)

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  6. ube-- I know what you mean. Someone once asked me if using pen wasn't boring Not at all! Pencil has such wonderful qualities... you can do so much with it. One of the things that I like about it is that it is very interesting up close. I like the detail.

    I should put one of X's pencil pieces on here... you would love it.

    That seems to be the nature of a lot of resolutions. hahaha

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  7. Cube-- So sorry... I seem to have lost you name's "C" above! You are not an "ube".

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  8. It's OK. Here is a C-related riddle:


    NaCl(aq) NaCl(aq)
    C C C C C C C

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  9. Cube--- Hahahahaha...

    Saline over the seven seas! hee hee... do you know how long that took me to figure it out?

    FOREVER! I got the bottom half right away and knew the top was something... but what? Took my brain awhile. But fun!

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  10. Cube-- Ooops... Saline, saline over the seven seas!
    Sheesh!

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  11. Very good. You get a gold star.

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  12. Cube-- Well I knew it was a chemical formula of some sort... because of who you are. But I'm not good with those. It really had to roll around in there and honestly, if Squeaky had not said something about something "sailing" right past his head in his game... I probably would never have gotten it. And even then, I had to look it up to be sure.

    I will take my gold star, thank you!

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  13. I loved the rain in California.

    Yeah, you can dance naked and make love, or lust, in it.

    Never tried frogs, like lobster though, but haven't had any for years being as it's so expensive anymore. Like chicks, most of them have too many wants and needs to me to want to help support.

    And they don't like my advice anyway. I'm getting a hotel room new years eve, time for my yearly shower, ha ha ha ha

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  14. Love your goals. I always try to make as much stuff as I can - whether its paintings or stories or fun spaces in my house.

    You are so right to try unlikely frogs. A couple of years ago, I let myself be open to dating different kinds of guys and had some really good experiences. Lord knows, I've had enough bad experiences with guys I thought were great initially. Why can't it work the other way too?

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  15. Churlita-- I have always created in some way. I was a fortunate child. My parents put me through art classes at our art museum and then when I ran out, provided private lessons. At the school where C4C and I attended, Patrick and I had the head of the FCC art department and another college art professor for mentors.

    Well, I learned an important lesson in life. I have on meeting people felt a dislike for them, only to find that they become friends for life. I have three of these.

    I'm guessing that I need to be open and see what there is to see.

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  16. I'm guessing that I need to be open and see what there is to see.

    I'll suggest that you start by opening the hood of your car and spending some time with it and really getting to know it.

    Unless you like to walk to work, not that walking to work is a bad thing.

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  17. Billy B.-- Hahaha... yes, I know how you feel about it. I love to walk, but sometimes it is not an option with the weather here.

    The car will get going soon. It affects X's life as much as mine... so he will figure it out for his own good if not mine. He uses my washer and dryer and is going to need to do a wash. Good motivation. Not to mention missing all his meetings and things... which I do not mind a bit.

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