Just As I Promised.....In Spite of all the Danger!

We watch A LOT of hockey in these parts. We are big fans of our home team. The Canadians and the Americans are playing in the Olympics right now. I like both teams, of course, as any hockey fan would. At this moment though, it looks as if the Canadians will win. That would not make me very sad as the Canadian team is the 'older' team and it is nice to see the older guys do well. Regardless of which team wins, it is exciting.

Abruptly changing the subject...today is Sunday Song Lyrics. As I promised, I did a representation of  "In Spite of All the Danger". I tried to think of a 'dangerous love' without going down the 'illicit love' path. I mean, this is a family friendly blog after all. Anyway, Satine came to mind. What would be more dangerous than falling in love with someone with consumption? Well, maybe falling in love with Doc Holliday who had TB and was an outlaw too? I could have done a piece on him but it would have not been nearly so pretty, right? So  here we are, in spite of all the danger...and btw, USA has scored again.

Finding My Style Saturdays

More and more as I do these digi pieces, I find my style. At first, I was just trying to figure out what did what. As a result, I would throw the entire kitchen sink into the mix. Now, I concentrate a little bit more on composition, using the brushes in a free style way and a little less on the mechanics of the PS software. Of course, there is still a tremendous amount for me to learn about the mechanics. All in all, I have had a great lot of fun with PS. Thanks, Lisa, for turning me on to this hobby! This piece harkens back to that phase I went through when I was going to move to California about 10 years ago. The reason I have never been able to 'find' myself is because myself is always changing. A chameleon, I am. I should do a self portrait.

Fashion Fridays - The 1960's

The fashion posts started last Friday with Marie Antoinette. I have decided that less is more when it comes to these digis. It is very easy to go overboard with embellishments and elements. I have a tendency to be a bit heavy handed. However, I think I am finding my style.

Thursday's Things with Wings

Sometimes I see things that I wish very much that I could fix with a magic wand or something like that.  Have you ever seen the movie "Starman"? He could do the kind of "fixing" that I wish I could do at times. Remember the seen with the deer on the car? Part of me wants to do that but part of me knows I would mess up more than I would fix. If I could, sometimes I would give a cat wings so he could fly far, far away. Who knows? Maybe he already did.

Vintage Wednesdays

I think I am going to reserve Wednesdays for posts about history or just vintage looking creations. I keep wondering where am I going to fit posts about Nigel in here? Me thinks I may need to keep some open days just in case the boy pulls a stunt that needs to be reported. Of course, I can always stray off the path on any given day. I am just not that regimented. So what about Nigel? Well, he is still actively trying to get ALL of the cabinet doors open even the upper cabinets. I came home from work one day to find that he had absconded with the salt and pepper shakers that had been in the cabinet above the coffee maker. I have seen him 'thinking' about the fridge and "studying" around the gasket that keeps it closed. Now, if he gets that thing open, we have real problems. How will I kitten proof that? Padlock? Safe? The reason I wanted Nigel in the first place is because I had identified him at a very young age as being intelligent. I would see him outside figuring out how things worked. You know how love is...that very thing you love about something is the very thing that will always come back and bite you. Henry is an odd one. Well, Henry is not odd but my attitude about him is odd. For some reason, I think of him as 'adopted' as if these others are not. But I probably go overboard with Henry showing him how much I love him. I do not want him to feel left out of the family. I always struggle to include him on everything and to make Ollie and Nige play with him. I do not have to try very hard to get Nige to play with him. They are pretty much inseparable. Nige and Ollie are some kind of relative to Henry and as best as I can deduce, I think they are his uncles.

Where were we? Oh yeah, vintage...in case you haven't noticed, I seem to be going through a 'brown' phase. I am just in love with brown at the moment. Last month, it was pink. I hope you enjoyed Vingtage Wednesdays with a dash of "thoroughly modern Nige."

I actually think this duet would make a nice little vignette to frame. One of these days soon, I am redecorating my home office space. I may include these two pieces into the scheme of things. I have a large vintage drawing of the Eiffel Tower that is similar in color to these. When I do that, I will take pix to include here on this blog. These pieces here are big. I will have to print them on a plotter.

Tuesday-Visiting with Mother Nature

I have found that the weather in Texas is somewhat conflicted. Sometimes when the calendar reflects that it truly is winter, the weather wants to 'act like' summer. The seasons really are on the verge of a change so I was not very surprised to find that today was one of those conflicted days. While getting ready for work this morning, I could hear a cardinal singing. I had seen a family of robins in the yard just a few days ago. However, when I walked outside to look for Sugarplum (cat), it was snowing. I created this to reflect the hope I have that spring will prevail even though old man winter is trying to hang on for a short while longer.

Monday! Introducing...Sayings, proverbs and quotes!

Uh-huh, yeah, that is right...Monday is here. Have you ever read...probably not but I am going to ask it anyway...have you ever read The Oxford English Dictionary Unabridged? I do not mean have you ever looked up the origin of a word in it. I mean have you ever read it like a novel? I used to read it like that and people used to laugh at me for it. But honestly, it is awesome! It is the most interesting collection! First of all, you have to find a library that owns it and it does not come inexpensively. Then, when you locate the library, usually it is behind lock and key. Then, you have to ask to have a librarian to fetch the volume you are interested in which is no small physical feat. He/she will return with a quite large book that is usually put in a cradle or large book stand. After that, you can read until your little beating heart is quite content probably after you have surrendered all of your personal belongings so you cannot do harm to the book or try to leave with a page of it. It is compelling reading material, let me tell you. It is the definitive record of the English language. It marries my two loves...words + history = BLISS!!!! Now, you understand why I enjoyed reading it so much! It contains all of these fascinating tidbits like the first time ever recorded that a word was used, how it was used, when it was put into a phrase. You can find the original meanings to quotes. The OED is accessible online since 2000 but nothing replaces those volumes for me. I can spend hours pouring over the pages in its massive 20+ volumes.
Long story suddenly short...in the OED you can find things like this "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush." What does that mean and why a bird? Why not a cat in the lap is worth two in the barn? The phrase is a medieval phrase. Training a bird of prey was a common sport in those days. It actually means to have a bird such as a hunting falcon which is a bird one would hold on the hand is a more valuable thing than to have the already captured prey of a falcon. In other words, having a likely valuable possibility is better than having a less valuable done deal. Today, the meaning is used in a slightly different fashion than its original intention. And that my friends concludes  the first edition of 'Sayings, proverbs and quotes'. Come here next Monday for another riveting installment!

Introducing Sunday Song Lyrics - Eleanor Rigby

Hey folks, I have a plan! This is somewhat different for me. I am one of those people that likes to fly by the seat of their pants without a plan which probably explains why I have never made all that much progress in life but rather have spent a lot of time spinning my wheels doing doughnuts. I say that in a lighthearted way. I have never been too much into plans or schedules or iteneraries. Case in point, I have ALREADY gotten away from my plan to tell you about the plan. That is me...planless. Okay, the plan. I am thinking since I have been cranking out these digis like an assembly line that I will soon run out of cannon fodder. Therefore, I think I will try to have a theme for a day. Sunday will be song lyrics. Monday, tomorrow, I will figure out then.

I love the song Eleanor Rigby which I am sure comes as no big surprise to anyone that knows me. I mean it was written by Paul! Need I say more? When I think of Paul's age at the time he wrote that song, I am staggered in awe. How could someone so young already have such a keen perception of the fleetingness of life? Those words are so haunting 'she was buried along with her name'. No one will remember her again. All evidence of her life is gone with her burial. There is another song that Paul wrote that puts me in awe at his youthful yet deep perception. It is called "In Spite of all the Danger" which he wrote when he was 14.  Maybe I will do a piece on that one someday. It could be a funny one to serve as a counter weight to the morbidity of this one.

By the way, stay tuned for tomorrow's theme. It will be a surprise to you and me both!

The Dauphine

Another historical post...history is only a hobby for me. When I can marry history to these little creations, it becomes particularly quite fun. Marie Antoinette is a tragic figure in my mind much like Mary Queen of Scots. I will do a post on the Queen Mary Stuart another day. Marie Antoinette was Austrian and not French. She was never embraced by the French people because of that fact even disregarding her 'spending problem'. That only served to exacerbate the dislike the people she ruled had for her. She and the dauphin were not the only people of that time period living more opulently than they could afford. Despite her flaws, Marie did much to glamourize French couture which is still a lasting legacy. To me, France and couture go hand in hand much like France and champagne. Marie was the beginning of that notion.

The Fox

Today was a beautiful day. Only a week ago, it was snowing up a blizzard. Today was like spring which got me to thinking about nature. I love foxes. I think they are beautiful. I love their red coats. They make funny sounds too that kind of sound like crying women. I stepped outside of my box and used a fox rather than a cat for the focal point. These song lyrics are from a song by EJ and BT. I was thinking about EJ today because he has been speaking his mind again which always stirs up controversy. That is him. That is who he is. Why is it everyone always reacts to it though? They fall for it everytime. So easily led down the primrose path, some are. What did I do every evening before I started making these digis??? Must have been dishes, or laundry or vacuuming or something that is going lacking presently.

Unknown Lady

Old pictures kind of scare me a little bit. Have you ever noticed how the people never smiled in them? They would often have a very stern demeanor in their photographs. I think that is why I do not use vintage photographs that often when making these digis. They do frighten me a tad especially the children. A stern faced child is somewhat unnatural to me. I have many little odd quirks like that...things that give me the heebie-jeebies. I am afraid of tight, enclosed spaces like elevators. The scariest thing to me at first sight though is something huge like a large grain elevator standing in the middle of an open field. I am not sure why that frightens me but it scares me so much that I have to turn away. By now, you are firmly convinced I am stark, raving mad. Perhaps I am, I will not argue it. Anyway, back to the vintage photographs. This lady does not frighten me that much. She has a soft look about her and I like her. I am not sure what her story is though. Maybe she is frightened by telephones or pearls or birds with umbrellas. What do you think?

Mardi Gras

I almost didn't get my post up before the day past. I did not want to put up a Fat Tuesday post on Ash Wednesday. Feast today. Fast tomorrow. Ash Wednesday is the most solemn day of our calendar. It is a day when we are reminded from dust we come and to dust we shall return. But not today...

Plasticware Snowman with Bolt Eyes

Check out the snowman we made at work last week using eating utensils. Sometimes they let us have fun at work. :) It had just started snowing when we made him. By Friday, we would have been able to make one 10 times his size! Fortunately, they called off work that day.

I'm Back!!!!

It seems as if I have been away from my blog for ages! I have not been anywhere except stuck in the year 2010 without modern conveniences. Getting 14 inches of snow here creates havoc with the trees. Living in Hicksville USA means that we still have above ground utilities. Oh, I am about to get started on one of my rants and I do not want to go there. I want to think lovely, peaceful thoughts. That is what my blog is for...lovely, peaceful thoughts. I mean, I could move, right? I am always talking about moving but to where? Well, everyone here knows that I want to work at the Library of Congress even if only on a voluntary basis. But that poses a problem...how am I going to work in Washington D.C. without being around snow?  I had finally decided that I wanted to live in Baltimore and commute to Washington. After this bout of snow, I am thinking about Vegas again. But when you think of the academic world, Vegas is not the first city that comes to mind. But then, LOC is not academic either. It is just awesome! Hmmm....I am still in a quandary. I am sure the right place will present itself to me at the right time.

Subject change...back to being 'powerless'. The temperature inside my house was 50 degrees at its lowest. I didn't really have any trouble staying warm. I wore lots of layers and these boots:

Now these boots are warm but let me tell you something. Nigel is scared out of his mind of them. He thinks they are some kind of monster on my feet! When I take them off, he sneaks up on them, stretches out a paw as far as he can and then swats them like he is trying to hit a poisonous snake on the head.

R-Ugg-Ro, right? Everything in the freezer thawed. There was not a super big loss there but it was a mess. Henry licked up some melted popsicle juice.

And now it is time for another New Year! Seems like we just had one, right? All of these "years" remind me of the "truth". Which truth, yours or mine or hers or his? So which new year is the true new year? All of them or none of them? Oh, it is more than my simple mind can comprehend.

I made this one below when I was captive in the icey cold house.

Want a Kitty?

I am snow bound. It is fun to be at home though. I especially enjoy it because I do not get to be here that much. It is snowing steadily in big flakes. Sure, I could have driven into work today but was not looking forward to the long walk from the car to the building plus not to mention having to de-snow my car late this evening after dark. So, I decided to stay home and work on other things for my job on Saturday. Then, I snuck in this valentine which reminds me. I love to put colors together that are non-traditional. Red and pink are common to see at Valentine's. How about turquoise though? Now, I am about to go bake a few cookies and have some coffee!! Yippee! Snow Day!!!

Paisley Kitty

I am beginning a little Valentine Vignette. Only two more posts and I will have already posted as much this year as I did for the entire year last year. I am finding this digital art to be very therapeutic. The only thing is that I have not posted about any of Nigel's escapades lately and he has been up to plenty. Nigel is very smart. Apparently, I have not been keeping the house as warm lately as he would like it. This morning, I found where he had built himself a little bed using one pillow as a mattress and another pillow as a blanket/roof. He was sleeping like a log under that homemade hovel. I didn't dare touch it because I didn't wish to disturb the little sleeping scamp. I am just like a mama bear fiercely protective of the fuzzy ones' welfare.

Ghost Post

Which one of these ladies is a ghost? I tried a game tonight. I closed my eyes and picked a picture. She was my background. I closed my eyes and picked another picture. I picked the angel. The rest of it I purposefully selected. It was fun.

Underneath the Giant Boiled Egg

This morning I saw a beautiful primitive art piece made out of colored patches of fabric. I tried the concept here and honestly, I do not think it is half bad all except for the moon which looks like a boiled egg cut in half. What could be a more romantic idea than being out in the vast dark desert at night looking up a giant boiled egg? I am not EVEN going to try to redeem this one with a short story. It is what it is.

The Bookseller

The city clock had just gone four as the couple heated themselves with brisk walking through the palpable fog and biting frost. A person must have an intent purpose to navigate the harsh elements of this dreary, dark day. The sun had seemingly never traveled the zenith of the sky but must have surrendered to the horizon before midmorning. The cumbrous fog shrouded the street like a think veil causing fellow travelers to appear as purposeful phantoms traversing in the late afternoon. The halo of a flaring candle in the bookseller’s window sent a lonely beacon of cheeriness out seeming to say “Welcome. Please stop within.” The gentleman shopper opened the heavy, ornate door bearing the signage of books for his lady as the fog came pouring off of the street and reaching out its long, thin tendrals into the respite bearing the knowledge of the ages. The bookseller’s eyes twinkled as he recognized his favorite customers not by sight but my the sound of their approach…

The Masculine Answer

This is my masculine counterpart to All Things Beautiful.  JD is the kind of masculine I like. He is not macho. He is cool. He is not big and strong. He is sensitive. My idea of masculinity is sensitive and understanding and not taking oneself too seriously. Making this type of digital art is way fun. For the most part, I love the parts JD plays. For the most part...;)

All Things Beautiful

I wanted to have some fun with this one. I love cosmetics. I love shoes. I love handbags. I love girly things. I love Charlize. We have so much in common. Did I hear you wonder what? Like well, she is so beautiful and I am...uh, old. She is tall and I am... regular. She is glamorous and I am so not. Hey, we have the same initials!!! I knew we had a lot in common.

Happy Place Avenue

I will not ride quietly into the sunset. I plan to kick up a fuss. I am going to cling to, hang on, dig in and do whatever it takes to remember clearly happy memories of my past for as long as I possibly can. Memories fade just as feelings fade. They can become tarnished. Has something wonderful ever happened to you when you thought "I want to remember how I feel right now forever?" Sure, it has. Something like that has happened to everyone. However, I have noticed sometimes the further I get from a memory how it looses its luster and magic. It does not have to be that way.  A person can cultivate a memory. It can always be an avenue that takes you to a happy place just as this does for me. The magic will never fade for me. I can still see it through the tarnish of time. I will not say goodbye.

Angel in the Trees

I am not sure what I was thinking when I made this one. It could very possibly be that I was not thinking anything. I could have just been playing around with some tools to see what kind of outcome I would get. I am not all that happy with this one. This angel's wings are at odd angles. Plus, she is only a half bodied angel. I suppose if an angel appeared in the forest, she could appear anyway she felt like it. If she only wanted to manifest part of her body, she could probably do that. I would like to take a walk in a forest and see an angel.

Kitty Bed Woes

I have never had a kitty that will sleep in a bed other than mine that is. To be honest, the kitty in the bed in this picture does not look all that happy about it either. He looks sad like he might be missing his mom. The closest cat I have to sleeping in his own bed is my Henry (pronounced ohn-Ree...he thinks he is French.) Henry sleeps in his tent. My kittens each have a tent. They all play in them but Henry really likes to sleep on top of his. His has an upstairs with a fake sheepskin pad on it. He likes to get inside the upstairs on his fake sheepskin pad to sleep. That really helps me out because the big bed gets really crowded with the cats. Here is another thing. Kitties do not know about sleeping vertically...they sleep horizontally taking up as much as room as possible. It is a real pain in the back, literally. Sometimes I wake up in the night to so much purring and humming that I think I am in an angelic choir. But no, it is just the kittens being happy. I spoil my kittens. They are really spoiled. My sister says it is a good thing that I do not have any kids. She says if I did, they would be in prison due to my lack of being a disciplinarian. I am a softie. One time my niece wrote on the headliner of my car with an ink pen. She said it was an accident. I believe her. My sister said it was not an accident. I still believe it was an accident. My kittens have lots of accidents; breakage of porcelain birds, using the heads for hockey pucks, etc. Hey, accidents happen, right? Even if all of my kittens would sleep in their own beds, I am not sure I would want them to do that. I like fighting for room with them and I do love that angelic choir.