Little Alley Cat? No, Just Nigel

Nigel looks as if he has been living in an alley under an oil leaking car but he has not. Instead, he has been playing in the fireplace. When he was small, this was one of his favorite past times. I thought the days of having to wash him was all behind us. He has been up to his old shinanigans again! Believe me, it is much worse than it appears in these pictures. (Notice the filthy feet that leave little dirty feet tracks.) He ordinarily has no black on him;he is not a calico cat. He is a red and white tabby. However, I will just have to learn to live with it because soot does not want to come off!

Blue Bear

I miss my Blue Bear. Last night, I had a dream that I was standing at the bottom of a spiral staircase and my Max came running down the stairs to me. I picked him up and buried my face in his thick fur. It was so wonderful to hold him and hear him purring. Dreams are so wonderful that way allowing you to be together again one more time. Dreams are also so effortlessly symbolic. It really is not that difficult to see the symbolism in the spiral staircase.

2009 - 1972 = 4?

Some people say you cannot dream in color yet I know I do because I have noticed the vibrant colors in some of my dreams. For example, I can remember dreaming about buying a red purse and shopping for red purses all through out the dream. But one thing I have definitely noticed is a common problem in dreams, (By the way' "In Dreams" is the title of a song written by Roy Orbison. See how I am always thinking about music?) is that the math part of my brain does not work and for that matter, a large part of the logic portion of my brain. But when you think about it dreams really cannot be logical, can they? I mean that defeats the reason for them, doesn't it? Right before I woke up this morning, I was dreaming that I moved into a different house. I was considering getting new flooring. I was talking to someone about the situation and I said "I cannot decide if I need new flooring." The other person asked how old the current carpet was and that is when my brain froze! I was trying to do a mathematical calculation and appearing to be a fool in the dream. I kept trying to perform simple subtraction in my head. I was thinking well I think this carpet is original to the house and the house was built in 1972, therefore, 2009 minus 1972 IS...but no answer would arrive. It seems minutes had passed and this person in the dream kept awaiting an answer so as not to keep him waiting I answered "4". Four? Four! Since when did 2009 - 1972 = 4??? Besides why couldn't I just look down at the 37 year old carpet that looked like it had been in a bear's den and determine that I needed new flooring?? Like I said, there is no logic to be found in MY dreams.

This or That?

I am an animal lover. (tee hee hee, what an understatement!) ANYWAY, my mom recently lived at a facility out in the country for almost 3 months. One of the nice aspects of this facility is that it looked out on a ranch. We would watch the cows going to eat when their Dad (is that the correct term to use for the man that feeds the cows?) would come to feed them every evening. The little calves were so cute! I started wanting a calf. I even began to fantasize about keeping one in my backyard. My backyard is "kind of" big relatively speaking anyway. I mean it is bigger than a bread box. ANYWAY again, my mom did mention to me that me getting a baby calf was probably not the "best" idea since there is probably some city code about it. I would never let a small thing like that stand in the way though. I "kind of" got past the idea. Then, Sunday I met a baby donkey. He was at church just fraternizing with the parishioners. His name was Poncho. ANYWAY again, I want a baby donkey now. So which will it be? A calf or a baby donkey? Decisions, decisions.
Will it be this?
Or will it be that?

Round Robin-The Songs of Our Lives

Wow, this was another fun altered page for the round robin!! The only difficulty that presented itself to me in this book of “The Songs of Your Life” is WHICH song to choose??? What a dilemma! I listen to music almost ALL of the time. I have no musical talent that I can claim for my own. However, I most definitely have an appreciation for other people’s musical talent. (I even catch myself listening to the songs of birds!) For example, there is one bird that visits my yard that has a song that sounds as if he is laughing. (By the way, I love that bird!)

When I am at work, I listen to music by using my ear buds all day only removing them to answer the phone and to occasionally converse with co-workers. Sometimes when I am rushing around early in the morning, I leave my music at home. Then upon arriving at work, I have to go scouting in order to borrow something from co-workers. I have found all kinds of new genres that I love by listening to those musical loans.

I went through a phase a few years back (ephemeral phases are a common trend for me if you have not noticed) in which I was going to try my hand at being a screen play writer. I was moving away to California and the whole nine yards. How many people try that though? (Too many.) Therefore, that would not be my style, would it? It is my style to take the path that no one else will take or wants to take, well, at least until I grow bored with it. What provoked my interest in the screen play writing field is because I watch a lot of movies or at least I used to watch a lot of movies when I had slightly more time. Even now, I still probably watch more movies than most people. I will FIND time to watch a movie even if it means NO sleep. But here is the point, the crux of the matter. Next time you are watching a movie, if you do not do this already, listen to the music. I mean REALLY listen to the music. The music in a movie will walk you down an emotional path. I am betting you will find that your favorite movies will have the most appealing music to your tastes. It does not even have to be a complete song but just a musical arrangement. There is a movie called “Heat” that has an amazingly synchronized bank robbery scene. What makes this scene is the percussion arrangement. Watch that scene without sound and it is nothing. It quickly loses its appeal.

From the way I have rambled on endlessly about this subject, well, you get the picture by now regarding how much music influences me. It seemed quite a coincidence that Barbara chose the Beatles and Lisa M. chose EJ for their pages. Reflecting though, it is not a coincidence. Those two options are probable ones after all. It would be ridiculous for me to choose a song for this round robin book by any other artists than EJ or the Beatles. I mean I use songs by these artists like some people use prescription medication. Having a bad day? “She Loves You” can fix almost anything. Of the two, EJ is my strongest love and this is saying A LOT. I am sure it is because as Lisa M. said, it harkens back to those teenage years. However, unlike Lisa M., I think I always knew EJ “played for the other team” so to speak. One of his and Bernie’s songs that can fix almost anything for me with its poignant innocence is “Your Song”. I did not pick either of those songs for this book because I could not begin to adequately express with my limited artistic means the depth of feeling those songs generate in me. I thought about it. I tried. I could not. So I chose instead, “Empty Garden” by EJ as it is a kind of marriage of the two. (EJ’s tribute to John.) Next time you hear the original 1982 version of “Empty Garden” by EJ, be sure to listen to his harpsichord at the very end of the song. His playing and musical writing are awe inspiring.

I used some of my jewelry making abilities as I think they are better than my paper crafting abilities to make a treble clef out of floral wire and pearls for this page. Linda, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it. Peace and Love.

Life's Other Side

I suppose you could say I do not have a lot of spare time. In order to find extra time, I have to cut down on my sleep. I do not sleep that much already. Anyway, I did manage to find some extra time (should have been doing my taxes) to make something. I had been looking at Lisa's blog and tried a technique on this background that she has been using. I hope I did it justice.

Round Robin - Self Portrait

This round robin book theme is self portrait. It is a lot harder to do a self portrait than one might think. I mean when you really sit down and think about what makes you you, it is tough. It might be easier for others to say what makes you you because they can see you better. You only see the inside looking out view. There is a lot of information in this picture but it is hopefully not that obvious. That is the fun of it. My real picture is in there somewhere along with many of my loves and passions. I say many because this book page is too small for all of my loves and passions. That would take a library full of books. :0 Although a tough theme, it was a very fun one too! As with everything here, I had a little help from my friends when attempting to take the pix.

Watercolors

I have always had a fascination with watercolored paintings. I have tried to watercolor on a few occassions but never had any success with it. Anyone that has read my blog from start to finish has probably discerned that I am a dabbler; trying everything but never committing to anything. Well, I am tackling watercolors again and here are three of my current creations. Any librarian can tell you that some of the best artwork you can find on the planet is not necessarily located in a museum but rather inside childrens books. Many of the illustrations are done in watercolors but many are mixed media too. If you ever get the opportunity to look at a childrens book called "John Henry" by Julius Lester and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, you will certainly enjoy the pictures. They are inspirational and I think that is why I tackled watercolors one more time.

Alarm Clocks

Alexis F. Hope said "The best kind of alarm clock is the purring kind." Cindy says "The worst kind of alarm clock is the biting kind." And that is speaking from experience.

I've Been Tagged

Lisa tagged me with these directives: go to My Pictures folder, to the 6th folder, to the 6th pix and post it here. This is it...not sure why I took this pix other than trying to take pix of my mums. I have more mums now going down the side of my house, of course, they only bloom in June and October! They used to be an unfavorite flower but now I love them and they are very hearty!

Round Robin - A Favorite Book

The theme of this Round Robin book is "A Favorite Book". I chose "The Autobiography of Henry VIII". Obviously, Henry never wrote his autobiography, therefore, this is a work of historical fiction. If you have a few months to devote to reading it, I highly recommend it. My design actually looks better in person than in the picture. I took the picture outside and it is significantly washed out.

Desperately Blogging

Hey, does it make you really nervous when you look in your rear view mirror and see a car following closely behind you that has obviously rear-ended someone at some point in the past? You can tell by the way the hood is buckled and the headlights are broken out? It really makes me nervous. ;)