FALL IN LOVE WITH FALL...

One of the things I love best about fall, is my autumn yard babies, in all my favorite colors. The bees love them too.

SULAMITH WULFING ROCKS...

This painting by Sulamith Wulfing is one of my very dearest possessions. It was on a postcard I found it in the collage book store many years ago, but I could find out nothing about the artist, so I framed it and hung it on my wall...Enter the Internet and GOOGLE image (another great joy in my life) Imagine my delight when after decades I find a whole site dedicated to Sulamith and all her works. You will find many of them on a Slide at the bottom of my blog...ENJOY!

TRICK OR TREAT OCTOBER...

October's sky is black and filled with stars,

a Hunter moon rises full and bright over the pumpkin patch.

Cornstalks shiver and huddle together in bunches,

the scarecrow stands his guard alone.

Purple magic swirls through the night air,

fanned by the swish of a witches broom.

Jack-o-lanterns pier from porches with wicked leers,

while small goblins scurry round about

collecting candy and cackling with glee.

Trick or treat October, trick or treat?

DSW 09

A SONG CALLED, NOVEMBER...

art by Sulamith Wulfing ~ lyrics by Azure Ray

~

So I'm waiting for this test to end

So these lighter days can soon begin

I'll be alone but maybe more carefree

like a kite that floats so effortlessly.

~

I was afraid to be alone
Now I'm scared that's how I'd like to be

All these faces none the same

How can there be so many personalities.

~

So many lifeless empty hands

So many hearts in great demand

And now my sorrow seems so far away

Until I'm taken by these bolts of pain.

~

But I turn them off and tuck them away

'til these rainy days that make them stay

And then I'll cry so hard to these sad songs

And the words still ring, once here now are gone.

~

And they echo through my head everyday

And I think they'll never go away

Just like thinking of your childhood home

We can't go back, we are on our own...

TORNADO WARNING...

art by Rob McCormick
LIFE IS A TORNADO WATCH...

...are you going to hunker down in the basement,
...or stand on the roof, let the wind give you rock star hair...

...AND YELL ...

...I DIDN'T RAKE THE LEAVES CAUSE I KNEW YOU WERE COMING!

YOU JUST TAKE MY BREATH AWAY...

art by Obinski

Sometimes it amazes me

How strong the power of love can be

Sometimes you just take my breath away.

You watch my love grow like a child

Sometimes gentle and sometimes wild

Sometimes you just take my breath away.

And it's to good to slip by

It's too good to lose
Too good to be there

Just to use

I'm gonna stand on a mountain top

And tell the news

That you take my breath away.

CLOUDBURST REVIEW...

Grey shrouded actors bow to the ground.

Applause thunders on and on,

encore, encore,

the stage runs wet with tears.

DSW 09

ROMANCE WITH THE HISTORICAL...

wonderful art by Scott Gustefson

Life in the nineteenth century fascinates me. However the thought of having to endure it would send me screaming into the woods. Corsets, hoop skirts, petticoats and fans might be someones idea of wonderful...but not mine, and the ridged rules and restrictions on women...Oy, I would have been known as a first class hoyden, men's breeches, bare feet & ankles and all...George Sand is my hero.

Still, I love to read about it. Dickens, Austin, Bronte, Sand...Kleypas, Woodwiss, McNaught, Quinn...give me a historical romance and a lazy afternoon and I am in heaven.

Though when I think about it, it seems funny that my mind has settled a fascination on one particular time period over another, even though I wouldn't want live then. Egads...Maybe I was George Sand in a previous life. LOL

MOURNING AN OLD FRIEND...

art by Sulamith Wulfing

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell.

Edna St Vincent Millay

A HEART FOR SOMEONE DEAR...

GOD CAN MEND YOUR BROKEN HEART,

IF YOU GIVE HIM ALL THE PIECES...

TRY TO REMEMBER...

Try to remember the kind of September

when life was slow, and oh so mellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

when grass was green and grain was yellow.

Try to remember the kind of September

when you were a tender and callow fellow.

Try to remember, and if you remember,

then follow...

Try to remember when life was so tender

that no one wept except the willow.

Try to remember when life was so tender

that dreams were kept beside your pillow.

Try to remember when life was so tender

that love was an ember about to billow.

Try to remember, and if you remember,

then follow...

Deep in December it's nice to remember

although you know the snow will follow.

Deep in December it's nice to remember

without a hurt the heart is hollow.

Deep in December it's nice to remember

the fire of September that made us mellow.

Deep in December our hearts should remember

and follow...

ALL THAT IS GOLD DOES NOT GLITTER...

art by Daniel Merriam

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reaches by the frost,

From ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring,

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

John Ronald Reuel Tolken

SWEET SEPTEMBER...

Welcome sweet September with your crisp apple nights

and your warm and mellow amber days.

Waltz through the fields with me September

fill my arms with the joy of your bounty.

Hold me close September for you are fine

and I love your gentle autumn ways.

Let us dance the last dance of summer together

for your warmth is fleeting and winters chill draws nigh.

DSW 09

IN THE GLOAMING...

art by Sulamith wulfing
...

In the gloaming, oh my darling,

when the lights are soft and low

and the quiet shadows falling

softly come and softly go..

When the trees are sobbing faintly

with some gentle unknown woe,

will you think of me and love me

as you did once long ago..?

Jonatha Brooke

DREAMSCAPES...

The art of Anne Bachelier
I want to share the beautiful artwork of Anne Bachelier. Like fragments of dreams fascinating images to fire the imagination. Illustrations for the story in your head.

PET DRAGONS...

Illusrations by Michael Parks

I wish that I had a pet dragon or two

to light up my life everyday

I'd polish their scales and file their toenails

and feed them an apple or two.

I wish that I had a pet dragon or two

a couple of cuddly fellows

to warm up my bed and pat on the head

and happily toast my marshmallows.

DSW 09

THE MAD TEA PARTY...

The Mad Tea Party four different artists four different visions of one of my favorite bits of insanity. What does your Mad Hatter look like and if you didn't fall down a rabbit hole where would your insane adventure take place.

Mine would most likely happen at the mall which in it's self is a form of insanity. After all think of the potential bottles and bits to partake of and all the bazaar characters.

HAPPINESS...

LOVE IS THE KEY...

SEA SHELLS BY THE SEA SHORE...

This is a close up of the bazillions of tiny sea shells that make up much of the beach at Bear Lake where we went on vacation with our family this week.

Bear lake is a beautiful lapis colored lake shared between Utah and Idaho. It was the Raspberry Days festival so we all went up to relax, swim, soak up the sun and load up on fresh raspberry milk shakes.

MY O' MY OLBINSKY...

Here is an artist who whimsical works tease my twisted imagination. Rafal Olbinski created this as one of a series of pictures for the New York City Opera. To me they are unforgettable images, I love his art.

BLUE , BLUE, BLUE...

What would you do if the world were blue

trees and chairs and monkeys too

the frown on your face and the strap on your shoe

what would you do if it all turned blue

nine hundred forty nine shades of blue.

GRANDKIDS...ARE GRAND...

Art by Barbara Lavalee They say that Grandchildren are lifes reward for raising children. But I think the best thing about Grandkids is that you can spoil them and then send them home. They also remind me that just when you think you know everything about raising kids...you're wrong.

IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES...

Imagination is such a wonderful thing...We would be so bored without it.
"Sanity is the playground of the unimaginative."
unknown

HAPPY PIONEER DAY EVERYBODY!!!

Thank you, thank you to my dozen or more ancestors who gave their all to brave a desert wasteland and make this State the beautiful paradise it is today. So I can have the day off and stuff myself with picnic fare.
My special thanks to, three of my Great great, great Grandmothers who drove ox drawn wagons or walked 1500 miles by themselves. Because of you I know I have courage inside me somewhere.

REAL PIONEERS DON'T WHINE...

It is 102 degrees here, and so I sit in my air conditioned house and whine, and run for my car where I can adjust the temp to within a degree of my own personal delight

grumbling as I go.

Hard to believe I am a descendant of more then a dozen men and women who after traveling (mostly on foot) 1500 hot, cold, dusty miles, actually arrived in what was then an empty desert valley (one twisted cedar tree in the whole valley) on this very week in 1847. I wonder how they spent their days in that heat as they established shelter for themselves. (I know they started plowing as soon as they arrived) And then I think of how it would be to spend a 102 degree day inside a log cabin. And I am grateful and in awe of their strength and commitment, because I know if it had been me back then...my descendants would still be in Ireland.

So today as I sit in my air conditioned house I will smile and think to myself it's too #$%@ HOT!!

LOOKING BACK...

This month I have been finishing up a project that I started along time ago. Actually it isn't really finished as I think it will last me until I go to join my loved ones in the great beyond. However this week I published 52 histories of my Father's ancestors beginning with him and going back to family members who lived in the early 1600's. This book along side the one I already completed for my Mother's family, represents a labor of love, the love and appreciation I have for those brave men and women who came before me and who have left me such a wonderful legacy through their hard work and sacrifice. It has taken over 25 years for me to interview, research, edit and write these histories and I have enjoyed each new story and marveled at the sometimes miraculous events that have put them in my hands. I am also very grateful to those before me who have recorded histories and done research as my work relied heavily on many other authors and records.

This painting is called "Looking Back" I haven't been able to name the artist, it is the cover picture I chose for my books (this isn't a commercial publication it's just for my family and the church archives)

I feel a great sense of satisfaction knowing the main part is finished and everything else is frosting on the cake.

Now on to my husbands family!

FOR THOSE IN NEED OF COMFORT...

This is to mother you,

to comfort you and get you through

through when your nights are lonely

through when your dreams are only blue

This is to mother you.

~

This is to be with you,

to hug you and to kiss you too.

For when you need me I will do

what your own mother couldn't do

which is to mother you.
Sinead O'Connner

FREEDOM WAS BORN ON THE 4th OF JULY...

Ring out bells of freedom.

Ring out loud and strong.

Ring your voice to heaven.

Please!

Keep this nation strong.

THANK YOU CLYTIE...

Thank you , thank you Clytie for this cute Neno Award and your very kind words. I am honored because this award is given I am told to those who love blogging and love to encourage friendship through blogging.....that would be me alright. But where would I be with out all of you....You my blogging friends are the very best and I share this award with all of you (because we are all in this together...and no one is getting out alive) LOL, I love ya!!!

THE SALT LAKE CITY ARTS FESTIVAL...

Richard Curtner http://www.curtnerart.com/
Malen Pierson http://www.recycledvisions.com/

Marilyn Sunderland http://www.marilynsunderlandstudio.com/

~

This weekend thanks to my son Kalen, my Sister and I got to go as V.I.P. guests to the Salt Lake City Arts Festival. It was marvelous, so many talented and amazing artist, photographers, musicians and performers. The V.I.P. part just meant we got in and a free catered dinner which was lovely too. I wish I could have taken all of you with me.

I didn't take my camera along because I know how much artists love people snapping pictures of their work but I found these on their websites because I wanted to share. And if you have the time check out these other totally gifted people. www.davidjwest.com www.kingwu.com www.desertsteel.net www.lizcollinsart.com David West and King Wu are fantastic photographers I think you'll like them.

STAR TREK...

When I was a kid I used to love to sleep outside at night. I would grab my dad's old 2 ton army green canvas sleeping bag and a silly girl friend or even my little brother for company. We would climb in the bed of our good ole International pick up truck and sleep out under the stars.
And boy were there stars, billions of them we could see the Big Dipper and the North Star and the Milky Way and shooting stars. I haven't been able to see that many stars for a long time. Now when you look up you can only see a few twinkling in the night. They say it's because of light pollution, we can't see the stars out there because of so many lights on down here.
The stars used to be very important, people looked to the heavens for direction and guidance because they gave a perspective we can't get here on earth. Maybe we need to get away from our own lights once in awhile and gaze at the stars for a little insight.

CLOUD RAGE...

The furious storm cloud raged across the valley raising his angry fist and shaking it at the heavens.

Then lifting his mighty foot in a final act of vengeance, he stomped the mountain flat.

TAKING UP THY GAUNTLET...

I have taken up thy gauntlet RANDOM & UNEXPECTED, and the end is in sight, so I lay before you the sorry results of my quest. For indeed both my camera and myself have been slackers and ne'er do wells in this great challenge. But forsooth I have not at least arrived at the end empty handed. The cloud picture being entitled "The Thinker" and the mountain called "The Dowager Duchess" I had hoped to get out and about more but alas it did not happen. Aah but next time thou art toast!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY...

THANKS DAD.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS...

Art by Daniel Merriam

"Anyone who lives within their means suffer from a lack of imagination."

Oscar Wilde


When I saw this quote I had to laugh...I and the people I know who live within their means have a surfeit of imagination that enables them to live with aplomb along side friends and neighbors with maxed out bankcards. ie....I have done so much, with so little, for so long, that I am now able to make anything, out of nothing.

This is a painting by one of my favorite artists, Bev Doolittle.

It is titled "The Forest Has Eyes"

Bev's trademark is hiding pictures within pictures.

Can you fine the 13 faces hidden here?

Good Luck!