Saturday Memorandums

 

 

This shadow on the bathroom wall caught my eye early this morning.

Love reading on cold days.

Spending time in the art room is also a favorite activity.

Home is a good place to be.

This week I tried the word game that's gaining popularity - Wordle. It's easy to get hooked(www.powerlanguage.co.uk). I look forward to the daily challenge. 

No Resolutions

 Do you make resolutions as a new year gets underway? I don't, but just try to appreciate each new day. Some days pass uneventfully, and sometimes the days blur together. On some days I write a To Do List in the morning on an index card which helps me not waste an entire day. 

January is usually associated with snow. But our few days with snow were light flurries with cars getting most of the frosty stuff.

Three days in a row I watched as an artist did a monochrome art workshop.

Getting the papers ready was fun and relaxing.

Finished collage

Also added a couple of collage pages to my leather art journal.

Since I was in Covington Friday morning for a vehicle registration renewal I decided to browse in one store on the square. The after Christmas markdowns and sales were great at Upscale Antiques & More. That's why this sheep painting came home with me. 

Not much happening at our place. Today we have been reading and watching basketball and football games. Tonight I requested a new picture of Tallulah, and Lauren sent me four. Here's my favorite.

Joys

 This little one is at the top of the list. Justin's mom shared this picture on Facebook with this caption - "She left this hat on about 2 seconds!" I haven't seen Tallulah since Christmas. Toward the first of January Lauren, Justin, and Tallulah were all feeling sick. Thankfully they are better. Soon I must pay this bundle of JOY a visit.

Corkey and I are together. That's a real big JOY. We are aware that change will come, but find it hard to even think about being apart.

Painting is certainly a JOY. This art set is a Dirty Santa gift I was able to snag in December, thanks to a big hint from my grandson Nick. 

My first painting of the new year was this country church.

And today's special JOY was a surprise visit from friends Mary and Sam. We talked,  laughed, and shared a wonderful afternoon. About two years ago Mary had liked one of my angel paintings. I taped a note to it, and today Mary carried it home. 

A friendship like ours is such a JOY. We share a treasury of memories...some silly, some serious, but all are priceless. 

January Vibes

 

I love these late afternoon sky colors viewed from my own backyard.

The cold weather makes me wistful for summer.

I've been trying to move things around inside the house. I guess it amounts to wanting to look at something different.

A couple of things on the mantel are new...sort of. I bought the old brick mold,

and the two other wooden pieces were gifts from my brother's friend Leslie. Her ex-husband has made many lovely wood objects.

  

Deciding to keep this simple nativity out year round, it ended up on the top of the piano.

The angel canvas came out of my bedroom closet. It was one of the first angels I ever painted and maybe my favorite.

These tiny red leather books were displayed at Christmastime, and I've decided to leave them out for a while. They came from my dad's parents' home. I had many more of the Little Blue Books from my grandmother Crum and regret selling groups of them at the booth, especially the poetry ones.

Oh well, I have too much stuff anyway. Two trunks finally went home with son Ryan this week. He will have the "fun" part of deciding what to discard and what to keep from all the toys, books, school papers, yearbooks, etc.

Now I need to keep working on reducing my own personal items.

Easier said than done!

A New Year

Hope the new year will bring good changes. 

Hope I can face each day with gratitude.

Hope I can find courage when needed.

Hope my faith will sustain me.