my Latest painting

Well, I made it past Friday evening , a week after my little once in a long time adventure. Went to bed early, slept like a baby . We had rain and wind and woke to snow and wind, but not all that much here, right in good old South Shore Liverpool NS. Still no pictures from that night a week ago Birthday Blast...may be better that way, I either broke the camera..or maybe ,we dare not share :-(

Last week I painted a lot and am working on this painting you see in the picture. Loving her wrinkles which you will see better when she is done.

Chuck picked me up a wonderful book the other day and it has so much in it, very inspiring regarding ideas for future paintings. I must set aside my brushes and do some needle felting.I have a few thoughts in my old dusty head.The painting I did of the old man in the wood has been given to our clay for his birthday, I have been working on another and will share that with you soon. It seems even though I look out and see snow, I feel and hear Spring out there, the other day while walking to the gym I heard the birds singing for mates, so happy indeed and looking for love. We are all thinking of building our nests new this time of year. My plan is to move our Bunk house which is our spare room outside in our little building into what we call our birdhouse which is a cute birdhouse style shed which houses our bikes at the moment. The Bird House will be great for a Summer spare company room. Just the right size for the bed. After we insulate it with wine boxes which I have been saving ,this cardboard from the wine box's is strong and great for what I need to insulate ,then I staple National Geographic maps which we have been saving as well for years and once I wall paper with these maps it makes great wall paper and educational at that. We have a small window from when we did our renovations here in our house that we will put in our new Bird House Bunk house and where it is located in our back yard you will be able to lie in bed and watch the fire in the back yard fire pit, it should be very cozy and I look forward to sleeping out there myself, especially during the drying time of our Spring painting of our bedroom floor, which we have been putting off for way too long now. I also plan to paint my kitchen cupboards before Spring and have been bad at putting this off, I believe the emptying of the cupboards is what is keeping me from beginning this project, maybe writing about it will get me off my tush and at it. I have decided that life is way too short and my plan this Summer is for Chuck and I to enjoy our coming years together by doing things and not sitting all Summer Gallery sitting everyday here. My plan will be to enjoy the Summer by getting outside and painting on site more ,anyone interested in visiting my Gallery should call first so not to be disappointed or look for my OPEN flag. I found the last couple of Summers great and I love to meet all who come by, but since the end of the Cat Ferry out of Yarmouth ,I as well as many others have found Town a bit sleepy. It would be great if it would pick up a bit more this summer, lets hope. But ,the way I look at it is I am working and producing no matter where I am, I like to be busy and I love to create ,so no matter where or what I am doing I will still be busy and as well enjoying the great out doors with my soul mate, and that would be "Chuckles"

We do have a lot of small and large chores planned for early Spring, and as always time needs to be made for staying abreast of the paint on the house and another big job will be shingle the south side of our house and shed roofs.With help from our dear friend and Clay and whoever else kindly will help, Chuck and I will be on cleanup duty, Chuck is no longer allowed up on roofs. This little house is a fine little house and we were blessed to have found it, if I could get a bathroom downstairs ,now that would be perfect, but it looks like we have a plumbing problem and that may never happen so will stop right now with that plan,or wishful thinking unless we put in a compostable toilet and I would have to sell a lot of art before I ever see that happen, so I will be painting up a storm and keep dreaming.

I was out biking just over a week ago now and decided to being my bike into the house ,she is living in my gallery right now, I will clean the salt and dirt off and ready her for Spring. We bought some exercise gear and plan to put it in the old bunkhouse and our plan may hopefully be to use it out there instead of doing a longer membership at the new fitness Gym planned for next year, the price as I mentioned in an earlier post will be going up and we simply can not afford a higher membership fee. I for one need to exercise ,since I started at the gym I have gotten my life and mobility back and simply can't afford not to continue exercising. It won't be as much fun ,not being there with what I call the rest of the "kids" laughing ,joking with the time flying by with laughter. So wish us luck with our plan to do a little gym ourselves. What should we call it? Everything needs a name...one I was thinking of is "Gym Bobs"beats me as to why this stuck in my head....so I ask any of you out there ,if you can think of a catchy,fun name for our simple shed gym...come on Lynn, you are witty ,clever and quick...can you think of something ?

Today is Saturday and I believe I hear a drum or two calling my name on this winter looking day...in fact ...yes ...a drum or two for sure, life is way too short...must beat on the drum all day:-) and sing my little heart out like the "Song Bird's "

So ,till next time, I bid you adieu....

a Senior's funny story

Well, where to begin. I believe the beginning should be"Where were you Lynn,when I needed you ?" you will understand after you read.
OK, I consider myself officially a Senior Citizen and loving it, as I dress as a Pirate in the Summers during Privateer Days, only to get laughed at by the cute young Dudes when I "Grrrrrr" at them, to be told to behave myself by Local Mounties I grew up with. No one really takes grey haired Ladies with any kind of fear or seriousness ,or I pray they don't :-)
My story begins actually a very long time ago when I became older and a bit of a loner, always working and marching to the beat of my own Drum literally for sure, for I always have been one who can entertain myself with no problem and when you mix in Chuck and his drum, well we make enough noise for 20 people,thing is as we have become longer in the tooth ,we start earlier and are finished by the time most people are leaving or headed to their evenings dinner table. To bed early we always are and I am really hoping this Summer to make it till dark nights...beauty Sleep I say..other's might not agree..., for there have been times Chuck and I after rising very early mornings, we being " early birds" would have to wear sleep masks to block out the sun coming in our bedroom window when we would go to bed before dark. So, here we go to the present past few days . About a Month ago I ordered a special book about Gnomes and a stain Glass ceiling lamp for our newly painted living room, thinking these two things would be a great 58th birthday gift for my upcoming birthday this past Friday Feb 18th. All the week before I was checking for my orders to arrive, just like a kid with excitement and sure enough ,everyday I was sadly disappointed to receive nothing in the mail. Thursday came and I headed to the post and there was a card from my,I always refer to her as my "older Little Sister "Linda, because I have always been bigger then her from a very early age and in that card was something she does every year for me ,she gives me something I never buy for myself, I am not a gambler and because of not being one when I open her card ,my day is full, scratching lotto tickets, it is so funny for every year I read the directions and talk to myself while playing these bingo and word scratch games, one year when still living in Charleston and I was home alone scratching these cards , I thought I won the World, who knew some of these words weren't indeed words after all. That was the year Clay told me there was a bar code you could scratch and find out if you won without playing, well now ,I believe that would ruin the fun, don't you ? OK, so I was itching to get these cards scratched and pickup my money but Thursday became a busy day for me with company and work and most of my game playing was done Thursday evening before bed, and we were like always in bed by 7 after the news, now pay attention to the bed times, at least by 7 PM most evenings if not every evening. I woke the day of my birthday the 18th,hit the gym, a great day indeed, starting my day with exercise which oh so works for me ,the gym kids ,I call them that,most of them Seniors in the AM when I go ,they gave me the sweetest appropriate birthday card .I had a great sweaty workout, feeling very "chipper". After the gym, I came home and went directly out to the Grocery store with Chuck to get Birthday dinner fixings for Clays Birthday celebrations on Sunday, his Birthday being on the 19th,mine the 18th . So off we went to the grocery store and me with all my scratched tickets in hand, Chuck went in to shop I went to get my winnings, I won nine dollars:-( next time OK? so rather then take my Nine $ I chose to keep on trying for the big win, not thinking and I promise next time I will get some more of the word scratch tickets because they are fun for me, exciting and all, don't get me wrong I will and would never make a habit of gambling in any way for I would never be so lucky but I will win someday something large enough to make my Sister's kind efforts pay off....I will ,oh yes, See, I am positive:-) could only wish. So, me being an apple on the tree but not the brightest so they say, asked for nine dollars of those pull tickets , not realizing they are like 2/$1.00 and I ended up with a hand full of these things, so I went into the grocery store with Chuck trying to shop with one hand and open these tickets with the other. Looking for my winning ticket.Finally I gave up and went to the car where I proceeded to pull and pull and pull,I won only a couple dollars and went into the shop again to the amazement of the person behind the counter as to how fast I checked these tickets. Well no wins but a lot of these dead tickets on the floor of the car. So the story in a nut shell right now is no wins and no parcels on my birthday. Boo Hoo...All I can do now is find a laugh somewhere and that brings me to Frenchy's before we hit home with our groceries . I walk in and what do I see but Becky the Manager coming from out back with the prettiest Burgundy ,state of the art, has a carry bag ,a fold up seat, hand breaks , it had it all.... this walker, one that would cost well over $200. new. I laughed and said to Becky ,now that is a great Birthday gift for myself ,watch this. She gave it to me to try out and I started to have some fun with it ,going up the isle to meet Chuck who was just coming in the door, I said and to be honest it was a great deal and you never know it just might have come in handy sometime in the future,if we live long enough. Well we all started laughing when Chuck said to Becky "if this crazy ole lady ever comes in here and tries to buy something like this again,you call me and lock her up" so we all had a big chuckle over this pretty state of the art walker I was playing with.
Now remember I am still in my gym cloths and smell like ****. Getting home we ended up with company again ,got the groceries away ,making plans to get clean and drum early and to bed again early Friday evening like always and maybe even get to the social walk which happens every Sat. AM here in Liverpool. I got the drums out ,was ready to bang on my drum for the rest of the afternoon when a dear friend dropped by with some "Vino" she had one , I had the rest, OK you now can see where this may be going. A roast went into the oven a bit later then we had planned .I got cleaned up ,Chucks back has been out and he hasn't been feeling all that great. We drummed for a short while after our friend left and the phone rang again ,it was our Clay wishing me birthday greetings,while I was on the phone with Clay, Chuck decided he was going to go to bed early because his back was not feeling great . Not wanting to eat the roast and trimmings by myself and go to bed so early on my birthday Clay suggested I take a walk to "Joeys A-one Pizza" for my favorite mug up a Bubba Donair, So after saying good buy to Clay I told Chuck where I was going and he sleepily said OK. Here we go, I am on the roller coaster ride now, picture the old birthday girl walking down Main Street with my two walking sticks which I can't walk without. Drooling for a "Big Bubba Donair" now remember this was all my son's suggestion:-) his fault...I thought I would pop into Ally 9 after I get my Donair for just one beer, I use to work with one of the bar tenders years ago. As I was walking along Main Street I heard a voice say" what are you up to tonight?" To my surprise it was the Father of one of my favorite little people I have face painted in the past. A lovely early 40's Gentleman,lovely wife and son. When I told him what I was up to and that I was going in for a beer and that is was my birthday ,he said he would go with me for a beer so I wouldn't be by myself.... how nice of him. So into the bar we go before I get my Donair ,I parked myself beside my Dear old friend who I worked with she and her sister many years ago in the late 60's early 70's. She lives with the flute playing Karaoke guy who Chuck and I met back in the 80's when we were doing a lot of flea markets. We reminisced and talked the rest of the night, and a few beers were bought. The whole time my younger friend checking in on me ,he kindly said he would walk the old birthday girl home when I was ready, well like I said a few beers flowed and I kept talking ,then my friend pulled out her camera and there will be( maybe) photos to follow up this story if I dare show them:-O well I said take my picture so I can prove I was here on my 58th Birthday. Then she suggested I go up on stage and she would take it then, so off I went up with another friend of hers, yes I was to shy to go alone, can you believe that??...HA HA..as well I believe I was dancing, a lot, me who am crippled up, who says a couple of drinks can't take pain away, I believe it worked for me that night. So I was there to close the place at two AM, the lights came up, it was full of young people ,maybe I saw a few faces my age but there was a lot of young energy, who are these so called young people full of life, yes, that would be me back ...hummmmmm lets see do the math...a long time ago now. Remember,I still have not had my Donair let alone anything at all since breakfast in my belly but beer. oops!!!!! So my young date and I left to try and get me a Donair to take home. Forget that...my friend Joey from A-1 Pizza was a very busy boy, he and Deb his right hand worker, the place was packed outside and inside, So I bit the hunger bullet, made my way through the crowd to say hello to Deb and Joey, for they have never seen me out that late before. We headed for home my young date and I , funny saying young date, makes a 58 yr old early to bed Momma feel all young and spry, I said my goodnight and thanked him for looking after me:-) at the corner of Union and Main and sent him home to his family while I walked by myself the rest of the way in the beginning rain showers. After getting home, I swear, my belly button was somewhere back by my back bone by now so I got into the delicious cold roast to then hit my pillow for four hours sleep. I woke early as always and got to work cooking for Clays birthday dinner and make a cake for him for his Sunday visit. My voice was very raspy all day Saturday and again Sunday, as well today maybe I sang more then I thought I did, I wish I would have had a drum with me Friday night, but I bet folk's would have been just as happy if I didn't . They do have a jam session there every 2nd Thursday night but I am afraid I would always be in bed, wish it were afternoons...maybe in two years time on my 60th...I just might ,God willing ,pull this little stunt again. Don't tell me I'm old ...hahaha...and that takes me back to my Dear Lynn, and she knows who she is ,check out Lynn's blog from this site...she is a third cousin /friend of mine..and Lynn knows how to live... I thought I would never be able to keep up with you and Lou ,Lynn..well I gave it a good kick at the can Friday...wish you were there:-) So back to painting today, I am vegging again and healing, takes longer and longer everytime I do such things as party hardy. Chuck picked up an interesting book which has given me a lot of ideas for maybe very interesting paintings in the somewhat near future. More on that as it comes along. Right now I am working on a bit of a portrait of an Old Egyptian Lady. Will share that as soon as it comes together more. Check back in a few days for pictures of my adventure..once my friend sends them to me....and if you never see these pictures ,you can guess ,as to why not...but I did not get arrested.. maybe thanks to my young date :-)I hope you enjoyed my Seniors story, it's not like it happens every day:-)

some changes

Changes ,saving money,it all can be good. This morning I decided to cancel my web site effective June 2011 . There haven't been a lot of changes made to the site in sometime, me not wanting to bother my Dear friend with making changes for me. I find my blog works quite well at introducing my more recent art and whatever other creations I love to do . Since we no longer do shows I find I have more time and the web site has become not so needed.

Above are two recent paintings "Mending nets" ,and "See shells by the Sea shore" oil on canvas.

I am about to start another painting , above is a picture of what it will be of, it should prove interesting and a bit of a challenge, considering what it is,which is a piece of firewood given to us many years ago by my brother when we were staying at the Cottage in Summerville , as you can see,we found a face in this wood , in other cases people see a Bear and various other things, what do you see? I look forward to starting it soon.

This past few Months I have been looking for and collecting up little props for upcoming needle felted pieces, my Gallery happily is a bit empty, I have a few items ready for the Tourist Season and fingers crossed it will be better this year then last. Which brings to mind the Yarmouth Cat Ferry issue, it not running made a big difference with US travellers in town last Summer. I must admit every time a Whale was hit by the Ferry,can't recall how many ,hopefully maybe only one, I don't know ,but I fear for our Marine life and am torn but do understand the need for something like another Ferry whether it be so fast ,who knows. Years back when the Cat Ferry first came to be we did a Trade Show in Bar Harbor and rode the Cat over along with our Son and very much enjoyed the trip, and the fact it was quick ,it took no time at all ,those days we always would see visitors from the the US but this past Summer not so much. And we miss them. Some days last Summer were very sleepy around here indeed. I rode my bike all Summer long and noticed very few Licence plates from the US,we should have had more.

It is a sign of the times ,things have become harder for people, I feel our society has become sadly those that have and those that don't. The middle income is disappearing, is it only me who feels this way? For instance our gym membership, I have seriously gotten my life back ,as best I can at this age with my Arthritis by going to the gym,I was going to Physio ,had ten appointments referred by my Dr. After being taught what to do ,to help myself and understanding about my problems, the only choice I had was to take pills the rest of my life and sit and wait to die or get exercise and help myself. My problem couldn't be fixed with walking because I couldn't walk,so on my bike I went , I started to feel better with weight loss but my feet were still giving me a problem, well since joining the gym I am bending and using my feet and every little bone is being lubricated and worked and this way fluid gets in between all of these bones and I end up with much less pain. But, and there is always a but, the gym costs , yes like everything these days ,I got a Dr's. referral for 1/2 price for three Months but after that it will be full price, now we are getting a new Queen's fitness center (gym )here in Liverpool, which is great as well we will be getting a new ice rink which will help the economy I am sure, this all was discribed to me as going to be "State of the art" but I have questions as to why there can't be something in place for Lower income people as far as membership fees , not just speaking about myself, the starving artist but all those out there who are having a hard enough time eating healthy and staying warm and just simply getting by,as well as Seniors who are on fixed incomes ,these people should have the opportunity to help themselves by working out and not have to pay an arm and a leg to do so. Someone once said , people will find a way to pay these fees but you know as well as I ,in this day and age ,they are taking from something like their healthy food bill or heat or needed meds in some cases. Changes should be made to help people help themselves health wise ,it will and can only benefit everyone in the end, if people stay healthy and active and in their own homes longer in their golden years and joining the local gym has proven this to me. Lets make it accessible to all not only those who can afford these fees.

Same thing with golf courses,curling ,and youth hockey etc., money is harder and harder to obtain these days,lets open up to all.So I guess really my title for this writing fits with this issue as well as my web site.

I would have to say in three words..."fairness for all" that is what it boils down to.

Actually today we missed the gym, we woke at 5:30 ,came down got ready to leave for the gym when i received a school closure notice via email and when school is cancelled the gym does not open until later in the day. I looked outside and there was nothing in the way of snow here, but this is how it has been most of the Winter this year with everyone around us in snow and we have been somewhat balmy. So I called up to the gym and to my surprise it was open only because Liz hadn't gotten the closure announcement so when she did get the news ,those early birds who beat the closure got to finish up and we missed out. We find we do better the earlier we go mornings but this AM we should have gotten up and went in even earlier. Not getting to the gym for a couple days I find I start to feel sluggish and not as well as I do after a good early morning work out. My walking has become better and I actually bought a pair of sneakers which feel pretty good ,which finding comfortable footwear in the past was next to impossible for me because of what I call the bumps on the top of my feet. So I have started what I call my Gym jar and pop in what I can dollar wise,but for both of us to join ,and Chuck needs the gym as much if not more then me, so I need to double my gym jar bucks.

1st snow this season Feb.2/11

Our 1st snow storm this Season was on Feb2 /11,

and it is a big one. I woke this Feb 3 rd AM to even more snow and because of the good job plowing the road in front of our house ,the sidewalk has disappeared under at least 4 Foot of plowed heavy snow. Check out my exercise bike, poor dear out on the deck all by her lonely waiting for Momma to hop on and ride, well be patient my Darling ,for it will be awhile before I get you shoveled out. Not that I rode it anyway for it has been sitting there for sometime. I prefer the scenery on my bike with the two wheels, I find the view boring from the deck and never anyone to say hello to. This will be our second day away from the gym because of the storm, if school is cancelled and it has been for the second day, the gym does open but later in the day once the school has been plowed out, by the time the gym gets plowed we will be tired and will have exercised by shovelling snow. I remember back on the farm, when we got our tractor and plow, for the first two Winters with the tractor we had not even enough snow all winter to use the plow, whenever it would start to snow we sat and wished for enough to play with the plow, no problem the 3 rd year ,we got to use the plow big time. Where is the plow now when I need it? not here . So trusty shovels in hand and a little bite at a time and we will get it. Our Dear happy Puppy Baby Belle had her operation on Feb. 1st and she is laid up or for an active Border Collie Puppy somewhat off her pins. She is coming here today to stay with us while her Mom works, we will have to shovel a bit out back for her and try and keep her occupied inside and quiet so she can heal and not hurt her shoulder . Above is a picture of Baby Belle after her operation. Today I may have to be on the floor with her, she is a Dear Happy Puppy and my heart aches for her pain which she does not understand and not much will slow this puppy down and like I said I don't want her to over do it and not heal as she should. So Nurse Auntie D and Dr Uncle Chuckie will be right beside her all day today and spoil her even more.

I, while stormed in ,house bound have been painting up a storm and will share with you soon my latest oil painting. I am reworking another larger painting and soon must get to Bridgewater for supplies. Time feels like it is flying ,anyone else feel this way? In no time at all it will be Spring. OK...on that note I will dress and head out with my trusty shovel to clear a way for a hurting puppy to arrive.