well the roosters are staying as the new home did not work out..suffice to say it was a situation I wouldn't leave an enemy in! Much less the roosters I raised from chicks. Going to the hospital today to get an injection to help for a bulging disk that is pinching nerve. Hope that eliminates the pain so my flight to Ohio will be more comfortable. Making postcards from some seriously bad paintings! Passages I like I am leaving and then doing texture and more color. Hopefully friends will like them. Snowflakes this morning with the cold rain...brrrrr. have a great day everyone!

A painting I developed from an experiment in color. The more I look at it the more I like it!  Look close up and it has a lot to offer.
Today 3 roosters are going to a new home.  It is finally definitely fall here.

What exactly is it that I want? What do I get from posting my "stuff" here and on Face Book? At first Face book was a way to be part of the study abroad group that was going to Europe in May of 2008. But really it didn't work very well. But once I was on..I was posting, liking sharing all that "stuff". Then I decided to have a page just for my art. I also decided to have an ETSY shop. that has fallen by the wayside. The Face book thing has become a place where I offend people with my liberal thinking and postings. So less than satisfying and some days just frustrating. I actually have 3 blogs. One that has never had a post, One that has 4 posts, and this one where I appear to have problems with posting my whole life and boring my followers. I actually meant it to be a place for just my art...but that didn't happen. I don't seem to be doing much art lately and I have the constant nagging voice of one of my University teachers saying "one in 10 of you will be doing art in 10 years". I was so determined I would not be one of the 9. Already I know of several fellow students, young ones, who have given up art and gone on to other things..as if all that painting was too difficult and too much expected by others, by themselves. What was I expecting of myself? I wanted to finally concentrate on art..supposedly my first love. But I have to face the facts of being me...I love lots of things. I think I may have a poem in me or a short story. I think that art will always be a part of my life but why do I think I need to make money at it? I know I often thought that I would be single again and need to make a living..so I had thought to continue on with school and get a Masters so I could teach college level art...but at my age..I am just not that interested in that idea. I have worried that my husband may not be around long because all the men in his life died young, he has many medical problems. So I thought "make this pay" But my commitment level has leveled off and I find I am not an everyday artist. I suppose I could say that the orthopedic problems I have been dealing with have caused me to slow things down. And it could be true. I have had sciatica nerve pain in my left leg for months and it has made working 8 hrs. a day standing so painful I was relieved when the season for me came to an end early. Turns out I have a lower back problem that is causing it and an epidural the other day did nothing to stem the pain. Also the right knee is being replaced on Nov. 19th and I have lived without cartilage in that knee for a few years. Amazing what you can used to but not realize how it is truly affecting your life! So I suppose I can blame pain but I know how I am...flitting from one thing to another..I hope that giving up my studio at Poor Yorick is not the end of my art "career" such as it was. So I am flying to Ohio on the 27th of Oct. to visit my family and I hope to spend time not worrying about art. I get back on the 16th of Nov. and get ready for surgery on the 19th. Here is hoping the pain gets dealt with and my mind can focus again on a more creative life. I feel a need for a complete makeover...at age 59 is that crazy? Maybe what I mean is I want to let the me loose that I have always held back... what would you do if you let yourself truly loose and did whatever it was that you love,love, love? I do know that part of me wants the support that I get from many of you. It seems strange to need that from well people I have never met...but it is nice! Have a great day, a great weekend, if you have words of wisdom...I would love to hear them!

for some reason this is sideways!

Oct. 7,2012

Wow..it has been a busy few weeks! No time to even check out all the blogs I follow! Much less write something. My Open studio was ok. Didn't sell as much as the last time unfortunately but I had very little new work so I get it. My son, Shane and his crew made it to Oregon this past Thursday after many mishaps and setbacks before getting on the road!!! I felt like Pollyanna or the cheerleader at times as they got discouraged by things beyond their control happened. But nothing like moving 5 people, 2 dogs, and a house full of stuff in 2 weeks! Now the hope is that they find new jobs soon and a house to rent. They are camping on relatives acreage right now! I also at the same time was moving from my studio at Poor Yorick back home. That of course involved moving things from one room to the basement, and art stuff to that room and sewing stuff that did not sell to another room!!! Besides trips with the Pathfinder filled to the brim with art stuff. Finally on Sunday last week, I had my Pathfinder back and Hubby and I moved the last of the art and tables home. I decided to have him saw up the big paintings on wood...very old ones..and I put most of that in the dumpster. Kept out bits of my favorites. Then on Monday a fellow artist retrieved my parts of paintings from the dumpster, emailed me and wanted to know if I meant for them to be thrown. If so could he use them ? I was happy he thought he wanted them...I am looking forward to see what he does with them!! It took me another 2 days to go through my art supplies and set up my studio in the old kitchen room. More things to do..as in hooking up the laundry sink so I can make messes. Hubby might build a all with a sliding door so I can keep the kitties out. Then I went with my friend Anita to the Red Lotus Festival Friday night at the Salt Lake City Tibetan Buddhist temple. That was awesome!!! I was going to take the train back to Ohio to visit my family but the tickets got too expensive and I will now fly with Southwest..cheaper. Not as much fun. But I will take the train another time when I can afford to get the tickets. Posting pics of D5 studio as it was set up for Open studio, and a bit from the Lotus fest. This has been the first weekend in a long time I could relax...

well the saga of my oldest son's life continues. He and his girlfriend have been sharing one vehicle between 3 jobs. The check from the insurance company has yet to come. Then Wednesday night a drunk man from across the street kicked in their front door at 3:30 a.m.! He lives across the street and was actually after a different neighbor but he was drunk...so Alisa called 911 and the police were there almost instantly. In the meantime the drunk had walked down the street and his wife came out and was begging Alisa not to call the police but she already had. The drunk's wife assaulted the officers and they tasered her! Then her husband got mad and they had to taser him! Both are in jail for assorted issues not the least outstanding warrants on both of them. They belong to a Tongan gang and my son realized that now he and Alisa were targets. The police stepped up patrols for a few days but Shane and Alisa her Will and a friend are moving to Oregon where Alisa is from. They gave notice on their jobs, are going to live on Alisa's grandmothers farm, leaving on the 30th of this month. I can tell you that I understand their decision. It was the last straw and they moved up their plans because they had to leave the neighborhood anyway. I am spoiled. Never had a problem like gangs here or growing up in East Akron. I am sad that my son is moving away but excited for them to do something new with their lives. Alisa told me that I would be "grandma-napped" ...do you think they are trying to tell me something? If they get pregnant.. I will probably try to move to Oregon. I have no other grandchildren and I love the NW. Anyway..never a dull moment. BTW the yardsale netted me all of 45.00...hoping for the open studio to help me fill the coffers.

I was dressed down yesterday on Facebook by a fellow artist, and liberal for my postings on political things. True I am really liberal..I found some fun,some serious and informative posts that I shared. I got excited about the conventions...yes I watched both RNC and DNC... This "friend" decided I needed to know that I was alienating my conservative friends...of whom he does not know at all, not even on facebook. warning me that people would eliminate me from their feeds.. I felt bad for a few minutes, then sad, then angry and today snarky...I certainly use my delete capabilities on my little old laptop when I find something offensive. I unfriend some people on facebook when their postings offend me...that does not mean that we are not friends anymore...if we were friends before facebook even existed! But if it is some person who was a friend of a friend of a friend..well.... This "friend" did this after I commented on a blasting post of his ...It was the cover of the New Yorker with the cartoons of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan...He posted it, then proceeded to comment that since the conventions were over that he hoped he would quit getting political postings! I commented..hahaha, I don't think I will be able to unhook the soapbox from my back just yet. That is all I said and the vitriol and then snarky comments about me from his friends...whom I have never met and never will meet ensued. It was pretty ugly and I was kind of hurt. Especially since he posted the cover and begged for comments!!! Now just maybe he had a hard day in the studio, painting his life away, just maybe he had reached the max of what he could take..and just maybe he was a little bit right. So I did comment that I was just exercising my freedom of speech, explained why I posted what I had posted but then suggested that he use his delete button as I use mine. Just a note that he is the landlord of my studio..that I am leaving this month. He occasionally teaches art at the local community college, is a wonderful artist with a masters degree and is considerably younger than me. Does that make a difference? No...He may have a bit more education, than me...well no... more life experience? probably not...why I felt bad after reading this...I guess I do want people to like me...as most humans do..but I certainly know the value of a true and giving friendship. So today I did post lots of feel good photos and articles with my snarky comments..as in Tweety bird, not politician. He may have already eliminated me from his feed but I have have certainly gone through and redone the status updates from the over 100 people who have friended me over the few years I have participated in Facebook. My suggestion to me...calm down about the politics..it is true I am not changing anyone's minds...not that I was trying to. Be more judicious about who sees my feed on Facebook. Do more painting than facebook! Don't be hurt if I comment and a comment comes back that I don't like..I opened the door after all!! Spend more time outdoors I just thought about why I was upset..I think I got embarrassed by it..not my postings but the fact that someone felt the need to stop me!!! Well once again..too old to give a huge you know what...but like I said before..there is a grain of truth to his comment...just not a nice way to put it to me. So I am going off to work..have a great weekend everyone. Yes my friends on the internet are wonderful, and I do care...but I yam what I yam and off I go! back again after a great weekend of work at the visitors center.... this may be my last weekend of work until next May. I am planning a quilting yardsale for Thursday and Friday to see if I can get a bit of $$ from the bins of unused material i collected while I tried to like making quilts! Today is my 2nd and youngest child's 30th birthday!!! I will never forget the day he was born..such a rough and painful day but so rewarding. Thomas is a great guy. He writes interesting and passionate reviews of movies online, he works at the local Wendy's, He pays his bills, he votes, he is a good hearted man. I love that he still lives here, even though he is really independent. He just paid off his truck and that is a terrific feat in and of itself. He has Tourette's syndrome, a very mild case and ADD and was the most interesting person trying to grow up with these obstacles. But he has and he is wonderful and compassionate. It is not easy to raise a child with some problems but it is rewarding. I have been blessed as he has. He has triumphed many times over adversity and I admire his tenacity. What an intelligent man he is. Finding Thomas was a goal when he was a toddler and we found him and are better for it. I hope you all have a great day

Went to the Utah Watercolor Society social last night. They always have great catered food, interesting presentations. A very active large group of talented watercolorists. They do Plein air paint outs, mini workshops and bigger workshops. They put on several shows a year. I was cajoled by a friend to come and ended up joining. Last night they had our local Utrecht art supply store employees demonstrating many fun things. One was paper marbling that I have tried and finally decided that I was doing it wrong!! There was a table showing gold leafing over watercolor backgrounds, a table showing texture making and a table showing painting on YUPO. Funny this is all stuff I do for fun yet these young art student/employees were so serious! They are a good bunch..I shop there a lot. Still they needed to loosen up a bit...I thought it was fun when the older established artists suggested a few more techniques and everyone learned! This club has a signature status and participates in the NWS and the Western Federation group.. I think I need to be more active. Then I was accosted by same friend and encouraged to participate in the ISA which is the Intermountain Society of Artists. Looks like I agreed to be vice-president! This is a smaller group but still very active and social. Then I got a call the other day to help out with the Utah County Art Board and I am going to do that too. It seems like a lot but I am seriously rethinking working so much in the summer for "peanuts" and getting more involved in the arts which is why I live anyway!!!! Anyhoo...I am excited and will see how much I can do.

Blue moon and Seasons of Mr. Tree. Update on stolen car..it was totaled by insurance company and they offered Shane a lot more than it was worth. And the Unified police were not interested in the phone numbers of the thief. Car wasn't worth enough for them to bother!

spent yesterday morning going with my son to get his car out of impound. The DMV was crowded. The lady who eventually sauntered to her station to help us get a release spoke little English. Insisted Shane indicate who was driving the car out of impound..although we weren't sure if it could be driven yet. At her insistence Shane said he would be driving it out and she printed the release. Then she asked if he wanted to get his car out of impound....what??? well duh...yeah that is why we are here. We thought maybe she was joking but no..she had her rehearsed "English" questions mixed up. Impound lot was better. car was in good shape but not drivable since the thief had used a screwdriver on the ignition and ruined it. The only things stolen were a pair of ripped up jeans and cell phone belonging to one of Shane's girlfriend's friends. She had to get a new phone and found texts and phone numbers belonging to the thief, his girlfriend and her mother!!!! how dumb was that? There were 2 construction tool bags empty in the car and an orange construction flag...obviously 50 ( thief's nom de plume) was a busy boy that night stealing from a construction truck or site! Now it is up to the police to pursue these dingdongs. And the insurance company will "drive" the car out of impound. all in all a good day since we done by noon.

so over a week ago my son's car got stolen right out of his driveway. It was sometime on Thursday the 16th at night. He called the police on Friday morning when he discovered it gone, they refused to come out to make a report so he did that over the phone. Once he did that he called his insurance company. The Pathfinder was on empty and we all figured it was driven then abandoned...but it was no where to be found. His week of course was really disrupted as it is needed for commuting to work. Then yesterday when he got home from work...there was a letter from the Unified police telling him his car had been impounded and he needed to go to the DMV and get a release and then go to the impound lot and pay $350.00 to get it. No word on condition or where it was found. No phone call during the week when he could have retrieved it without an impound fee. And since it was Friday evening..he cannot go see it or get it until Monday! So on Monday I am taking him to the DMV and the impound lot. We will see if it is ok or too damaged to drive and then he will have to let the insurance company know and they can come tow it. this same car was stolen last year from the apt. where he was living at the time...found a day later abandoned and he got the call and went and got it. Before that someone had broken into it 1 week after moving to the apt. and stolen all of his tools and snowboarding equipment that he had not unpacked yet. That is why he and Alisa moved to the house they are renting now. I am wondering why there was no phone call. If they had the info to send him a letter they could have saved that hassle and called him. Here is hoping it is not too damaged come Monday.

The 1995 Pathfinder in happier days.

Yesterday I made official that I am leaving my D5 studio at Poor Yoricks. I thought it would be painful...but it is just a relief for now. I will participate in the open studio on September 28 and then be done. Will spend the next month clearing things out and then probably have to rent a truck to get the rest out. It will be nice to have only my paintings and a table for food in the studio for the 28th. With traveling to Ohio in October and hopefully knee surgery in November..I will have all my art supplies close by. Hubby is going to fix up what used to be our old large kitchen (now a cat room ,catch-all!) with a temporary wall and sliding door and some better lighting and I can hook up my old laundry sink and actually hold small classes there if I want. Will store paintings in the basement for now. Someday we will build a studio bldg on the property. But with the money saved from rent..now we can get some things done around the house and property. I am now officially part time at work, with probably Sept. 8th being my last day there. I am going in today though so I can meet the CEO of WNPA who is visiting today. I have never met any bosses! They are all in Tuscon. So this should be interesting. I can't wait to get my Amtrak ticket and take the train to Ohio.... Hope you all have a great day!!!!

Found these moths yesterday at the visitors center

I found out yesterday that my full time work at the Visitors center is ending with this pay period. I will do 3 day weekends for a few weeks then down to 2 days and then done sometime in September. I am contracted for a certain amount of hours per season. But I am looking forward to more time off as this has not been the best year for my health!!! My plans are to take Amtrak to Ohio and visit my family for at least 3 weeks. Then I hope to have my knee or knees surgery and spend the winter recuperating and getting back into form while painting up a storm!!!! My next goal will be to organize myself and start a marketing plan to sell my art and hopefully get into a gallery, shows and get active in the Utah County art board, and the 2 artists groups I have joined. So plans are being made, I am paying off some small niggling bills and then planning my near future! My other plan more long term is to travel for art and also to buy a small tear drop trailer so I can travel with paints!!!!I think that would suit me. The next big expense though has to be hay for the horses... I feel like the painting I am posting is not quite done and I am not fond of the style but now I plan to do more and make them my own!!! I will post that from my phone..since my camera has decided to take a vacation!!! I did get it on my camera after all...

Monday night Hubby and I were going on a date! We had planned to go to the summit area up American Fork Canyon to star gaze but instead..we watched a long and beautiful sunset with the clouds that had moved in. We first stopped at Subway and bought a few sandwiches and really enjoyed ourselves just relaxing in the mountains. It had been way too long since we did this..which is kind of sad since we live so close to such lovely vistas. But our work schedules are not too conducive to hanging out together. I had been wanting to just go home and veg out in front of the TV...but this was too important..not only for our relationship which has been rocky over the many (33) years but to shake us up out of our TV habit!!!

The weather was very hot and so once again I had parked myself in the easy chair and was watching the Olympics when I got a terrible craving for a twist cone with chocolate topper. I rarely crave ice cream...but I decided that I can't drive a stick shift and eat a cone at the same time...so I walked to the store over a 1/2 mile away and back...my knees hurt but I so needed to get out. It was delightful to walk alone, (very safe in my area) and then to enjoy some ice cream and watch the full moon peek around the clouds and tree tops. I have been daydreaming about painting, pouring watercolors, playing with my new Dr. Martin liquid watercolors. But not doing! Yesterday I was going to spend the day playing and I didn't. So today I am getting off the computer, getting some breakfast and going to paint. Just to play. I have so many times over the years found myself worried about the money end of the art thing. What can I do that will sell...instead of really doing art that pleases me. I also have decided to give up my studio at Poor Yoricks. It is too far away and and gas being so expensive...it just isn't working for me. I will be there until after the fall open studio at the end of September...then I will bring home my stuff. Hubby is going to put up a temporary wall in the old kitchen with a sliding door and that should be big enough for a good work area. Plus we can hook up my old laundry sink and I can have hot and cold water. A bit of lighting changes and voila...a temporary studio that can get me through until we can afford to build one on the premises. I can store my big paintings in the basement as soon as Shane finishes getting his belongings out. I can hold small art classes and make a bit of money that won't have to go towards rent. I can also have access to my supplies after my knee surgery and and still have some privacy. The thing I will miss the most are my friends at the studio but we rarely see each other as our schedules are so varied. I will have to make a better effort to get to art happenings I will also miss the open studio events..but at least I can go and see what everyone is doing!( in stead of being captive in my studio trying to sell stuff.) It means I will have to market myself differently and set deadlines for myself...all a good thing as long as I am doing more art. I hope this doesn't sound like justifying where I have been and what I have not been doing. Those of you who have bothered to read my blog know I tend to work out my thoughts as I write. I am excited to have some money again in my pocket...studio rent was not a small thing!!! So off I go to get some color poured and play and have fun and I can't wait...see you all later and have a great day!!!

Not finished yet
Fat Zoe

Another done by young Will

Done by my student.  Will.  Mobilized paper with oil pastels

I started this painting the other day...hope to get to it tonight.

I have today off, the Canyon where I work is closed due to wildfires which I can see from my house. Actually had visitors to the area angry because the fire restrictions prevented them from having campfires in wilderness areas! This fire was probably started by a back hoe sparking off a rock. The Governor refuses to make a statewide ban on fireworks leaving it up to individual municipalities. I expect there will be more fires. I am feeling tremendously better after my incident a few weeks ago. It has taken a while since the smoke from fires makes it hard on my damaged lungs...but I am finally able to breathe deeply with no pain! The bad part about all of this was I really wanted to paint after work but I would just come home and collapse! Yesterday though I added color to some graphite drawings I did at work. Hoping to start a painting from my photos of up the canyon today. The chickies have grown and are now free ranging...but not too far from coop! They follow me around like puppies. My apricot tree in the meantime is loaded with nice little fruits and we have been enjoying those. I have picked four or five gallon freezer bags full and given away to friends! Amy Lee was spayed week ago Tuesday and her umbilical hernia was fixed too. She is still shedding so much that it is a daily job just cleaning up the hair. I took her to a dog wash yesterday and that was nice. Easier than doing it in the front yard! Hubby got some interesting orthotics to help with stabilizing his ankles. It has really helped his gait. and helped with the pain he was enduring from those snapped tendons. His doctor can operate when Dave can have 12 weeks off to recuperate...but that may be when he retires! Have a great Fourth of July everyone..stay safe and cool!

so I wish I could say that all was well but the painkillers finally wore off on Friday night and I wondered if I would have to be back to the emergency room! I walked the floor for several hours and eventually the Aleve began to work and I managed to get a tiny bit of sleep before going to work. But I felt pretty miserable all day. Thomas was home early and fed the animals for me and this morning Dave is off and has agreed to feed them for me this morning. I have been suffering from what we think is a pinched nerve in my left shoulder which may have happened in the awful violent vomiting episode. Also I have a muscle spasm in my lower back...which is not nice but can be controlled for now with back pain pills. If it gets worse the Dr. can get me muscle relaxants. finished pneumonia treatment this morning. But it still hurts to breathe deep. So as you can see I am a mess! I will stop complaining...because in spite of all that is happening, I wanted to be grateful today for the wonderful years I had with my Dad. As many of you know, Dad died in 2006 and even though he was very sick...we were so unhappy to let him go. It is a testament to him that all of us miss him everyday. Dad was a very funny man. He would draw cartoons about happenings at work and present them to his friends. Once he made a child's stool with the lift up back that he carved his buddy's name on it. He then placed it in front of the urinal in the men's room for his friend to find. They had a running joke about his friend being a troll and short. Once I left a half eaten banana on the kitchen counter while I ran upstairs for a minute. Dad picked up a needle and thread nearby and sewed the banana half back into the peel! He ate the whole piece of cake my brother had taken one bite out of and then left the room. He left the bit with my brother's bite on the plate! He acted like the hunchback of Notre Dame whenever I had a boyfriend over...coming down the stairs and declaring his love for the bells! Enough to embarrass us but it rarely did! Needless to say..he was a great Dad and I miss him.

radioactivity!

Tuesday had been the perfect day off. Sunny, breezy, quiet. I did only what I wanted which was watch a baseball game, play with the dogs. I felt pretty terrific physically. Around 9:30 I began to feel nauseous. I also began to vomit..I know..TMI..but it is important to note that I rarely if ever do that. It was so violent and painful that I couldn't breathe. Then my left shoulder felt like it was on fire. I am not a baby about pain. I rarely need doctors. But this was literally some of the worse pain I have ever felt. I tried to call out to my son, Thomas, but couldn't..so I called him on my cell phone!!! Now I think I can justify having the cell phone. He ran out and saw me, immediately called 911 and was really there for me. The police and paramedics were fast! They are after all in the new building just down the street. Funny how modesty goes out the window. These guys were great. They transported me to the hospital and Thomas followed, after he had let the dogs in and left a note for his dad. Hubby was on the road from work. They found out I had a pneumositis in my lungs...kind of pneumonia but not quite. So on meds for that. My EKGs were fine, blood pressure fine, I was sent home at 5am..but taking no chances, at 11:40am...I was injected with radioactive tracers and scanned for 15 minutes, then a stress test and more tracers and another scan. 2 and 1/2 hours later..I was home. The shoulder has quit hurting..thanks to good drugs. But the ribs are sore and the chest too. Feels like someone hit me with a baseball bat! Monday I go to the cardiologist where he will read the scans. Here is hoping there is nothing blocked. Needless to say..I couldn't teach Will this week and I am taking Thursday off too and part of Monday. Hope I feel up to work on Friday, Sat, and Sunday. But they are ok if I am not up to snuff. So what I learned...I have no family history of heart disease, diabetes,etc. every question they asked sounded like my Hubby's family not mine! My blood pressure stays pretty much at 115 over 80 all of the time, even in the throes of pain! I am as healthy as the proverbial ox..yet here I was in the ER. I was sure I was having a major heart attack and I kept thinking..but I have more art to do! I have new BFFs in the form of nice young paramedics and male nurses and kind doctors. My son Thomas can be counted on to take care of things in an emergency. Usually it is Shane we go to but Thomas was so fabulous. What a great kid. My limit for laying still in a scanner with my arms above my head is 15 minutes! The second 15 minutes..I itched, had the heebie jeebies, had a hard time shutting off the brain. My poor Hubby is pretty useless in an emergency, but he cooked dinner last night! I never want to go through this again..the end!

This is my workshop painting done. Ian Ramsay was the teacher. Slowed me down. Made me want to do more traditional.al paintings.

Phone pics

These are the start of a new series..not sure where they are going.

Finally back to the studio yesterday. Started work on Saturday at the Cave Visitors Center and they have revamped everything. New paint on the walls, new area for my bookstore and displays. New cabinets for my stock. All in all a very nice redo. Already had the EMTs up twice this weekend. A woman had a terrible headache and her blood pressure shot up about 1/4 of the way up the trail. She came down and the EMTs were called and they took her to the local hospital. Another man with Parkinsens almost made it up but then could not breathe. he was stubborn but finally was wheeled down in the gurney. Apparently all are fine. The trail starts at the visitors center and is 1.5 miles up to the cave entrance. 1100 feet vertical gain..rather relentless. It is paved but a few years ago a maintenance worker was on his motorcycle on the trail and went off the edge and died. That started a big safety program. No wheels on the trail, no strollers etc. Too easy for them to get away from you and the drop off is scary!! The trail is wide, but there are occasional rock falls so the rangers try really hard to inform all the visitors of the dangers and what to do and mostly they don't listen. So the only "vehicles" allowed on the trail are the 2 wheeled gurneys one that stays at the bottom and one at the top and these strange motorized... well for lack of the real term..wheelbarrows. So there is a way to get heavy equipment up and down but no one can ride in them so the danger is lessened. This is the 90th anniversary of the Timpanogos Cave National Monument. They are even Tweeting now...something I have never done! So if you are interested in seeing more about the cave..go to www.nps.gov/tica, or follow on Facebook at www.facebook.com/timpanogoscavenps . Yesterday I met up with Will my "student". He is my son Shane's girlfriends son! He is 13 and a super laid back sweet kid. I hadn't felt well for a few weeks so I had not seen him for 2 weeks. I have been remiss as a teacher as I have no "plan". So we have just been playing. While we play I have talked about contrasting colors, warm and cool colors, some perspective..just whatever comes up. We have looked at other artists and so a bit of art history. Yesterday as usual I had no idea what we should do...so I showed him some of the things I have done. We decided to "marble" paper by dropping oil paint in a pan of water and printing paper. That was messy and fun and we had a great time doing that. So then we decided to walk a block and a half away to a new mural painted by The Univ. of Utah murals class. (I took this class and it was hard work but very cool). The mural is on a long low wall and has several famous paintings on it with the main characters missing. Then footprints are placed on the cement in front of the wall and you "Step Into Art"!

We are going to look these paintings up in my art books next week so he can see the real deal...fun . I had started 2 24"x24" paintings a week ago. They are what I am calling happy abstracts. Lots of drips and water, done with acrylics, sprays too. I left them to dry and now I am at a loss as to what to do with them! I took some wet pics last week with my phone so I will post them separately since I don't know if I can post them from the phone with this post!

Did you see the eclipse? I was privileged enough to live where we got to see an almost full ring of fire. The actual "sweet spot" was a few hundred miles south of where I live. We lost our Miss E. Claire kitty last night. She was over 20 yrs. old and had been suffering from dementia..but was eating and basically doing ok until a few days ago. Poor old thing.

we are down to 3 in house kitties. But an abundance of outside ferals!!! I took the time to do "portrait photos" of my few iris

have a nice day.