chowda

While I'm fantasizing...and feeling guilty for bashing the US....a little, Spain, come on now....Anyways, I have to wonder sometimes why I stay landlocked in Ohio, when there are so many gorgeous places to live in the States.
If you count the Great Lakes, then I'm not completely landlocked...but the so called "North Coast" is small potatoes compared to the Atlantic or the Pacific.
Maybe I should look into Boston Real Estate. Near the harbor..I'm sure my midwestern accent would stand out like a sore thumb, darn speech classes....but I don't talk to too many people.
Boston Lofts look perfect. High ceilings, downtown, ocean views...ahhhhh.  I even like sweaters and love Chowda. That was clearly the highlight of the Red Sox game for me a few years back, listening to the concession workers hawking "chowda", "any one want some chowda" "chowda here"
That amused me. (baseball rarely holds my gnat like attention span)

Bushari Group Real Estate
will be getting a call when my book goes best seller...I could find some Boston luxury real estate, a nice loft like this one, slip on a warm sweater and wander down to the harbor to contemplate my next masterpiece....  

 

or just step out of my tiny house in Cleveland and imagine...

Lime green vinyl chairs...I love these. They are only $ 50 for the set too. But, alas, I have no where to put them. The place I've been volunteering my time, Second Mile West, has loads of very interesting treasures though.   I usually wind up spending a couple dollars every few days, my latest favorite finds were a stack of records ( to melt into record bowls...pictures to follow, I wound up using a disposable camera and have to wait for the CD to be developed, ugh! not used to that)  I can never feel bad for spending money there though, 80% of all purchases goes directly to Church Street Ministries, an organization I whole heartedly believe in. They do an amazing service for the community, caring for those who the world forgot, the battered women, homeless, out of work and out of luck at risk kids.

Fran Millward, the outreach director, is who I want to be when I grow up, she's my hero. :)

 

Once Upon A Time

Copper window box planter.  I love this! 
Absolutely perfect for my little house. It has taken me all of my life to really find my decorating style....but by George I think I've got it.
As an artist, you would think this would come easier...
To be honest, I discovered my style through painting. Years of creepy trees and fairy tale collages has led me to create a home that makes these paintings feel at home.

A real, Once Upon a Time tribute to storybooks.
Plants are key, while most of my trees are bare, I have a thing for houseplants and take pride in their healthy trailing vines.

Outside, I've started to take an Edward Scissorhands approach to landscaping and have built unusual topiaries of mythological creatures. This all weather planter would be perfect to house a resident goddess.
Atlas is looking better these days, but this is an example of a little obsessive gardening.

Atlas sits inside, he carries the weight of the world for me near my desk. Working on some other figures to go outside, but they need to proper planter, a boring terracotta or plastic container from Walmart won't do for these divas, no they need grace and style. Am otherworldly air to their home...I'm trying for a fairy tale look, but do not deal with clutter. One piece, placed with a purpose is better than 15 pieces,"just because".  Indoor planters full of ivy, and my favorite characters...outdoor planters with goddesses and...a rhino.  The rhino is being built as a gift...he'll eventually find a new home, one where rhinos rule.  

Hearts Guardians....perfect season....16-0....regionals....state finals....then off to Tennessee for Nationals!!!

Charisma, annual painting

"Charisma"

 A watercolor/pastel painting i did for the 2nd annual David Lytle Memorial foundation benefit dinner.  (sold for $500, and commissioned for 2 more at the same price! all going to the foundation) 

 The explanation follows;

There are certain things the law of attraction can’t change
I can sit on my porch and believe, expect and envision
but David will not be pulling in the drive

I can get on my knees and pray,
blow out my birthday candles and wish with all my heart

But he’s not wheeling in tonight, or ever

Time passed

The shock dissipated

The loss… forever

David noticed

He listened

Told great stories
Made us laugh

And held us together

His spirit still does.

Dave’s image, aglow in yellow, represents his contagious charisma, while the darkness shows our loss. The trees are growing out of this dark place, growing and glowing in a variety of colors to express the variety of his friends. He clearly did not befriend only a certain ‘type’, like Jackie said at last year’s dinner, we were all his “best friend” 

The David Lytle Memorial Foundation roots itself in this contagious charisma and desires only to carry that spirit on and on.

My Halloween Haiku: Masquerade, is up at The Writers Garden 
 with a creepy new image! thanks Marilisa!

Mr. Postman

I love mail. Getting it, sending it, simple pleasure. I've even liked my mail carriers over the years. Well, to be honest, just one. In fact I never really noticed any of them until one Christmas, the first Christmas in a house with a mail man who'd walk up to the house everyday instead of all the rural carriers that I never really saw.

This nice fella sent us a Christmas card, signed Norm. I spent a long while trying to figure out who Norm was. When the light bulb finally went on, I baked cookies and had my son give them to him. ( i'm notoriously shy)
That started some fun. A little while later my son (5yrs old) decided to scare Norm the mailman. He stood on the other side of our mail box and stuck his head in the box, although hidden by plants and unexpected, Norm saw him, but played along. This was followed by lemonade, smiles and waves.



Next we moved into a house where going to the mail box was more of an adventure.
It was an unusually idyllic town. In the winter it could pass for a Norman Rockwell painting. All the buildings on the town circle were beautifully maintained, white and large. Some bricks and black iron gave it some color, along with a few well placed trees.
People on my street would walk to work, walk home for lunch and walk back. All to the same company, the town was named after this big brother like company.
The main oddity though was the lack of mail boxes. No postman would drive or walk from door to door.
Everyone in town had to go to the post office on the circle and retrieve their mail from their own on site mailboxes 
So, most everyday when it was tolerable out, I'd take the kids and the dog and we'd walk up to the post office.

We had quite a few issues with deliveries though, ordering items through the mail caused a common argument, especially in light of 9/11.  They'd ask for my address and I'd give them the PO Box, this was not acceptable. But neither was not getting my purchase, so we'd go round and round again.

Finally in a home with a mail box again I look forward to the short walk down the driveway. As it is, we'll probably never have a Norm again. Hope the new owners of my house treat him well. 

Either one of these white mail boxes would go nicely with my white picket fence ( seriously, it came with the house)

The nifty one here is a secure mail box. It is equipped with a cool mechanism that locks your mail so no one, not no how, can get between you and your mail. wish i were that important. :)  

Dead Dishwasher

When I worked at the Improv I loved the bar glass racks. My job was to serve cocktails in the dark, but whenever the trays of clean glasses came out, I loved to load the glass racks.
All the different sparkly sizes of spotless glasses would hang there, locked and loaded for the next rush. No one but the bartender and the waitresses ever really saw how clean they were. The comedy club was dark, pitch dark most of the time, the guests only wanted their alcohol quickly.
 If I were able to recreate that sparkly look I'd install a hanging wine glass rack. Squeaky clean glasses must take hot hot hot water. If I had a dishwasher maybe I could recreate the look, but alas I am hard on dishwashers.
  Not sure what happened this time...or any other time, but it's dead. I just am not meant to own a dishwasher. Maybe that whole "law of attraction" thing came into play. Using a dishwasher always seemed so useless to me. Either you wash the dishes or you don't. Rinsing them off is halfway to cleaning them, might as well follow through.
Should have considered the glasses. Washing to spotless is not a skill of mine, washing to done is as far as I go.

Linus

I've always been the sort of person to leave the doors unlocked. Partly because I trust everyone, but mostly because I don't trust myself to remember my keys when I leave the house.
Well, after all that has gone on in the past year, installing a home security surveillance system became necessary.
Not because I have much of anything to steal...but because I really need to protect my family. Knowing there is ADT security watching my back is comforting.

The ADT security system is the best home security surveillance system on the market today. I feel a lot safer. What I didn't know before, was that having a security system doesn't end up costing much of anything, since my insurance rates went down and the smoke and carbon monoxide tester is included. Like Linus, I like my blanky.
No, I need my blanky.