Today...

I found another picture of my parents that I just love. It was taken after my dad's first heart attack. He needed to stop smoking so he grew a beard and convinced himself that he would light his face on fire if he smoked. It worked for him.

I was at a local restaurant with all eight of my grandchildren today. It was touch and go for a few minutes...but I survived. Actually...they were pretty good considering they were all excited to see each other, so I'm not complaining...much.

I found out yesterday that a lady I've known for twenty years has cancer. They had her in surgery for another problem and found late-stage cancer. She is my age. It really makes you pause and consider life. It's a little too deep a subject for me to write at the moment, so I'll save it for another day. All I can do is pray that she doesn't suffer too much and that her family will be comforted.

Oh, Canada

Oh, I forgot to mention. According to my blog stat reports, I have a 'following' in Canada. That's kind of cool, but who is it? Who actually reads this stuff? I ramble on and on and on and...well, you get the picture. I would love to see your comments, whoever you are. For a while I had some followers in Japan but I haven't seen that come up in a while. The stat reports are pretty vague. I can't tell exactly WHO is reading, just that some people are. (Ok, maybe I'm making an assumption with the term "people".) It does tell me the operation systems being used and since most of my kids have Macs now, I can tell when one of them reads - just not which one. I'm also informed of the country. 75% are in the United States with a smattering in other countries. I suppose they could be stumbling on the site by accident, but its still intriguing to think about. Who knows. My words may outlive me. They'll be floating out there in cyberspace for the ages...

Anyway, If you read this and aren't a member of my family (I talk to you guys enough...) then please leave a comment. Or you can email me at momaj@aol.com.

Ben, A Portrait

This is my first-ever attempt at a portrait. Its my grandson Ben when he was about 3 years old. It didn't scan very well - the colors are more blended in reality - but for a first attempt, I'm happy with it.

Keeping me off the streets...

One of the activities I did last weekend was to make my granddaughter Ryann a headboard. (that's what I bought my new saw for.) I think it turned out pretty well and goes well with her room decor. Its padded with foam and batting. The outside edge structure allowed me to put the fabric on by shirring it and it gave it a fun effect. The outside is a red checked gingham and the inside field is red cotton. Amy added the big initial 'R" in the middle. (but I cut out the stencil.) we trimmed the arch with a padded roll of white cotton fabric and red satin cording. I'm happy with it and I think Ryann likes it too.

Happy 4th of July!

Another 4th of July has come and gone. It seems almost impossible that its mid-summer already.

We didn't spend the 4th with our usual group of friends in the traditional way...food and games. This year we went to Amy's house in Vancouver to work on some projects. I had it in the back of my mind that we would go to Ft. Vancouver which in the past has always had an amazing display. I mentioned that to Amy and she had to tell me that those fireworks had been cancelled. I was a little disappointed but figured we'd just watch the kids in the neighborhood and their sparklers and call it good. Wow...was I surprised!

In the state of Washington BIG fireworks are legal for purchase by just about anyone. I'm talking full-size-what-we-used-to-go-to-the-stadium and ooooh and ahhh over fireworks. Apparently this was a huge year for sales as well. We started to hear the booms and went out to the driveway to look. It was absolutely amazing. Every direction you looked you could see the colorful lights taking turns dancing in the sky. Sometimes by chance, everyone would set them off at about the same time and you would get a 360 degree show. I've truly never seen so many fireworks in my entire life. Not even at Disneyland. It went on non-stop for nearly two hours. My grandson Ben was very excited and kept yelling "this is just like StarWars!"

After a time, I started wondering about the cumultive cost of all this fun. By my casual computation we were watching literally hundreds of thousands of dollars blow up in the sky. Before long my imagination had each burst of color turn into glowing fountains of coins.

It was a memorable evening and one I will remember for a good long while.

Lazy Days

I'm just starting my first portrait in watercolors. Its one of my grandkids. If it works out ok, I'll do them all.

This is a lazy day today. I just bought myself a new jigsaw...one of my grands wants a new headboard. The old jigsaw bought the farm. Its just a cheapie, so I'll get in trouble for that ("There is no point in buying crappy tools!") but it will serve my purposes just fine. I should get started. The only thing keeping me from starting is the heat today. Its supposed to get over 90 and that's a big deal up here in the northwest. (I can hear my neice Tammy laughing at a mere 90 degrees all the way up here.)

OK...enough yammering here. I'm off. Pray I don't cut off a finger!

Re-do

I repainted the bridge picture that I did a few weeks ago. I like this one better.