Finally...

Monday I finally returned to the library to paint, only to find that just one other lady had come. That was okay. We kept each other company, and she worked on her picture of an Indian village, and I painted this picture of cactus at dusk. It is from a photo that my friend had found and felt sure that I would enjoy painting. The coloring is a little different and more subdued than I usually do, but it is pretty faithful to the photo. I had some trouble with the clouds, which is par for the course. Overall, I am satisfied with job I did, but not necessarily with the picture itself. I don't think I would have chosen it myself because I like more vibrant sunsets. This won't be for the state fair. I'll try again next week...

Meanwhile, here are the pictures I won with in the county fair. Both of those stickers say first place, as you can see. However, the ribbons tell a different story. Terry has made a gallery wall for me in the den where we are displaying some of my winning paintings. The paintings will rotate if I win anything else. Hopefully, it will rotate often! :) My gallery wall is opposite his Marine Corps wall. Something for both!


I guess it's on to the State Fair! Life is good...

Long Time, No Post

I seem to be suffering from the proverbial writer's block, or I have had nothing profound to share, one or the other, but here goes. I think after all the moving out and in, followed closely by a few birthdays, I have just been worn out. Like Alissa with her vacation, one day I just thought to myself, "I am done with this moving." It seemed I just couldn't summon up one more grain of energy or desire to do what needed to be done. For the last few weeks, we have only been to the farm about once a week, and I have been working in a desultory manner inside while Terry cuts grass outside. I have accomplished something each time I've gone out there, but it seems the more I do, the more I find that needs to be done. Finally last night, Doug and Kellie took the bull by the horns and went out to the house and gathered all the stuff that was left and piled it in the living room for Terry and me( MOSTLY me) to go through and decide whether to keep it, give it to the Goodwill, or toss it. I hope to finish that up this coming week sometime, but there is still the stuff in the garage and the stuff in the storage building that will have to be dealt with at some point this summer. Whew! Will it ever end?

On a more positive note, I picked up the pictures I entered in the county fair tonight. Both of them were marked with a blue #1 on the tag. However, when I got the prize envelope, it said one of them was a first place, and the other was a third place, which is still pretty good. When I questioned which was right, I was told the third place was right because it was "in the book," whatever that means. It seems to me that the handwritten book can be just as wrong as the stickers placed on the tags attached to the painting, but it wasn't worth arguing about. Since I didn't attend the fair to see them when they were on display, I can't say anything about which is which. On to the state fair, I guess! I did take pictures of the paintings to post, but I can't seem to upload pictures from my newer Kodak camera to the web. The Kodak software doesn't seem to interface with the picture program already on my computer, and the pictures must remain separate. Not only that, I can't figure out how to get the pictures from the Kodak software to the blog. Bummer! Maybe one day I will figure out how to merge files, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm just not that good. Meanwhile, I will look for my Sony camera and try to take the photos again tomorrow. If this is all I can find to complain about, I know life is good!

Catching Up, part 2

The house tour, continued... another view of the bedroom. We bought the furniture at a store where Alissa's friend works. Isn't it pretty? The room is a very peaceful and cool blue..
This is the second bedroom. Here it is ready for Alissa and the boys to camp out. It worked out perfectly, I do believe, and Nick enjoyed staying there by himself when his mom and brother went home. He chose to sleep on the floor rather than the futon or the air bed. How funny! His mom and uncles used to do that, too, in their case because they didn't want to have to make their beds...
Our enclosed sun porch. It is a lovely place to sit and eat breakfast in the morning. See the beautiful jasmine (stephanotis) plant that I received for Mother's Day? The hydrangea that I got is right about where Alissa is standing.
The hall bathroom. This is the bathroom Terry uses most of the time, and the "art" on the wall is an original piece we got in PCB, too, and he loves it. That is a whirlpool tub, and the boys loved using it..I haven't tried it out yet. I'm afraid I won't be able to get back up and out once I sit there, but I'm going to brave it one of these days, as I love the whirlpool.
Master, or in this case, Mistress bath. Terry doesn't use this one much, which is fine with me. It has a shower stall with a seat. Behind the door is a large walk-in closet, with my clothes lining the sides, and Terry's on the back rack. He just doesn't understand why I need so much room for clothes, or so many clothes, for that matter...

Well, that's the tour. It took a long time, but I finally got it up here. We are very comfortable here. I particularly love that it is new and bright and sparkling. I have the best intentions of keeping it that way, but we'll see. After all, I am a slob! Life is good...

Catching Up...

Finally, courtesy of Alissa, some pictures of our new house. I will use two posts in order to give a full view of the house, which is finally practically all decorated. Here are the kids posing in front.
This is the view that you see when you walk in the front door. To the right of the matching recliners is a corner fireplace. Above the doorway to the kitchen is my favorite painting, one of the beach that we picked up at a restaurant in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Here Alissa is standing in front of the fireplace looking into the kitchen. There's my painting again..
Our bedroom. All new furniture in here except for the chair in the corner that you can't see..

This room is designated as a dining room, but we aren't formal diners, so it is a den and showplace for Terry's Marine memorabilia. There is a small table and two chairs against the left wall. The door you see leads to a sun porch...