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Saturday, July 23, 2011

.....WHEN SHADOWS FILL OUR DAY ......

....... WHEN SHADOWS FILL OUR DAY .....




 Bocelli
and
 Dion


Lyrics from:
"THE PRAYER"



" ....................  when shadows fill our day ........."

After a few months of Eldon's death in 2009
I watched .... listened to this hauntingly beautiful song for the first time, sung by 
  Celine Dion and
Andrea Bocelli,
I was lost  .... lost as if in the dense forest in a scene 
in the video........
I pictured a forest floor shrouded
in shadows .....
 I'd post a picture of a forest
but I invite you to
close your eyes and
see your own
forest .... through your own
inner sight


where sunlight may never reach except for
slim shafts of light from the opening in the trees high above. 

"........... when shadows fill our day ......."
And yesterday,
July 29, 2011
as I listened and watched
"The Prayer"
for the 100th time
I realized
for shadows to be cast
upon a forest floor
or my life......
the sun
has to be shining!


And reflected onto the
surface of my life
is all the beauty,
drama,
joys and shadows
I've walked through.
Not alone since I was sixteen years old
and not alone now at 71.


...........................................................

 Continued
and
EDITED
AND

EDITED
JULY 29, 2011
WITH ADDED
SHADOWS
and

REFLECTIONS.

..........................................

"THE SHADOW KNOWS"

If you're very young
you won't have a CLUE
what
  I mean by 

"THE SHADOW KNOWS"


Ask someone old ....


 shadows                                                                            
                                                        shadows                  
                           shadows                                             
                                                             
                                                                            
  shadows                                                           shadows         
                          shadows                                  
                              
If you haven't noticed ......
I'm fascinated by shadows!

However...
after much study
pondering and
deep thought....
I have determined the following:
tree shadows are not green

my little red house shadow is not red

a banana shadow is not yellow

the shadow of a bouquet of purple flowers is not purple

a cloud shadow is not white

However ......
after additional
intense scrutiny and research on this subject,
(Friday  July 29, 2011)
I can expose my findings that .....
a black horse
WILL cast a black shadow.




There are     
 short     
shadows
very small

long                       
ssshhhhadooowwss
very longgggggggggggggggggg
Wherever you are
your shadow is there with you.....
sometimes
hiding

   OTHER TIMES
BIG AND BOLD.


Sometimes you
can
bring along
a friend's
shadow.....








or walk alone
... not really alone because your
shadow is with you.


But when you sit in the shade  of a tree
                 only the tree shadow shows.


Shadows hide
 under bridges and rocks......
but
reflections
enhance
and dance,
shimmer
across
a pond.

How have I never noticed
the dramatic
beauty
yet fragile nature
of
 shadows
and
reflections
reflections?

Reflections in company with
 shadows,

paints a masterpiece
 of the
handiwork of
God!
And when the
sun  sets
shadows  and reflections rest ......

or is that like
when a tree falls in the forest
and nobody's there to hear it
does is still
make a crashing noise?'



With the sunrise
 awakens the morning....
for a new day of
shadows
and
reflections.





in time to help get some gardening done.


The end.

BUT!
If you send me pictures of
 YOUR shadow
or reflections,

(I like to think our children are reflections of us ...)
I'll post them
on my blog...
now that would be fun!

send shadow or
reflection photos to:

FUN!

p.s. Sorry if you get this
more than once....sometimes my shadow makes mistakes or
wants to add to
or edit my blog
 ......
And when my shadow
wants to
become creative .....
I let it!


Earlier post
July 24, 2011

Shadows sent to my blog.



Vicki Williams
"Glass Floats"

THE WINNER OF THE
"My Shadow"
Award!!!
(actually
it's the only shadow photo
I received so far)

Any
any
shadows
or
reflections
just waiting
for fame
if not fortune ...
speak up
and send 'em
to me.
Your
shadow
or reflection's
5 minutes of fame!

And what,
you might ask,
does this have to do with
the
Little Old Widder Woman?
We shall see
We shall see

We shall see.



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

LIVES AND HOLES IN PAINTINGS CAN BE REPAIRED


LIVES after
DIVORCE OR DEATH
or holes in paintings
CAN BE REPAIRED


This painting
began many years ago .....

The first strokes of paint were applied
a short time before we sailed away from
Winchester Bay in
KHARAH, a 30 ft Tahiti sailboat.
I had a display of my paintings
(some as seen to the right)
at a friend's Grand Opening
of her ice cream parlour.



I was dabbing away at the geraniums, trying to get them to look more realistic
when I heard two ladies behind me discussing my work.
I didn't turn around
but sharply perked up my ears to hear their comments.

"I don't like that painting," lady one said in a Southern accent. "It's got a cat in it ... and I hate cats!"
Whew. Okay, I thought, not everyone likes cats.
It could have been one of three paintings she didn't like because of the furry creature in the scene.
I love to paint cats into my scenes.

"Oh I love all the cat paintings!" lady number two responded.
I didn't turn around ....
just keep working on the geraniums, I told myself.

And then I realized lady number one (the cat hater) was leaning over my shoulder and watching me make globs of red and green paint look like geraniums.

"Now I like this one!" she happily exclaimed. "No cats and I love geraniums ... and the people in the  ................."
She was silent for a moment
then leaned right over my shoulder, her hair brushing against my head and asked,

"Is that a black girl in that picture?"

"Hmmm," I uttered. "I ummm ............."
Well, to be honest, I didn't realize the mother in my painting was appearing to be anything other than a white pioneer lady with her family.
BUT YES!  She was looking like a black lady.
And lady number one (cat hater)
was herself a black woman..... so she should know!

I turned my head and smiled and said,
"Well, yes she is a black lady."
My newfound-friendly art critic then said,

"Well now .... I love that painting!"
...........................................
Sometimes complete strangers can see
things we are doing in a totally
fresh perspective.
Such as it was in my painting "Family Treasures".
Such as it is in our lives.

I sold many of my paintings at the
Ice Cream Parlour Grand Opening
and had prints made for those
who missed out on buying the originals.
I also distributed some of my originals
to my children.
Family heirlooms to be passed onto their children.


But "Family Treasures" lived it's life in
an assortment of family members' closets
while Eldon and I went sailing.


After  we aquired a larger boat,
a 45 foot Columbia motor sailer,
I picked up "Family Treasures"
and made a little studio in the
v berth cabin .... lots of room for painting
and guests who visited while we were in
Baja Mexico, the Sea of Cortez.
In all that time of the painting living in closets, from one family
to another,
down to Mexico in our motorhome,
sitting on an easel in a sometimes
rock-n-rolling, sea worthy  v berth
it held up very well.

Until one day the unthinkable happened!


"Family Treasures"
was damaged!


I was transporting my unfinished painting
to put on display at an art show .... unfinished as it was,
I was encouraged by other artists to display it
for people to get a glimpse of an unfinished work.
And my dog stepped on it in the back of my car.

Initially I was shocked,
then disbelief
which turned into anger at myself
and sadness at the damage to something
that had been a part of my life for years
and years.
I beat myself up because I had transported it in a way
that damage could happen.
But in the back of my mind
I forced myself to realize
this damage could be repaired .... at a $$$$$  cost.

However, repair......
healing
is not that simple after the destruction
of a relationship or
death of a loved one.


Eldon's memorial candle first lit
at Jill's Baptism in 1959
and then at Eldon's
celebration of
accepting Jesus
two days before
they met
Feb.3, 2009.
To be continued ..............



July 21, 2011
Continued



....... and then there's
shipwrecks,
or in this case
ships   wrecked
ON DRY LAND!

What's wrong with this picture?
For some boat owners
the damage to their dreams
can never be repaired ....
bits and pieces of their
beloved "homes of the sea"
can be salvaged ....
were salvaged.
The plans and
dreams these boat owners had
were disrupted or destroyed in a few hours
due to the destructive fury
of a hurricane in the Sea of Cortez in 2001.
After the storm
the sun came out,
a soft gentle breeze strewn about
keepsakes and valuable memorabilia,
now dissolved into trash, or scattered out
into the sea
never again to be found.

Loss by death,
divorce,
or shipwreck .............

In time
all can be healed .........
never the same
but healed.

Capable hands worked together
to sort out the wreckage and destruction
done to the yachts ..... grand or humble.
Some sailed again
others were only valuable
as scrap to be used on other boats.
The sailors got on with their lives ...

"Family Treasures" has been
sent to an
art conservator and is
ready to pick up ..... at a high cost,
hole repaired
and ready for me to apply paint
over the
"wound."
It now has a history..
a story to tell.


While Eldon and I were cruising
"landlubber" friends often asked
why I didn't write a book about our
sailing adventures. A "story to tell."
My reply,
"We never sank,
were shipwrecked,
lost at sea,
or  ............
actually,
cruising is
80% boredom
10% hard work
and
10% sheer terror!

And what's the story to tell
after the loss of a loved one?

You are the same
yet different.

Life goes on
but is changed.

There is acceptance and peace,
a new you.

But it all takes time to repair,
heal and restore
that which was destroyed,
damaged,
or removed from your
life ......
but never removed from your heart.





Sunday, July 17, 2011

OUR POND OUR FISH ..... MY POND MY FISH

OUR POND       OUR FISH

       MY POND          MY FISH
                                       
                                  My Life Book.

Now let's see ..................where was I?
Digging the hole for the pond .......with shovels,
                    old Ford Tractor.....
                                  friend's backhoe
fill the pond, add fish and plants ............. that's it in a nutshell.
                                  


Good job, Eldon and Monica!
Did I mention the bluegill?
A friend gave us
four bluegill to mingle with
the goldfish.



 You haven't lived until you've fed a
blue gill after 
 they swim to the surface,
pucker  up their little blue-gilly lips
and take a grasshopper right out of your hand.

I tell you .... it's a RUSH!
And then you have to go on the hunt
for more grasshoppers
and more grasshoppers
and  anything creeping or crawling
flying or wiggling
just to keep the blue gill fat and happy.

Chipmuncks scurry under the waterfall
and take a cooling sip from puddles
at the base of the rocks. ...
A brave lizard, as if to dare me to catch him,
keeps time to unheard music as he
bounces up and down on his four
scaley little feet ....so close I could touch him with my toe.

A family of quail, daddy quail ever on watch,
speedily sip from the pond then scurry off
and away to do quail business.


Seasons come and go
sunrise and sunset
over two years
...............
things are the same but different.



A brilliant garden sunset overlooking the pond
brings one more page in my
Life Book to a close.
But there's tomorrow.
A new day adding to my
memories ....
one chair sits overlooking the pond ..
no more blue gill .....
an eagle picked them off one at a time.
But the goldfish greet me with
hungry open mouths each morning
when I feed them.

They're now
My Fish
    My Pond ...
Whow     A New Life ..............
one day at a time
then another
and another
to feed the fish,
appreciate the sunsets
and flowers, and meet the creatures
who live around my pond
as I start
a new
chapter in my
Life Book.
Thanks God for the beauty all around
my pond!

.............................................



Mmmmm .... I just found this photo
of my mother in Hawaii
Elizabeth "Betty" Kaemerer
1918-2005
NOW THAT'S A POND!

OUR FISH ....... MY FISH

              OUR POND BEGAN
                          AS A HOLE IN THE GROUND
                                     


STEP ONE:
DIG A HOLE IN LOCATION OF YOUR CHOICE.
BEST SPOT RIGHT NEXT TO THE DECK.

MONICA CAN HELP DIG

STEP TWO:
FIRE UP THE
LITTLE RED
TRACTOR
TO FINISH DIGGING THE HOLE
AND GET MORE MUSCLES TO HELP.

That was a lot of
sweat ..... strain
and WAY more than
we could do with shovels,
or our 42 Ford tractor .... Eldon's pride and joy.
The tractor almost got stuck .....
he dug one last shovel full then tried to back out of the
increasingly lengthy hole.

Approaching the mid-point of the
desired 30 feet long pond
the tractor refused to back out with
that one-more- bucket full of dirt.

Eldon got off the tractor
climbed out of the hole
and looked at the ravaged landscape
and said,
"What have I done!"
He climbed back into the hole,
fired up Big Red
and with the expertise of
a BIG RIG TRUCKER
he coaxed that beligerrant
and weary tractor backwards out of the hole.
Then he called a friend with a back hoe to finish the job.
If you don't have the right tools for the job
GET BIGGER TOOLS!

STEP THREE:
Fill the hole in the ground with water,
add a waterfall,
build a bridge,
put in plants and
rocks around the pond

and fish ......
add fish to the crystal clear water.


And a fake duck or two.


ONE FISH ...........TWO FISH.....THREE FISH    
TWO  DOZEN FISH
THE FIRST THREE YEARS! 



And flowers ....
did I say
plant flowers
all around the pond ....?
Irises
mint
snapdragons
and abundant water plants.



Winter wonderland,
and the pond
rests ...
goldfish slumber like bears hibernating
through the long cold freeze of winter.
They turn into
little Golden Popsicles.

Immersed water pump
keeps pumping away,
spilling over the rocks
becoming a
frozen water sculpture.
The steady stream of water pumped from
the deepest part of the pond
tunnels through the ice and snow
 aerating the "golden popsicles' " frigid home.
And all is at rest.

Continued ....
My Fish