jan 3 1

If I were still a poet, I could find a fable in a fallen fluff of feline fur.
If I were still a photographer, my camera could not contain all the cuteness it could capture. 

All I have on this last day of January is a snapshot of the super blue blood moon that I took an hour and a half after sunset. I wish I had remembered to get out earlier as it rose in the sky. It looks like a melon. Can you see (at about 4 o'clock) where the stem could have been? And the stripes rounding out from there?

Reflections

Looks like an abstract painting.

Jacob & John

This afternoon.

shame on us

On the 45th anniversary of the heinous Roe V Wade decision by the Supreme Court and the 45th March for Life that took place this weekend, I must give a link here to good article I read today. I looked up the writer, learned more about him, and see him as a hero. In a world of deceit, he dares to tell the truth.
There is everything to hate about abortions.

Heavy reading

January is my book reading month, and I have finally started on the first, Martin Luther, The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, by Eric Metaxas. It is well written and interesting, and it is also making me feel ignorant, therefore giving me a lot to learn. Because of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, I became interested in Martin Luther and realized I knew nothing about him, the era, or how he did in fact change the world. Now I am almost to the hundredth page, and at this point, he is fed up with the corruption and manipulations within the Catholic Church. Pretty soon he will be nailing his 95 theses to the Castle Church door. I have had to look up some people, places and words to understand better, but I am beginning to get it. Power vs truth. Discernment vs blindness. Fear vs faith. Knowledge vs apathy. Deceit vs honesty. Familiar themes.

Grandson #2

Ned and Wyatt love to go fishing. Unless something else requires their time, they are on the boat in some sort of salt water just about every Saturday. I appreciate the pictures they send. This is a catch from today.

Jacob

My #1 grandson arrived in Wilmington Tuesday night. A friend from Tennessee was in Montana visiting him for six weeks, and when it was time to drive back, Jacob went with him. Then his mother drove up to Tennessee to bring him bring him to his new home, we hope. I have missed the together times of long ago, and over the past three days, I feel like we have started to catch up. Pretty soon he will have a job and maybe a girlfriend, so I am enjoying the moments. He has lots of stories to tell about his four years in the vast and cold northwest. Branding cattle, catching baby calves as they are being born in -35 degree weather, using drones to survey a 8000 acre ranch, growing plants, dealing with untrustworthy people, learning the oil industry, knowing the sunrise. He really hasn't changed much. Just older and more mature. Thankful.

Spanish Bar

When I was a little girl and into my teens, I always hoped my mother would buy a small packaged cake called Spanish Bar when she went grocery shopping at A&P. I decided to google it and found many warm-hearted stories as well as recipes. Turns out I am not the only one who loved it. I decided to make it for Book Club next time it was at my house, which was today, since all of us are about the same age and probably have the same memories about those moist delicious, buttercream frosted spice cakes. I baked mine this morning for Book Club at 2:30, and it turned out pretty good. The ground cloves and allspice, a tablespoon of cocoa, a a half cup of molasses, gave it the dark color, an almost perfect match. However mine was not as moist as those I remember, but it worked out well enough.

Two of the art pieces with floral arrangements

Both won ribbons.

stopping at Airlie

as I passed by. I haven't used my membership this year as much as I should have. Impulsively decided to see what it looks like this time of year. Evening. Low tide on the creek. Two birds.

pleased as punch

So much planning, communicating, and work has gone into the event this weekend. It has kept my creative juices flowing, and I have enjoyed it all. It may be Friday before I take pictures of the actual event, but I will just say that my art organization collaborated with a garden club to have this big todo at the Blockade Runner at WB. Solely my idea and responsibility is a companion floral art show we are having that compliments what the garden club is doing. I didn't know what size room we would have, how many pieces we could take, or much of anything when I sent out the info to our members. It was an experiment and an adventure. As it is turning turned out, it is just perfect. We got the right number of panels (to hang art on) and pieces of art, many of which are very good. I am looking forward to the opening. I hope the contributing artists make sales and are happy. So far so good.

Cheers!

That is the title of this last painting for the show.
Never having done this sort of thing before, I have no idea how people will like them. But for me, I am glad I have taken the risk, experienced a new way to paint, learned what artists go through for a show, ventured into this new experience, and on and on. You really have to put yourself out there, as they say, and since that is not where I am comfortable, I am stretched a little bit more.

-2?

The long cold winter.
It was good to get out for a while yesterday afternoon, but the snow and ice are still around.  I saw that fountain in the post from the 28th is now smaller than the ice that covers it. Frozen spray upon frozen spray. Our church is cancelled for the second week in a row. I am so glad.

frigid day

Though I haven't had a snowbank at the door, I have felt snowed in today. Mostly I have been cold because it really is cold. I would not want every day to be like this. My daddy was shut in during a snowstorm when he lived alone in Pennsylvania, and I remember his description of how it made him feel. It was a bad experience. Of course, our little bit of snow is not really comparable. I am glad I have had ingredients on hand to make a few hot and tasty foods, and I look forward to getting out and seeing the Star Wars movie tomorrow. Here is a pic from yesterday. During my few seconds in the yard, I was looking for something interesting.

Snow in the New Year

There are cold temps and snow in the Carolinas, even at the beach. I didn't venture there, but this is what some of my yard looked like. At 2:30 pm, the sun was casting shadows in the snow, but no melting occurred.