In the clouds I see things — often others do not see them — but be assured those things are there – you just have to imagine they are there and then they are there — does that all make sense — See if you can imagine what I saw in these following photos. (I did a little cropping, trimming, and enhancing with some of them) — just to help you begin your journey into cloud imagination studies.
Just after posting yesterday – before going to the wood shop to create pens/pencils – I saw a friend of mine fishing out back in my yard — Decided to take the same shot — make it morning, early afternoon, and sunset – but I was shooting into a VERY bright Florida sun with lots of bright glare and lens flare — so I played around with photoshop — I like both – each for different reason — Do you? Oh, the fisherman friend calls me “Warden” — Do you know why?
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2. Grandma is always an artist, a student and a teacher. She has a painting selected by the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to hang in their gallery to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Refuge. We went to the opening and to the lecture series presented. Here is a short photo tour:
And so much more — Fifty or so pictures – too much to show — but you got the idea of our Refuge visit.
This morning I stepped outside just to see the world awaken. I looked up and saw a rainbow — not a rain drop was in the air — just a few clouds — What was happening was, the sun raising in the east stuck the clouds in the west and there it was – ………
a rainbow. WOW! Art in nature!
Out on my bike I saw another object of art. The wind blew over the tree — The soil was moist and the roots were strong — and years later this is what the tree looked like. — WOW an art object in nature.
Somehow this made me wondered how many hours do we spend creating design art to promote a product or to “enhance nature”
For each piece of art, a human creatively thought, made a made a sketch, gathered material, created an object, stood back and re-studied, ask friends what they thought, re-designed — Lot of hours.
Since I spent an hour on my bike thinking about art this morning, I bet I will notice it a lot more next time I go out and about.
So, hey Kids – give it a try, take an hour to be obsessed with the design of something from time to time, maybe front doors, or hood ornaments, or tee shirts, or holiday decorations, anything — then see if you notice more the next time you go out and about. OK, you have my suggestion for the day.
Here are a few photos of “art” from my bike trip this morning:
I took almost 40 photos this morning — think about the effort it took to create each design and what the creator went through to build that which I saw. Hope they each had as much fun creating as I did looking!
This is a day in the life of me — I know I will be busy in the morning — Floor mold removal and onward with our problem and solution — so — I will prepare this photo journey of a day in the life of me this evening — I will post it in the morning!
Say I to you – laugh and dance when you can. Watching people laugh can make me want to laugh!
Our friend (and host for week-end and birthday boy) is the one in the center. He is watching much younger folks play water volleyball — as was I from the balcony. We had an outstanding time on the beach — THANKS Walt and Pam — Now for a few photos from the week end — there..
….are more to come — I will not include my photo of the score sheet from the domino game – I do not want the looser’s to feel poorly, you know? Would you call that a convoluted way of telling you who the winner was? Anyway ever onward.
Now the promise I hope to keep — I will not be lazy and let 10 days go by without a blog update – even if I am busy with other less important things. I have many pictures and stories waiting to be shown and told — thanks for asking if I was OK and thanks for watching — I will work on the backlog — hope you are not sorry you ask to see more blogs!
So, what have I been doing – I have done lots of work on the house floor problems, — I think we are on our way to success. New drains around house and new floor in some areas — I think these fixes are are committed if that is what is recommended (required). It seems….
…..we have to sequence these things in order to keep everyone committed to do, fix, and pay for fixes? — the right way and not do a cover-up sort of fix!
Had more meetings with Developer, Real Estate broker, Builder, Insurance Company, Community maintenance, Plumber, and Flooring people — Think I have every one working together and in the right direction. Grandma and I have been working hard to have an acceptable or improved redesign in our minds -( inside and outside) if that becomes the recommendation of the builder and others — so that we are ready and are not the ones holding up a fast fix-
I do not plan to support a fix until they explain source of H2O and planed fix or dispersement of the H2O, and care of mold issue!! I think we will get that soon because no one wants bad press for the Developer and all! So lots of people involved and I think motivated to work hard?
Hey, Grandma and I are going off to beach with friends for a little R and R, Ocean beach, dinner, and laugh with friends. – weather looks great too — and a walk on the beaches like these photos — sounds great? — I will take and post photos — should have time for that soon.
1. GRANDMA’S ART: Good morning to you. It has been several days since I last posted on this Blog. Why so late? – That is not important – What is important? – Grandma is becoming a “More Famous” artist than she was before!
Grandma, friends, and I went to an art show and dinner…
…- Grandma had 3 paintings in the show – Someone purchased one of them — the one titled “Just You and Me Kid”:
Even more good things happened — Grandma got invited to place at least one painting in the Christmas art show in the same gallery – They want her rendition of the Freedom Tower in New York City. It will, first, be digitized and placed on canvas over 3′ wide.
So, what have I been doing – I have done lots of work on the house floor problems, — I think we are on our way to success. New drains around house and new floor in many areas – we think it will be better than our original design — see we first failed in our design and ended up being more successful — we hope.
2. GRANDPA’S FAILURE: I have been going to school – – Not really, but, I have been teaching my self new things. — With my brain, that is a long press with many failed experiments — but with each experiment that fails I find that that is a real accomplishment — a success in a way — You see, it is a success because I will not have to go back and do that wrong thing again — assuming I learn from my experiences.
How you like that — GO OUT AND FAIL KIDS! — Did anyone ever tell you to be a failure? WOW, Some of Grandpa’s advice is confusing. As I said, Keep the good and throw away the bad! You decide!
So I decided to use not wood, but white tail deer antlers — no I did not shoot the deer – these were found on our J bar G Ranch in Texas – when the deer shed them in the spring! I will incorporate leather to finish the one on the bottom — No I did not shoot the cow — but do not ask me what happened – Some people do eat hamburger — but not you, I know!
I will not show you my failures – But I had numerous throw aways – just yesterday I split a beautiful wood blank thatI thought I could use even though it was smaller then I wanted — on the drill press BOOM — too small – smile and start over!!
OK, — Forget the pens – move on to photography — I keep trying to learn more of the Photoshop capabilities — again — for some dumb reason I did not want to do normal things. Being near Halloween – I decided to study “layers, and adjustment layers, and bunches of thing — So here is the result of numerous hours of pure failures — then while lying in bed this morning the final successful touch just popped into my head:
3. A Big Purchase:
This is the sales pitch – We are going to purchase a golf course and a first class restaurant — Well, not just us — but us and about 1500 other couples — Our community always had a golf course and a restaurant — but it was privately owned — now the opportunity to purchase it is upon us — but first most of the 1500 couples must agree to purchase — We vote YES — hope enough others do — We think our community can manage it better for the focused good of our community. — We will vote YES and Vote often (Only kidding). When we lived across the road from LBJ in Texas — some republican looser’s said that about LBJ.
Yesterday I talked of what I have been doing.
I kind of know what many of you are doing – – I know what you, friends on Drummond Island, are doing — those beautiful horses stay beautiful because my friends are out there this morning, as they are every morning, giving the horses the tender…
…loving care that we all would like to have. –
And you family and friends, in the New york City area, I can remember much of the morning activity – I paid my dues – spent almost 30 years there.
So, lets take a look at:
1. 1900 — on the homestead in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
Jan 1, 1900 My Grandma wrote in her diary : “Forenoon baked gingersnaps, Made aprons in afternoon, went to funeral – Samuel Custer was buried.” Grandpa was a teacher in a one room school house – and he wrote “Reopened school (on News Years Day), Snow and cold. Good sledding. Reopened school, 17 pupils present, school room very cold and smoky”
2. October, 2013 — NYC suburb — There is an old adage that goes something like this: surround yourself with positive people, and take time to enjoy their company – so I pause this blog for a bit. Heather called:
When Heather calls – I have always stopped what I was doing – Folks in the NY corporate office where I worked knew that — Because, I felt if a teenage lady needed to talk – that was my job — but now it is not a job – it is my TV comedy, my counsel, my laugh, my uplift of the day — Heather is a busy fun person — balancing her time among a job, 2 young folks of her own, some realestate activity, a special friend, a mothers birthday celebration, driving to attend little league/school sports, her own classes, a Dad always happy for her call, and more .
… Oh why the running chipmunk? Heather says a “Caught in the Act” photo was not possible — all were too busy — so, I had to find this animation to get my story to you – You see, during family home time after school — which happens most days at Heathers home – I know, I have been there visiting and it is like a three ring circus – with the 2 Grandchildren, 3 or so friends of theirs, two dogs and one cat all trying to tell the stories (or get a pet) of their day to Heather and each other —
Well, this day, the dogs started barking and running from room to room, the cat is screeching, the three young girls go to quiet the dog – instead, here is what happened – — A chipmunk crosses the nose of dog number one.
This is the story as I got it – slightly enhanced – First a scream! – “Who the h… left the chipmunk into the house” — Then the three teens went into action: Like good military leaders they rallied the troups that were available: 1Mom, two dogs, 1, cat, one brother, one brothers friend, and 1 chinchilla. — picture this — the teens even put on the CD with the bugle used to rally the mounted riders — dressed in red and black — to the beginning of a fox hunt, like they did in 1790 Virginia when our Government was young and the Fox and Hound hunt was a gentlemen’s sport — In this case, the hounds first enter the kitchen, then the TV room, up the stairs, to the teen room, to the Brother’s room, to Moms room, 6 times around the house — all the while the hounds are followed by three teen girls, two boys, one Mom and one cat ……. books thrown, lamps knocked over, snack plates on the floor
— Brother, with an arm like a professional quarterback, was called to the front line with a towel rolled up like a football– on the towel is a roaring lion from Grandma’s days in Penn State Nitty Loin country — One throw a miss – now, down two and the the same happens, but, down 3, do or die — success, the chipmunk is wrapped in the lioned towel, moved to the back porch with back ground music of the victory march — released to his 5 friends sitting high in the oak tree — watching as if they were in ancient Rome watching the Gladiators — on the porch, many Hi fives were given – the house put in order, and the post school time proceeded! Sort of a typical crises in a fun family after school get together.
3. October 17, 2013 Retirement village in Florida In Grandma’s family, a Grandparent always read the paper and passed along tidbits of information – most often with personal editorial — Grandma just did that, so I will try to quote what she read:
Maybe in Phily, Pa in 1730? Old Ben was born in 1706, so I expect he was smart enough to say this by the age of twenty four. Anyway, Ben said “Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy .” I am glad Grandma did not add this editorial “God did not intending for you to be that many glasses of happy.”
4. 2013 — in a relatively new Florida retirement community with many RV toys, motorcycles, boats, and excersise rooms, etc. I took morning activity photos for you but I ran out of time to post them here– tomorrow maybe — I must now tend to my woodshop projects of wood, deer antlers, and shellac — or things will get sticky — but I will show you that not all tractors are for farming 
— these are for growing houses – Growing houses may be even more profitable, now that we have a government — I love this two party system — I think it is working! — and the two parties did beat Grandma’s and my rock picking decisions – off the rock store tomorrow. (see yesterday’s blog if that did not make sense)
Trying to get there gave me a headache – Wood, Rocks, Color, Values, Hues, Does it flow, Is it warm, ????
Even a Democrat can say a true thing! I heard ex-President Clinton say “Not raising the debt ceiling is like not paying for things we already bought” Going on to say “If you did that
…..you would get put in jail” How long will it take to get a two party agreement – Bet they get there before we pick our rocks! – Read on! — Bear with me! — Hey, any of you men out there married to an artist? Maybe you relate to what I have been doing!
All of that was to get a lead in to say Lawyers and artist have the ability to see true things that others do not see — or at least we normal folks do not see. (President Clinton is the lawyer in this case)
All of that was to get a lead in to say my wife is the artist in this case — Grandma sees things that normal folks like me do not see – We did have a discussion about the word “Normal” and of course wether I was real — She said she knew I was real because — “If I were only in her mind she would make numerous improvements.”
All of that was to get a lead in to say the engineer gave a plan to solve our floor problem — well half a plan – our problem is inside and outside — the inside part has a plan – still working on the outside part.
All of that was to get a lead in to say the plan is, we will replace glued down engineered wood floors with rocks – the wood and the glue-down organic stuff used for wood floors is mold food. Rocks on the other hand are not food for anything. Rocks have been sitting there since God put them there. So we will put down some form of rock – in selected areas — ENGINEERING DECISION MADE.
All of that was to get a lead in to say – THE ARTIST DECISION STARTS NOW – the rock floor store has 10 thousand examples of tile, ceramics, slate, fake slate, 1000 degree heated ceramics, terracotta, travertine, ETC – each in what I call several different colors. But, to the artist, rocks do not come in several colors – they come in thousands of blue greens, orange reds, pink browns, all with values, contrasts, hues. THOUSAND of combinations! That is where the headache starts.
All of that was to get a lead in to say, why I stand by for hours listening to Grandma and the rock-store lady discussing – with samples of our wall paint, counter-top granite , a draw I brought from the cabinets, left over samples of the adjoining wood floor which I dragged out of the attic , samples of my hair color, the color of Grandmas eyes, if the pest man ever left a silverfish live would they match the floor color, the show on TV has a tone that may reflect on the floor, if I drink red wine would it match the floor color, how about the coffee – do I lighten it with cream or milk – maybe I drink tea, orange juice or V8 juice, what color are my underwear? — all of the things and many more – must be considered when an artist selects floor covering- and Grandma is an artist!
All of that was to get a lead in to say I have had a tough week now that we moved from the ENGINEERING DECISION to the ARTIST DECISION phase. I have luged a ton of sample potential tiles (rocks) from store to car, from car to kitchen, to front door where light is natural, to back room where natural light is not natural, luged those that got voted off out to the garage– well maybe the decision was made too fast — lug them back in — on and on it goes just to see all of that stuff an artist sees that normal folks like me do not see.
All of that was to get a lead in to say what is true? Is the floor world made up of hues, color values, temperatures, flows?
All of that was to get a lead in to say It is true — The artist told me so! — but she did not tell me how long it will take to get to the one true rock. But I know in the end – her hard work and color skill will make it perfect – Thanks Grandma.
All of that was to get a lead in to say – Gotta go move yesterday’s samples to the car – drive to the rock store and get another load of samples – So now you got an idea of what I have been doing.
