Back To Blogging... I Hope!

I have finally regained some of my stamina from the trip out of town last week. It was a wonderful, if grueling, appointment! He and his staff are some of the most compassionate people I have met, especially as regards this illness, ME/CFS/FM. (I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, caused by the ME/CFS - that was news to me, and now I know why I have such pain some days!) It was so tremendous to be in a place where there were no doubts cast or rude/questioning comments made. I have some work to do as I begin to learn to manage this illness and see what good things await me as I lead a completely different life than I lived the first 60 years. And I have no doubt that there will be good things, because God has shown me His love and held me up, so I know He will have blessings for me. I've already experienced many in the past 4 years of this illness!

Before I left, I wanted to do at least a little bit of art, even though I had to be careful not to tire myself out. I pulled this postcard out of my reject pile. I had started it a good while back, and did not like where it was going, so I put it away.

(click for details)

I did a little bit of altering before I went to Charlotte, and after I returned, I finished it. It's pretty simple, but I was happy to be doing something! It has now been mailed to my sister, who loves purple (and the flower is more purple than pink!)

(click for details)

A little paint, some strips of tissue, some alcohol ink, a big flower, 3 shiny hearts, rubber stampng and a bit of Stickles and Gold Leaf Pen and there it is! I hope she likes it! (And she should have gotten it by now!)

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Two More Art Postcards

I'm thrilled that I feel strong enough to sit at my art table and do a few things. I have cut back on the postcard Round Robins because I just didn't have enough brain power to stay focused on many things, but I am still getting some great postcards in the mail! I also have a stack of postcards to file, which is overwhelming just looking at it. I wish I had an invisible helper, or a trained robot sometimes, to give me a hand because I get so easily overwhelmed. I remind myself it's just part of this illness and I can only do as I can on this day. :) It helps, but the stack is still there. Maybe I should just move the stack!

I was able to play some with art yesterday before I had to head downstairs to my bed. I put together 2 more art postcards and here they are:

(click for details)

(click for details)

Scraps from the scrap drawer, gesso,  acrylic paint, oil pastels (I love those things!), punched butterfly, rubber stamps, vintage music, a bit of fabric, small tag, vintage images, and there you have the mixed media art collage!

Something else I did this morning - I trimmed my "Friends" list on Facebook. For me, since I have such severely limited contact with people, Facebook can be an important way to stay current with people I care about and who care about me. I realized that I have over 100 people who were either long gone from my life, never stayed in contact with my family, had moved on with their lives in a different direction and had expressed no interest in us, or we in them. So, click click and off the list. Now I have a current list of people who are local, or have have maintained a relationship over the years. It's been very freeing! For me, it's not so much about that number listed on your Facebook page, but the quality of the friends who are there. 

Hooray!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Dance My Child

Another journal page, playing with gesso, scraps, acrylic paints, oil pastels, old image, ribbon and Stabilo pencils in a collage. This may or may not be finished, I'm not sure!

(click for details)

Weather is much more humid today, and I guess that it should be expected - after all we are in the South! I will be glad when the Grackles stop overpowering the bird feeders - I know they are feeding babies, but they are such bullies and take so much! The Bluebird eggs have hatched in the standing birdhouse and they look so helpless. The parents are very protective of them. We have a chipmunk living in the rock pile near the birdhouse and when the chipmunk scampered out, the Bluebird parents started dive bombing the poor thing, even though he is not the least interested in the babies! 

And life goes on!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Nine Postcards, Ready To Be Delivered! (No Story Today)

The Postcard Project is finished! And I have had some interest, so I will be sending several of them out to people across the US. There is still time to sign up on this post, as I will wait until the end of the day and announce the winners tomorrow!

Please join in! It's free!

All you have to do is comment after the blog (some people are finding it hard to leave a  comment on Blogger, so feel free to leave one on Facebook and I will include your name).  That's it!

I will send them to you in the US Mail, and I look forward to sharing my art!

How often do you have a chance to get something for free??

(If you are a local friend, please sign up too - I would love to send you one!)

Each postcard is 6 x 4, on foam core board and will be sent with proper postage. Each is an individual art collage and can be framed. The back of the postcards will not be pristine, as it is impossible to keep the backs from being spattered or have paint run, but you are not framing the backs anyway! :) These postcards are in no particular order. 

Click on picture to see details.

Rose petal, dried small orchid, papers, inks, sequins stamping, Belarus postage stamp, and paints.

Art flower, Dresden Scrap bird, sequins, papers, stamping, Netherland postage stamp, and paints.

Butterfly punched paper, dried small orchid, sequins, papers, gem, stamping, and paints

Dried orchid, Dresden Scrap bird, Norway postage stamp, sequins, stamping, papers, beading, and paints.

Beading, stamping, papers, gem, applique, lace, and paint.

Flower applique, lace, Netherlands postage stamp, papers, flower gem, stamping and paints.

Metal corner, 3 colored mini glass beads, sequins, stamping, papers, and paints.

Dried rose petal, dried orchid, metal heart, stamping, papers, and paints.

Leaf applique, tiny bird brad, stamping, papers, and paints.

Would you like to receive one? 

Be sure and sign up today 

Winners named tomorrow!

Come see my latest postcards I've received on Postcards Buffet!

Tag Tuesday - Butterfly; And a Story: CAN SHE SING?

The theme today was Butterfly.

(click for details)

For details on how I made this, or to join in on the challenge, please go to 

Blog Challenge Garden.

Can She Sing?

(25th in the Tuesday Story Series)

When my husband John and I married in 1981, we took a very simple honeymoon in the mountains of North Carolina. My husband is a man very adverse to debt, and since we paid for most of the wedding ourselves, we knew that the honeymoon had to be inexpensive, and of course still romantic. For us, being alone in the mountains, relaxing and spending time together, was something we both looked forward to. My roommate had a co-worker who owned a small A-frame mountain vacation home near Black Mountain, near the Blue Ridge Parkway, and gave us the use of it for the week following our wedding. We were very thankful for his generosity and even though it was June, the weather was cool and comfortable.

One of the places we visited that week was Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. We hiked some of the trails around the park there and afterward ate dinner at the restaurant that had just been built. It had a high arched ceiling of peeled pine logs and very large windows which afforded diners beautiful views in all directions. 

When we went into the dining area, I noticed that there were very few people at the tables, so we almost had the entire place to ourselves. We settled in and began looking at the menus we had been given. Our server, or waitress, whichever you prefer, came to the table with her pad and pencil ready and waiting. She was on the tall side, had long wavy hair and a young, narrow face. And she was Perky. And she was Chatty. 

She started right off talking to us and asking us where we were from and then began telling us about herself. She lived not very far from there, and had the distinct local accent and I think this was her first job. Hoping to head off more information than we wanted, I asked her what she would recommend from the menu. She enthusiastically replied. "Whah the rost beef is just wonnerful! Thayt's what thayt guy is having- right thayer" and she  pointed to a man dining alone about three tables from us. 

She turned to him and said very loudly "Isn't thayt rost beef just wonnerful? Jus go 'head an tell these folks how wonnerful it is!"

We stared, first at her and then at the poor guy. He looked speechless for a second, and then shook his head slowly and shrugged. We heard him mumble "Uhh, no..... it's just okay."

His response didn't seem to deter her at all, in fact she seemed determined that we should have the roast beef. She began chattering about the chef, and how talented he was, and we finally interrupted her and told her that was okay, we really didn't want the roast beef and we settled on burgers and fries. After taking our order, she started off, then whirled around and said,

"Y'all know what else? Ah ken sing too! Didja want to har me sing?" which sounded like "sang" when she said the word.

"Well, umm," we replied, "that's all right. We believe you. You don't have to sing"

"But you'd love to har me, Ah ken sang real good!"

"Thanks, but that's all right, we're kind of hungry and...."

Without letting us finish, she began belting out Elvira. That was the summer of 1981 and Elvira was a hit song that year sung by the Oak Ridge Boys.  It wasn't a song we particularly liked, and certainly not as a solo before dinner! She even did the "oom papa mau mau's". I was expecting someone to come out of the kitchen and stop her, but no one ever came.

We never knew why she sang to us, I guess she was hoping to get a break into country music. Perhaps she sang to everyone that sat at her tables, or she was related to the owner, I don't know. This was long before American Idol was a hit on TV, and she wasn't that great anyway although she certainly had the twang. We haven't been back there, so I don't know if the restaurant is still open. If it is, she may still be in there serenading her customers!

In case you aren't familiar with the song, I found this on Youtube for your enjoyment! 

Enjoy your week!

Rebecca

Tag Tuesday - Arbor Day; and a Story: REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

For the Tag Tuesday challenge - today's theme is Arbor Day (USA). National Arbor Day is the tree planter's holiday, and has been celebrated since 1872. It began in Nebraska, a largely treeless plain back in the 1800's. It's always the last Friday of April, a day to plant and dedicate a tree to help nature and the environment. Millions of trees will be planted Friday, April 29, 2011.

(click for detail)

For more information about how I made the tag, or to join the challenge, click here.

REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

Sixteenth in the Tuesday Story Series

In 1973, I moved from Columbia SC to outside of Harrisburg PA, in the small town of Dillsburg. My mother's family lived in south central Pennsylvania and I was looking forward to seeing my grandmother more often. I had moved because I was young,  I was tired of living in Columbia and I thought I'd try something different. 

In Autumn, it was wonderful to experience the weather and the brilliance of the leaves. In Columbia, there is a slight change of seasons; in Charleston, there are only two seasons: Hot and Not. So it was a heady change of pace for me. The people I met were very pleasant, although they did tease me about my accent. I thought I would probably stay in the area for awhile.

Then, things began to change. There were two main reasons for this - the weather and the food. Having been raised in the South, there were some foods I began to miss after a few months. I remember stopping at a diner one morning to have breakfast and asked the waitress (that's what they were called back then) if they had grits. She looked at me strangely and said "What's a grit?". And I was used to BBQ being pork with a mustard base, not beef with a tomato base, which was all there was available. When I went into a restaurant in the evening during winter, and asked for iced tea (THE southern staple!), I would get another strange look and would be brought a glass of ice and hot tea in a pot. 

I think what capped it in the area of food were the turnip greens. Growing up, we would cube the turnips and cook them in a pot with the washed tops and they were delicious. I went to several large supermarkets in the area and I found fresh turnips (the greens had been cut off), canned turnips, and even frozen turnips, but no greens anywhere. Finally I approached a store manager, asked him where I could find this particular delicacy and then received a VERY strange look! "Lady," he said slowly "We feed those to the pigs."

Turnips, greens and cornbread - mmm mmm!

And then winter....... I loved the first couple of snow falls, but then the snow stayed on the ground. And continued to stay, adding more with each snowfall. It turned yellow in a lot of places, or was full of dirt.  And it was cold and it stayed cold. At that time, if you didn't have money for a snow mobile, or didn't ice skate or ski, you stayed indoors. In Columbia it may have snowed once a winter, or if it was very cold, it wouldn't stay that way, after a few days it would warm up a bit. I found out first hand what it was like to have cabin fever. In January, there was the "January Thaw", the temperatures went up into the 50's and people were walking around with shirtsleeves. I did not think that was funny, I thought they were crazy. By March, I had moved back to South Carolina, all the way back to Charleston!

I realize that over time, regional differences have shrunk, and you can find any food just about anywhere. And now that I live in the mountainous area of the state, I experience the full four seasons. It even snows more than once a winter here too! But I am always more than ready for Spring and would not want to move any further north. It's quite lovely in the area of Pennsylvania where my mother's family was from, but I am content to have it as a destination instead of a residence. I guess you just can't take the Southern out of the girl raised in the South!

Rebecca