Elemental Elements of Nature totally fascinate me. When I was out in it yesterday, I was remembering how I spent most of my childhood outdoors, in my element for sure. I love nature! I have always been fascinated with the creations of God. Flowers, trees & their fruits, birds, insects, frogs & tadpoles, ground rats (chipmunks), any kind of field or garden that I could spend hours in.
I would spend so much time just studying and looking for things. If you looked close enough and long enough you could always find something awesome. Can’t tell you what exactly, because it was different each time. That was the excitement of it.
Super tomboys, my sister and I climbed trees and searched for tadpoles and snakes in the huge field up from Edward Hines Park in Nankin Township. We found all kinds of things to eat as well. Tons of hazelnuts grew wild there as well as berries. We picked them and brought them home for us all to enjoy. We ate the debatable Hawthorn berries that grew on the many trees in the park near our home. You have to know how to eat them safely.
I miss those simpler times before media experts all over telling you every move to make and what you should and shouldn’t do. I don’t even listen to the talking heads anymore. I’m going back to my “second childhood” now.
This photograph reminds me of one of my favorite poems. It is something to think about anytime you get caught up in the mainstream guilt of never doing quite enough in your life or in this world. This poem really says it all in the grand scheme of things. I never realized this as I “accidentally” leaned my homemade trellis against my garage one day when storm clouds came into view, planning to finish it later. It had a very convenient overhang that kept all these little ones dry in the storm. I looked out to see them all sitting there and took this shot with my telephoto from my house. Unusual enough to make me dig out the camera for this shot and I felt happy for them that I did this. I ended up leaving it here for the summer.
Today was a casual, easy kind of day. Lots of strange things happening for sure, but that’s on par. Today I have been in prayer since I woke & that’s how it used to be before everything in my life blew up approximately 8 years ago. We won’t go into that.
I drank decaf today to start. I prefer Tim Horton’s but I will drink Caribou because they are both water processed. The only safe, non-chemical way to take the caffeine from coffee plus it takes most of it out. The chemical way leaves more caffeine behind with the unneeded chemicals. These coffees also start out with the Arabica Bean, the most flavorful with less natural caffeine than the Robusta Beans used in cheap coffee blends. Only had my vitamins and a small piece of homemade coffee cake (recipe to come). I put on my face and used my hot rollers for the first time in a couple of weeks due to the heat and humidity here were off the charts and decided to try my luck at the Farmers Market in town.
This is bee season and since I have already been stung once last month, I’m not venturing out that often til the first freeze. They are very active and plentiful this year. I do have allergies, but mostly localized. I also had my first deer tick burrow. Luckily it was not in my leg for more than 12-15 hours or so. Supposedly if it had Lyme I understand it takes about 24 hours or so to transfer this disease. Usually within a month you know if you were infected. No bullseye rash or illness so far over a month now. I was not feeling well for a while after the bee sting, tiny bee but multiple stings before I could get it out of my clothing.
I was thinking about some financial help I received recently, without requesting it and realized I was able to accept my much needed and deserved help without guilt or reservation because of the life I had lived. A life of hard work and doing the right thing, never trying to get something for nothing. I don’t consider my weekly lotto tickets something for nothing, they are an “investment” into our schools. Also, I have yet to receive anything from my donations to the lottery fund but when I do is sure won’t be something for nothing. That dollar win will have had many years of dollars given. It did give me a certain satisfaction to know that God is good and merciful and even though we don’t usually get what we want in life, we usually get our needs met sufficiently. Man’s problem has always been selfishness and greed and that’s well documented. It’s when we let go of our wants & needs that I believe God is free to do His will without us fighting Him. This is what Jesus tried to tell folks when he said not to worry. Worry does not help anything. It just gives you more frown lines.
I got some new potatoes to go with local green beans I had purchased the day before. Love this combo with a little butter and cheese sprinkled on. Some use bacon, but I prefer cheesing it. Used Asiago I grated myself this time. Made a nice lunch.
As I was walking through the small folksy downtown area, I came upon a window all boarded up and then another building in even worse condition. I noticed the yellow tape to my right but realized I didn’t pay much attention because of various things they do downtown using streamers and balloons and the like, but finally stopped, looked around and realized someone had to have slammed a rather large vehicle into the buildings to do all this damage. Being from the Detroit area immediately thought smash & grab, which they do all the time all around there and suburbs as well. Checked online & this is what I found.
I also saw two shops are closing this month. One a very popular coffee shop, eatery & gift shop of 20 years and another very cute Antique shop of a few years which already has another business in there within the month. Not sure who. I have no idea what’s to become of the coffee shop though. I didn’t get a chance to speak to anyone yet. Just saw the signs.
One of my favorite things in the whole world is collage! I love making them with canvas, papers, paints, stamps, ink, and whatever strikes my fancy. I also love creating various photo collages. It’s much less messy!
Collage started with various papers and photos.
Paint & Paper
Ghost in Garden
Fabric Collage
Fabric Collage 2
Created by layering individual flowers with various effects on the computer.
Creating a WordPress gallery collage with macro shots of old family jewelry.
I know I haven’t captured all the bridges on the W.H.L. McCourtie Estate, originally Aiden Lair, but take a look at the few I captured.
I think I posted something years ago around Halloween because of the rumors of it being haunted by a “blue lady.” Click here for another article on the place.
My friends and I saw Joe Cocker open for the Who at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit in 1969. This was the Premier of the Who‘s Rock Opera “Tommy” which turned out to be their biggest success. No camera’s allowed inside.
We used to be regulars and saw many well known acts, some I cannot recall but their regular bands at that time got to be friends/acquaintances of ours. Iggy & the Stooges, better known as Iggy Pop & The MC5 among them.We would sometimes get together at John Sinclair’s house and stuff “anti-war” literature in envelopes with some other very interesting people that will remain nameless, for now anyway. Enjoy the memories of Joe and “Delta Lady.”
As much as I am a stickler to routine, my entire life has been nothing but change. I admit to love of travel and thus I loved it when we moved even though it meant changing schools all the time. I never had many close friends in my life so it was not that hard. So “transient” were almost all my relationships. I never knew our family was “less than” in others eyes but we were. We always managed with help from some family members while others were glaringly absent. All the while, our mother was hiding a secret. A secret she only recently starting giving me chosen details on. A secret that would make it look bad for her and the choices she made in life. It was very important to my mother to appear perfect so she crafted this false world in her own mind. A place where she would never have to admit to the carnage her choices brought to many.
I am going to share something to anyone who cares. I knew my father was not a good man. That he had actually been a bad man in earlier years but only recently found out that I am actually the child of a “gangsta’.” A genuine big time gang member captured in a hail bullets with several of his gang many years ago during a crime spree they wreaked on several cities in the area. I will not go into details but it upset me greatly that his past was hidden and that a relative sent me a newspaper article that she found in the archives looking up the family history. I thank God I was told some of the dirty details, like the fact that I was in jail before I was born because my mother chose poorly in life.
I don’t get that some folks obsess over certain criminal figures on TV that the mainstream turns into heroes of sort and I have no respect for any woman who would want someone like that in their life or the lives of any intended children. Orange is The New Bullshit! My mother has never been close to her children, but finding out these kinds of things, along with other incidents that occurred during the years my father was around or not around, explains so much. Sometimes your life is not what you think it is. Imagine you woke up tomorrow and found out you were not who you thought you were. That your life was an illusion of sorts. A lie.
Oh, transient is the lie and yet many imagine they will never be found out or they wouldn’t cover the truth up in the first place.
Evanescent. I just learned me a new word today. Who’da thunk it?
Sorry I have not had much to say for the last number of years but hopefully that changes in a few months, maybe sooner, not for sure right now. I know I am about to take at least a couple of months off after Memorial Day weekend.
I knew I was canceling my cable service, Comcast, due to constantly being overcharged for months now and not able to completely correct the various issues with my bill. I had never dealt with this company before now & read all the complaints before going with them anyway. Live & learn, it can happen to you too! I had no issues the first year with my introductory offer locked in but after that year and one upgrade deal that turned out to be $33.00 more than the agreed upon amount of $142 which was still way higher than the deal advertised for only $109 per month. They gave me a partial credit with more to come, but reneged on the deal numerous times so I’m done. Been charging me $176 or more a month! Probably sending a complaint to the FCC when I am done with them. I don’t expect they will just let me cancel. I actually expect them to pull stuff on me after the fact like sending some type of “cancellation bill” or claims they didn’t get all the equipment back. That’s how much I don’t trust them now and will wait and see so I can give a full report to the FCC when I do file a complaint so everything’s included.
I will choose another service after I get a break from it for the summer. Will give me a chance to create again instead of being distracted because I want to watch things and get my money’s worth out of this service while I have it. I might do another post before I stop for a while. This is some of the things I’ve worked on in the past in various media and with my computer graphic software of which I have three. Photoshop, PhotoImpact & PhotoDraw. Most are about 10 years old or more with some functions no longer supported by the company and as such no longer work like 3D in PhotoDraw 2000 because of their constant upgrades to Windows through the years. I rarely touch Photoshop Elements 7 & 9 preferring Microsoft PhotoDraw when I need it. The PhotoImpact edition I have came out in 1999, a year before PhotoDraw was introduced by Microsoft I purchased at a good price in my college bookstore.
Scanned damaged Photo of Grams Goldie
Partially restored with PhotoDraw
I used to do restoration work on old photos back in then 1980’s for a couple of professional photo labs without the help of any software like we have now.
I have been suffering through yet another diet the last couple months trying to get rid of about 20 extra pounds after hibernating all winter with cable. Was nice though. Spoiled the heck out of myself. I started keeping a journal with the approximate calorie, fat and carb info for everything I ate. It helped me become aware of the nutrition in my food and make needed changes. I still freak when I have a couple of slices of bread I want to use so it doesn’t go to waste but I don’t want the added calories and have other left overs that are more nutritious. I’ve never been a big bread eater in the first place but did purchase it. I pride myself in never wasting any food but thinking like that will put on the pounds for sure. So will snacking on seeds and nuts thinking they are healthy but realizing just how many calories and fat is in them.
I made a “Pineapple Dream Desert” the other day for a treat after giving up cheesecake and ice cream, my favorites. I’m not fond of just any sweets but what I do love I must have like chocolate at least once a day. I created a “Diet Pineapple Dream Desert” in honor of my 11 lb weight loss. I was about to go berserk feeling so deprived. Click on the original desert name for the full recipe.
I did not make a crust, just the top sprinkle. Whip all the ingredients together as you would any whipped desert and chill a couple of hours to firm. Not bad but not as good as a cheesecake, fair warning. Also found this great snack food called Cosmos Creations that I think may put a crimp in my diet plans. Like the coconut crunch in moderation. Must be a Christian company because days later I was reading the back and found Psalm 89:11.
I have also added an additional 8 crates to my wall shelving. I’m eventually going to sand them all better and stain them a darker color as well as input those battery stick lights in some of them for ambiance when I can find some that are decent quality. I tried those years ago with my under the stairs storage and they eventually fell off after getting knocked. They were cheaply made. I will post the another picture once I complete that time-consuming project one day. *WARNING: Again, would not recommend doing something like this with young children who could easily pull it down on themselves.
Twelve crates in progress.
Twenty crates & still might be in progress
I actually might just sand them and use white wash or milk paint. I like both effects. Viewed them on Pinterest.com. I plan on being creative as far as placement once in a while now that I have 20 to work with.
I plan on starting and finishing a number of collages while I’m away for a while. I will post them as soon as I’m online again. In the meantime I’ll share some of my old work.
Lamp post collage
My first nude oil. Interesting technique before I started studying with other artists.
Rose transfer in center of large plexiglass with stamped border.
This is what happened with I drew a picture from my head. Not happy with it
More fun with a glue gun.
Acrylic cross on canvas with stamped border done in monochromatic metallics.
I was sometimes called a “girly-girl” which I don’t get except I was very slight of frame and quiet. I didn’t wear ruffles or pink but preferred a book to sports, kittens to dogs and giggling to gossip.
I grew to love pink, ruffles and lace as I got older and I don’t mean as an old lady, but even into my 30’s I grew fond of the romantic look in clothing and decor.
An outdoor picnic. I made my dress and my son’s outfit.
Reflections are all around us daily but I’m reflecting internally about the time in my life when I actually “mothered.” I am still a mother but am no longer allowed to act like one. That sucks.
I love Sean’s expression at 3 months.My son David used to play a little too rough, age 3. At age 10 he broke a foot right before school started.
Po' Girl Shines 
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