The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong in the broken places.
Ernest Hemingway
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AHH . . . THE ART WORLD!

3/25/2017

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I FOUND I COULD SAY THINGS WITH COLOR AND SHAPES THAT I COULDN'T SAY ANY OTHER
WAY . . .THINGS I HAD NO WORDS FOR .
​                                                                              Georgia O'Keefe

​We went to Alec's art show Wednesday night. It was very interesting to see what kinds of things these high school kids came up with. It was surprising to see Al's work, since we had the understanding  that his work was some kind of black and white negative thingy. Instead, it was an abstract of a high top tennis shoe with the theme of PIXAR complete with Luxor Junior lamps on the edge of the sole and a Pixar ball at the ankle all done in, of course, 
his signature red color!  What else? He does love Pixar. When I arrived, Mr. Alec was mingling in the crowd, holding  a glass of Sprite, and meeting and greeting guests, just like any artist would do. Actually, there was quite a large crowd that showed up.  Anyway, well done, Grasshopper.

Here is Jenna and Alec. (Man, he has grown so tall in the last year!!!)​
Picture
Picture

It is kinda cold, rainy, and overall dreary here today.  NOTE: I must say that if my cousin, Rosie, in sunny Florida does not stop taunting us on Facebook, about the nice weather they are having there, I might have to go to fisticuffs with her.  LOL We really can't complain here. It has been pretty nice most of the winter.

​Plans are still being made for our Woodbridge Haven. One of our board members, Chrissy, has designed the neatest logo for our business cards, and also another unique design for other things that we will be using. She has also been working on the website, Facebook page, and other social media outlets. Fantastic.

​On the land that we are using to build our building, there are two REALLY tall old trees that need to be cut down, because we are redirecting the electrical lines in their direction. But . . . one is so cool, that I think I will just have them leave about ten or twelve feet of the trunk because it has the most amazing huge knothole along one side. I mean this thing is like eight feet tall against the tree. It looks like a doorway with an arch at the top of the "door". I would love to keep that, put a neat sign above the doorway and attach an old glass doorknob that I have. It would look like a magical doorway  to . . . 
whatever you can imagine. The other tree branches off  about ten feet above the ground, into two trunks. This particular tree, I would like to have cut off at the crotch (sorry) and  put a roof on it, then make a small door that would be attached at  the foot of the stump, making it look like a gnome home.

So many ideas and so much work ahead. Just remember, WE WILL DO THIS. WE WILL GET IT DONE. WE ARE DETERMINED. 

​                                                                          GOD BLESS YOU ALL

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SUNNY WARMTH

3/20/2017

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SPRING HAS RETURNED. THE EARTH IS LIKE A CHILD THAT KNOWS POEMS.
                                                                                  Ranier Maria Rilke

​

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Dad and Mom's Spring flowers.

​This is mainly for sisters Karen and Sandy who live a distance away. Again, the wind was blowing 90 miles per hour out at the cemetery  There are tulips on the wreath and daffodils in the vases. I brought back the metal ear-of-corn for Dad and  "planted" a new  metal daffodil for Mother that I found at an antique shop in Ankeny.

​Happy first day of Spring, everybody!  It is beautiful here. Unfortunately, I been sitting inside all day, taking turns watching the political investigation on TV and working on all my tax stuff. whoo hoo

​                                                                   GOD BLESS YOU ALL
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PROTECTIVE WOMEN

3/17/2017

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I LOOK OUT ONTO THIS WORLD I'M IN AND HOPE THAT ONE DAY ALL PEOPLE WILL BE ACCEPTED AND VALUED AS THEY ARE.

                                                         Tina J. Richardson

​Happy St. Pat's Day, everyone! (as I sit here wearing all blue). Please don't pinch me.

​This week the grandkids are on Spring break, so I had them on a couple of those days. Wednesday something different happened. Oh, nothing big, just a bit disturbing.

​Abby, Alec, and I were out running errands, when we stopped at the good  old Goodwill. As I was browsing in one aisle, I hear a crash and a wail from another aisle. It was Alec. He had been looking at a water globe and he dropped it. When it smashed all over the floor, he got very upset. Poor guy! He began shouting, "I sorry! I sorry! I fix it, I tape it!" I went over to him and put my arms around, reassuring him that it was okay and it was no big deal. But the meltdown had begun. He was so upset with himself, that he could not pull it back and kept shouting that he was sorry and that he could fix it. What a pair we must have looked. I'm 5'4" and he's almost 6 foot and we're standing there hugging each other.

​Well, about that time, some man had had enough and he gave us such a look and stomped away. In a way, I shouldn't blame him. But . . . protective grandma here had to open her mouth and yell after him, "I guess
​some ​people have never met a person who has autism!" The people who were cleaning up the glass really glared at him. The Goodwill works with and for so many with disabilities. They understood and were very nice about the whole deal.

​I gave Abby my car keys and had her take Alec out to the car while I  paid for the cartful of movies, tapes, and assorted crap that they had chosen. Later, when we were having lunch, she told me she was very mad at me. When I asked why, she said that I must be ashamed of Alec! Wha  . . .?? She thought that was the reason I asked them to leave the store was because I was ashamed. I had to explain to her that he needed to exit the situation and get to some quiet place that had nothing to do with the accident. There was not going to be any "stopping him" once he got in that frame of mind. Even when he tried very hard, it is difficult for him to calm down. I realize that Abby was just being protective of her cousin, which is good. But she didn't realize how the situation needed to be handled.

​So you see, there were actually two protective women with Alec that day.  :)

​On a lighter note, I had to feel sorry for daughter Jenna on Saturday night. Since daylight savings time was starting, everyone turned their clocks ahead. Well, Jen happens to collect clocks. I know everybody must have several clocks around their house ie: bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, whatever. But she has that, plus a whole wall of them. I'll bet she was cussing DST when she had to crank them all to the correct time.  hehehe

​WARNING!  I am slipping in a slightly political opinion here. If you do not care to read it or if it is going to make you mad, STOP HERE!

​I know I have been watching too much CNN and MSNBC and whatever. In fact, I think I've gained 5 pounds just from stress eating. But - - -  ENOUGH . . . ENOUGH . . . ENOUGH! I am so worried about where this country is going. I never imagined our wonderful USA could change so quickly. Stay strong, people. Hang in there, and hope and pray for the best outcome.

​                                                                        GOD BLESS YOU ALL


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BRAGGING RIGHTS

3/12/2017

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THE OBJECT ISN'T TO MAKE ART, IT'S TO BE IN THAT WONDERFUL STATE WHICH MAKES ART INEVITABLE.
​                                                   Robert Henri

​IMAGINATION IS EVERYTHING.

                                                    Termina Ashton

​Yup, this is a "two quote"
​ post. If you are a parent or a grandparent, occasionally you have to brag about one of your loved ones.  I just learned that our Alec is having one of his drawings honored.
​It seems that 30 pieces of art were selected to be professionally matted and framed and hung in the art collections of Veridian Credit Unions in the Cedar Rapids/Marion area. A panel of art teachers picked the outstanding art from several surrounding high schools. We are not even sure what he created, but his teacher said it was a "negative" black and white piece. I have seen some of his work in this form at his house. It's really interesting the way he draws a picture (totally in black and white) but you see in it the reverse. It's kinda hard to explain. Anyway, his piece will hang on display for a full year. Wonderful!

​While I'm on the subject of my grandchildren, I must express my regret for putting that picture of myself with that "little-to-none-at-all" hair-do, on one of the previous posts. I didn't think much of it, but evidently my appearance was pretty darn scary to granddaughter Cate. In fact, when she saw that post, she hollered, "Meee Mawww!" (which told me she was shocked that I had posted such an awful picture of myself. LOL)  Yes, it was pretty bad. But that's what I looked like at the time. I was trying to make a joke about being bald, and that photo was the closest I could find, that showed how little hair I had at that time. Remember, for some crazy reason, I never got shiny bald. I always had that smooth white cap of stublets.      Grandkids . . .  Gotta love 'em!​

​Oh, wait . . .  I wanted to tell you about a weird experience I had the other day. I went down to the basement to get something. And I saw a shadow flit past me. But there was nothing there. Then it did it again. It moved so fast, that by the time I looked in it's direction, it was gone. It was like in those Chuckie Doll horror movies. You know, when Chuckie, the evil doll, would dart around the house and when the soon-to-be victim would look, Chuckie would be out of sight. How creepy!

Well, finally, this "shadow" swooped right past my head. A big bird! In the basement! (sis-in-law Nina would have had a heart attack if she had been there---she is terrified of birds). I did the sensible thing. I went and told Hubbie to handle it. He said it must have flown down the chimney. It was one of those really windy days, so there is the possibility that it got ​blown ​down the chimney. Anyhow, Hubbie got it to fly out of the basement, but then it went into the poker room, which has a big picture window. That poor bird slammed into the window and either stunned himself good, or broke his neck. Hubbie was able to pick it up and take it outside. Weird, huh?

​Speaking of Nina . . . she and her husband just returned from a fun-filled vay cay in Jamaica. She found it very interesting that when people from other countries found out that they were from the U.S.A, they got questioned a lot about our new president. It appears like the whole world seems to be incredibly puzzled by it all. Interesting.

​                                                              GOD BLESS YOU ALL



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COLLEGE , OLD CHECKS, & $3.00

3/2/2017

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EDUCATION = FUTURE         IF YOU THINK EDUCATION IS EXPENSIVE, TRY IGNORANCE.

                                                   Derek Bok

​I'm been thinking about college a lot lately. With my granddaughter, Cate, making plans for school this fall, it got me to thinking about what could have been. You see, I applied to UNI (University of Iowa) back in 1970. I ranked 4th in my class in high school and I tried really hard to do the best I could in my studies and extra-curricular activities. I remember asking my mother if I could go on to college. I really can't recall how she answered, but evidently I took it as a "yes". 

Those were the days when you did not ​know how much money your parents had and you did not inquire about it. Well, I must have been in a pink haze, because I blindly went about my business, earning $30 for the dorm room deposit. I baby sat for another farm couple, who had two little kids. I was paid a crummy 45 cents per hour ( which was incredibly cheap even back then), And when the parents got home - usually quite tipsy - the wife would actually sit down with pencil and paper, and figure out how much they owed me, and heaven help us all, if there was a half hour involved,! It took her forever.

​Anyhoo, I saved up my money. BUT, the deposit for my tuition was another $50, which I did not have and didn't have a clue where it was going to come from. Never-the-less, I completed a bunch of papers to apply for financial assistance and gave them to my parents to finish filling in the particulars concerning their finances. And then I waited. Nothing was said about getting ready for college. No one mentioned anything about when I was to leave for school, and how I was going to get there. When there was no information forthcoming, and it had turned to autumn, I finally wrote UNI and informed them that I would not be attending their school. Nothing more was said in my household, and I went out, got a job, and a year later became a wife. And I'm happy to say that it has been a good, interesting life.

​Skip forward lots and lots of years. After my dad passed away 2 1/2 years ago, I got the job of sorting through all of his and Mom's papers. Guess what I found? I was shocked to find the check made out to UNI for $30 (I had given my babysitting money to Mom at the time, and had her write out the check, since I didn't have my own account). Back then, if you sent someone a check and the transaction had not been officially completed, they would not deposit your money, but would send you back the original check. THEN  I also found a returned original check that Mom had written, made out to UNI for the $50 tuition deposit!!!! They must have intended for me to go, but just never said anything! It really warmed my heart. Oddly enough, I also found the financial papers that had not been completed by the folks. I wonder if they were unsure how to fill them out, so they just put them aside. Who knows.

​I feel that when things like this happen, it must be meant to be. It 's just something that diverts us along a slightly different path.

​To make a long story short, I am so happy that my Cate will be officially going off to college this fall.

​Oh, and the $3 that I mentioned in this post's title.? Well, when I did a load of laundry today (jeans) I found three one dollar bills in the washer. Then I remembered that last week I had washed a load of jeans and had found (you got it!) three one dollar bills. At that time, I had laid them out to dry and then put them in my pocket. These must be the same stinking bills from last week. I guess you could say that I have really gotten into  "money-laundering".

​                                                                        GOD BLESS YOU ALL
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