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Gratitude

I’d pulled three coloring books off the shelf the other day to use for my next coloring pages, and this is the third of those (I’ve already pulled three more). It’s one of my favorites, but because the pages are on front and back, if I want to color a page, I scan it and print it on cardstock so I won’t lose the backing page (because some of the pens I use bleed through, and also, I like putting them in my big sketchbook when they’re finished).

Before I get to that though, I need to send a big thank you to the people who’ve made these last few days pleasant in so many ways (including texts, emails, and phone calls). Anyone who comments here lifts my spirits, and Mark has been catching up for the last few days, and it’s so much fun to go back to old posts and read and respond to his comments. I promise, Mark, even when you get caught up or miss, I will continue to anticipate our interactions with pleasure.

Getting comments here is always fun, and I thank my regulars, like Blue Sky Boy and Lynne, and the people who like leaving more cryptic names for fun (you know who you are), and my family members (including Tom, Ron, David, Debby, Geri, Lisa) and fellow writers (including my writing partners) who drop in from time to time and leave comments. I enjoy the occasional visits and comments from Nurse Lisa, Debbie D. in Canada, Gael who’s another LJ person from long ago. I may get more interaction on Instagram than here (though I post there infrequently except in October). There’s a different vibe to that: one is similar to passing someone I know (and like) in public, or having brief but pleasant interactions with strangers, and the other is like inviting someone to visit my home for a good conversation (even when brief), if that makes sense. There are also people, including family members, who read here regularly but respond via email, and that interaction is equally welcome.

Everyone has busy lives and endless places to direct their attention–jobs, time with friends and families, and in pursuit of interests like books, music, TV, movies, social media, traveling, and more physical activities. So a visit here is always appreciated.

Today’s coloring page was inspired by this photograph of Maxime De La Falaise wearing a fish-tailed striped gown designed by Paquin, as photographed by Cecil Beaton in Vogue, January 1950. I researched her, and wow, what an interesting person she was, and she had an intriguing family, as well. In this age, they’d definitely qualify as influencers, with huge groups of fans/admirers along with plenty of detractors, I’m sure. A current family comes to mind…

I liked being able to do the black stripes on this myself, and hope the contrast comes across in the photograph as well as on the page in front of me.

Sunday Sundries, the Nostalgia Version

Because of comments on this website, I decided that today’s topic is Blog Nostalgia. Here are blasts from the past.

“From September of 2014 to July of 2016, I, Snoopy, used to be a big deal around these parts on Saturdays!”

“Hi, it’s me, Katnip. For over a year, I tried to decipher clues that sent me and my sidekicks John Riley and Cuddle on 58 adventures to find something called ‘Lil Eddy.’ Finally, on March 10, 2014, as pictured here, I was about to meet my destiny. And the story and posts just…stopped. It was fun while it lasted.”

“Bon jour, remember us? We were the LiveJournal blog’s original Runway Monday models. We kicked off twelve seasons and helped add ~~dolls~~ models to someone’s collection–more than anyone wants to count. Then our designer decided to put away her scissors and needles or she stopped watching “Project Runway” or something. JUST LIKE THAT, we were mostly out of jobs except for occasional cameos. These days, a few of us pose as doll models for a writer’s characters. The writer looks a lot like our designer–except ten years older.”

“EXCUSE us! Some of us ALSO appeared on seasons of Runway Monday, three of them in fact. Same designer, same sad relocation to bins after the flood destroyed the bottom of our display cabinet. Don’t ignore our contributions just because we’re monsters.”

“At least all you dolls came through the flood okay. We were part of the Magnetic Poetry 365 project in 2011. Some of us didn’t make it out of the Harvey flood. It’s okay. Magnets may vanish, but words and poetry are forever.”

“We’re the Legacy Writing banner from 2012. Yep, an entire year of nostalgia featuring photos representing memories, family, and friends. The best part is… We STILL make frequent appearances here. Sorry to the dolls and action figures who were ‘retired.'”

“It’s me. Roxanne. NO NEED TO SING THAT SONG, please. I kicked off a series called “Pet Prose” in January 0f 2017. It featured rescued dogs and cats who are writers. You’d never guess we weren’t written by a human because we chose to tell regular stories, not be ‘talking animals’ writing about ‘animal things.’ By December, 56 of us had a chance to be creative and use our voices, even as we found new and safe homes to live in. We think it may have been the thing the content creator enjoyed the most, but DON’T TELL THE OTHERS.”

“This little happy book series goes waaaay back, a chance to be interactive with readers on Wednesdays from 2008 into 2010, and later guest appearances on special posts. You picked the numbers, the book gave you answers. And sometimes, the content creator gave you photos with your answers.”

Hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip down memory lane.

Assorted Saturday thoughts

I had plans when I woke up today and they mostly included writing. I’ve been able to write in bits and pieces this week, but most days found me in a bit of a gray mood, including about writing. Then an old friend of mine who has a knack for getting in touch in the most timely (and usually amusing) of ways did so, and suddenly our conversation, as well as one it provoked me to continue with a cousin, turned things around and gave me the incentive I needed. (Also, it gave the friend and me reason to read an author I’ll discuss in a post next week sometime.)

I was looking forward to getting back to the saga because one of my favorite characters is in the chapter I’m writing now. She always makes me smile, and at this point in the timeline, I believe she’s four years old.

Regrettably, a terse email from a stranger that I read shortly after I woke up derailed my plans. I took care of her request, and then I decided I was overdue to make changes I’d long intended to make to this blog. No one will probably ever notice but me, but it took me eight hours to handle that project, and I wasn’t in any mood to stare at a monitor for the rest of my waking hours.

I did, however, color a wee fairy that I was able to download for free from this wonderful site, The Graphics Fairy, whose terms and conditions are more than fair, and I love her coloring pages. I colored this page in honor of my favorite fictional, magical four-year-old. My photo doesn’t do justice to all the sparkling fairy dust I added under the title or to the spots under her eyes that were on the original page.

Framed!

Frames were what I forgot to get on my shopping excursion the other day. Fortunately on another errand with Tom and Debby, I was able to pick up a couple. I needed them for prints I received from Laurel Storey. Longtime readers might remember Laurel from LiveJournal, which is where I likely became acquainted with her through ‘Nathan and Dan (all in Canada, and I suspect their original connection might have been BookCrossing). Later, I followed Laurel on her blog Alphabet Salad, where I think she stopped writing around 2017, but by then, we’d connected via her Instagram, where we still interact. I like keeping up with all the adventures she and her husband enjoy (trips, music, art, restaurants, Lego® kits, photography, desserts, cats!).

I’m not sure when Laurel began pursuing her interest in Zentangle (quick explanation: the Zentangle Method allows an artist to create images using structured patterns, called tangles, by combining dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves, and orbs). Laurel is now a certified Zentangle teacher, who teaches and exhibits her art at the Walkerville Artists Collective Gallery in Windsor, Ontario.

No surprise that Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings, including this one from 1888, are among my favorites of his work, since I not only appreciate his art, I’m also a fan of sunflowers. I was delighted to see a Zentangle piece created by Laurel that was inspired by the Van Gogh painting, and I ordered a print.

(Sorry for the reflections you can see in the glass.)

When I received my order, she’d generously included another print that I also framed.

Here’s a bonus photo from Laurel’s Instagram of the crosswalk outside the gallery this past August to celebrate Pride. Pride Month comes again in June, but another significant date coming up on October 11 is National Coming Out Day, so it’s a good time to share this. I’m always happy to join other allies like Laurel in support of LGBTQ+ equality.

©Laurel Storey, 2023

Here are the two prints hanging over one of the windows in the office at Houndstooth Hall.

Thank you, Laurel!

random or not

Today was a gorgeous day here after some rainy/rainy-cold ones. It allowed me to do physical work outside–a much needed antidote to too much horrible news and too many reprehensible behaviors displayed for the world to see via news and social media.

Today’s outside work means I have a nice collection of kindling for when we use the chiminea to sit on the patio and talk when it’s both clear and chilly.

1. I know that “influencers” carefully cultivate an image much like entertainment figures do. 2. I rarely stick with reading or following “oversharers.” 3. I share selectively. I only ever got on social media in the first place because anyone with something to sell (e.g., art, books, music) was told it was the best way to find an audience. I don’t have anything to sell (these days). I don’t feel compelled to influence anyone. I still like interacting with people here, but this has become mostly a way to keep up with my days–what I do, who I’ve seen, what I’m thinking about or remembering.

I’m sort of working on something that I’m adding to the blog–but I’m “time traveling” to do it, so it won’t show up on the first page. It’s something I want to keep up with for reasons of my own, and I don’t imagine it would mean anything to anyone else.

If you’re in the States and observe the holiday tomorrow, I hope it’s what you want it to be, whether restful, busy, social, or quiet. I’m thankful for the people and animals who fill my life with laughter, love, and thoughtfulness.

A touch of normalcy

My cleanup of the blog is complete, and now we (which means, mostly Tom, the tech savvy person at Houndstooth Hall) are working with a couple of companies’ technical support to resolve various issues before I take the site live again.

It’s a profound relief not to be going through hundreds of posts a day, trying to clean them up. Instead, I’ve given time to leisure activities I enjoy. I started this book yesterday. Lady of Bones is the 24th in Carolyn Haines’s Sarah Booth Delaney series, and I finished it today. Set in and around New Orleans, it’s got a bit of everything, and it was nice to catch up with the Zinnia crew again.

I’ve listened to some of my recently purchased CDs while cleaning house, cooking, and enjoying time with my dogs. Music, as the Beach Boys sing, is in my soul.

Also, I finally, finally have returned to the Neverending Saga. One of the things I discovered as I reread my entire blog was how long these characters were percolating in my brain again before I took the plunge and decided to revise and rewrite those old manuscripts in 2019. In every way, I realized that I’ve reached the phase of peace and resolution I wanted. I’m writing for me. It doesn’t matter that others have not and may not ever read what I’m writing. It doesn’t matter that people used what I’m writing to project their own challenges or miseries onto me or my work. I’ll tell the stories. I’ll tell them in ways that honor my characters and who they were created to be. That’s all I can do.

It’s nice to be with them again after more than three weeks of being denied that joy.

Here are a couple of characters who help me celebrate friendship. The dress on the left is one I made way back when, and on the right, from Mattel’s 1962 black and white floral Fashion Pak, are this blouse and skirt and included another skirt and a romper. The entire set is almost certainly from Lynne’s collection.

Mood: Monday

I previously posted a photo of an oil on canvas painting titled Still Life with Tumber, Wedgewood Pitcher and Fruit from artist Marion Patten in 1930.

For me, the mood the painting evokes is satisfaction. On October 17, 2011, I posted a photo of a sage green vase I’d found that reminded me of two similar blue vases I had when I was young. I thought they might have been free gifts with Avon products. Mark L suggested they looked like jasper (as in Wedgwood Jasperware), which I then searched and couldn’t find anything similar to what I own(ed). Wedgwood Jasperware can be expensive, and the white designs are raised on them. The white on my vase(s) is painted, and I knew what I had were not expensive, then or now.

Since I’m having to edit every post as part of the big blog attack clean-up (hello, still in 2011, eek), and reread that post, I searched again, once again trying, “avon,” “wedgwood,” and “jasperware.” While it’s not proof, both the blue and green vases are listed on eBay, Etsy, Poshmark, and Mercari with various descriptions that include those words, along with “replica.” So I think I was correct back in 2011 by thinking they were free gifts with Avon products circa the 1960s/1970s.

Images taken from the Internet.

Mood: Monday

Name that mood.

Thunder Storm On Narragansett Bay
Martin Johnson Heade, American
1868, oil on canvas

It’s not raining here, though we could use it. This painting has more to do with my current mood as I struggle to fix my blog. It’s taking up so much time and energy that I’d normally be using for writing. But when I try to focus on anything else, that just isn’t happening right now.

Button Sunday

Another full day of working to clean up the mess someone has made of this blog. One of my problems in working efficiently is that I started from the beginning: 2004. I’m a little over halfway through 2007 now. While editing the contents of each post to remove the bad text, it’s hard not to read the posts. My life was busy back then–writing, traveling, spending time with friends, expressing passionate opinions about the world–and I wrote it all down. The blog was also busy, with lots of comments on the posts and interactions between my friends and readers there. So I get distracted by reading and remembering it all. Most of it keeps me laughing, so I guess that’s a benefit?

I was also quite the photoshopper to entertain us all.

Site drama pt 2

Worked about ten hours today trying to clean corrupt verbiage out of posts. There are more than 7000 posts over a span of 18 years. The years 2004 to mid-2011 were migrated from LJ. The rest were posted to my website, which is where you are now.

Some of the corrupt verbiage is only visible when I edit. But some of it is visible to readers. It may contain links that I wouldn’t want my readers to accidentally click on. Worse, it’s very jarring to see certain kinds of “information” next to some of my photos. I’m not providing words or context because I don’t want anyone googling that crap to land on my blog. So… it has to be cleaned up.

When I’m not posting and interacting with commenters, I realize how much of a link to the world this blog is for me. I have more readers than commenters, but I do have readers. I can feel them missing from my daily life. I don’t like it at all.