Tag: family

How to make…

This year I’ve been mostly on my own to start decorating our large tree, and let me tell you… I MISS MY THREE TO SIX ELVES. I used to call myself the Christmas hooker, because all I did was put hooks on ornaments and hand them over to volunteers who’d work for fun, food, and good tunes to hang them on the tree.

There are so many bins of ornaments that I was overwhelmed, so this year, I made the decision to leave a whole lot of them in the bins, and that included most of the beautiful ornaments that have been made for us by children and gifted stitchers and other arts and crafts friends through the decades. THEY ARE STILL HERE AND STILL LOVED. They’ll be hanging and beautiful again on future trees.

On the other hand, I’ll offer a Saturday morning pictorial of How To Create An Ornament That Nobody Will Want*.


Back in July of last year, I had a bunch of 2-inch by 2-inch canvases and painted all of them on the same day, for future use as wanted, with acrylics. I picked one of those for An Ornament That Nobody Will Want. Enjoy!

Step 1. Do an online search for free downloadable mini mandalas, and find a 2015 set from Tiffany Hastie. Be very grateful, download it, and print it on regular paper so you can check the size.

Step 2. Adjust the size (down, in this case) to print on cardstock. Do that and pick your pens.

Step 3. Get to coloring and realize you don’t need those sticking-out circles for what you’re doing. Oh, well.

Step 4. Cut out the mini mandala and pick a canvas.

Step 5. Pick your glue. Be grateful for your friends who have taught you from their experience to organize and label all your craft supplies.

Step 6. When the glue is dry, take your wee canvas outside with your preferred spray finish (in this case, matte), spray it, and leave it outside to dry.

Step 7. Time to call in the muscle, in my case, Tom, to find the right hook and insert it into the wood frame of the canvas.

Step 8. Find and cut the right piece of ribbon from this mess.

Step 8. When the ribbon is on the hook, hang it on the Christmas tree. Festive fun!

*An Ornament That Nobody Will Want is not a bitter name. It is a truth universally acknowledged that crafting is in the pleasure, art is subjective, and experience is a teacher. Also, Becky is not a perfectionist unless she is ruthlessly editing someone’s (including her own) writing. Which she’s about to get back to doing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

However you celebrate and wherever you are or with whom, I wish you a wonderful, tranquil day. I’m grateful for so many people and things, and whatever troubles me, I know my life is filled with abundance in what matters most–people (including friends and family) and dogs and a comfortable home. Because our holiday celebration is set for Sunday, we have a few days to do things around the Hall–like put up the Christmas tree! Photos to come. Lindsey and Rhonda gave me this coloring book for my birthday this spring, and I flipped through it with some of Blue Sky Boy’s suggestions in mind–including bikes and fall colors.

This is the page I chose. I always forget when I use this book to take a picture of how a page looks BEFORE I begin adding to it. But I found this unaltered photo on someone else’s site and used it (thanks, anonymous person who I don’t remember). Her photo cuts off part of the bottom, but it gives an idea of the background provided by the artist and coloring book creator, Kendra Norton.

Below is my version–I used a page of old bikes in the Antique Treasures coloring book for my model. Clearly, this rider has had a few tumbles and damaged the spokes because they’re not in any way aligned (unlike Amanda in yesterday’s post, I have little patience and zero skills as a draftsman). The dirt path at the bottom is colored pencil. The bike is black fine-lined pen and Sharpie, and the leaves are acrylic paint. Celebrate fall!

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy birthday today to Lynne! Always love sharing this photo I took at Cheaha State Park on a visit to our favorite lookout point during one of the decades we’ve been friends (who’s counting?!?).

We aren’t doing our Thanksgiving tomorrow as planned. Timothy had a couple of other clients in need of him, and his first real break when he can relax and hang out for a few consecutive hours will happen on Sunday. We’ll do our Thanksgiving meal then. In the meantime, I’ll be coloring and writing. I’d done another coloring page (shown below) from the Village Charm coloring book even before the bookstore drawing I recently shared. Below it is more flash fiction I hope you’ll enjoy (I went a bit over the thousand-word count, even after editing. This should surprise no one who reads me.).

I.J. drove his beat-up Civic to Amanda’s place with the windows down and his most recent tape playing. His car was so old it still had its original cassette player. One of his Sunday tasks while he did laundry was to create a weekly mix tape. He drew from half a lifetime’s accumulation of songs on computer, album, and CD collections to make a mix he could enjoy during a week’s worth of drives to and from work.

He was running late because Amanda had asked him to stop at the bakery to pick up three dozen mini chocolate cupcakes. She said they’d be perfect for an abundance of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce she wanted to use up. Amanda believed most people had a superpower they didn’t recognize. I.J. thought Amanda’s was her ability to throw things together quickly and create the perfect meal, outfit, party, excursion, or event. Her life was like Mary Poppins’ carpetbag: whatever was needed was in it. I.J. wondered if her creativity and spontaneity were a reaction to the precise mathematical and technical demands of her work as a draftsman.

The six who’d be at Amanda’s tonight evolved into a group over several years, when their original connections moved on because of graduations, breakups, jobs, and family crises. As they aged into their thirties, their lives stabilized. Though they had other friends and sometimes romances, changed jobs, and pursued diverse interests, their group stayed solid. Maybe the secret to their longevity was not gathering as a group too often. None of them had ever dated any of the others, so there were no messy memories or grudges among them.

The six consisted of two straight women, one bisexual woman, two straight men, and one asexual man. I.J. had spent much of his young adulthood trying to figure out why he was never sexually attracted to anyone. Counseling had finally given him an identity he could understand. He valued friendships and even deep emotional and spiritual connections; asexuality simply meant he wasn’t interested in physical relationships. That truth felt like a huge weight being lifted, especially when he learned there were plenty of people who were like him.

He thought of his other friends and their superpowers. Craig could fix anything. A weird noise coming from under the hood, anything broken or malfunctioning in a house or apartment, Craig was your guy. And he never wanted anything in return except maybe a pizza and a six-pack. He did all right financially as a landscaper but could probably be a millionaire as a fix-it guy. He liked keeping it a hobby, though, and refused payment.

Nora’s superpower was photography. She still used cameras that shot with actual film and spent weekends, holidays, and vacations capturing stunning images of nature and wildlife. She provided her own chemicals and paper to process them in the photo lab at the college where she taught history. Her colleagues knew her as Elnora; she thought it made her sound more professorial. I.J. thought it was strange that she didn’t teach photography or any other visual art.

Jess was their storyteller. He shared anecdotes about unnamed colleagues and customers, often making them all laugh to the point of tears. I.J. was never sure what parts of Jess’s stories were true or outright fiction. He had no idea how many retailers Jess had worked for over the years, most of them at the big mall thirty miles away. They were surprised when his most recent position managing the local bookstore had lasted two years, and held their breath when a new owner took over. The owner had no retail experience herself, but when Nora found out she’d been a teacher, she said they could stop worrying. A former high school teacher could whip any business into shape. A bookstore, even one that employed quirky Jess, would barely make her blink.

Liz countered that she wished the new owner would take over the hospital, too. Liz worked as a lab tech in every department–except the morgue, as she liked to say. They all worried about the emotional toll of her job. I.J. thought it was Liz’s superpower that saved her. She was a harpist, so gifted that the videos she posted of herself on social media garnered hundreds of thousands of views and likes. Liz never monetized her performances. She wouldn’t do endorsements; she gave no options for donations to her; and she left her comments turned off. The only statement in her bio was that anyone who enjoyed her music, Be good humans and donate your time or money to organizations that assist others.

There was no parking on Amanda’s street, so I.J. pulled into an open space on the nearest block. He ejected the tape, put it in its case, jammed it inside his pocket, grabbed the cupcakes, and left his car unlocked. There was nothing to steal except the car itself, and he doubted anyone would want it.

He spied Amanda’s dog Honey lying near the doorway of No. 9 (he always heard that repeated in the unnamed engineer’s voice from the Beatles’ song “Revolution 9”). Honey liked napping on the sidewalk since there was no parking or through traffic on the street. The front door was left open when the superpowers gathered there.

I.J. stopped walking, struck by a sudden thought. If the others had superpowers, why didn’t he? Without great wealth or the magical skills of a ninja or shapeshifter, with no talent to speak of–he didn’t think asexuality counted–if he was just an ordinary mortal, how did he fit into their group? He resumed walking slowly toward No. 9, and sat on the curb, cupcakes next to him, so he could pet Honey. He could clearly hear his friends’ voices through the open window.

Nora: He’s not answering his cell.

(I.J. suddenly realized he’d left his phone at home.)

Jess: He’s never late.

Liz: I hope he didn’t have an accident.

Craig: More likely that car of his crapped out. I need to give that thing a checkup.

Amanda: He has to come! Otherwise, we’ll have no music!

Liz: We need to find him. Those tapes he puts together are my coping mechanism.

Jess: They’re my emotional support music.

Liz: Do you know how many of his choices inspire what I perform and share on my social media?

Amanda: His tapes remind me of decades of music I’ve loved and can put on my office playlists.

Nora: You do that, too? I listen to mine in the darkroom. My students want them playing in class while they take exams.

I.J. realized he was smiling like an idiot, cleared his throat, and said loudly, “Sorry, Honey, the cupcakes are chocolate. Pretty sure I can talk Amanda out of a safer treat for you.”

He and Honey both stood and walked toward the open door of No. 9.

©Becky Cochrane

Mindful Monday

Mindfulness means being present in the moment.

Stones/rocks and crystals are invariably part of any type of meditation, mindfulness, or centering I do. Those particular stones are citrine, clear quartz, amethyst, turquoise, carnelian, rose quartz, variscite, and black tourmaline.

I was flipping through one of my Word Search books yesterday and saw “List Of Rocks.”

These were not the rocks I expected to be looking for. =)

Paging through more of the book, I found another list that related to the coloring page I shared the other day, “Grandma’s Attic.” Tom’s father did say the page I colored reminded him of his mother/Tom’s grandma’s attic!

Sunday Sundries


I took a gentle break this morning as Tom and I were doing household chores and planning for the week ahead. Even when I’m alone at the table, I feel the presence of others. Possibly Lynne gave me the tin that holds my instant hot chocolate (it really is Swiss Miss® this time; it isn’t always), but she definitely gave me the little plate the two Pepperidge Farm® Milano cookies are on (thanks for the cookies, Tom!). The coffee mug is part of a set of four different van Gogh-inspired mugs from Tom’s parents many years back. During my break, I was putting together a menu and grocery list.


This is the beginning of preparation for our Thanksgiving holiday after Tom’s grocery run. There are still a couple of things missing, and these don’t include the food Debby will add. There’s much to be baked, boiled, and otherwise cooked or prepared, but the bulk of shopping is done. This has always been my favorite holiday, despite many past Thanksgivings I’ve experienced with fractured families, missing people, dramatic scenes, and loneliness. That shit can make for good, or at least interesting, storytelling.

I’m grateful for so much and so many every day, and I appreciate having a day when the nation pauses to be thankful–and maybe to do something to help others who aren’t as fortunate. I long ago opted out of Black Friday retail madness, something I’ve never regretted. I wish a good week to those for whom shopping is fun, along with gathering for tag football, watching football, playing board games, retelling stories, and being with family by birth or choice, or being solo and simply enjoying a day of rest, watching Netflix, or appreciating the animals who love us unconditionally.

If the holidays find you depressed, please reach out to available resources easily found online who can help you through it. If it will help you, volunteer your time at a shelter, a food kitchen, or a hospital or nursing home. Whatever you do or don’t do, whatever your circumstances or state of mind, YOU MATTER. Always believe it.

tangled up in blue, among other things, and a breakthrough

I’ve colored from this book before, but maybe only for posting on Instagram. I think one of the first pages I ever colored when I picked up the habit again was taken from it. Back then, I colored while I waited outside a building in the medical district where Debby was interviewing to be a hospice volunteer shortly after she moved to Houston with Harley and Stewie (so 2015?).


This new addition looks a bit like Harley–lab-like–and I chose to color him because I could fit the drawing, as hoped, under the one I shared Wednesday. I just had to trim off the top and bottom of the empty space around him. If I had to name him, I don’t know if I’d call him Blue or Tangle. While I was coloring him, Bob Dylan’s song “Tangled Up In Blue” was running through my head. The song was from his album Blood On The Tracks, which along with his album Desire, remained on continuous play when Kathy and I hung out together as undergraduates at Bama. If we were listening to those albums now, I believe we’d still remember all the words.

Forgetting that I’d colored Blue/Tangle and already had a post drafted for him, this morning I looked again at a list of suggestions from Blue Sky Boy. (You know, I do know your first name, but I never use it because I never asked if I could, and I don’t remember if you used it on LJ.) Back on topic, I saw the word “soccer” in his list and perused a few coloring books to see if anyone was playing soccer. Didn’t find anything but I did find a soccer ball in this coloring book. (Fun fact: a soccer ball, or the French version, ballon de soccer, is mentioned in the work in progress in the Neverending Saga.) That page led me to inspiration from the guy below, who joined the soccer ball and a few other things like a yellow umbrella (a reference to “How I Met Your Mother,” because I enjoyed the way the TV show used it through many seasons) and a baseball (also important in the Neverending Saga).


Tom’s grandfather owned a grocery store, and once, when a customer couldn’t pay his bill, he built and gave Grandpa two rocking horses for his first two grandchildren, Tom and his cousin Gina. This one is Tom’s. I love that story and the rocking horse. Here’s the picture I colored today.

As I colored, I finally had a solution to something that’s been holding up the writing of this chapter I’ve been struggling with. Hopefully that means a good writing day tomorrow. For future posts, I have a few more coloring pages lined up, as inspired by suggestions. Thank you for your comments and input.

reading and coloring

Very glad I followed the recommendation of a commenter to an article about Quincy Jones and read this autobiography. I settled with my iPad and read it as an e-book before bed every night, spellbound by the life this man led. He worked with everybody! I learned so much, not just about him, but about music and music history, ranging from classical composers to hip hop.

He had his demons and made mistakes, never quite escaping the damage of a tough childhood, but he remained full of love for his work and the world, along with his family, friends, and fellow artists. You know a man’s special when he had several children by several wives, and he and the kids loved each other unconditionally, and the wives spoke kindly and lovingly of him even when their relationships ended. No telling how many lives he impacted during his 91 years. I finished the book last night. Rest in peace, Mr. Jones.

After I ran errands this morning, I found a good way to make myself feel better about things while I color: play old music I can sing along to. Not the kind of music I normally listen to, but music that takes me back to times when I was really just the daughter of two, and the kid sister of two. For example, Saturday mornings when we cleaned house, my mother would stack albums on the stereo. They’d be her favorites, mixed with some of Debby’s favorites to sing along to, and some of my favorites, too. That’s how today, while I colored, I ended up on YouTube listening and singing along to many songs by Andy Williams, the Righteous Brothers, Tom Jones, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams Sr.

I’d forgotten how singing is a great mood lifter. That’s true even though I’m not much of a singer (Debby is and Mother was). Luckily, nobody’s hearing me but the dogs; Tom’s been in and out of the house a lot so far today.

This is the book I was coloring from. I’ll share those I’ve finished as part of my Sunday Sundries post tomorrow. I did my first from this book in 2020, and I haven’t removed any of them to put in my sketchbook. I’ll explain why in tomorrow’s post. A unicorn’s always worth the wait.

When listening to YouTube today, I made a discovery. My parents had an album of instrumentals that included an English clarinetist, Acker Bilk. For all I know, the entire album was Acker Bilk. My father’s favorite from the album was Bilk’s rendition of “Stranger On The Shore” (England’s biggest selling single of 1962). For the first time, today I heard the lyrics. The words are so sad, maybe because as I listened, one of my characters came to mind, and it broke my heart for her. Then, as I pondered how to work it in as a reference in book seven (the current work in progress), I realized it’s even more heartbreaking for a different character in the series that would follow the Neverending Saga (should I ever actually complete the NS). I’m WAY too hard on my characters, and consequently on myself, sometimes. But as one of her mentors, who may have gotten it from Robert Frost, once told Marika, No writer tears, no reader tears!

Here’s the song with an orchestra and Andy Williams singing the lyrics:

And the instrumental version with Mr. Bilk and his clarinet:

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.

Tiny Tuesday!


This is a bird house I painted and decorated for a little girl in 2011. I called it a Fairy Roost in my blog post back then. I’m sure the bird house is long gone, but I’ll always have the pleasant memory of creating it.

That tiny bird house was on my mind lately because my most recent completed chapter in the Neverending Saga had fun information about birds and bird houses. In this case, though, the houses belonged to a family with the last name of Bird. Since I’m trying to gently redirect my focus back to writing, I chose this more literal concept of bird houses as my coloring page on Saturday and Monday.


The birds on the houses are more fun than realistic, so I looked at some California birds before I chose their colors.
Upper row, first house, the bird has the colors of a Stellar’s Jay; middle house, the bird on the roof has the colors of the Oak Titmouse, and inside the birdhouse, the bird has the colors of the Cedar Waxwing; third house, the bird has the colors of the Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Lower row, the first house bird has the colors of the Mourning Dove; middle bird on the roof has the colors of the Yellow Warbler, and on the porch, the bird has the colors of the Loggerhead Shrike; third house, the bird has the colors of the House Finch.

I still have a page I colored this past weekend to share, maybe tomorrow. You know, I have an abundance of coloring books. Anything you’d like to see?