Hugs in the afternoon

We had a surprise visit this afternoon from our little guy, on his way home from a haircut. It was a short one, but just long enough to stave off serious withdrawal. I'm so grateful our grands are near enough for such precious visits, even short ones.

Christmas cookies

Our little family descended upon us yesterday afternoon for a spree of baking Christmas cookies. Jenna was a big help, learning to roll the dough, cutting out the shapes, and putting them on baking trays. She decorated most of them, becoming more and more creative as she played with combinations of colored sugars and sprinkles. Before we finished, both of us were covered with flour, although she had more on her face than I did.

The floor needed sweeping, so Daniel helped with that, pushing the swiffer hither and yon in his efficient toddler manner. Granddaddy and Daddy added to the excitement by running a little remote car around the halls, chasing the kids from room to room. I shut the door to the bedroom where the dollhouse is stored, after covering it with a sheet. Her mother couldn't resist peeking and was excited to see the little house restored to glory.

Blessings abound

Cleaning windows inspires an ode to nature's bounty. The tree outside our bedroom window, a red maple, blazes like fire and casts its color into the bedroom when the sheer curtains are pulled aside. I was feeling out of sorts about having to clean the windows to install the storm windows today before it freezes next week.

Our house has many windows--lots of light pouring in at all seasons. But, there's the window cleaning. After enjoying the red maple, I made more discoveries looking out the remaining windows as I cleaned them. The squirrels are running full tilt, carrying acorns from the oak tree in front to their stashes in the quarter-acre woods. The chipmunk seems to have found a new domicile in the woods. Soon I'll put the feeders up, and the cardinals, titmice, chickadees and finches will be here in a flash. I'll enjoy them more, looking through clean windows.

Baby-sitting twice a week has subsided to one evening for a few hours. Granddaddy and I are getting pretty good at the routine. I feed Daniel when we get there and let him play awhile until it's his bedtime. He's 14 months old now, toddles everywhere, but never without a truck or a book in hand. I caught him at a serious moment--usually he sparkles with smiles and belly laughs. Lucky me, he loves to go to bed and curls up with Green Dog and goes right to sleep.

Jenna decided last week to build a playground with her big Lego blocks. Her construction included all kinds of play equipment and people to use them. The final touch was a green tree with daisies on one side and a red rose bush on the other. Imagine seeing all that in those rigid rectangular blocks. She delights in reading stories to us from her beginning readers. It's an awesome thing to see a child beginning to read, when you realize the lifetime of pleasure books can bring. We're a family of "bookaholics," it seems.

Catching up, almost

The fallen tree is gone and today the glazier replaced the broken window panes in the dining room. We're almost put together again, like Humpty Dumpty wasn't. About the only thing I'm feeling really sad about is the loss of a beautiful family heirloom, a Haviland Limoges footed bowl/basket that is over 100 years old. It's beyond repair. I can't even find anything equivalent to it on the Internet. I did find the manufacturer's mark, dating it to 1880-1894.

I've been working on my PowerPoint presentation for tomorrow night. I think I'm ready, but for this one, everything is a first: no slides, just my laptop and a digital projector. I was well advised by a blog reader to be prepared, so I have a power strip, an extension cable, a backup CD, and my own projector in case my program version doesn't like their projector or vice versa. I'm going to throw my projection screen in the car, too, just in case. Sounding a little paranoid, no?

The weather has been beautiful since the windstorm, warm and dry in the daytime, cool at night. I can't figure out what's making my allergies kick up. I never really had them until the past two or three years. They're saying the pollen is low, but the mold is high. Maybe that's it.

Our little soccer person actually made contact with the ball this week. She had two saves as goalie and backfield and worked the ball down field once, almost scoring. But when everyone else converges on the ball, she's out of there. Probably a good idea, since the middle of a collision of 8 to 10 six-year-olds probably isn't the greatest place to be.

PowerPoint to the rescue, I hope.

Last week I agreed to give a slide talk on September 24 here in Dayton and they asked if they should provide a Carousel or a digital projector. I boldly said, "Digital," since I've been wanting to get my programs switched over for some time. Oops. There's a lot to do to accomplish that in such a short time. Fortunately, I have a ton of material on my hard drive, so I'll only have to scan a few slides to fill in the blanks of my talk. So far, I'm impressed with PowerPoint. I found a generic background in the program that will work. I tried to search Microsoft for other choices, but they got me so tangled up in validation of XP and Active-X downloads, that I gave up on that. Anyway, still a lot of work to do, but the slides are basically lined up the way I want them.

Our granddaughter came over yesterday for her last overnight before she starts to kindergarten on Friday. We had a grand time, but as usual, I didn't sleep well while she was here. She sleeps like a log, but I'm always listening for her. I took her to the daycare this morning and we stopped by to see little brother in his new toddler room. They were in the gym--5 little boys, 12 to 16 months old. Every one of them was pushing a wheeled bike or wagon around the room. It looked like a mini-NASCAR pit row before the race. Too funny.

Guess who's a year old today?

The guest of honor had a good time at his party. Big sister helped him open his presents and with all the attention from doting grandparents (4) and parents, he might have been overwhelmed, but he took it all in stride. He's a pretty even-tempered little guy. Last week he took his first steps and for some time now he has been saying a few words. The word of the day was "clap-clap," which he says when he's pleased with something. He definitely applauded the chocolate cake, which he hadn't had before.

Crazy week

The Hithergreen Monday class went well--everybody seemed to "get it" about the contrast effects of masses of color, broken color and how small quantities of intense color stand out against neutrals. I didn't have time to photograph and upload this week.

Jenna slept over Tuesday night. Wednesday we had a winter storm, so I drove her home instead of to daycare and had both tykes all day. It's a good thing they're so manageable. She entertains herself and Daniel, too. He can't take his eyes off her when she's in the room, even when she isn't playing with him. I just sit there and enjoy the interaction. It's unconditional love personified. Yesterday he didn't nap much, so I was busy keeping track of him. He plays on a queen-sized comforter in the living room and rolls like a speedball from one end of it to the other in no time. He almost got himself caught under the armchair. He will be a dynamo when he starts crawling.

Today I'm at home, sitting out another winter storm and setting up my Christmas laptop. I'm taking it with me to Florida to do some writing. Tomorrow I'll pack and catch up on business and domestic duties before I leave.

Jennifer King, a former magazine editor I've worked with in the past, has launched a great new web magazine, Create Better Paintings. I browsed it the other day and it's one of the best I've seen on the Web. There are two areas, one for unsubscribed visitors and the other for subscribers. Both are packed with great articles and tips for artists in all media. Highly recommended. I plan to browse the articles while I'm in Florida. I hadn't thought of it before, but this is a good solution to magazine pile-up and recycling problems. And so easy to search back issues.

Things are warming up

And not just the temperature. At least we're out of single digits and the sun is shining brightly. It's a gorgeous day; everything seems to sparkle. I now have the pages for my author's review of editorial suggestions on my manuscript and this is a very painstaking process. I'm fortunate to have an editor I've worked with and learned to trust with my creation. I have the book for two weeks and will work on it between baby-sitting three days a week and having a cataract operation on one eye. Ack. Trying to get the edge on it today. This morning I had an early warning from my husband that he'll be wanting my income tax records soon. Double ack.

On the lighter side, our granddaughter's birthday was a huge success. She loved her bean-bag chair and instinctively jumped on it, which is just the thing to do with a bean-bag chair. She had a princess birthday party on Saturday and my daughter had the dancing teacher at the pre-school lead the little girls, appropriately dressed as their favorite princesses, in little dance routines accompanied by the princess songs. Much squealing and shrieking, but no pushing and shoving. No boys allowed, except for her little brother, who came as Prince Philip. At five months of age he watched all the activities with a wide smile on his face.

Fun day

We drove out in the country about ten miles this morning to pick up a bean bag chair for our granddaughter for her fifth birthday next week. I searched online and discovered these are made nearby, so we made our selection and picked up at the factory. Imagine buying anything made in the USA, not to mention in your own neck of the woods. Can't wait to give it to Jenna.

I spent the rest of the day on a last-minute project suggested by my editor for the new color book. She requested fifteen icons for the pages on color schemes. She suggested making the color wheels about four inches across. I tried that, but the scale was too small for my arthritic fingers to work with, so I switched to six inches and that worked well. So that job is done. The wheels will be reduced in size considerably to make icons on the pages. On Monday they will decide the final title of the book. I thought it was decided, but they were worried about a forty-year-old book that had the same title. FYI, titles aren't copyrighted, but in this day of easy-search and Amazon.com, the old titles keep cropping up. I'll let you know what the decision is as soon as I know.

Leading a double life

Being a nanny-granny and an artist-author creates some difficulties sometimes, only one of which is being currently exhausted. I baby-sat Daniel three days this week and yesterday picked Jenna up at daycare for a sleepover at our house. This morning I took her to "school" and drove on to Wilmington to baby-sit her brother.

In the midst of all this I got word from my editor that a change of title is in the works for my book and she needs a new illustration project by Monday. On Tuesday I'm supposed to get the editor's layout for author review. I'll work that in with Jenna's birthday parties and the baby-sitting. I hope Daniel will cooperate.

Daniel was a riot this morning, playing with his toys. He'll be five months old next week. I never saw such a vocal baby. For almost an hour this morning he sat in his little swing and warbled, shouted, cooed, gasped, squealed and squeaked at a little fuzzy panda he loves to chew on. He had me in stitches. This afternoon was a different story--high maintenance. Too tired to eat or sleep. I finally got him wound down by pushing him around the house in the stroller until I thought my legs would give out. He rewarded me with a royal smile when I left.

Finally starting the New Year

My new year never seems to begin until January 2. New Year's Day is always crowded with tasks to wind up the old year, like taking down the Christmas decorations, doing the year's-end inventory, getting the bills paid. I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2008, teaching lots of workshops and seeing my new book in print. The year 2007 was a mixed bag, a lot of hard work and some highs and lows. The highest point was the birth of our grandson, who continues to be a delight when I babysit four days a week. The lowest point was the loss of my best friend. After thirty years of friendship, it ended on a sour note in February, leaving me shocked and grieving.

Our granddaughter slept over Saturday night and did her first painting on her new Christmas easel. It was amazing watching her step up to the easel with such confidence and begin painting. I set out the three primaries and purple, her favorite color. It was the first color she chose, then she added in all the others, mixing to make orange and green. She switched back and forth between her left and right hands. When she finished her painting, she told me it was a "rainbow cave." Jenna is going on five. I wish I had been that confident at such a tender age. All I remember of art from those days is coloring inside the lines.

Ultimate highs and lows

Last night I went to bed at midnight higher than a kite, speaking metaphorically. I finally finished the last of the captions for demonstration paintings included in my new book. Seven artists agreed to do these demos. It has been such a hassle, from the photography aspect to getting the information for the captions. In mid-October I expected to have the images my editor selected from those submitted. I got the list the week before Thanksgiving. Probably didn't matter, as I was having serious sinus problems in October and most of November. Nevertheless, the burden of getting those captions written was really stressful. I was euphoric when I finished last night and couldn't get to sleep for hours. That's the high part.

The low part--I turned on my computer this morning and Norton told me my hard drive was in danger of being corrupted if I tried to open Windows. Their GoBack program didn't work. I left the house to work out, figuring I'd try to resuscitate it when I got home. Turned everything off and let it rest. Poor thing must have been as overworked as I felt. So far so good. At least everything is on my second hard drive, but I hadn't backed up files for several days. Gotta do that next.

There haven't been any major problems with the book, but I like to have more control over the process and these past few weeks haven't been conducive to that. No doubt I need to learn to go with the flow, but sometimes I'm too busy paddling my boat to realize that. As someone wrote to me--take a deep breath. That helps.

It also helps to hold our new grandbaby or hug our little granddaughter. They were both here for two hours yesterday and it was a welcome break. There must be something in grandma DNA that shuts down all systems but love in the presence of the little ones.

Out of the cuckoo's nest

The last bird flew the coop this morning, so I'm trying to get back to "normal," whatever that is. It was great having all four kids around for Thanksgiving week. It's always a little hectic, keeping arrival and departure times straight. Our son-in-law wanted to do the turkey this year, so I reluctantly agreed. (Ha!) I have always done the turkey and it was really nice to finally turn it over to the next generation. Dinner at our daughter's was a delight. Our granddaughter enjoys having three uncles to spoil her. She beat the pants off everybody in her card-matching game. They started out thinking they would let her win and ended up getting tromped.

The Pooh tradition

We bought our daughter a great big Pooh bear for Christmas in 2003, just a month before our granddaughter was born. We photographed Jenna with Pooh every month to show her growth for the first couple of years. Now we take a shot every year or so. In this photo she is almost five years old and still loves her Pooh, whether hugging him or wrestling with him.

Now it's Daniel's turn. Mr. D. is about two months old in this picture, taken on October 23. He's a strong, happy baby (see, he's making a muscle). He was a pound heavier than she was at birth, and you can see the difference when comparing Pooh pictures.

Coming soon: Halloween pix, commentary on the new book, and "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!"

A glorious autumn

Even our granddaughter is loving the fall this year. This is her picture of her favorite thing to do in the fall--jumping in the leaves. Please note in her left hand that she is carrying her purse while jumping. She is such a girly-girl.

I'm back on the nanny-track now that the sinusitis has improved a bit. I haul a lot of my work to my daughter's house in case Daniel decides to take a nap. About every other day I have up to three hours to work. There are still some loose ends to tie up on the book. Now that I'm feeling better, I should be able to wrap it up.

I didn't think we would have a colorful fall this year with all the dry weather, but the rains came before the leaves dried out and fell. All week the drive to my daughter's house, about 27 miles through hilly countryside, has been more than glorious. I'm glad I'm doing the drive. If I stayed in my studio, I would be missing all this wondrous beauty.

Re-entering the real world

I haven't exactly been in Wonderland, but for awhile I felt like I had dropped into a big hole. It was great getting the book finished and enthusiastically received by my editor. I still have four items to turn in, which I've been doing off and on. In case you're wondering why I don't blog when I travel--I leave my laptop at home and pretend I don't have one. I need to take a break from the computer now and then, especially after the intensive work on the book.

The workshop in Montana was great--another terrific class of artists working together to discover the creative process. I was pleased with the show I juried in June. You never really know what you've done until you see the art hanging in a gallery. The Montana Watercolor Society offered some big prize money and lots of smaller awards. This show hasn't been discovered by artists who enter the bigger shows. Next year they're going digital, so start now to find a good photographer or polish your digi-skills. It's worth a try.

Kalispell is a neat little Western town. Bigfork, site of the show, is a vacation area with many galleries. The area is absolutely beautiful. Just a few miles away is Glacier National Park. I wish I could have gone there, but I had to return the day after the workshop.

Unfortunately, I came home with a sinus infection that laid me low for a couple of days. After that I did some baby-sitting for Daniel, 7 weeks old now. I'll be on nanny-duty starting next week for 4 1/2 days a week when my daughter goes back to work. I can work on her dining room table while the baby sleeps. Tomorrow I'm starting a new watercolor class at Hithergreen Center and looking forward to seeing what my students have been doing while I've been away.

Ups and downs and ups

Daniel came home on Sunday and settled in nicely. Mommy was readmitted to the hospital on Monday with pre-eclampsia, more common before than after childbirth. Very scary. She's home now, too, and doing well. Fortunately, Daniel is a relaxed and alert little guy, easy to care for so far. I'm getting a lot of work done on the materials the designer needs for the marketing spreads while he sleeps. My editor gave me a few extra days on my deadline, so I may make it after all. In the middle of all this I'm preparing a workshop for Louisiana, which I know will be fun and will give me a much needed break. Then I'll come home and have two weeks to finish up the book and hand it over to my editor. After the Montana workshop in October, I can settle into my role as nanny-granny with a sigh, but right now it's a little hectic.

Wallpaper

I know this isn't a new idea, but it's a first for me. Several students have shown up in my collage classes with out-of-date wallpaper books to use the colors and patterns in collages. A couple of weeks ago I stopped at a paint store nearby looking for paint chips and it dawned on me to ask if they had any old wallpaper books lying around. In the past it seemed that school teachers always grabbed them up and I could never get them. I got lucky and found three with contemporary designs for homes and two great big ones full of stuff for kids. Jenna and I had a ball today with these. She picked out pages she wanted and we took them to her special art place, where she drew colored pictures on the back of border prints that could be folded into fun cards for her friends. We cut out some of the designs for her to play with--a necklace, ring, bracelet and watch. We tore out a rainbow and cut a border to paste onto another bigger page. She took about half of her treasures home and left the rest to play with next time--but the books are filled with more pictures, so will be useful for awhile. It was great fun and I recommend it to parents and grandparents for an inexpensive, engaging activity for toddlers who love picture-making.

"Life is what happens...

while you're busy making other plans," said John Lennon. Oh, yeah. Since my last post, life has been happening a lot around here, mostly centering on a routine outpatient surgery for my husband that didn't turn out to be routine and kept him in the hospital for four days. He's fine--somewhat weak and hurting, but definitely on the mend. There's nothing wrong with me that a little stress-reduction won't cure, but none of my "other plans" (see above quote) are getting done. Never mind. He's good, I'm good, and life is good. Who could ask for anything more?

It never rains...

But it pours. I know, I know. Terrible cliche, but true. Here I am working diligently on my book and over the past month, the following: Visit from Colorado son, who didn't make it home for Christmas because of the Denver bizzard. Visit from Durango son and wife who ditto (the good news). Visit to husband from a Health Monster (to be continued). Receipt of slides for judging a watercolor exhibition (Slides upside down in the carousel and my projector on the fritz). Visit to doctor for biopsy on skin lesions (results pending). I look like I got the worst of a fist fight. Nevertheless, the book is progressing, the weather has been fantastic and I will survive, although I may not blog much (the least of my worries).