Love Letters

You've really got to check out this uber cool chick's site!!!

Howdy friends!  Many of you may already be familiar with Lisa Hoffman ... & for those of you aren't, boy, do I have a treat for you!!!  Lisa's posts regularly blow me away with information about people, books, events, current affairs, & more.  Her latest post is particularly interesting if you sew or if you just love handmade things... Lisa's previous post is about a TV show on the Sundance channel I'd never heard of, and once I started looking at the links Lisa provided, it was like I was Alice in Wonderland falling down that tunnel... an hour and a half later I had to stop and rethink what it was I was supposed to do that morning!  I had a blast and I didn't have to leave my studio or get out of my jammies!!! It's a wonderful mix of information from an incredibly cool lady, and every time I stop by, I can count on learning about something I might not have heard of otherwise.  On top of that, Lisa is an extremely friendly, welcoming host, and has become one of my favorite "virtual" internet friends. I hope you'll take a minute to visit Lisa and become a fan of her site, too!   

In other news, today is the twentieth anniversary of the opening of the Berlin Wall... over the next few days, in 1989, there was a celebration in the streets and people on both sides of the wall started chipping away at the wall, taking chunks of it; until at last, the freed people of Berlin, East and West, tumbled the giant divider of the people, literally and figuratively.  

From the site Berlin-life.com:

The version of the ‘Wall’ that started life in 1961, was in fact not a wall but a 96 miles barbed wire fence. However, after this incarnation proved too easy to scale, work started in 1962 on a second fence, parallel to the first but up to 100 yards further in. The area in between the two fences was demolished to create an empty space, which became widely known as "death strip" as it was here that many would-be escapers met their doom. The strip was covered with raked gravel, making it easy to spot footprints, it offered no cover, was mined and booby-trapped with tripwires and, most importantly, it offered a clear field of fire to the armed guards – who were instructed to shoot on sight.

In 1975 I was lucky enough to visit Berlin and gained access into East Berlin through the famed Checkpoint Charlie.  I was a very young teenager and it was a terrifying experience, (there were armed guards watching our every move) and one I've never forgotten.  But the city of Berlin was one of the most beautiful European cities I saw on that trip, very cosmopolitan, clean, and loaded with the obvious history. No one ever imagined the wall would be torn down and the city and country united.  Perhaps there is room then, for hope for the world today, that we might be able to find a way towards peace, too. 

I'm going to be very busy for the next week, studying for ACLS, which stands for Advanced Cardiac Life Support.  It is a provider course for health care professionals... I stupidly let my certification expire years ago.  In an effort to improve my job chances and make myself more marketable, I'm taking the class again next Saturday.  I've got a LOT of catching up to do!  So, I will not be doing much in my studio this week, but please be sure to check back!  

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!!!

Please Give the Lift of Life!

My older brother Larry is the proud owner of a donated liver as of yesterday evening, and what an amazing gift to receive!  At the same time, it's kind of hard to be really, really happy for Larry; knowing another family lost a loved one in order for there to be a liver available for transplant to Larry.  He is at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, where he has been on and off for months in various stages of illness, waiting. The available organs are assigned to the recipients based on how ill the recipient is, and in a kind of perverse manner, the recipient has to get "good and sick" before they move up on the transplant list... so it becomes a strange dance of watch and wait & numbers... liver enzymes, creatinine clearances, blood cell counts, just to name a few levels that are observed closely... the recipient can't get too sick, or they move down on the list or are removed entirely... and if they are too well, back down the list, again... you get the picture, right?  It's just a very complicated, convoluted procedure.  

I am so sorry for the donor family's loss and so grateful at the same time, that they were generous and compassionate enough not to bury a perfectly good liver, knowing it could afford someone else another chance at life!

This goofy drawing is a little something I put together for Larry, back in July, when he was very, very ill and understandably depressed.  I get to draw a nurse in a somewhat disparaging manner, since I belong to the "club"... not necessarily nurses with "cankles", but an older nurse for sure!

Larry was infected with Hepatitis C after undergoing an out-patient surgical procedure in an OR in Texas, where an anesthesia tech was stealing narcotics from the anesthesia carts in the OR, shooting up, and then using the same needle to draw up saline to put volume back into the vials of narcotics, so no one would suspect any meds were missing.  55 people altogether were infected, Larry being one of them.

So, please, let your loved ones know your wishes about organ donation... it is my fervent hope that more people will realize we won't be needing those organs once we "go", and someone out there may be desperate for a heart, a liver, a kidney, corneas, lungs, even skin for burn victims... it is such a wonderful way to do something generous & altruistic, and make the final act of our lives an incredibly wonderful thing.  

What a weekend!

WOW!!! I love, love, love Toronto! We had SUCH a great time with our friends Tony and Yvonne (Missy and Scooter)... we ate too much, drank a little too much, walked our ASSES off, and the boys both bought bicycles. It was our tenth anniversary (John's and mine), and it was lovely. Such a good time, but it is, admittedly, very nice to be home!

This is the CD tray notes (built on a template), for my dear friend David's piano CD... it's just a teaser, just a taste... the rest is going to be unveiled at a party on the night before Thanksgiving Day. Putting this all together was quite time intensive, but it might have been one of the most satisfying projects I've ever worked on. First of all, David is the sweetest man ever, and he'd never be difficult for me to work with... but how cool to have someone tell you, essentially, "i love your work, I'll love whatever you decide to do, you have free reign on this project"!!!!
I'm really, really happy with how it all came together; and I hope I get the chance to do this sort of work again!

Hope you are all doing well and taking good care of yourselves!

Pure Genius!

No matter your political views, the video below, from Saturday Night Live this past week, is pure genius. Tina Fey "got" Sarah Palin perfectly, and just as importantly, made fun of some real women's issues. And perhaps humor can get people talking!

Is there really such a thing as Global Warming? You decide...

I'm not a very "politically active" person... I'm not even physically active enough for my own good... but this video is so well done, I had to share it. It's lengthy, but I urge you to look at it, especially if you have children of your own, or if you ever hope to have children. The debate about Global Warming or Global Climate Change is just so incredibly stupid, I had to share this with you. Please share it with your friends, too...

And then, get in the habit of recycling if you don't already...
think about what you put in your garbage bin... think that plastic ziplock bag will ever breakdown in a landfill? How about that styrofoam cup or the plastic cup from this morning's iced coffee at Starbucks? That shit will out live all of us! And don't even get me started on plastic shopping bags! If you don't already, maybe you could start carrying one of those canvas bags you have lying around in your closets with you, and take one everywhere you go (I know you've got at least one... if you're anything like me, you have at least 10 of them!)... put one in every car you own... right up there on the seat next to you, so you remember to use it! Better yet, put one on the handlebars of that bike in your garage, and use the bike and the canvas tote the next time you need just a couple things from the grocery store (providing the grocery store is less than five miles from your house!)

And please don't think I'm preaching to you... I'm preaching to me!

There is so much we can do as individuals, it just takes some thought and some time, but think of the payoff!!! Now I need to get my act together and write down the names and addresses of the people who represent me at the state and national level, so it's easy for me to fire off a handwritten letter... one that will get their attention... maybe in one of my cool and unusual recycled magazine page envelopes like these...

Most of these envelopes are made from heavy magazine or catalog pages... plus there's one made from a map, one made from tyvek paper with calligraphy doodling on it, & one made from wrapping paper. You name it, if it's heavy enough to make into a decent envelope, it's fair game at my house. Kids LOVE making these, too... okay, the six year old in me LOVES making these! I don't know why I like making envelopes so much, but it's really fun. I make lots up in advance so I have them on hand when I need one, and people seem to really like getting them in the mail. At the very least, if the envelope is outrageous enough, perhaps my letter will make its way to my representative's desk and actually get read.

Anyway, that's enough blabbing about recycling and global warming and my goofy envelopes for one day. Take care of yourselves and go recycle, reuse, or reduce something!!! :D

Check this out, it is wonderful!

Please be sure to watch this little video clip in its entirety... it is really wonderful!

Happy Mother's Day!

Valentine love Post Secret style...

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is from the PostSecret project and is truly captivating and wonderful... a bit sad at times, but I'll bet we've all been there at one time or another. Just a reminder, I guess, that Valentine's Day (among other "holidays") is not always a happy day... so I'm putting it out there that I'm really thankful on this Valentine's Day for all the love in my life... my husband, my children, our beloved pets; and my friends near and far, met and unmet.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

These are photos I took on New Year's Day, after a big snowstorm hit our area. (I tried to post them sooner, but my camera batteries went on the fritz). It's been so pretty around here since it snowed... we even went on a 15 mile bike ride the other night, while it was snowing! It was really, really fun, and even though I was quite worried about being able to keep up with the other riders, I did just fine! I'm still working on the journal review I started yesterday, but just had to take a break and post these snowy pix. Enjoy!

I had him when I was 12...

Here's hoping your day is as special as you are, Tim! Love you, Mom

I'm just crazy about this kid! I'm so glad I got to be his mom!!

Cute as a bug!

Endless Simmer, the website where this photo was originally posted.