Love Letters

Been away far too long...

Howdy! 

I'm hoping I still have followers who actually stop by once in awhile, but if not, I completely understand! I've been negligent, careless, thoughtless, selfish, and just plain lazy when it comes to my blog. My blog was my baby for the longest time, then SCHOOL got in the way...

 

Bronson School of Nursing, Kalamazoo Michigan

(I lived in a great big, beautiful old house with gorgeous oak trim, with five of my school mates, what a trip!)

 

No, not that school, but a couple years ago I was in school to finish my BSN and now I'm in school to earn my master's in nursing, and it has kind of taken over my life. I never knew what a procrastinator I was until I went back to school! It's fascinating all the little things I can find to do rather than doing my school work! Washing windows, scrubbing out the vegetable drawer in the fridge, giving the cat a bath... no, wait, scratch that! Giving the DOG a bath! Organizing my junk drawer, you name it, I've done it to avoid the work I need to do. It's really pathetic. I keep telling myself "I'll do better next week" or "I'll work ahead so next week won't be so much of a crisis to get my work done". Do you think it happens that way? Well, so far, no it hasn't. Honestly it's my calligraphy pens and paper that keep calling me! So I'm trying to fit in just a little art time everyday, no matter how small, so that I don't feel like I've left the creative side of me in the dust somewhere. 

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! I hope my art world friends and acquaintences are doing well and I promise to make time for your posts! Whatever you do, please don't give up on me and please be patient with me!

Oh! I wanted to turn you on to a magazine I may have talked about before, but it's worth revisiting even if I did...

MAGAZINE

This is a little gem in the publishing world of art magazines... I guess you'd classify it as an art mag. The tag on the magazine is:

 

and the topics run the gamut from issues about writing (including lot of typewriter information) to issues about linens and textiles to issues about my favorite, COLLAGE!!! (Current issue, number 18). So I hope you'll check the magazine out... a subscription for a year is not inexpensive, but the quality of the paper used for the cover and the internal pages is marvelous from a tactile standpoint, and the writing and information contained within is well worth every penny I've spent to get it delivered to me from CANADA... O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux, Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! (Sorry, I couldn't help myself...  everytime I hear Oh, Canada I hear the Canadian Anthem in my head... I think it's because we watch so much hockey here in the Detroit area, eh?!?)

So, check it out, I think like me, you'll really love it... it's definitely a keeper! I've saved every issue I have, though I'm sad to admit I am missing the very first issue :(

OK, till next time, Bonsoir!

Now go make something!!!

Happy Holidays!

 

  Bubba and our entire family wish you and yours a very happy holiday season and a peaceful, art-filled 2013

Are you Pinterested?

Are you familiar with ?

It is my current favorite way to explore the web and find tons of new things to look at and learn about... just what I need, I know... I'm already pretty scattered as far as things I love to do!

This is from my bulletin board "Four-legged friends" and it was originally posted at Gibson King.

How darling is that?!?

This little gem was originally posted at Your Daily Dose.  

Seriously, could this be any cuter?

And this very pretty and unusual advent calendar treatment is from Teresa Collins.

Really nicely done, right?!?

 

So these are just a few of the finds on Pinterest, a virtual bulletin board where you can post or "repin" images you find that you like.  It really is a terrific way to find beautiful images you might not otherwise happen upon, and you know how one thing can lead to another and to another and to another, right?  I just wish I'd been the one to come up with this outstanding idea!  

 

Now, go  something and have fun!

Look at this!!!

I felt like the luckiest woman in the world yesterday when I went out to retrieve the mail and found this juicy, delicious, spectacular riot of color and joy in my box!!!

I mean, really, how fun is this?!?  This is from Miss Rena, artist extraordinaire, and I LOVE it!!!  

Inside, I found more delights... 

and two of Miss Rena's business cards, which I think are SO charming and delightful...

this is her new card...

and this is her older version...

I honestly cannot say which one I like best!!!  Both are so inventive and fun... what's not to like?!?  Not to mention, included in the envelope was a Hello Kitty message pad, and who doesn't love Hello Kitty?!?  

(Did I ever tell you how my daughter Corey named our big orange kitty Danny

 
after "Dear Daniel", who is "Hello Kitty's" little brother?!?)

Anyhow, I just want to thank Miss Rena for her VERY generous mailing and I am working on a return surprise for you, my friend!  

I hope you all have a wonderful day, thank you for "stopping by", now... 

Follow up to Lady's love story

Lady & Lily, February 2009

I apologize for how long it has taken me to write again.  It's been a little over a month since we lost Lady, and I'm afraid to admit I'm still wallowing. I don't cry everyday or anything like that, but when I see someone walking a big, beautiful black Lab, I can hardly speak.  And while our kitties have done an admirable job of trying to amuse and distract me, it's just not the same.  

Just about the time Lady died, my studio got torn up while we paint and stain the attic, so I haven't spent a moment in my studio, either... which really makes things feel strange for me.  I feel like part of me has been cut off and I almost physically long to be back in the studio.  This weekend we will hopefully be putting the finishing touches on the studio and I'll be able to get things in order. 

 

In the photo above, you can see how grey Lady became, and you can also see that the kitty Lily wasn't the slighted bit afraid of Lady... she liked to walk back and forth past Lady's head, and tried really hard to lay down right by Lady's face.  So cute.  

I hope you are all doing well, and I appreciate ALL the kind wishes and comments re: Lady's death.  It has meant the world to me and to my husband... he's not a blogger and just cannot quite understand how it is so many people we've never actually met have been so kind to us. Quite a wonderful community of loving friends, isn't it?!?  

xoxo,

Lady's last photo, she couldn't get around very easily, but she could still smile!

Lady & Lily

Ladybug, a love story...

What a sad time this is at our house, and yes, I'm wallowing in self-pity for a day or two...

we came home Wednesday night, late, and found our big old, sweet old puppy dog, dead in the backyard. Granted, she was a hundred years old, a dinosaur, a bit of a relic... but we're still really, really sad.  

Lady was all goodness and kindness and such a big presence in our lives!

She lived to make us happy, which she did incredibly well, and I hope I made her life half as happy as she made mine...

Ladybug, 2003

It's a really great story, how Lady came to live with us, and I'll try to keep it brief...

Lady Comes Home, Chapter One

"She's really nice for a dog, but she can't stay"

These were my husband's words when I finally told him what the surprise was that I'd gotten him, when he came home from work on Saturday, December 7th, 2002.  I'd been working with a gal who raised puppies for Leader Dogs, and I had mentioned I really wanted an adult Labrador Retriever, and when Lady was left at the Leader Dogs, she called me.  Lady's owner had died, and the lady's family thought she'd make a great Leader Dog, so they gave her to the Leader Dogs.  There was a question of her having Parvo, and she was too old to be a Leader Dog, so Leader Dogs surrendered Lady to the Flint Humane Society, and that's when my friend called me... she said, "There's a really great Lab up in Flint, and someone needs to go get her... I thought you would be interested".  

I didn't tell my husband (because I knew what he'd say), and on Saturday morning, my daughter Corey and I waited for John to leave for work, and we headed straight to Flint.  I recall Corey saying to me, en route to see Lady, "What do you think she looks like?", to which I answered, "Well, I think she's probably about 65 pounds and yellow... not sure why I think that, I just do"... and when we first saw Lady, she was outside, peeing like a boy dog, and she was pitch black, weighing in at about 90 pounds.  NOT what I was expecting!

They put Corey and I in an adoption room with Lady, and Lady immediately went over to Corey and put her enormous square head in Corey's lap... Corey looked up at me with tears in her eyes and said "I just LOVE her, mom!"... and that was that.  Lady had adopted us.  I remember loading her into my car thinking, "I sure hope I don't live to regret this"... and we headed home.

For the remainder of the weekend, my husband spoke not another word to me besides, "She's really nice for a dog, but she can't stay".  To which I simply did not respond.

I worked all day Monday in the Operating Room, and was not about to drive back to Flint that night, so she stayed on till Tuesday.  After work Tuesday, I decided to surprise John again, and took Lady to see him at his work.  Everyone there fell all over themselves talking about how pretty Lady was and what a great dog she was, and I could see my husband slowly becoming kind of like a proud papa.  

We took her home that night and gave her a bath, and she was incredibly well behaved... she didn't fight it, she just stood in the tub and let us hose her down and bathe her.  Next thing I know, my husband says to me, "OK, she can stay, but never in our bedroom!"  I was more than fine with that.

Little while later, I look in our bedroom, and at the end of the bed, is John's robe on the floor, folded in half and there was Lady, lying right on top of it.  I must've looked pretty surprised, and John said to me, "OK, well... " he stuttered, "never on the bed! OK?!?!?"  

Needless to say she eventually won a spot on the bed with us, and for years we slept with that great big dog hogging our bed, and we loved every minute of it, until she hurt herself and couldn't jump down any longer.  After that, her dog bed was at the foot of our bed, until Thursday morning.  We loved hearing her snoring like a sailor... it was a very comforting sound... we knew she was alive.  And as she got older and older, (the vet thought she was between eight and ten years old in 2002 when we adopted her); that snoring at night became more and more important to hear.  

Her bed has been put away, and her remains have been cremated.  She made us better human beings by adopting us, and we will miss her every single day.  Stay tuned... if you like, and one day real soon, I'll tell you the story about the four thousand dollar rescue dog... it'll be Chapter Two.  

Thank you for reading all the way down to here... I really appreciate it... this is cathartic for me and necessary... I hope I didn't bore you too much!  

With a heavy heart and lots of tears, 

xoxo,

Kathy

PS: Thank you SO much to all of you who have so kindly and graciously written to me with condolences... what a great community of loving friends I have!