Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of my brother John Kevin’s death. He was 16 at the time and drowned in an accident at a public pool where he served as a life guard.
I had the desire to work on some sweet, light and joyous. How’s this?
Category: Uncategorized
Benefit of the Doubt.
I’ve got a boss at work that has a truly decent policy: give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I think it is a generous and appropriate way to live one’s life.
That’s why it incensed me when folks made such a big deal out of Melania Trump’s plagerizing the speech Michelle Obama gave at the 2008 DNC. She used a lot of the same phrasing and verbiage in one section of her speech and immediately, the “gotcha” game started.
I want to ask this of those who are jumping all over Melania: does it really hurt anyone? If anything, the First Lady should be flattered and when you think about it, it is kind of ironic, but still. Really?
Don’t we have far more important things going on in our lives and in our nation than to worry about that? I could see if it was the candidate himself, but it wasn’t. So let’s just turn up the civility thermostat here, shall we?
Deja Vu
Am I the only one who thinks it feels like the late 1960s again. Only with guns? Lots of guns?
My heart hurts.
Brilliance = Aaron Sorkin’s Writing
As much as I love Elon Musk’s fearless futuristic ideas, I am utterly and totally gobsmacked by Aaron Sorkin. If I ever met him in person, I think I’d be unable to summon words and just drop into a deep curtsy or something equally embarrassing.
The reason for this tangent is simple. I just finished watching “An American President” for about the 100th time and remain awestruck by it and everything else he’s ever written. But THIS:
“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.” You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.
Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”
So yeah, Happy Independence Day eve, by the way. This was the perfect nightcap to launch the holiday!
Reunion!
Squee!!! Happiness is having your BFF since childhood in the house! And of course, at Dinner at The Columbia.
Brexit … Agh!
The consequences of the Brexit vote worry the hell out of me and I feel like I’m the only one at work following this. At least in my area… Strange when you consider that, in a retail business, a global economic downturn could cause problems…such as, oh, I don’t know, your customers not being able to buy from you…
Too young
Today would have been my brother Shawn’s 61st Birthday. He died at 46, way too young to cancer. But thankfully, during his all-too-brief time on Earth, he inspired me so much…
How to compete, play fair, be smart, use numbers, be judicious, have a decent temperament, have a great work ethic, and have persistence. In fact, the brown placque barely visible at the back of the cluttered collection of knicknacks here in this photo is identical to one that was on his desk and reads:
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Death sucks! Especially when it takes one so vibrant, full-of-life and clarity so young.
Seven years ago…
Hard to believe, seven years ago I took my last trip to a military base as a Blue Star Mom! I was welcoming home eldest son from another tour in Iraq. So glad that was it!
So proud that, despite my parental weaknesses and missteps, they are both truly standup guys.
Tentacles – a commissioned work of art
So, I was asked to paint something reminiscent of an Octopus. With tentacles. Ugh! But then, after doing some thinking and pondering, I decided I could make something work with the right color palette and lines.
So, I present to you “Tentacles”:
I’m really pleased with it and enjoyed creating this one so much! If you like it, stop over at Fine Art America where you can pick it up as a giclee print, gallery-wrapped canvas copy, art notecards and more! 
Painting again
This is a quickie little thing I did in a very short amount of time. Have you noticed I really, really, really enjoy painting flowers?