Category Archives: Just stuff…

The Evolution of a Painting


Good morning everyone!

I finished my latest painting, a landscape watercolor, which is the first landscape painting I have ever done.  I took pictures of the painting throughout the process, so I thought you might like to see how the painting was done.

First, you must start out with an idea or a model of what you wish to paint.  This was my model.

The picture I chose as my model

Next, you take the surface you are painting (for watercolors, there is specially developed paper) and draw the main lines of the painting on there. Once the main lines are drawn, you start filling them in. Here, you can see where I have started to fill in the main set of mountains. If you look closely, you can also see the drawn lines for the meadow/valley below.

The Beginning of the Mountains

The next step was to add depth and color to the mountains. Getting the mountains right was probably the longest part of the process.

The Mountains

The next step was to fill in the meadow and other land in the foreground.

Foreground Filled In

A closer view:

A Closer View

Then it was time to start the detail work in the foreground. Here is the detail after my first session on working on it:

Part but not all of the detail

A close up of the detail close to the left side of the mountain:

Close up of the left side of the mountain meadow

The next painting session let me finish the details, and the painting.

The Finished Product

Here’s a closer look at the finished painting:

Close up of Finished Painting

And here is a look at the painting, and the picture that started it, side by side:

Comparison

The hardest part of painting watercolor is the need for patience – patience as you try to mix the colors in exactly the right, patience as you try to build up the right sets of color and patience to go back and try again if the colors don’t quite work the first time. I’m please with the final result though.

Have a great day!

Nancy

The ABC Award


Good morning everyone!

My friend, Drusilla Mott, in her blog at www.drusillamott.wordpress.com, awarded me the ABC award a couple of days ago.  Like most blogging awards, there are certain rules.  The first is that I need to put the ABC Award Icon on my front page permanently somewhere; I’m still working on that, but I’ll figure it out.  The third requirement is that I nominate other blogs for the award.  I’m thinking through that one, too.  I’d really like to nominate all of the blogs I follow, but some of them don’t care for awards and others may not have time to worry about the second requirement.  The challenging part of the ABC award is the second requirement, which is where you use each word of the alphabet to tell your readers something about you.  That is my challenge for today, so here we go! 

A pastel I did of Tyra

A – Artist

Mandy

B – Boo, one of Mandy’s many nicknames

C – Courage – the courage to continually battle my depression every day

D – Dogs – If you read this blog regularly, this doesn’t need any more explanation!

E – Everyone – I believe that we should have an innate respect for the worth of every human being.

Our Family, Early in 2005

F – Family – My first and primary human priority.

From Print Shop Professional 2.0

G – God – My first and primary priority.  I am so grateful to Him for so many things!

Plastic Canvas Ornaments, in a "folksy" style

H – Hobbies – I have many hobbies besides writing, which is turning into a quasi-profession.  Some of my hobbies are reading, counted cross-stitch and, occasionally, working with the scroll saw.  I’d like to start jewelry making, too.

I – Introvert – You might not guess it from this blog, but I am fairly introverted in person, unless I know you.  Of course, since I am introverted, it takes a while for me to get to know you!

J – Justice – What I hopefully am pursuing in my career as a lawyer.

Kitten

K – Kittens – Yes, they’re cute, but never will we have one in our house!

L – Love – Yet these three remain – faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.

M – Mom – my second most favorite role of the many roles I play in my life.

Darwin aka No-No

N – No-No.  The words most commonly used to admonish Darwin, and hence one of his many nicknames.

O – Oliphant – Something that appears in one of the scenes from one of my favorite sets of books of all time, The Lord of The Rings.  I’m pretty sure I’ve read it over 50 times.

P – Patient.  Most of the time, I am very patient.  Except when my 10-year-old pushes my buttons.  She is the only person who can pierce my patience in three words or less!

Q – Quiet.  (See I – introvert.)

R – Risks.  I am not one normally to take many risks, but the few times in my life when it has really counted, I have taken some big ones.  For example, see my post on why our family celebrates December 15. 

Science

S – Science.  One of my favorite subjects to read about. 

T – Tardy.  My sister says that, unless Mark is in charge of the expedition and she doesn’t count those, I am at least 10 to 15 minutes late to everything.  I’m not always convinced, but sometimes I have a sinking feeling that she may be right!

U – Umbrellas.  I never have an umbrella handy when I need one, and if I have one handy, you can be sure that it will not rain!

A picture from one of our vacations

V – Vacation.  I love vacations!  I love traveling on vacations.  I love staying home on vacations.  I love sleeping in on vacations.  I love eating out on vacations.  I love…. (You get the idea!)

W – Wife – My first favorite role in my life.

X – Xerxes/Xenophon.  (Ha!  Bet you didn’t know how I was going to get around “X”).  This represents my interest in ancient Greek and Roman history, which includes reading English translations of some of the ancient sources, including Thucydides, Herodotus and Xenophon.  And Polybius.  Polybius is way cool!  See my post on my bookshelves.

Y – Yaks.  I don’t really have any particular affinity for yaks, but it was the only “Y” word that popped into my mind. 

A picture from the zoo!

Z – Zoos.  I love to visit zoos.  It’s fun.  

Well, that is it; odds and ends about me from A-Z.  If you’re still awake, I’d love it if you would pick one or two letters and use them to tell me a little bit about yourself, too!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

Smart Marketing


Good morning Everyone!

What a week!  I’ve been trying to write this post since Tuesday, which was the day we got back from a mini-vacation to Orlando.  Tuesday for whatever reason my internet didn’t want to load pictures (and how can you talk about a trip to Orlando without pictures?) and then I ended up working until extraordinarily late to get a brief filed.  (By extraordinarily late, I’m talking about times I haven’t seen since I was in college!)  Then yesterday I had an 8 a.m. check-up which involved fasting beforehand (nothing to eat from 12 until 8 – I am not exactly Miss Merry Sunshine in the morning anyhow, but me without food in the morning is an unhappy combination!)  Then, the check-up over and breakfast procured,  I went to work to recover from my late night session Tuesday, which translates to trying to get enough papers moved to see the wood of my desk top and pushing forward with other projects.  It felt good last night just to come home and collapse – I was in bed by 8:30 and asleep by 9:20, which was great!

A visual depiction of my week so far!

But now we have reached Thursday and I have yet to post for this week, so I better get started.

As I’ve already mentioned, we spent this weekend traveling – Kayla went to visit my Mom, who had bought the two of them tickets to see the Broadway musical “Wicked” this past weekend, and Mark and I decided to take advantage of the weekend to go to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Mark and I did have a good time, but I want to talk today about our first evening there, where sunny Florida was not sunny (but only because it was night) and COLD! The night-time temperatures when we were out and about walking were down in the high 30’s. (For those of you from colder climes who think the high 30’s is downright balmy, I suggest you try coming down here to Alabama or Florida in July when our temperatures are in the mid-90’s or higher with 200% humidity, and you will understand.)

All right, I admit it wasn't as cold as this!

It was so cold, in fact, that I had to pull out The Squash to wear. The Squash is a bright yellow fleece that I have had for ages; I used to wear it often with green gym pants which made me sort of resemble a summer squash, which is how it got its name. The Squash is one of my favorite fleeces – brightly colored and extraordinarily warm, with sleeves that are too long – just too long enough so that I can pull my hands into them and let the sleeves double as gloves when I need them too. Long live the Squash!

Me in The Squash at Islands of Adventure

But I digress (I can hear the shocked gasps!) We didn’t want to go to either of the parks in the evening, because they weren’t going to be open that late, so we decided to go to City Walk, an entertainment area Universal has constructed in an area between Islands of Adventure (their second theme park) and Universal Studios (their first theme park.) After we got lost trying to find the walking path from our hotel, the Loew’s Royal Pacific, to City Walk, then finally retreating to the lobby where, starting from the point of origin we finally found the path, we had been out walking in the cold for about 25 minutes and were glad for a chance to sit down in the warmth at the restaurant we had chosen for dinner, called Pastamore.  At least, it started out warm, but once someone decided to open some large panels in the front, the temperature quickly plummeted.

The Beginning of the Islands of Adventure Theme Park

When we finished eating, we decided to walk around CityWalk and look at some of the shops. There are a lot of nightclubs there, too, but we were planning on an early day at the theme parks and didn’t want to stay up that late. The shops were interesting, but they were all cold. I think they had heat, but the fact that they left two doors open at all time caused most of the heat to float away in the night sky. Because they were cold, we didn’t really want to linger.

Until we came to the Fossil Store. For those who don’t know, Fossil is a company that makes watches, wallets, purses, some jewelry, belts, and some briefcases/satchels. Mark and I like what they sell, but at first we just intended to make a brief sweep of the store and go on. That is, until we entered the store and found that someone had the good sense to close one of the two doors to the shop and keep the heat in. It was blissfully warm in there! Nor were we the only tourists who had a sudden penchant to linger around the store that evening; I counted about 15 or 18 tourists sharing the shop with us while we were in there, and the store is not that big.

Mark ended up buying a watch for me; it is a nice, somewhat dressy watch for work. It is made out of my favorite precious metal, rose gold, and has Swarovski crystals embedded around the rim of the front.

Had the store not been warm, we never would have stayed in it long enough to find the watch, so kudos to the manager at the Fossil Store at City Walk at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for extraordinarily smart marketing – with heat!

Have a great day!

Nancy

It’s Time To Stop!


Hi Everyone!

radio cassette tape car combo

Years ago, when cassette players were the equivalent of CD players or even MP3 players in cars are now, cars did not come with cupholders.  At all.  Many were the drinks then that got spilled in cars because people believed the drinks were securely held to the back of the car seat beside them by available heavy objects such as books or purses.

A MakeShift CupHolder - found on the blog "Just a Car Guy" on blogspot.com

Apparently, the first cupholder for cars was designed around 1950, because the November 1950 issue of Popular Mechanics contained the following picture and  article, which I found listed at BoingBoing.com, in an article submitted by Cory Doctorow.

Early, early cupholder

The Popular Mechanics article explained the following about the new design;

Travel snacks can be enjoyed while the car is in motion with a dashboard tray which prevents cold drinks or water glasses from tipping over. The tray hangs from two cords which are held on the dashboard by suction cups. Bottles or glasses rest on two disks which are suspended below the tray on chains. When not in use, the tray can be folded into small space for storage in the glove compartment.

Early 12 Ounce CupHolders

This design did not go very far, obviously, because most cars in the United States did not have cupholders, that I recall, until the 1980’s or so.  (Apparently, according to at least one source I found, cup holders are not a big deal in Europe in automobiles even today.)  Finally, however, a car designer somewhere along the way came up with the idea of placing cupholders in their cars by taking areas that otherwise would be blank space, and hollowing out a little hole, about the size of a 12 ounce can of soda or a cup of coffee, somewhere in the console between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat.  Another bright car designer realized that the occupants of the vehicle most likely to want drinks and need cupholders to avoid spilling would be youngsters in the back seat, at which point the back seat console complete with cupholder was born.

Cupholders in Back Console

So far, so good, but then another trend started – the birth of the soda fountain at your local gas/convenience store.  Originally, drinks came in about 12-16 ounce sizes that easily fit into your cupholder.  Then the convenience stores decided to make people think they were getting a better bargain by making drink cups bigger, and the 32  ounce cup was born.  At first, these cups did not fit into the cupholders in cars, but as their popularity grew, the carmakers enlarged the cupholders to accomodate the larger size cups.  32 ounces is a lot of anything, but still manageable.

Difference Between a 12 ounce and 32 ounce drinks

But today I stopped at a convenience store to grab a drink, and the only two sizes available were 12 ounces and 44 ounces, sort of the Alpha and Omega of cups.  I think it’s time to stop, people.  44 ounces is a lot of liquid!  To get some idea of how much consider this:  44 ounces is the equivalent of one third of a gallon of milk! While the 44 ounce cup at this store was designed so that the bottom of the cup tapered to fit into the standard (32 ounce) cupholder in most cars, I am sure there are many other such cups out there that do not, and quite frankly, I think the carmakers are running out of space to do any more enlarging!

Example of a 44 ounce drink

So, help out this new movement to stop the Super Size trend by selecting drinks no larger than 32 ounces when you get ready to purchase one, whether from a convenience store or a fast food place, before we drive the auto industry (further) to its knees!

Now, please excuse me so I can take a sip of my super-sized 44 ounce drink that I bought anyhow.

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

Memory


Good morning Everyone!

I’ve been thinking lately about memory and how differently it functions for different people.  I have a good memory for numbers and odd facts I’ve run across, but if I ask you in the den whether you’d prefer cream of chicken or vegetable beef soup for lunch, I’m likely to have forgotten your answer by the time I take the ten steps to the kitchen. 

I have a sister who has an excellent memory for things that happened in our past.  Sometimes, when we’re talking and she mentions something that happened when we were children, I wonder whether we, in fact, shared the same childhood.  (Yes, Stacy, I know that we did and that your stories are true;  I just remember so much less than what you remember; you’re amazing!)

I have an excellent memory for phone numbers, of all things.   I can remember many phone numbers off the top of my head, which means I’ve never really bothered learning how to program many numbers into my cell phone.  I find it interesting though that when I am trying to remember a number I am not that familiar with, I usually get 6 out of 7 digits correct, and the 7th is pretty close to what I need, although not exact.  That 7th number that I miss will a) be within plus or minus one digit of the correct number, and b) will be somewhere in the middle of the number, not at the end. 

I can remember all kinds of odd facts from things that I have read; those facts pop up in association with other things.  Sitting here now, I can’t really come up with a random fact to share with you, but if we were having a conversation and something you said struck up some kind of association, I would have a plentiful store of facts to share related to whatever topic I have associated with our conversation at the time. 

If I am going through an exceptionally unhappy time, I will blot memories of that time largely out, even the happy memories.  I have two years of my life (grades 9 and 10 in high school in Fairfax, Virginia) that I have only the spottiest memories of.  I remember more and more about those years, though, the older I get, which is interesting to me as well. 

The hardest things to remember sometimes, unless you are just lucky enough to have the event become one of those stories that gain the status of “family-sharing memories” that are trotted out frequently because they really are very funny, are the little day-to-day events that make life a pleasure and a gift.  I am fortunate there; I don’t remember them better than anyone else does, but between early e-mails I sent when we got Kayla, a series of letters I wrote to my aunt, uncle and cousin and my grandparents for about two years, and then this blog, I have a treasure house of recorded memories I can go back and read about at my leisure. 

All humans have memories of one sort or another; it is interesting when talking to Kayla to see what she remembers and what she doesn’t from the early years of her adoption.  I find that over the years I have gradually acquired the status of institutional memory for my firm, simply due to the number of years that I worked there coupled with the positions I have held as I worked my way up.  I am one of only two people with the longevity to be able to do that.  It always amazes me when I am able to pull up facts from a case that is somewhere between 10 – 20 years old; somehow, after a little bit of thought, the memory I am searching for just pops up from the depths of my storage banks. 

How does your memory serve you?  Are you one of the very fortunate few that has a photographic memory?  Do you tend to remember physical things, such as dance or sports moves, better than thought type memories?  (My physical memory is close to non-existent, making activities such as golf a never-ending adventure!)  Are you the family historian who can remember events no one else does, or are you the number cruncher or walking encyclopedia able to pull random, or not-so-random facts out as needed?  Whichever type of memory you have, I do hope that, unlike me, you are at least able to remember what type of soup someone wants for the ten steps it takes to get from the den to the kitchen!

Have a great day everyone!

Nancy

Too much alike!


Hi Everyone!

I have a bone to pick with the Coca-Cola company today.

It was really cold yesterday morning, and I was sleepy, so stumbling out into the garage to obtain my diet coke for my caffeine starter for the day was more of a shock than usual.  I grabbed two cans off of the refrigerator shelf – we have an extra refrigerator in the garage we use for storing drinks and other stuff – with my eyes half-open, stumbled back into the house and got ready to drink my drink, when I discovered that the winter design for the Coca-Cola can was too similar to the Diet Coke can.  I know this, because I had grabbed one of each. 

Here is a picture of the “normal” Coke can: 

And here is a picture of a Diet Coke can with the winter Coca-Cola can:

That is just too much alike for people who are sleepy in the morning!  Even half-asleep, I can tell the difference between the silver Diet Coke can and the bright red Coke can, but the silver and the white, not so much.  I am hereby pleading with Coke to revert to the original red can.  Does anyone think they will listen?

I hope so; we have a whole shelf in the refrigerator full of white Coke cans.  I can’t decide if that was by design, or if someone else in my family also thought that the white cans were diet coke cans and not regular Coke.

Have a great day !

Nancy

My New Office


Good morning Everyone!

We’ve successfully reached the  3rd day of 2012, and life comes back to normal in our household today, with Mark and I back at work and Kayla back at school.  I know things are back to normal for the following reasons:  1) after repeated assurances that she knew where her book bag was and everything was in order in it, Kayla still had to scramble to find it and get out the door in time, 2) we had a discussion as to how a gym suit jacket is not sufficient to keep you warm in 25 degree weather and 3) after Mark and Kayla left, I heard odd chewing noises in the bedroom and called out, “Darwin, you better not be chewing anything important!” and he happily trotted around the corner out of my bedroom.  (You will be relieved to know that it was nothing more important than a plastic toothbrush holder.) 

Corner Office

I spent a couple of days last week working on setting up my new “office.”  (“Working on” translates to “shopping for.”)   This corner of our bedroom is now the headquarters for all of  my writing, both blogging and the freelance , with the potential to do some art work at it as well, especially with graphite and watercolor pencils. 

Open Desk

Leaving the chair against the wall until I’m ready to write takes up a little less room on a regular basis.  Once I am ready to write, I can just pull the chair over to the open desk, since it’s not very heavy. 

I found both the chair and the desk (I’m really, really proud of the desk!) at a flea market/antique store in Montgomery (my Montgomery friends will know immediately where it is when I tell them I went to EastBrook). 

closeup of desk

 The desk was called a “ladies writing desk” but it is what I have always thought of as a small secretary desk. The ribbon tied to the right hand drawer knob was what the price tag was tied too.  Sooner or later I will cut it off. 

It hasn’t escaped my attention that a new year, 2012, has started, but I have no words of wisdom to offer.  I have had only one New Year’s resolution for about the last five years and that is not to make any New Year’s resolutions!  It’s harder to do than you might think, but I am holding steady so far.

 Have a great day!

Nancy

2011 in review – I just thought that it was interesting.


Hi Everyone!

The WordPress.com people prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.  I just thought it was interesting.  I wish I could figure out how they did the graphics…..

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Have a great day! 

Nancy

Happy New Year!


HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! 

Now, please excuse me as I go investigate exactly why Mandy is walking around wearing a pink-purple T-shirt….  It looks good on her, but she doesn’t normally wear clothes, so I’m suspecting she had help from a 10 year old.

Nancy

Top 50 Christmas Songs?


Hi Everyone!

A piano book appeared in our house the other day.  I say “appeared” because none of the three of us remembers  where it came from or when it arrived, but it is full of easy Christmas music arrangements by Dan Coates, and the title of the book is Top 50 Christmas Hits.

While the book has many of what we would think of as “traditional” Christmas carols, and even some of the less “traditional” but familiar Christmas songs such as “All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” and “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” there are songs in this “top 50” book that I have never heard.  Some of them, I thought, were worth sharing with you.

1) In the “Okay, then,” category:  “The Annual Animal Christmas Ball,” Words and Music by George David Weiss

See the donkeys going wild, 
See the rabbits by the mile, 
Racin’ rather madly down the trail, 
Honkin’ geese and quackin’ ducks, 
Little lambs and great big bucks, 
Never even stopping to inhale.
 
See the horned rhinoceros, 
And the duck-billed platypus, 
Go with greater gusto than a gale; 
And it’s not polite to laugh
When the camel and giraffe 
Stop to thumb their noses at the snail. 
 
***
It’s the annual animal Christmas Ball, 
It’s the annual animal Christmas Ball, 
And a very good time will be had by all, 
At the annual animal Christmas Ball. 
 
 

2) In the “truth in advertising” category:  “Nuttin’ for Christmas,” Words and Music by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett

I broke my bat on Johnny’s head, 
Somebody snitched on me.
I hid a frog in sister’s bed, 
Somebody snitched on me. 
I spilled some ink on Mommy’s rug, 
I made Tommy eat a bug, 
Bought some gum with a penny slug, 
Somebody snitched on me. 
 
Oh, I’m gettin’ nuttin’ for Christmas, 
Mommy and Daddy are mad. 
I’m getting nuttin’ for Christmas. 
I ain’t been nuttin’ but bad.  
 

3) In the “Too Much Math for Me!” category:   “Thirty-two Feet and Eight Little Tails,” Words and Music by John Redmond, James Cavanaugh and Frank Weldon

Dash, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, 
Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, 
Over the moon so bright, 
Thirty-two feet and eight little tails of white
Hurry, hurry hurry through the night. 
 

4)  In the “Let’s Not Go There” category: “The Twelve Pounds of Christmas” Words and Music by Tom Zigler.  (I’ll just put out the last verse for your reading pleasure!)

On the twelfth pound of Christmas, my mirror said to me, “Sooie, pig, sooie!”
Grazing is for cattle, 
Schedule liposuction, 
I wouldn’t wear that Spandex, 
That’s not on Weight Watchers, 
Don’t go back for seconds, 
Cut back just a little, 
The dryer shrunk your jeans! 
You’re retaining fluid, 
You’re big-boned, 
I really didn’t notice, 
And your butt still looks good to me! 
 

(As the founding member of the “Chocolate Santas Are Good for You” Association, I object strongly to the opinions expressed in the previous song!)

5) In the “Oops!” and “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” categories:  “Santa Claus on De Coconut Tree” Words and Music by John Fales and Horace Linsley.

In de tropics where we have no snow, 
Rudolph and de reindeer, dey cannot go, 
But our little island, Santa never forget. 
He bring us all gifts in his corporate jet. 
But this Christmas Eve, oops! 
He run outta gas. 
Santa gotta bail out mighty fast.
Plane and presents splash into de sea. 
We’ll parachute land him on a coconut tree. 
 
Santa Claus on de coconut tree, 
Wavin’ and smilin’ so merrily.
Christmas mornin’, 
What a sight to see! 
Santa Claus on de coconut tree! 
 

6) And in the multiple categories of “Weirdest Christmas Song Ever,” “Say what?” and “That’s Just Disgusting,” I bring you the marvelous saga of “The Fruitcake That Ate New Jersey,”  Words and Music by Lauren Mayer.

Frightening, horrible things they say
Can lurk in what seems to be ev’ryday.
So better be wary, 
It’s even more scary when
Evil appears to be sweet.
Take, for example, this time of year.
Should elves and Santa Claus cause us fear? 
This innocent season is all the more reason to watch out or you might meet
The fruitcake that ate New Jersey
Never shows any mercy
Devouring ev’rything in each town
And nothing and no one can slow it down. 
Ev’ryone it would since meet
Ends up as a hunk of mincemeat. 
A horrible fate, to end up on the plate of the
Fruitcake that ate New Jersey!
 

Have a good day everyone!

Nancy