GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

In case you do not know, there is a huge wildfire in Eastern Arizona. The plumes of smoke are inundating Central and northern New Mexico.
This is the usually bright and shining sun about 7 PM. In just a few minutes it disapperared into the wall of smoke. You can smell the smoke, like standing downwind of a campfire.

There is a 10,000' mountain behind this veil of smoke. You wouldn't know it by looking, would you?


This is the view towards the airport and downtown. There are several large buildings that have been swallowed by the smoke.
The sun in the first picture casts an eerie orange glow. This is the sun coming in through my french doors and shining on my yellow couch. You can see the glow.

as of 9:15 Blogger finally relented and let me post the above pictures.
I have some great smoke pictures, but blogger will not let me upload them! I will try again later.

Great bumper sticker

As I was running around today getting ready for QSDS in Columbus, I saw this bumper sticker:

Dogs on Board, Bitch Driving!

Love it!

Off to do laundry in preparation for my Columbus trip.

Great Music and Art video

Found this in Lesly Riley's latest newsletter Artists Success!

Handmind

I really enjoyed the long weekend, and did some art and some house cleaning.
Over the weekend, I was reading UU World, the Unitarian Univeralist monthly magazine. They usually have some very interesting articles, and one this month was: Slow Making by Doug Stowe. He quotes Ursula K. LeGuin's "Always Coming Home"
"It was a good thing for me to learn a craft with a true maker. It may have been the best thing I have done. Nothing we do is better than the work of handmind. When mind uses itself without the hands it runs the whole circle and may go too fast. The hand that shapes the mind into clay or written word slows thought to the gait of things and lets it be subject to accident and time. Purity is on the edge of evil, they say."
Stowe continues:
"When an item is crafted with useful beauty in mind, it transcends not only the years it may last but also the need one might feel to hurry in its making. What are the few extra minutes to do things right when each moment of attention is witnessed in the finsihed piece for such a lengthy span of time?"
I like the idea of HANDMIND.

Warm Saturday and ABQ Fiber Arts Fiesta

I bought Gladioulous this week, and they were beautiful. This is the last spear.


This is my booty from the Fiber Arts Fiesta, held every other year in Albuquerque. Pamela and I went this afternoon, and saw all of it before we pooped out. There were some gorgeous quilts, amazing goods for sale and the fabric was great. I only bought a jacket pattern, some beads and bangles, and I got the earrings for a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Very enjoyable afternoon.
I spent the morning getting my car serviced, and put that time to good use. I went through all my pictures on the laptop, labeling all of them so I can find something. My new camera posts them to a date folder, and I could never find anything.
Most of my pictures (probably 75%) are on my old desktop, and will take some time to organize! That may be a stormy winter weekend thing...

Gas and other musing on Friday evening

When I filled up my gas tank two weeks ago, I paid $3.89 (but I did not drive to my cheapy place, too far and I was tired). On Tuesday, I went to the cheapy place and paid $3.48! That is a big difference. I think that Americans getting upset about the huge profits and the rising price of gas, that we were listened to! Finally.
I am looking forward to a long three day weekend. My friend and I are going to go the The Fiber Fiesta tomorrow, and I plan to be inspired.
I am also going to do some art over this long weekend!

Rapture??

Our Senior Minister, Christine Robinson, returned from Sabbatical today, and this quote was in her sermon:
"And we affirm, on this beautiful day, that the rapture must have occured, and taken all of us into the holy place of earth and the blessedness of all that is our lives; Let us live this day as if it were heaven; and that way, we will know heaven. love and peace. Amen"

Lazy Sunday

This is something that never happens: both of my kittehs in the same room, on the same bed, within inches of each other! They usually stay in separate rooms.
Still lazy... fuzzy bucket is on the left, baby cakes on the right.
I intended to do some art this weekend, but instead lazed around with the cats and watched movies (btw I could not cover up with my quilt, as it was covered by kittehs!)

Yeah I know - ANOTHER amazing TED video...

But this is truly awe-inspiring...

Mothersitting Weekend

I had a great weekend. I went to Tularosa to "mothersit" my Mother, and I left town Friday afternoon. Had my Mother's day massage (gift from my son) on Sunday and it was great.
When I got home this afternoon, I was checking email and noticed a rainbow on my hand (see my prior post about the water prism I got myself for Mother's Day). I removed the hand picture from the camera, but did not get it transferred! But I did get one image of my Laini's Ladies card, with a rainbow from the water prism. The quote says "A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." Harvey Mackay

NM Wildfires

WE are having a particularly devastating drought in New Mexico and there is a huge 28,000 acre wildfire in Mayhill.




The Mayhill Ranger Station to the east of Mayhill, the station is to the right and the burn area is to the left
Hilda's 3 houses were the only homes lost, but the fire had to jump the road to get to them . Note the blackened butane tank to the left of the picture.
This is the campground that is immediately to the west of Mayhill.
This picture shows the burned and unburned area. Looks like mostly brush and dry, dry grass that burned.

Remember that only you can prevent forest fires!

I LOVE TED!

Windy Days Again

This is my latest piece of artwork. It was inspired by a piece I saw on Jenny Doh's blog. The quote reads What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say. Ralph Waldo Emerson. This has lots of free motion stitching. I also made a small ATC sized piece that is not finished yet, but says "I am Enough". Interesting process.
These peonies were gorgeous. Doesn't come across in the photo... Both of these photos were taken in Placitas NM during the Placitas Studio Tour
I love Koi. These were not very large, but very interesting.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend

This is my fatso catso studio cat relaxing in the jungle window. She loves the sun. I could not find the other studio cat, or I would take her picture too.
On Saturday, I went to The Placitas Studio Tour. Again great art, and I bought myself a Mother's Day present.
I found these water prisms, and thought I deserved one! You can see them here

This is one of the prism reflections on my new batik fabric. I just had to have this yard of fabric and the reflection only adds to the fabric.

Saturday night another friend and I went to the opening at the Albuquerque Museum of Art. It is a "New light on Tiffany" exhibit. The stained glass, panels and light fixtures were gorgeous. If you get a chance, see the exhibit.

Sunday my son called to wish me a happy Mother's Day and gave me a gift certificate to have a massage! So my Mother's day weekend was very satisfying!

First Friday Arts Crawl in ABQ

My friend and I went Arts Crawling tonight, a feature of the ABQ art scene. We only made it to three galleries, but we really enjoyed the evening and some great art. I also discovered a new Fabric store, Nob Hill Fabrics, 3810 Central, in the same area as Matrix Gallery. My friend found a great looking batik that I just had to have a yard of (you can never have too many batiks)

I helped a friend with her final project in a internet communications class and you can see the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/imentor4success

I am so glad it is Friday, and I am not on call!

I am off of Facebook for some time. Freaked myself out by clicking on something I should have know better, and sent spam to all of my FB Friends. Slight withdrawal, but OK so far! I will probably be posting more to my blog!

A thoughtful post

Since the death of Osama Bin Laden, I have been mulling over in my mind how I was appalled by Americans dancing in the street over his death.
A friend from Rainbow Artists sent this quote around:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr

No Dust today!

Yesterday was a hot, dry, windy sand filled day. The wind is bad enough, but when there is enough dust in the air that you cannot see the 10,000 ft. mountains from downtown, that is too much! My sinuses and lungs don't appreciate it either, but luckily it is only a few weeks a year when it is this bad!

Another quote:

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.

Henry Ford

I have been working in my new altered book, making background pages and should have some pictures soon. Also will work on my new paper piece this afternoon after brunch, errands and some housework are finished.

Another great qoute

I am such a quote junkie! And I find them everywhere!

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Mahatma Gandhi
(1869-1948)

Great quote

WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS GOING THROUGH A TEMPORARY HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

Wish that I could attribute a source, but it was harvested from one of those multiply forwarded emails. This expresses my views on life exactly.

Another amazing talk on TED

Very Intricate Art

I know I could never do that!

The website is ART NATION and here is another link

Annual Recycle Fair

It was gorgeous Sunday, so I went to the westside and saw the 3rd Annual Recycle Show at the Coors Open Space Center. I parked a long way away, walked, then walked the nearby Labryinth.

There was some very nice art and a lot from friends that belong to Rainbow Artists.
There was an exhibit of haikus and this one really impressed me (they were written in calligraphy, with accompanying water color sketches).

When your world goes wrong
reinvent the world with new
Suns, skies, moons and love.

B. Rojas

Positive inspiration

I took a slight tumble this AM, luckily I fell into a juniper bush which broke my fall... This always upsets and depresses me, but I got on facebook and found this quote:

When you are in a hole, stop digging. Michael Josephson

That gave me a whole new perspective on the day. Thank you Positively Positive from FB! I also shared a video on FB which you might check out.

Kitteh Pics

It is hard to see but this is Fuzzy Bucket all snuggled among the quilts on my bed.

I ARTED tonight

Looking at a friends blog, Cheery Tomato Productions, I was inspired and started cutting and sewing! Thanks Judy!

Creeping Crud

I guess that it finally caught up with me. Everyone at work has been sniffling, hacking and coughing, so it was almost inetivible. Felt really bad yesterday with stuffy nose, sore throat, but I made a roaring fire in the fireplace last night and that made me feel better. I went to work, but depends on how I feel in the morning. I plan on watching Dancing with the Stars (my secret vice!)and going to bed!
No art yet...

Lazy Blogger!

Well, I kind of fell off he blogger wagon! I have been having allergy (??)issues all week, and he wind has been roaring! Expect gusts of up to 60 MPH today, so I plan on actually doing some art!
Happy Dance: my problems at work have been minimized! My nemesis is taking a job which will remove most of my problems!

Great Video Called "Dear Woman"

You have to copy and paste the link below:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_uRIMUBnvw

Weekend trip from Albuquerque to Amarillo

This bank sign just made me happy! Happy Texas is where this bank started.

One of the original fireplaces in Palo Duro Canyon. Longhorns were supposedly in this field, but we did not see any

Beautiful vistas on the way down to the bottom of the canyon.

Had a great visit with my friend L, who just moved to Amarillo. It is amazing that all that flat land opens up to this canyon!

Dr. Oz Info (Mammogram and Dental Xrays) for WOMEN

On Wednesday, Dr. Oz had a show on the fastest growing cancer in women, thyroid cancer. It was a very interesting program and he mentioned that the increase could possibly be related to the use of dental x-rays and mammograms. He demonstrated that on the apron the dentist puts on you for your dental x-rays there is a little flap that can be lifted up and wrapped around your neck.
Many dentists don't bother to use it.
Also, there is something called a "thyroid guard" for use during mammograms. By coincidence, I had my yearly mammogram yesterday. I felt a little silly, but I asked about the guard and sure enough, the technician had one in a drawer.
I asked why it wasn't routinely used. Answer: "I don't know. You have to ask for it." Well, if I hadn't seen the show, how would I have known to ask?
Someone was nice enough to forward this to me. I hope you pass this on to your friends and family.

In Memorium: Vicki McQuagge 1950-2011

left to right Ray Wakeland (dec), Shari Adkisson, Charles Weatherford, Lyncia Langdon, Vicki McQuagge

A long time ago, in a land where we were all much younger, there were four women who met at Parents without Partners. We immediately became fast friends, and partyied, danced and played together with our sons (the four of us had 8 boys between us). As we aged, we drifted apart, but still stayed in touch. Two years ago, we lost the first Musketeer (we fancied ourselves the Four Musketeers!) Kathleen Woodward. This week we lost the second, Vicki McQuagge.
I looked and the only pictures that I have of Vicki are from a 1984 PwP photo album. Since this was pre-digital, the scan quality sucks, but the Vicki-ness comes through. Vicki always had a joke to tell and a smile on her face!

time to kill

I had some time to kill the other day, and there is no place I would rather waste time than in a bookstore! I was closest to Borders and found this book on sale for $3.99! It is large, about 1.5 inches thick and has gorgeous photos. I am still working my way through it.

Another sign of spring-- I saw my first prairie dogs on Tramway yesterday! Only ABQers will understand that!

A good quote

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
- Beverly Sills, 1929 - 2007

Quote of the Day and Kittie Pic

Doesn't Fuzzy look comfortable? I never know where I will find her!

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice. - Johannes Eckhart, 1260 – 1328

Spring has sprung

Every year I drive by this church with beautiful trees and swear that I am going to take pictures. This year I did, but they are not at their best, I needed to get there three days ago. Anyway, here they are, and when I see them I know it is spring!

I find the most amazing things on TED.com

Sarah Kay speaks on Spoken Voice Poetry and she is amazing! It is about 19 minutes long, but worth listening to.

What a week!

Monday started as usual, I got hit when I walked through the door (at 7:30 AM)with problems AND it only went downhill from there!
About 10, a very important server went down and had to be rebuilt from scratch. I spent the night in the server room at work, and did not leave until 9:30 AM on Tuesday. Long night, and we would fix one problem and then another one would come up! A tech's worst nightmare!!
Got that fixed and went on from there.
No excuse for not posting, except that life (usually worklife!!) got in the way.
I am going to try to post at least three times a week and have some artwork to show too!

JRs art project to turn the world inside out

I just watched the most amazing video on TED. A new project has been launched about using art to turn the world inside out. Go to TED.com or go to insideoutproject.net. The video is long and may take a while to load, but is very interesting.

Vinyl Albums - Circas the 70's

My first husband and I had a fantastic Akai stereo system that we bought at a steal when we were stationed in Germany. I have carted these albums around for over 30 years... (my ex took the stereo and I took the car in the divorce).
Nine years ago when I moved to New Mexico, I left a box of "stuff" at my mothers. We are now in the process of cleaning out her house and I brought the albums to Albuquerque with me.
Quite the eclectic list - I don't remember how we split up the albums but this is what I ended up with:
Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle (should have gone to him, I really don't like Bruce Springsteen)
JJ Cale: Naturally
2001 A Space Odyssey soundtrack
It's a Beautiful Day: It's a Beautiful Day* My all time favorite album! We wore one copy out and had to buy a second one!
The Moody Blues: Days of Future Past
Harry Nilsson: Nillson Schmillson
Harry Nillsson: Son of Schmillson
Christmas Albums
Moody Blues: To our Children's Children's Children
Moody Blues: Every Good Boy Deserves Favor
Santana: Caravanserai
Santana: Abraxas
Bread: Guitar Man
Jefferson Airplane: Bark
Jim Croce: Photographs and Memories * My second favorite album!
Ferrante and Teicher: Fiddler on the Roof
Moody Blues: On the Threshold of a Dream
Cat Stevens: Mona Bone Jakon
Jethro Tull: Aqualung
Traffic: John Barleycorn Must Die
George Carlin: FM&AM (includes the 7 words you cannot say on TV)
Led Zepplin II
Ten Years After: Rock and Roll to the World
Beatles: 1967-1970
America: Homecoming
As I said, eclectic, but it was the 70s! In 1967 I had my entire album collection from the 60's stolen, and I am sure they would have been even more odd!

(Almost) Spring Cleaning

Getting ready to shut down my computer and really dig into some (almost) spring cleaning. I also have to finish unpacking all my art supplies from my Michael deMeng workshop! So lots to do and I can sit and noodle on the internet all day long.
Wish me luck!

It has been a while since I blogged!

I treated myself to a trip to New Orleans for my birthday this year. Michael DeMeng was the instructor, and it was a great workshop. I arrived on Wednesday and left on Sunday and created an apothecary box titled: Queen of the Mardi Gras Remedy box.

Below are some of the boxes completed from the workshop.


My box is the middle box in the photo below and Juliana Coles' box is to the left.


This is my completed box.

Here are some of my bottles in pre-production.


Juliana Coles after a long day of sanding and drilling!


Michael DeMeng gives a great class and I am so happy that I treated myself to this splurge!
For more pictures see the Valley Ridge website. If you get a chance to take one of his classes, be sure to take it.

6.5 inches and a 3' snow drift.

These are the nice pictures. Not the one of the 3' snowdrift that I had to shovel out of the way so I could back out of my garage this morning.
This afternoon when I got home I had to finish the job and it was only 3 degrees! My fingers were frozen!
This is not what I live in the sunny southwest for!

Moonshadow

As I was driving south on US 54 I was wondering where the almost full moon was. Suddenly I was treated to an amazing MOONRISE! The moon was HUGE as it came up over the mountains. I wish that I had my camera, it would have made a gorgeous picture (if it would have come out).

Photoshop and textures

I signed up for Kim Klassen's blog
She offers free textures, and free instant classes. I have not taken any of her pay classes (just discovered her last week!). Check it out

CBS Sunday morning

This program has been part of my Sunday morning routine for many years. Lots of interesting and thought provoking features.
But this AM, as part of the coverage of the Haiti earthquake, they showed the most inspiring game of soccer. It was played with amputees who has lost legs in the earthquake, and they were playing on crutches, full bore, all out, falling and getting up. Per the feature, being an amputee pre-earthquake in Haiti was shameful, and they were outcast. Since the earthquake and the number of people who have amputations, the outlook for amputees is much brighter. Outside agencies are teaching Haitians to build prosthesis (wow, that is had to spell???) and become physical therapists.
All in all, an inspiring story.

Great Quote

Good artists copy, great artists steal.
- That one’s been attributed to both Picasso and Steve Jobs of Apple.

It was 48 degrees today and it felt like a heat wave! It has been cold here, no snow but in the teens every night and only in the 30s during the day!

Collages

I am taking a fotoshop fun class from Lani Puppetmaker. She asked us to do some collages and I came up with these two (the one above I had already made last year, but the one below is new.)
On Thursday we will do some layering in photoshop, which is one of my (many) weaknesses in Photoshop! Should be interesting.

I am also going to Notions and Potions, An Apothecary with Michael de Meng and Kathy Engen in New Orleans. Check out Valley Ridge!

New Years Clutter

I found this quote on mystoryart.com:

"Affirm for yourself that you are a success. Affirm that you are successful in getting rid of your clutter. If you are having a hard time getting started, be grateful that you are such a successful clutterer. Who else could have amassed such a collection of stuff?" --Norman Vincent Peale

I am a very successful clutterer!

Interesting Quote

"Art is not a thing; it is a way." Elbert Hubbard