Remember the Good, the Bad, the Ugly?

I first saw the movie while attending NMSU in Las Cruces. The Rio Grande runs through the town, and as college students are wont to do, we went parking and partying on the river. Imagine my surprise when the hanging tree from the movie was one of our favorite parking/partying spots! So I feel a special connection to the movie and was fascinated by this rendition of the iconic theme song!

Quote of the day...

Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed.


Henry Louis Mencken, 1880 - 1956
 
Home from vacation and as always it is good to be home. I enjoyed my trip and visits with family and dear friends...
 
My son and I went to the Dallas World Aquarium, and if you are in the DFW area, you must really see it. And if you haven't seen it lately, they have added a new wing...
 

I am on VACATION!!!

And I REAALLLLLY needed it. I came down to my sister's house yesterday to celebrate my Mother's 87th birthday.
Since it is apple season in southern New Mexico and my nephew has LOTs of apple trees, we about a half-bushel of apples. We used my sister's apple peeler/corer and worked through them in less than an hour- much shorter than peeling, coring etc. by hand. It is a very ingenious, low tech machine and works like a charm. And it taught my nieces that apple juice comes from places other than a juice box! They were organic, so there was some critters to deal with but that is to be expected.
This afternoon we will have apple treats!

Great weekend!

The J squared nuptials came off without a hitch last night (Joe and Jan= j sqaured). Great ceremony performed by our friend Marya, and then we all jumped into the pool and hot tub.
Sunday the girls went to see Eat, Pray, Love. I enjoyed it.
My dear friend had to have her 22 year old cat put down on Friday, so I am very sad for her.
It is REALLY RAINING in ABQ this afternoon!
So all in all a very good weekend

This is green engineering!

A solar roadway. Great idea, check it out!
Getting ready for the wedding of Jan and Joe tonight! Best of luck!

While cleaning my studio this morning

UGH! I hate to clean the studio, but I was down to about a 12" square space to work in on my HUGE worktable (about 54" x 40") so the time has come....
Anyway while I was taking a break and reading email I found the following two quotes by Andy
Warhol:
I like to be the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place. Being the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place is worth it because something interesting always happens.
and

When people are ready to, they change. They never do it before then, and sometimes they die before they get around  to it. You can't make them change if they don't want to, just like when they do want to, you can't stop them.

Back to cleaning... fun fun fun

This big box turned over my giggle box!

thought that I would share it with you.

Since I have been surfing instead of cleaning, I found this cute video!

Another great quote for artists and/or writers

The blank page is only pretending to be blank. Everything that ever happened is hiding underneath it.


Margaret Atwood
(who just happens to be one of my favorite authors!)

Old technology effects from new software

Intersting article here: on apps that imitate imperfect old technology. Check it out

What a jam packed week!

But in a good way! Work is still work, but the Computer Creatrix 

is really moving along. New client and that is good.

Extreme Journalism is still also fabulous. 

And I have posted two of my videos to my You Tube channel. Check it out here

And it has been RAINING all over New Mexico for the last two days.

We really appreciate the rain, as it is sometimes very rare!

  

Can't get blogger to let me center this sunset pic, but this is an un-retouched photo from my balcony. Since there is moisture in the air the sunsets are spectacular

Immediately before I took this pic, there was a squre bolt of lightning.

I waited for 15 minutes and it never happened again.

Just one of those once in a lifetime things, I guess.

20 things that I love (besides my family...)

Part of an exercise for Juliana Coles' Extreme Journaling Workshops is to draw a natural scene and then list 20 things that I love.
1. rainbows
2. trees
3. BBQ smoke
4. Sizzling steaks in #3
5. fecundity ( I just love the sound of it!)
6. waves
7. labryinths
8. blue skies
9. Stairway to Heaven (the song)
10. oceans
11. the smell of rain
12. popcorn
13. the moon
14. the smell of baking bread
15. hummingbirds
16. red wine
17. waterfalls
18. cats
19. mangos
20 2012, as that is when I can retire
21. roses
22. sunsets
Of course I could go on...

New Videos from Juliana Coles

From the Trenches: Notes from the Field


Juliana Coles Favorite Supplies (a two part video!)


Enjoy!

July 4: gettng real and personal int the pursuit of happiness: {589}

Third installment of zingers (for me) of Simple Abundance:
"Many of us mistakenly think that lowering our expectations means we must surrender our dreams. Absolutely not.  Dreams and expectations are two very different things. Dreams call for a leap of faith, trusting that Spirit is holding the net, so that you can continue in the re-creation of the world with your energy, soul gifts, and vision. Expectations are the emotional investment the ego makes in a particular outcome: what needs  to happen to make the dream come true . The ego's expectations are never vague: Oscars, magazine covers, the New York Times Bestseller list. Your dreams must manifest exactly as the ego imagines or someone isn't going to be very happy. And guess who that is? The ego! Since none of us can always predict the future... this kind of thinking is self-destructive. Because if we don't live up to the ego's expectations, we've failed again. And at some point we really do give up.
The passionate pursuit of your dreams sets your soul soaring; expectations that measure the dream's success tie stones around your soul. ...Living your life as a dreamer and not an "expector" is a personal declaration of independence...Dreaming, not expecting allows spirit to step in and surprise you with connection, completion, comsummation, celebration. You dream. Show up for work. Then let spirit deliver your dream to the world.

Simple Abundance Part 2 It's always my choice

Second quote from Simple Abundance
July 2: The simplest of Pleasures: One Good Thing That Is.
"Not too long ago, an 8 A.M. phone call announcing a major change in plans sent my day careening out of control. I hung up the phone, my heartbeat accelerating. In one stroke my carefully arranged coping stragety was out the window and my host of commitments had been amade almost unmeetable. This was too much, I thought, as I paced back and forth, muttering and moaning under my breath. I had three choices before me, but only one real-life solution: scream with rage a the top of my lungs, put my head in the toilet, or take a deep breath and redeem the day with Plan B.
...So I poured myself a cup of tea and reaclled the Hasidic prayer, "I know the Lord {Goddess} will help --but help me Lord {Goddess}, until you help.
The reality was that the day would be as hards as I made it. Or as pleasant. There was nothing I could do about my circumstances but accept them. "It's always my choice," I reminded myself. Not necessarily  to like ... but to try to catch the ball. ...success in life is not  how smoothly we execute Plan A; it's how smoothly we cope with Plan B. "{Curly brackets and bold are mine}

Simple Abundance

As some of you might remember, I am following Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I will go for days, and then a ZINGER will really hit home. June was a very active month, and alot of stuff went directly into my soul.
June 28: Repotting: Giving Roots and Yourself Room to Grow:
"" I don't know when I myself am potbound," Gunilla Norris confesses in her numious devotional, BEING HOME, "lacking courage to be replanted, to take the shock of the new soil, to feel into the unknown and take root in it.
We too, need to consider repotting for growth. But when? When we wilt even before the day begins. When we can't remember the last time that we laughed. When we have absolutely nothing in the next 24 hours to look forward to. When this happens, week in, week out, we need to realize that we're pot-bound. We need to gently loosen the soil aroud our souls, find something that sparks out imagination, quickens our pulse, brings a smile or giddy lilt  to our converstaions.
But repotting does not mean that we have to leave the marriage or quit the job. It just means that we need something new. "
I'm not so sure about the last statement, but time will tell. More in my next post.

Wow, two posts in one day!

Gorgeous blue flower from the courtyard at First Unitarian Church in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque Lavendar Festival

Albuquerque has a yearly Lavendar Festival and we attended again this year. Looking forward to the Lotus Pond at Los Poblanos, we planned an afternoon on sketching, relaxing and good vibes, but the pond was closed! Bummer. We wandered for a few minutes, but then left. Maybe next year. I did get a few good pics, but we did not stay long enough to get much. BTW, there were lots of other events at different locations, but we were looking forward to the Lotus pond!

Awful work week

But I did get some work done, artwise. I am taking a class from SARK, titled Dream Boogie and this is my doodles while waiting  for the audio class to start.



The line across the top (a large sketchpad which would not fit on my flatbed scanner) is part of a journal entry, about self sabotage. The line visible here reads SABOTAGE has always been one of my issues. There are several sketches, and the colored entry is a list of what is holding me back from completing my dream, then colored over with markers. Most of mine were about MONEY. The BRAVE FINDER is an intuitive name SARK gives you when you sign up for the class.
Also anticipating Juliana Coles' new summer session of Extreme Journaling

Forgot to add that I also purchased some things in Madrid!

I am practicing with my macro setting on my camera in order to get better closeups of my art to post on etsy. I bought a tri-color copper bracelet and some labryinth earrings! So I did more than just look at art. Buying jewelry always cheers me up!

Sunday Afternoon trip to Madrid

I promised a friend of mine from the Rustdyeing group on Yahoo that I would take pictures of her art hanging at Johnson's in Madrid. Sunday afternoon, after the lunch bunch had brunch, I took off to Madrid. Her art was amazing. I love Madrid so I walked around and checked out the galleries. Saw art by a lot of people that I know and found an old friend that I had not seen in several years. Adelle had some great art in a gallery, and we discussed web sites, art and galleries. I am always on the lookout for possible customers for my business the Computer Creatrix.