Vacation, Day 4/5

Today it was off to Tennessee to visit the family. My Aunt Katie is the dearest woman I know. She practically raised me when my parents were ill during my early childhood. At 80 years old, she mowed the lawn the day before we arrived, about 1 acre of lawn. She still keeps her 18 month old great-grandson everyday. She is amazing. It was great to see her. Aunt Ruby also came by for a visit.

We stayed in the Courtyard Marriot by the Knoxville airport in Alcoa. What a beautiful facility. If you ask, breakfast for everyone in your room can be included in the room price for an extra $10. It includes eggs (cooked to order), bacon, sausage, gravy, biscuits, fruit, pastries, waffles, etc. Great deal and good food.

On Thursday we drove around Cades Cove (http://www.cadescove.net/), a must when you are in Tennessee. If you can't get up in the Smokies do the cove. We say wild turkey and dear. Some of my relatives say a mother bear nursing her cubs last week. We weren't so lucky.

If you visit the gift shop at Cades Cove they have an old timey band (2 people on mountain instruments) playing music and singing and great honey with the honey comb still in. Honey combs are great to chew, by the way.

Vacation, Day 3

Today we had a leisure breakfast at TC's. I played my fiddle, I should say practiced on the stoop in the warm sunshine all morning. Then it was off to Pocket Loop at Pigeon Mountain. Most people are probably not familiar with the Pocket Loop as you have to take a dirt road past a few residential/farm type houses. There is a partially built boardwalk and the rest is mountain trail up to the falls. We had our "Flowers of the Smokey Mountains" book with us and identified a lot of plants. We spent the afternoon throwing rocks in the creek, catching salamanders (and letting them go) and playing with a huge millipede. All in all, a great day.

On the way home, we made another attempt at the incline railway on Lookout Mountain (http://www.lookoutmountain.com/) and this time we did it. Channel 46 from Atlanta was there and filmed us. Hopefully, someday it will be available on line.

Vacation, Day 2

We woke up early today and had breakfast at T.C.'s house. The girls were outside in the fresh, cold spring air immediately after breakfast. We spent the morning at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga (www.huntermuseum.org), had lunch at Tony's Pasta Shop in the Bluffview Art District(yummm!) and rode the carousel at Coolidge park (http://history.amusement-parks.com/tenncool.htm). We attempted to ride the Incline Railway up Lookout Mountain but several busloads of kids were getting in line just as we drove up. Dinner was at TC's.

Vacation

Well, we tricked the girls last night and started our vacation after Grammy's birthday dinner. We were about an hour and a half past our exit before anyone noticed that we passed our house. It worked out well we were able to drive for about 3 hours and stopped about 11 p.m.

Today has been very interesting. The Courtyard Marriott we stayed in was typical, no problems. We stopped for gas and Starbucks in Tifton. At the Starbucks Claire kept pulling on my skirt/shirt as young children often do. (Especially Claire). I kept turning around and asking her to stop pulling on me, leave my shirt alone, your stretching my clothes out, etc. Finally, she stopped and scooted up beside me to whisper "Mom, your skirt is tucked into your pants."

Later in the day we stopped for lunch at the scarriest Subway in Georgia (Warner Robbins in case you want to know where not to stop). It was under construction and apparently doubled as a daycare. No, I'm not kidding. The kids (all under 4) were behind the counter and climbing under the cabinets in the refrigerators, etc.

Later in the day we made one more stop for gas and potty, in Rome, Georgia. Interesting little place. There were instructions on the wall to guide you in reaching inside the back of the toilet and flushing manually.

Finally, we reached our destination. Whew! Catfish and B-B-Que for all at Buck's BBQ and Catfish with our dear friends.

My Left Foot

I just watched the most amazing movie last. I was already a big Daniel Day-Lewis fan. He really outdoes himself in this movie. My Left Foot is the true story of Christy Brown, an irishman born with cerebral palsy. He was thought to be mentally deficit until one day when he grabbed a piece of chalk from his sister with his left foot and wrote the word mother on the floor. He lived to be almost 50 years old. This is the story of his joys, disappointments and accomplishments. He lived to be a great painter, writer and husband before his death. He was one of 13 surviving children in his family.

Voodoo

This card was snapped up quickly on Flickr. However, I just had to post it. I love this dragonfly/bird mutation thingy.

Ode to Iggy

Iggy Pop trading cards. Anyone interested? He is certainly a "wild one".

Raw...Here we go again!

O.K. this post is getting a bit too familiar. At least I am having a bit of success again. Last week I committed to a 5 day banana fast. Yes, that is correct. 5 days of bananas and water. It went well. After the first day my mind was clear my body felt light and I was feeling great. By day 5, I had a salad for lunch, but that was ok. I chose wisely. Salsa instead of salad dressing, no cheese, no meat. Since the fast has concluded I have been about 85% raw and I plan to keep it that way. I am striving for 95-100% raw. I lost 8 pounds during my fast and have kept 4 off. I must conclude that a good deal was water. I plan to do the banana thingy again next week. It just felt good to feel so clean, inside as well as out.

Water-The 4 Elements 1 of 4

Yeah, it is finally done! This one took on a life of its own and fought me every step of the way. I think we (the collage and I) finally came to terms with each other and turned out an o.k. piece of art.

Working on Something Big

Well, once again I have attempted to start my seasonal collages. In my mind, I have planned out 4 collages....spring, summer, fall and winter. I have been pulling pictures and setting them aside in separate containers for about 1 year now. I finally got up the courage to begin and well, the consensus is that winter looks like water. Now I'm wondering if what I really have are 4 collages based on the elements. Do I rule the art or does the art rule me? I think I will be forced to give in under pressure. I've already removed 1 of the 4 pictures that were meant to hold the collages together theme-wise. It just didn't work. Hopefully, this one won't be as painful as the last. I'm hoping it will let me finish it tomorrow.

Journal Doodle

In an attempt to do something artistic everyday, I took my journal with me to the car dealer today. The service that was schedule to take 3 hours lasted 6 and we have to go back on Friday because they forgot something. Well, my kids completed the days school work and I completed a super-doodle. I say super because I doodled for a couple of hours. Here is the fruit of my labor.

The Closer You Look

You know you have a problem when you have to get up out of bed to change a piece of work that you just completed. I made this set of the ATC's and just didn't like the phrase I put on them. After laying in bed for about 1/2 an hour I finally got up, retrieved them from my desk, went back to the drafting table and got going on them again. Here they are, finished. Had I thought of it, I would have done a before and after scan. Oh well, maybe next time. Btw, they are available for trade. Enjoy!

Newest Collage

This one finally came together. It has been junking up my drafting table keeping me from other work for several weeks now. This 12 x 16 mixed media collage consists of cut-out pictures, acrylic paint, jewels and a ornate butterfly I found on the ground in my front yard. I re-did the background twice on two different canvases before I finally settled on this one. This actually kept me up some nights arranging and re-arranging the parts in my head. A few of the items I collected for it went unused, I suppose they'll be bothering me now that the rest have finally settled happily on their new home.

Carnival

Didn't want my other card to feel left out. I just couldn't quite get the formatting thing down on that last post. So here is the other card I made today. Could have made more but we were too busy chatting.

Trading Cards in the Haze

Yikes, the kids woke me up today because they thought the house was on fire. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it we were just getting wind and ash from the many fires that are active in Florida right now. Girlscout park day was canceled. Driving over the bridge to St. Pete was like driving through fog. Normally we can see the Clearwater Causeway, St. Pete, etc. Not today. Breathing was another story and it was accompanied by a lot of discomfort. We stayed indoor with a friend and made trading cards.

Good times.

Raw...Here we go again!

Ok, I am trying again. The gradual approach just isn't working for me so as of this a.m. I am eating only raw. I think I just need to give up the food cravings. I always tell myself I'll eat something this one last time and start tomorrow. Well folks tomorrow never comes unless you get up and say this is my tomorrow. So far today I have had two bananas and I made a salad with spinach, cabbage, fresh cherries, shaved almonds and an avocado-no dressing. I have to consult my raw food books tonight and see what kind of salad dressing I can whip up. I am also tracking food calories and exercise on
Fitday.com. Its a free online service. Check it out.

"KAL HO NA Ho" (tomorrow may never come)

This has got to be one of my all time favorite movies. It never ceases to break my heart. If you are partial to love stories, this is one to see. Aman (Shah Ruhk Kahn) is dieing, he falls in love with Naina (Priety Zinta). He doesn't want' her to know he is dieing or that he is in love with her so he helps her fall in love with her best friend Rohit (Saif Ali Kahn). At their engagement party, they find out that Aman is really in love with Naina and has helped them fall in love so that he doesn't die and leave her all alone. The story is wonderful, the acting is great and the music keeps you humming for days after. Every time I hear a song from this movie I have to watch it again. If you have never seen a Hindi love story movie this is a great start. It is filmed in New York and has so many stories going on in the background. It deals with all kinds of realationships of families. I can't say enough about it. Also, some of the finest performances I have seen from the leading characters in this movie.

Raw Food: Simple is Best!

Well I am officially starting my Raw Food Journey for about the 15th time. I have to say that I have finally decided the simple is best. I have several books on raw foods the are quite extensive but I find them to be overwhelming and ultimately they lead to me giving up. I have found a very small book called The Raw Food Primer that is awesome and a great starting point. Also, Carol Alt's book Eating in the Raw is quite helpful and you can't help but love that catchy title. So bon appetite, here we go again.

Bombay

Well, I haven't kept to my new year resolution. I have watched about 50 bollywood movies and haven't written about a single one of them. Tonight we watched Bombay. It was about the conflict between Muslims and Hindus. Pretty good. It takes place in the early 90's. A Hindu man and Muslim woman fall in love and elope because their parents won't bless the marraige. Rioting brings the families together. The parents of the couple are killed and eventually the religions unite to save the city. Overall, the movie is pretty good. The dance numbers are fair. I really love the music and dancing so this one let me down a bit. However, the message was good and the movie enjoyable.

"Paheli" Bollywood for the New Year

Our new year Bollywood movie was "Paheli". We had planned to watch "Main Hoon Na" but once again the dvd was scratched beyond usefulness. I'm actually glad. "Paheli" turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. I hate to say it but it was charming. It is based on the story "Duvidha," a Rajasthani folktale. A young indian woman is married and her husband immediately leaves her to go on a 5 year journey to make money. It is not entirely his idea, his father tells him it is the best time to go and he obeys his father. In the meantime, a ghost takes his place and becomes the hero of the village. When the original husband returns there is a bit of confusion. This would probably be a good movie for the whole family. The only down side would be that children might tire of reading the subtitles. My kids are big fans of the song and dance numbers. You can take a look at the "Paheli" trailer at:
Paheli Movie Trailers at India Glitz