Roman Holiday

Yesterday, was a movie watching day. The first movie I watched was Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. It was a wonderful movie and I had just started watching it when, alas, the doorbell rang and my mother-in-law popped in. Drat it. Well, it wasn't her fault I had been planning on watching this movie for about a week. She stayed about an hour, and then left. I did get to see the ending of the movie, but I'm pretty sure I have seen the movie before, just not in its entirety. Just bits and pieces. To view the video below, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of my page and turn the music off on my music player.



Right after that movie, I saw that Key Largo was coming on. I love Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart together in movies, so I wanted to watch this one too. I didn't really enjoy it, though. I don't think it's one of their best movies together. I did watch it to the end, it was just the story line I didn't like, not the actors because Bogey and Bacall are exceptional actors in the movies they were in together. I just think their acting ability has been put to much better use than this movie.

This weekend I finished making a baby sweater. It's for no one in particular, but I like to have a few of these on hand in case of baby showers.


I also took a notion for some deviled eggs. I don't eat them very often, but every now and then I really like them. When I saw how pretty they looked on the plate and I saw my pretty salt and pepper shakers, I decided to take a picture.


When I was making them I started to reach for my regular salt and pepper containers, which really aren't containers at all. They are more like the containers that they came in. Then I happened to see these pretty shakers, and I decided that I wanted to make this an elegant experience, even if it was just deviled eggs I was making.

Using this pretty Lady Carlysle dish and those elegant looking shakers reminded me of my aunt. She used to set a perfect, elegant table and always used cloth napkins. When she passed and we bought her house, we found all kinds of lovely linens. None were embroidered that I remember, but she had lacey type linens and just all sorts of napkins, tablecloths, pillowcases. I kept them all, of course, because I love to use these things.

I wish I could have been more like her. She lived in the era where most mothers and wives stayed at home and she never even learned to drive. I'm glad I learned to drive, but sometimes I long for the simpler times when she was a wife and mother. With this faster paced world where it seems it almost always takes two incomes to make it, there doesn't seem to be any time for things like real linens and things like that unless we stop and make the time.

Maybe turning 55 last month, was a liberating experience that made me put things into perspective. So, I have decided that I'm going to add more elegance to my life just by using my fine china teacups and dishes for the simple things. What am I saving them for? I've started drinking my coffee every morning using a different china teacup every day. I'm going to start using those Lady Carlysle dishes. Since that is my favorite china pattern, I would love to add some dinner dishes to that, but the outlet store that was close to us in Calhoun, Ga. closed. I'm going to have to figure out a different way to find them.

New Paintings!

I'm very excited to tell you about two new paintings that I just finished over the weekend. You can find them in my shop. I really enjoyed working on them and I hope they find a new home with someone who loves them.

These were so much fun, and I have lots of ideas floating around in my head for more paintings in the near future.

New Treasures

I been kicking myself because I kept forgetting to post the picture of this beautiful doll that my friend made and gave to me for my birthday last week. I love her and she's found a home on my fireplace mantle for the moment. I haven't named her yet. I'm going to have to ponder that for awhile ...


I also wanted to post a picture of my new friend, Pinky. I saw her this morning at the grocery store and since I've become smitten with pink flamingos lately, I couldn't resist. She's keeping me company near my computer at work.



Other than that, things are going fine except for some mild stomach bug over the weekend. I also finished some new paintings for my shop that I will share with you tomorrow!

The Other Boleyn Girl

Friday night was the opening night in our city for the movie The Other Boleyn Girl. My friend Susan took me to see it for my birthday. We both really enjoyed the movie. In addition, she gave me a lovely doll that she made for me, but I forgot to bring the picture that I took of her with me today so you could see.

My cousin recently won a world-wide award through AC Photos for a photo that she took called "How to Completely Disappear."


Seeing her photos on her myspace page has renewed my interest in photography. She is a talented artist and photographer. She even has one of her watercolors on her myspace page that is available as a print.


It's called "The Gathering" and is an 18"x30" and giglee' prints are available.

Jazzercise Class

Our local newspaper came to our Jazzercise class awhile back and taped a video. I wasn't there that day, but you get an idea of what we do.

I haven't been to Jazzercise in awhile, but I need to get back. It's so hard to go home and then go back out to class, especially in the winter months, but it needs to be done. Sigh!

Marzipan Yarnballs

Monica Ferris is one of my favorite authors. I love her knitting mysteries. I couldn't get the other links to work so that you could directly link to them from here, so when you click on the link above and get to her web page, click on the large picture and you will get some great pictures of marzipan yarnballs. If you scroll on down you will find a link for a tutorial for how to make them. Just click on the link that says "Tutorials here".

I've done some cake decorating before, but I think I'll just have to pass this time and enjoy the pictures. I think this is a little to much fussy work for me. I love the pictures, though. They are great!

Toothache

I've been battling a toothache for the last week. It's actually been bothering me off and on since before Christmas. It's a tooth that has a really old filling and I guess they don't last forever. I'm sure I've had this one for at least 20 years or more. Last year before the holidays I went to my regular dentist who took x-rays and determined that I have a cracked tooth and that I need a root canal, a new filling, and a crown. Well, I've just been putting it off. Dentists are not my favorite people since I had such traumatic experiences as a child, but for the most part I just brave up and do it. It's gotten to the point that I don't want to deal with the pain anymore, so I'm going to have to make an appointment and get it done.

This afternoon we were doing laundry and our dryer decided it doesn't want to dry anymore. So, we went ahead and washed the clothes and tomorrow Eddie is going to take them to the laundromat and dry them. It's a really bad time for the dryer to go out, especially with a root canal and crowns coming up, but it could be worse, so I'm counting my blessings and not complaining. I guess the hammered dulcimer is going to have to wait for awhile, though, until we get some more bills paid off. We have to put our priorities in order, and the dulcimer is just not at the top of the list right now.

I did have some fun this weekend in spite of my toothache and the dryer going out. This first part actually happened last Friday when I was surfing the Internet for vintage embroidery patterns. I came across some Flickr sites where the ladies collect vintage Aunt Martha and Vogart embroidery patterns. All you do is click on one of the albums and you just scroll through them and when you click on a pattern you will see an "All Sizes" button in the top left corner near the pattern. When you click on "All Sizes" you get the pattern in the actual size. I think these ladies collect vintage patterns and scan some of them and make them available on the Flickr sites for non-commerical use only. I'm really interested in some patterns for pillowcases and I like doing the small ones, too, for pillows. I also like looking at blogs that have lots of pictures of embroidery that they've done using these patterns. Usually, what I do is go to Google and do a blog search for either Aunt Martha's embroidery or Vogart Embroidery and I'll get a list of several blogs that feature embroidery using these patterns. I can also do an Image search in Google using the same terms and can sometimes get links to blogs and photos. I also discovered that I can do a search in Flickr for these patterns and get more albums. It's really cool. I like looking at pictures of what other people are making because its eye candy and it's very inspiring.

I made several pieces of jewelry this weekend that I plan to put in my Etsy shop this week.





I also made a couple of necklaces for myself, but I haven't made pictures of those yet. I will do that and post them later.

Inspired by Garb-oobles Soup's sock monkey, I remembered that I had a UFO that I started a couple of years ago and had put it back. I think one of the legs came out smaller than the other one and, well, it doesn't take much to discourage me in a project for me to just put it away and deal with it another day. Then I thought, "why a dress would cover that up!" So, here is the result:



She was really fun to make, but in all honesty, I don't think I'm going to make another one any time soon. I'm glad I have this one, though.

Another thing I'm working on right now is some needlepoint of Pinky and Blue Boy. About 5 years ago, I bought a set of them that had the main design already stitched. All I had to do was stitch the background. Easy enough, right? Well, for some reason when I started Blue Boy a few years ago, somehow the stitches didn't look right to me, so rather that take it all out, you guessed it, it went into my ever-growing UFO pile. I dug it out about a month ago and started on it again.

The picture below is not very good, but it gives you an idea of what I"m doing. I haven't finished Blue Boy yet, but I thought I would put the color of yarn that I plan to use next to Pinky so you can see what it will look like. My plan is to put these in oval wooden frames, so I hope they will be antique looking.

Practice Makes Purr-fect

It's a well known fact among my friends, family and coworkers that I love animals. Especially cats. I was looking around today on YouTube for videos on learning to play the mandolin and one of my coworkers sent this video to me. I think it's just adorable!

Rosette Brooches

Last night I made some small rosette brooches. I created this design because I wanted to make a brooch that could be worn for Valentine's Day, but then realized that these can be worn any time and can be worn as a brooch or on a hat. I put them in my Etsy shop this morning and I have all colors of yarn in my stash, so I can take special orders too. As I make more, I will be posting more pictures.

Superbowl Sunday

Since it's Superbowl Sunday and I had a football cake pan that I had bought a few years back when I took cake decorating classes, I decided it would be a good time to try it out and make a football cake. I'm not a professional cake decorator by any stretch of the imagination, or not even a semi-professional, but I thought it came out decent and I'm proud of it. I mostly decided to use my limited knowledge that I learned in the class and just wing it. That can be a bad thing, though. Usually I have just enough information to hang myself and have someone else bail me out, but it was really fun decorating this cake.

We've had a fairly good weekend so far. Yesterday Eddie got out of the house after more than a week of staying in with his pleurisy pain and today he's feel badly again. It just takes alot out of him and the pain medication helps the pain, but it also knocks him out. I really think that the pain medication is just a bandaid for the real problem. Neither of us knows what it is (other than pleurisy), but I'm concerned. Maybe this is normal for this type of thing, but having never had it before and not knowing much about it, it's a troublesome thing. We're beginning our 4th week with this. I'm beginning to wonder, is this really what he has or is it something more serious? That's my main concern. His VA doctor has scheduled him for an appointment next week to see a pulmonary specialist in Murfreesboro, TN, which is about one and a half hours from here and maybe a little longer. I'm thinking that once we find out what kind of treatment he needs, we should find someone closer to home. It's just too far to drive when you don't feel well.

Other than that, I've been cleaning house and yesterday I made a hat using this pattern, but I think I must crochet really loosely because it seems like it came out alot bigger than the other hats I've made. I think it's because of the yarn I used. It has a more coarse texture than the other yarn I've been using and it requires a larger needle. Well, trial and error. That's how it is with crocheting and knitting. The good thing about crochet is that you can rip it out fairly easily. but it's not so easy with knitting. I really like the pattern, though, and the way the hat came out. I think I'm going to try it with a different yarn.

Shop Update Today!

I'm very excited about my Etsy shop update today. I have been working on some Flapper hats and boas. I love these Flapper hats. They are so much fun to make and even more fun to wear. Every time I made a hat and tried it on I kept thinking that I needed a boa to go with it to look like a true Flapper girl, so I made a boa. Now I'm going to make some more boas to go with some more hats that I will make.

I also plan to make some newborn, infant and child size Flapper hats as well.

I keep thinking that with all these pretty hats, I need to have a Flapper tea party where everyone wears a Flapper hat and boa. Wouldn't that be fun?

Every time I put on one of the hats and boas, I want to do the Charleston and say "Boop Boop a Doo!". Ohh, we'd have to do that at the tea party too!

Etsy Shop Update Tomorrow

I've been busily making flapper hats and each one is so much fun. I just had to try them all on and when I did, I had the distinct feeling that I needed a feather boa. Here is a sample of what's to come in the shop.

Flapper Hats

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments on my paper embroidery projects. Blaze asked me how I keep the paper from crinkling. The answer is that with paper embroidery you use cardstock and then it doesn't crinkle. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a package of white cardstock in the scrapbooking department. I also bought a pack of 50 cardstock weight blank bookmarks to make the bookmark patterns with. These are so much fun to make. I have a couple more that I will post pictures of as soon as I can get them taken.

Last night I started thinking about Flapper hats. There is a wonderful website that has lovely flapper hats and she has been so generous in sharing her crochet patterns. There are also some Out West Hats that she has made and included the patterns with those as well. These are also fun and easy to make. You can use the Caron Simply Soft yarn, which is so yummy to work with, or you can use any worsted weight yarn.

Eddie found out on Wednesday that he has pleurisy. He has been in alot of pain off and on for about two weeks. I'm glad we found out what it is, but I hope he gets better really soon. The doctor seemed to think an antibiotic wouldn't help but that he could take pain medicine and high dosages of Ibuprofen and let it run its course. We're watching it to make sure it doesn't get worse. He's had a low grade fever off and on with it and I'm really concerned about that. Whenever I hear someone has a fever, it makes me think there is an infection somewhere. I'm going to call the doctor today and see if we need to be concerned about it and whether she thinks he might need an antibiotic. Sometimes I get so frustrated with doctors. Why is it that sometimes I feel like we almost have to diagnose ourselves and tell the doctors what is wrong instead of the other way around? Please keep us in your prayers.

More Paper Embroidery

Last night I made two more paper embroidery goodies. I really enjoy this form of embroidery. It's very relaxing and I can do it while watching TV or listening to music.

First, is a cute field mouse:



Next, is a Christmas ornament that I'm going to make into a Christmas card:

Paper Embroidery

I have recently discovered paper embroidery. I had seen it a few times, but I hadn't been able to find too much about it either online or in the craft stores. Once I did an Amazon search, I found several books that look promising. I also found a great website that has lots of information on how to get started and also has some free patterns.

It's really alot of fun. This is what I worked on this weekend, and last night I made some Christmas ornament cards. I'll take photos and share those soon.



I discovered that you don't have to have a fancy punching tool or a mat. What I've been using is one of those thumb tacks with a little holder on the end (they come either in clear, silver, or different colors) and you can find them in any office supply store or school supply section at Walmart, etc. I think I may have bought mine at Staples. For the mat I'm using a mouse pad, and it's been working great so far. And I'm using one strand of DMC embroidery floss, except on the large circle above, I used two strands because it just looked better.

I bought some bookmark patterns and I can't wait to see how those turn out.

The Story of Miss Trilby Wragge

Today I spent some time retyping the article that I got from the Demopolis Public Library into a more readable form. As I was typing, I was trying to think of how I could post this story and I decided that it was too long to put in a regular post on my blog, plus I wanted the story to be accessible easily. The story is just too good to only be read once in a blog entry.

So, I decided to make a blog just for the Trilby story with a link to it from all of my other blogs. You can also access it by clicking on "The Story of Miss Trilby Wragge" on my sidebar of this blog. There is also a link to it from my other blogs. the only thing I couldn't figure out was how to put into the Trilby blog the links to my other blogs. Every time I tried to upload it, I got an error message from Blogger about it. I don't know if something has changed in the html format or what, but rather than frustrate myself trying to do it, I decided it wasn't that important at this time to go from Trilby back to my Evelyn Rose blog. Most people will probably go to the Evelyn Rose blog first and then link to Trilby. Maybe. I don't know. I'll just see how it goes.

While I was browsing around in my pictures I found several pictures of my dolls that I had taken awhile back. I had forgotten I had the pictures. I'd like to share those with you. I love all kinds of dolls and pictures of them too.

Trilby Wragge

This is a picture of the original Trilby Wragge doll that my friend and I took on our visit to the Bluff Hall Mansion in Demopolis, Alabama about 2 years ago.

I have found a wonderful treasure. It's the most intriguing story of the doll I've been telling you about named Trilby Wragge. I took a chance and did a Google search for "Trilby Wragge Demopolis, Alabama" and found a listing of articles housed in the Demopolis Public Library from the Bluff Hall Mansion. One of the articles is titled The Story of Miss Dotie Vaughan and Miss Trilby Wragge, from Campbell Long. I emailed the librarian there and she scanned the documents and sent them to me in an email as pdf documents.

Since I can't figure out how to put a link to a pdf document in my blog post, I'm going to retype the articles and just put a link to them in Word or something similar. Or I may just post the whole thing in its entirety on my blog. It's such a charming story and I see so many possibilities for dioramas. I can't wait to read the articles and jot down some ideas.

So, until my next post, I'll leave you looking forward to this story.

Art and Doll Musings

I think I have been under a huge misconception about art. The misconception being that I thought I could actually produce art and that it was easy. In the beginning, before I started painting or creating any type of art, I would look at an art piece and think to myself, "That doesn't look hard. I could do that. How hard can it be?" Well, after several oil painting, drawing, and watercolor classes, I have come to the conclusion that producing art is definitely not easy. In fact, it's downright hard. Alot harder than I thought it would be.

At first it was fun, sort of. The very first thing I did was take a life drawing class. I'm not sorry at all that I took it, but after awhile I began to see patterns in the way I produced my drawings. And they were definitely not what my art teacher wanted. After awhile, I started to despise going to class because I couldn't draw the way I wanted to. Another thing I really didn't like about my life drawing class was that we had alot of 20 to 30 second quick sketches. The idea being that we are not supposed to think about it. Just do it. Well, I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist, obessesive compulsive or whatever you want to call it, because I cannot work that way. About the time I was really getting into my sketch, the teacher would stop us and have us start another one. It stressed me to no end, but I did learn alot in that class. I learned that I love contour drawing, not gesture. For some reason, I couldn't get the hang of gesture. Or at least not the way my teacher wanted me to.

After I took life drawing I and II, I decided that I wanted to take some oil painting classes. I took it with a friend, which made it more fun, but she eventually stopped taking class. I was constantly comparing my work to others' paintings and, in my opinion, always falling short. I kept wondering what the heck I was doing in there because I would never be as good as the others. Their paintings always looked so professional and uniform and mine always looked like a big blob of nothing to me. I also realize that we are all probably our own worst critics and that art is in the eye of the beholder.

Later on, I decided to take some watercolor classes. Well, I guess watercolor is not for me because watercolor does what it wants to do and then I can't deal with not having control of what it's doing.

I'm not really a perfectionist in other areas. I guess I just stress when I'm making art because I want it to be just right. And by doing that, it takes the fun and joy out of doing it. Then it just becomes a stressful thing to do that I eventually don't want to do anymore. I wish I could just be like a child and have fun with art. Now I do like coloring mandalas because there is a pattern to them and I can just color away and not worry about it being great art. It's just something fun, relaxing, and enjoyable to do.

Well, I have been having some fun lately. I have been seeing these cute wood dolls that several people have shown on their blogs.



These pictures came from an Etsy shop, but I've seen them on blogs too. This particular seller describes these wood dolls this way, and I love the description:

Put her in your pocket, by your bedside, in your lunch box or anywhere you need a little extra love and luck! She is the perfect talisman (taliswoman?) for people on the go.

And I love these little wooden Kokeshi dolls:


Last night I bought some little wooden people at Michaels to make some wooden women and some Kokeshi dolls. I printed off a few pictures from the Internet to get some ideas.

I've always had an interest in dolls and cloth dollmaking. Here are a few pictures of some dolls I have made and their outfits.







I also have an interest in the Miss Columbia doll.


There is a very interesting story that goes along with her.

Yesterday I found several pictoral variations of this doll on the Internet. In fact, one friend of mine and I have made several dolls that are loosely based on the Miss Columbia doll that we call Trilby Wragge. Trilby Wragged is fashioned from the original Trilby Wragge doll that is housed in the Bluff Hall mansion in Demoplis, Alabama. The story behind this doll is very charming and unique too.

The story goes that back sometime in the turn of the last century there was a doll named Trilby Wragge that lived in Bluff Hall. Her story is that she was well known for travel to sick children. Every time a little girl in Demopolis was sick, Trilby would take her trunk of clothes and stay with the little girl until she was better. Once the little girl was feeling better Trilby would go back to Bluff Hall, but the little girl had to return her with another piece of clothing to add to her wardrobe. Naturally, Trilby had the largest wardrobe of anyone in the county.

We think that Trilby was also fashioned or patterned after the Miss Columbia doll since they have alot of similarities in their features. I found some pictures on the Internet yesterday of several dolls fashioned after Miss Columbia. The ones my friend and I made are around 18" tall. Here is her website with some of the ones she and her mother made that she has for sale.

The ones I found yesterday range in size from 29" to 33".


I guess when I started this post this morning, I didn't really know where it was going. I know that producing fine art, or any kind of painting or drawing is a very hard thing for me because I'm just too worried about it coming out right to really let loose and let the creativity flow.

I think I've decided that I really love other forms of art, such as quilting, dollmaking and things like that. I also love embroidery and sewing. There are all kinds of ways to express ourselves and all types of mediums to do it. We don't have to paint to be artists. We can express ourselves any way we please. Now, that I think about it, I think that's the answer to the freedom in art. Do what you want and what makes you happy. Do the things that make your creativity flow, no matter what they are.

Rough Weekend

We had a rough weekend. Eddie has been having severe pain on his left side near his rib cage since Friday. He was fine Thursday night when he went to bed, but woke up with the pain Friday morning. He thought maybe he had laid on it wrong or something, but since it's lasted this long and been this severe, I just don't know.

He wasn't thrilled about going to the doctor, but I finally convinced him to go and see about it. Heck, I was thinking he should go to the emergency room, but he wouldn't go. To me, someone who's doubled over moaning in pain should go somewhere, but what do I know? Anyway, I think he's mostly going to the doctor just to appease me, but whatever the reason, I'm glad he's there. He had to go to the VA clinic for something else today anyway, and I figured while he's there he might as well see the medical doctor. The only problem is that since he doesn't have an appointment, he'll probably have to sit there all afternoon while they fit him in. Something else, he wasn't happy about. I really think he's tired of the pain and ready to see what's causing it; he just wasn't going to admit it to me. I just hope they can figure out what it is, or at least order some kind of x-ray or scan or something, so we'll know what we are dealing with.

I found this on Youtube today and I think it's just lovely. It's called Music Box Dancer.

Aging

Now that I am aging ... at least not that fast. Well, yes, I probably am, but I don't feel old. I have to admit that I am beginning to feel more free in my actions and about not caring what other people think. The ironic thing about freedom in aging is that you are free for a little while, but then you lose your freedom when you get to the point that you can't care for yourself anymore and then have to have someone to help you.

At any rate, I love the following story about aging. My cousin (who is in her 60's) sent it to me. I love its theme and the freedom of it all. I'm 55, but I've learned alot along the way. I just don't care that much what people think anymore. I do to a point, but then after that it's just not worth worrying about. Now, I know why so many older folks are cranky. They have put up with alot of stuff all of their lives and now they have decided they are not going to do it anymore.

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.


I am CLOSE to being, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks a little like my mother!) but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends or family or my comfortable, memory-filled life for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I age, I'm becoming more kind to myself and less critical of myself. I'm becoming my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie or for not making my bed or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avant-garde on my patio. (I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.)

I have already seen too many people leave this world too soon before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM (and sleep until noon IF I ever do)?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50's, 60 & 70's, and if I wish to weep over a lost love ...

...I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.
They, too, will age.

I know I will sometimes be forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten.. And I will remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one or when a child suffers or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion.

A heart never broken is so pristine and sterile that it will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have already lived long enough to have my hair turning gray and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think.

I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong...(if I ever am... )!

So, to answer your question, I like getting old. It's setting me free. I like the person I am becoming. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been or worrying about what will be.

And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it)

Music Reading Class

It's with a heavy heart that I write that I will not be able to take the music reading class like I had hoped. My boss will not approve it saying that it's too many days in the week to be away from work, and that it is not close enough to the lunch time hour to be able to let me take it as my lunch. The class meets on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. My original plan was to use my lunch hour for the class and then eat a quick sandwich or something at my desk to make up for it.

Well, no matter. There is quite a bit of information on the Internet for learning to read music. Plus, I found a new copy of an older edition of the textbook that is being used for the class at www.half.com at about 1/5th the price that our campus bookstore was asking for it. So, I'm thinking that between that and online resources, maybe I can learn some music reading. It's not necessary to be able to read music to play the hammered dulcimer, but it's a tool to help. Anyway, this is how the chips have fallen, so I'll just find a different way to learn.

Just for fun, I looked up "reading music" on www.youtube.com and found this short video, which really says most of it in a nutshell.



Also, this is the hammered dulcimer that I'm saving my money to buy. It's a beautiful instrument. For a beginner like me, it's plenty good enough. If nothing else, I'll learn to play by ear and from memory. I can peck out a tune. My dad did it for years playing the banjo, guitar, and mandolin. He could also play a mean harmonica until his emphysema. Hopefully, he passed on some of his musical ability down to me.

Happy New Year!

Last night was fairly uneventful as New Years Eve goes. I was sick with a sore throat and cold and didn't get to go to our friends house to ring the new year in. Eddie did go, though, and I stayed home. I just didn't want to infect anyone.

So, what I did was watched the movie O Brother, Where are Thou for about he 10th time and after that I settled in and did some reading. Right now I'm reading the book Scarlett, which was written several years back as the sequel to Gone With the Wind. Now there is a new book out that is the authorized sequel titled Rhett Butler's People. This book has been authorized as a sequel by the Margaret Mitchell family, whereas I guess the first sequel, Scarlett, must not have been. I'm really enjoying it, though, and it sure seems to reflect Scarlett's basic selfish personally just like in the first book. So far, she's spending most of her time trying to get Rhett back in spite of the fact that he's no longer interested. She's convinced that he still is, so I think it will be interesting to see how the story ends.

Reminiscing

It's been really busy during the holidays this year. It seems that I have not had time for much of anything except going here and there. Plus, we had a couple of acquaintances pass away over the holidays. And really close to Chistmas. We went to the funeral of one of them last week. Such a sad thing to happen, but really bad at Christmas.

This morning I woke up with a scratchy throat and I decided to stay home today and rest and take medicine in hopes of kicking this thing before it gets any worse. I was really disappointed because I was supposed to go and get a complimentary free lesson on the hammered dulcimer from a coworker's husband, who teaches it. He said he would give me a lesson so that I could see if I am interested in it and also information on renting a hammered dulcimer. I can't afford to buy one right now, but I would rather just save my money and buy my own rather than throw my money away renting one. On the other hand, if I rented one and decided it wasn't for me, at least I wouldn't be out much money, so I'll have to think about that for a little while.

Last night Eddie and I went to a friend's house. It's actually my house, but we rent it to them and they are also our friends. As landlords, we have a key to the house and we have their permission to go in at any time to do repair work, etc. We are very close friends and trusting of each other. We always get together with them on Friday and/or Saturday nights and play Phase 10. I happened to get to their house early last night before they got home from work, so I called our friend on my cell phone and asked if it was ok if I went ahead and went inside the house to wait for them. It wasn't a problem, so I went on in. It was quite a while before they got home, about 45 minutes. I noticed that the cover was up on their piano. Since I've been really longing to learn to play an instrument this next year, I decided to fool around on the piano for awhile. It was alot of fun. I didn't learn to play anything, but I played around on the keys and had a nice time by myself before they got home.

When I was a little girl, I had an aunt (my mother's sister) who decided that I would learn to play the piano. She decided this without my permission. I wasn't interested at all. She even went so far as to buy a piano for me and pay for piano lessons. Talk about ungrateful. I was definitely that. The piano lessons were every Saturday morning while cartoons were on. Being a child, naturally, I didn't want to take piano lessons while cartoons were on. I did not practice, and after awhile the piano teacher finally told my aunt that I wasn't interested at all and that she was wasting her money. I was relieved, but I'm sure my aunt was really disappinted in me. She eventually sold the piano to my uncle (her brother) because his wife did play piano. Another sad part to this story is that later on, his housed burned and the piano burned up in the house.

I didn't think much about it then, being a child, but now that I'm grown, I think back on all that happened, and feel a tragic sense of loss and even a little guilt too. Loss because I wish more than anything that I had been interested at that age and had practiced. Guilt because I didn't even appreciate that beautiful piano and it later came to its demise because of that. Oh, I know that wasn't really my fault because the same thing could have happened at my house, but I still feel badly about it all. I can't help but feel that if I had really taken an interest and practiced that I might have been able to play the piano and might even still have that very piano in my possession today.

It's sort of like Eddie said tonight. You can't go back and change any of that. And I said, no I can't, but I can change what I do in the future. So, the thought has crossed my mind that I might even take piano lessons. The reason it two-fold. First, because I work at a community college, I can take piano or any kind of music lessons for free. Second, our friends are wanting to sell the piano and if we had the money I could buy it and have it moved to my house. I just don't know if I want to do that and then be stuck with it if I decide piano is not for me.

I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions, as I'm sure we all are. I'm not going to make the usual promise to lose weight, etc. because in the past I felt badly because it never seemed to work out. I've decided that I'm not going to make any resolutions this year, but just think about things that I would like to accomplish this next year. One is that I would like to learn to read music and learn to play a musical instrument of some kind. I know that both of those things take commitment and practice, but I think I could do it for something I really want to do.

I've been thinking about what sparked this latest interest in wanting to learn to play a musical instrument. I've always loved music and wanted to play something, but I think I know exactly what got me to thinking about it most recently. Before Christmas this year, I went with my cousin to his boss's home for her annual Christmas party. We had a nice dinner, played games, and did a Chinese gift swap. Afterward, his boss played Christmas carols for us on her harp. I thought it was so enchanting and beautiful to listen to her play. It just renewed my desire to learn to play something. I know it takes practice, but it has taken her about 5 years to learn to play and I know she's taken some lessons.

It is my desire this year to learn to read music and learn to play something. At this point in time, I'm not exactly sure what that instrument is. I know that many people play more than one instrument, so I know that's a possibility too. I'm hopeful that as I research it and find out more information, that something will reveal itself to me. Whatever will be, will be, so I'll just have to wait and see in which direction I go.

New Prints

I'm so excited to tell you how busy I've been. I've added some new prints to my shop.




The first one is Flapper Girl, and I love her feathers. She looks like she's just waiting for some fun. The second one is Bridesmaid, and the third one is Prom Night. These girls are part of my Lovely Ladies Series and are awaiting a new home.

This morning Eddie and I went out shopping for after Christmas sales, and I found three treasures. The first one is a lovely Nativity Scene, the second is a cute Christmas tree skirt, and last but not least, is a cute snowman Advent calender. Pictures to come soon...

Gray Cat on a Tennessee Farm

I learned to play a mountain dulcimer a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. This is one of the songs I learned and I really had fun playing it.



The sad part is that I let someone discourage me in my efforts to play the dulcimer. I have what is known as a Tennessee Music Box. It's pretty long in length, so it's long on my short legs, but I still manage to play it. The person who discouraged me thought that the music box was too big for me to handle and thought I would do better with a smaller instrument such as a mandolin. For some reason, after that, I just put the music box away and never picked it back up. I should never have let that person discourage and dishearten me that way.

Lately I've been wanting to learn a musical instrument of some kind. I've toyed with the idea of the flute, clarinet, and piano. Even the hammered dulcimer, which I really want to learn to play some time in the near future. But, for now, with our finances so low, I'm going to pick my Tennessee Music Box back up and learn to play again. I'm mad at myself because I've lost my picks and some of my original music, so now I have to get some more. I'm sure they're in my sewing room, but I'll have to wait awhile before I can get to them again. At any rate, I can't wait to play Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm again.

I've Been Crowned

On Thursday afternoon I went to the dentist to have my crown replaced. It was very easy. The dentist didn't even have to deaden anything. He just filed down the crown a little, put some new cement on it and put it back in. Easy as pie. It felt a little funny at first since I went for a week with a hole where the crown used to be, but now it's back to normal and I'm chewing on that side again. I'll have to have a root canal on another tooth after the first of the year, but I'm not thinking about that right now. I know I sound like Scarlett O'Hara. I'll think about that tomorrow.

I have been having fun making some artwork the past couple of days. I've been working on my Lovely Ladies series. I'll have the prints up in my shop very soon. Until then, here's a small preview.

This Lovely Lady is called Bridesmaid. "Always a bridesmaid, never a bride."


This Lovely Lady is called Flapper Girl. I think she's my favorite so far. I love her feathers.


This Lovely Lady is called Prom Girl.


The prints will all be 8 1/2" x 11" and will fit in a standard 8 x 10 frame. They would also look pretty in an 8 x 10 or larger frame with an oval mat. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to add color to them or not. I will probably do that later on, but for now I'm offering these prints as ink drawings. I'm working on a new one called Retro Girl. There is a poodle skirt involved in this one.