Post election note

This was in response to some regarding members of the Tea Party and Republican party,
and their religiosity and "living for fear of hell and the afterlife".


As a Tea Party and Republican voter I find it exhausting explaining that my main and overwhelming concern is the growing fiscal weight being heaped on the shoulders of taxpayers, present and future, as well as more regulation and LESS freedom. As for religion, my belief in a power greater than myself does not have to do with an afterlife but rather with THIS life. It informs my decisions on a daily basis and allows me to not just tolerate others' opinions but accept that I am only able to be an example among them of one who disagrees without being disagreeable or worse, patronizing.

It's all good!

"I have spent the summer not painting nearly enough.  I only did eleven paintings, nine from live models in a class with my first teacher.  Our summer rental wasn't conducive to the work lacking both space and good light.   Certainly I should have known how much this would matter but time slipped by until now when I look back and realize the amount of work I would normally have done in the span of four months.  At my studio at home in Florida I would have been painting every single day and taken at least three times the number of classes.  We are heading back this week and my work will be underway again.

It's also been several months of looking at options for finding a residence here in the North to be close to our kids and grand kids...we now have two!  Our newest is Rosina Dolores Saravia, born July 10.  Her brother, Wolf, is nearly three. They are changing before our eyes.  I long for the chance to be here more."

The above was written about three weeks ago and I had to save it as a draft at the time.  As it happens
we have now signed an agreement to buy a wonderful old flat in Evanston in an historic building where it is possible to walk to everything and it's only about a mile and a half to Jess' house.  Plus, Chuck is moving to Milwaukee so will be only an hour away as well!  Wonderful! 

We spent a few weeks since autumn started going back and forth between our B&B in Michigan with CK
playing golf with old friends, and a hotel in Evanston on weekends to see the kids.  On our last night in
the hotel, and with the car loaded to leave for Florida in the morning, we saw a new listing online and
called our realtor to set up a morning showing the next day.  When we saw it we both knew immediately,
after looking at things all summer long, that this was a great deal.  We made an offer and it was accepted
a day later.  This was reason for us to delay our departure for a week
and all we are waiting for now is the closing to happen in a couple of weeks.  It is really exciting to be
adjusting our lives to be near the family for more of the year.  The longing for that has been strong and it
has gotten even more so with the arrival of Rosie and with Chuck moving closer.

It's all so good!  The gratitude list is long.

Bookends

In 1989, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, my home town, my line of one-of-a-kind, art-to-wear sweaters was on display in a solo show. It was at my college Alma Mater, Seton Hill College.
I posted about making these sweaters back in July, 2011. I didn't mention then that the
day after the show was hung I burst into tears talking to someone about it. It wasn't a joyous
event, but rather brought up a great gush of shame and other feelings I couldn't explain at the time.

Over the years I have done many projects from the crocheting to real estate development with my husband which included completely gutting an old building and turning it into a fabulous and highly successful bed and breakfast, and on to decorating several gorgeous homes as well as sewing complete wardrobes of highly tailored clothes for men and women and children. I decorated for charity balls and fund raisers, worked on women's committees of many organizations, raised two wonderful kids, and along the way, dabbled in many artistic endeavors.

In June, 2009 I took a portrait drawing class in Chicago for 10 weeks. It was a charcoal class and I LOVED IT! I have always been able to do a likeness of people with a ball point or felt tip pen and have only ever wanted to draw weathered trees or faces of people. So this class was right up my alley.

The next summer, having drawn portraits of everybody I knew and then some, after spouting some silliness about not being good enough or ready or whatever, I decided to give oil painting a shot. I went to my first class with pastels and asked the instructor if he thought I should just stick to that. He had me do a live model portrait with pastels then gave me a shopping list of paints and brushes to buy for the next week class. That was June, 2010. I haven't stopped since.

I have thrown myself into every single thing that was going on along the way and maybe this is just the latest, but it feels great. I had trouble selling the sweaters back then. It felt like
asking someone to approve of me. That feeling isn't there for me now with the paintings.
The joy of doing this can't be easily put into words but I love showing my work
and am not ashamed to get paid for it.

After all these years of self-searching and doing some really hard work on what makes me
tick, today, when I hung my solo show of oil portrait paintings at City Hall, Ft. Lauderdale, I was
thrilled and filled with gratitude.

Ironically though, it appears I haven't changed the way I stand for a photo.

Big Dave

David died yesterday. He and his wife Shirley have been close friends of ours for many years. There's a saying that goes, "He didn't suffer fools lightly." David called them like he saw them. He wasn't afraid to say what he thought and didn't feel the need to explain himself about his position on a subject. But he was always ready to hear what you thought as well. He acted from principle and you knew you could trust his word.

He was always generous with a compliment and had a ready smile. He was at the same time an ornery practical joker as well as a true blue, always there when needed friend. There are stories of him and the guys who worked for him taking several local black kids of single moms on $200 each shopping trips at Walmart before Christmas at his expense;
or having Shirley go, as recently as a couple of months ago during a cold snap here in Florida, to buy hooded sweatshirts for street people and go with her to distribute them personally while he was struggling with chemo.

He was a remarkable builder and craftsman; he left a huge mark on Dayton with hundreds of wonderful, really well-built gorgeous homes. He treated his work crews like family and the loyalty ran both ways.

Somewhere along the way he was dubbed "Big Dave" and it was truly fitting. He was a big, strong, handsome, striking and some would say rugged individual. His presence showed a confidence based in self-made success and gratitude for his life. He loved his wife and showed it. He worked hard and played just as hard and you knew he did it all with joy.

I have not one negative memory of David. I can hear his laugh and see his mustached grin in my mind's eye and believe he is in the presence of God. I will miss him for the rest of my life.

Tea pot saga

I've been trying to get a tea pot to my son, Chuck, in LA since January 5. Today is February 10.

The first effort was a box I packed myself and sent via UPS from a local UPS store. This isn't what it sounds like though because they are a separate contractor and UPS doesn't consider them one of their own.
There's no way to know that unless you ask. That package got there on time but the tea pot was
shattered. I had $100 insurance on it so we were told to put the box back at the drop off location,
Chuck's landlord's front door, and the driver would pick it up and UPS would review it's condition and I would get a check. That was Friday and Monday was Martin Luther King day. We were told to put it out the following Tuesday for pickup. Unfortunately the driver started attempting to pick it up on Friday and Monday. We didn't know this. So on Tuesday it was put out but it wasn't picked up and that was the final attempt. After three phone calls to get
help they said the driver would attempt it again the next day. No such luck. Then the landlord
took the box in and it never got returned to me.

Fast forward four weeks...I bought another tea pot, had UPS wrap and send it again. It was
to be delivered on Thursday after taking 8 days by ground. The first notation on tracking was
that the suffix was wrong and they had to figure it out. Remember they delivered another box
less than a month ago with the exact same address, which is in their computer and printed by
them. They then sent it out yesterday, Thursday, at 3:15 pm. I had designated that it needed
no signature since Chuck works during the day and the landlord isn't around either to sign for it.
The driver has the authority to decide otherwise and therefore, since no one was there to sign, he
didn't leave it. Another attempt was to occur today. I spent several phone calls with UPS and emails with Chuck last night to decide what to do. We were going to have it held for pick up but it was 14 miles away and in LA when someone works all week that's a real pain. So I requested they re-address it to his work address. The guy on the phone checked to see if he could do that and said it couldn't be done. The only choice was to have it returned to me, or rather to the
"UPS store" from which I sent it. So perhaps by the end of next week I will have it back again.
That will be 7 weeks and about $80 not to mention the aggravation that has been spent on this.

This has become a mission for me. As I said to Chuck, little battles keep the edge sharp. I'm not giving up. There will be a beautiful white tea pot in my son's home even if I have to carry it with
me the next time I visit!