Distraction

I Hate TV! It is such a waste of time and makes my mind go to mush. Well not the cool informative channels. But still when I want to get something done it's a real distraction. I have recently gotten addicted to watching 2 mindless crazy shows on Mondays that totally wreck my reading time but I can't help it they are funny. Maybe it is because I haven't really watched TV for at least 2 years with any regularity, that I am just starved for distraction or maybe it's because my brain is so tired of reading. I LOVE BOOKS! I love information and learning and growing so I have spent a lot of time reading over the past 10 years. Between my book club, my current interest in historical fiction and spiritual growth it doesn't leave much time for anything else. Then there is the new problem...The Internet. Now I am addicted to checking the blogs I like, my facebook friends and learning how to promote my business here on the web. I just don't have time for TV! Now in the last 3 weeks I have found a new show on Tuesdays I am interested in so I might as well go back to watching NCIS too. 2 wasted nights. I'll just have to get up early so I can get time to post my blogs. This is the reason I am using anyway for not keeping up here this month. TV. Well I'll just have to commit the rest of my evenings to books and blogs. I'll also get some art in there too or I won't have a blog!
So here is the inspirational art part!
The other morning we had a hard frost. Some of the pretty flowering trees were affected ( is it affected or effected? Never could get that one down) anyway, The sun was shining so brightly the next morning and our neighbors tree was just stunning. I was so thankful it wasn't frost bitten and brown. I thought I should stop taking that beautiful tree for granted and capture the beauty before the blooms are gone. So here are a few images of our beautiful magnolia tree. I hope you enjoy!



Have a great day!

April 3rd A Memorable date

Today is the 35th anniversary of one of the largest tornado outbreaks in the history of the United States. Our little town of Xenia, Ohio was hit with the largest F5 tornado recorded to that date. Today is a very dark, blustery, rainy day that brings back memories of those days. Most of the time I don’t think about it. But the date does catch me each year. It’s like a birthday of a relative long gone but you still remember. It’s just the fact that the wind is blowing pretty hard today and it is so dark that I am reminded more so today than normal. After experiencing 3 more tornado's in our town (2 of which came with in 1/2 a mile of our home) over the last 35 years I have gotten less afraid. I really am not one to dwell on past tragedies. I prefer to move on but there has been a lot of attention this year about the tornado and I suppose that is why I am more sensitive today than normal.
I am posting a couple of web address' if anyone is interested in some of the stories from people here in Xenia and what happened to them. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/XeniaOH/XeniaTornado/32402574342?v=photos&viewas=1075197503
http://www.xeniatornado.com/

I have no old images of that day but I am posting some images of my cute little town for you to enjoy as it looks today!Even though I was not directly effected in any of the tornado's, life is disrupted and the aftermath is traumatic. So much is lost and services are interrupted. There is also the sounds that bring back memories. Helicopters, sirens. Then there is the darkness and quiet because of no power. I was in the 8th grade when the ‘74 tornado struck and I didn’t attend a full day of school again until my senior year when the new school was finally built. I was at home for the next two tornado's and could hear the high pitched scream like sound they make. The last one, I drove into town just after, not realizing how devastating this one had been. It is ironic that this last one would be the one to finally take the fear away. Many people were caught in this one but survived so I realized that not all tornado's are as bad as the ‘74 one and that you can survive. Maybe it is my age but I am also not worried about my stuff anymore so I don’t freak out about loosing my home. I do still take my photo albums to the basement when they announce really bad storms! I am attached to my photographs :). So here are a few of my town I hope you enjoy. Court House ~ Greene County is the county seat

A train used to run down the middle of Xenia. We have a lot of history with the railroads.

Shawnee Park

Galloway cabin

The reproduction of the old train depot. It is the hub of the bicycle trails that run throughout Ohio on the old railroad tracks.

Old Library built with money donated by Carnegie.

The home of the Greene County Historical Society.

Downtown S. Detroit St.

Downtown E. Main St.

Buttons and more favorite things

So I have a lot of buttons that belonged to my Mom. She was a seamstress. I have them in jars and bowls setting around my living room. I just thought it was a sentimental thing until I found this Blog http://buttonfloozies.blogspot.com/. She has so many followers she can't take anymore! Until I started poking around the Internet I didn't realize how many people there are out there like me. That is one of the reasons I post my images here coz I hope there are people who will be inspired by my work. I also love tea cups (but I don't really drink tea), I really love white dishes and I will be shareing some of these with you in the near future. For right now I'll share a couple of images I was just playing with.

SPRING!

I am sorry that the images didn't load yesterday but here they are today and we are having another glorious day!

Who said weeds are ugly?

Please tell me Spring is really near!

I am sitting in my office trying to learn as much as I can about all this Internet social communication, which is mind boggling for me. I'm stuck waiting for the phone to ring and just doing business as usual, all the while, looking out my window seeing beautiful SUNSHINE! Here in Ohio it just doesn't happen much over the last few months. We actually hit the 70's today! So I have decided to give you some pretty floral bouquets to enjoy today while we wait for the real thing to sprout!
After work I think Cooper and I need to take a LONG walk!

Painted Peony

Cooper

Did someone say Softball?

My Paintings of Cooper

I thought it would only be polite introduce you to my shadow Cooper, since I will be talking about him at times here. One of my favorite photos of him is with the book that is responsible for him coming into our lives. We had been dogless for 10 years and my daughters had been asking for a dog for awhile but neither my husband or I were willing to take on the responsibility again. Fortunately or unfortunately I picked up a book by Jon Katz called a Dogs Year. What a wonderful book! because of Mr. Katz poetic writing I was persuaded to give in and look for the perfect breed for our family. Cooper is a Redbone Coonhound. He definitely does not live the life of a coon hound! As you can see here he loves to read Mr. Katz and is very thankful to him for his rescue from such a difficult life.

find book Here