Happy Birthday to Me on Sept. 18

I have a difficult time believing that my daughters are now around  the same age I was in this picture, and that I'm now around the same age my mother was. Where did the last twenty years go? I often think that if I were offered a re-do I'd take it but then I remember the painful and challenging times and immediately let go of that thought; plus, maybe the future is more compelling.
      By now I think that everyone knows how much I love to alter photos; I do love a sketch effect.
   Yep, that's a perm; I hate fussing with my hair so a perm was the way to go. Now my hair is wavy so I still don't need to fuss with it.

In July a very dear online friend and I met in
person for the first time and on the first eventful
evening she took this photo of me. (Thanks Christina.)
Of course I had to manipulate it some. Anyway, during the day when she was in training sessions I wandered around my old stomping ground of Santa Ana and Laguna Beach. The highlight was spending an evening with Christina at the yearly Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach. The last time I'd been to the Sawdust Festival was over 30 years ago.
    
Stacy and I have been looking at photos of the furkids and this one especially amused us. They would often share the same cat bed or chair until one would edge the other one out of the space. I remember wondering when I took this photo if they'd had a spat, but they rarely had cat-fits. I wish I knew where Spencer thinks his sister is. He seems to just know and is okay about her passing; must be a lesson for us.



To quote Bryon Katie, here's to "living in harmony with the way things are," rather than believing that the best days have already happened. Let the Good Times Roll! And The Best is Yet to Come and you can quote me on that!

September storm

On Tuesday an epic record breaking storm broke up the monotony of temps around 110 degrees with endless days of sun. Can that get boring? You betcha! The drama of the storm was incredible and I enjoyed every bit of it from the moment it woke me up at 4am to 7pm when it was over. Sheets of rain, deafening thunder and bolts of lightning that struck at least 25 palm trees seemed to put us on notice; Mother Nature is having fun. At sunset the sky looked like it was on fire; no PSE needed for this photo.

The parched dusty desert looks sparkling and clean after the storm and it feels like the storm cleared cob webs out of my brain; a nice renewal all around. After months of living indoors it was cool enough yesterday to play in soil There is nothing more satisfying than doing something creative even if it involves pulling out overgrown plants and planting tiny ones that in this climate will grow like weeds.


Quote: Conversely, when an artist is making art, there is lightness to all other enterprises. Relationships sweeten. Temperaments unknot. It is uncanny, the simply joy of living that comes from putting in some time with our art. Julia Cameron, "The Sound of Paper."

MizRiley 1999-2011

Brother and sister. August, 2011. I didn't know it at the time I took this photo that our sweet girl was leaving us. Spencer, on the right, seemed to know; he started  sleeping with his arm around her.

They arrived in our lives Christmas 1999, a gift from my daughter and son-in-law. It's hard to believe that she was ever as tiny as she was in the basket. She weighed 21 pounds on Aug. 23 when she spent two nights in the animal hospital. Fast growing cancer that went undiagnosed until she lost the ability to breathe on Sept 3rd. 

Our sweet girl. Oct. 1999  - Sept. 3, 2011