5 things I hate...

Shoshonah Jennings who owns Hannah Grey had a contest on her blog. You had to list 5 things you really hate. The person who "amused" her the most, would be the winner of a flat rate box full of goodies......and I won!
here's what I wrote:

Hah! only five?….. ok here are a few of my pet peeves:
1. i hate all the “menopause” “aging gracefully” and “you’re ok, you’re over 50- woohoo!” books that lie through omission. Oh, they tell you about the pot belly and the lack of sex drive and the weight gain…. but they don’t tell you about the crepy skin that shows up everywhere and gets caught in your epilator. ….or the hair issue. as in hair in odd places - bristles on your chin, long strands on your EYELIDS, course gray hair that needs to be redyed a week after you just had it done, that bald patch on the top of your head you can’t see. …and what about those pesky skin tags that turn up in the most darned places or those white spots that are the opposite of all those brown spots that take over your arms and legs and face and you are convinced they are irregular in shape and the wrong color and so you have them removed and it leaves a huge scarred hole but at my age better safe than sorry? hah! i could write a book about my “age” discoveries!
2. I hate that I think I can take an exercise class just like everyone else, and that my age is not a consideration. Like when my friend (age 57) and myself (above the age of consent - way above) signed up for an african drumming class. dress comfortable it said. yah right. Me and my pal, huffing and puffing in our sweats, having hot flashes, pouncing and dripping to the beat of 3 fabulous drummers with a drill sergeant instructor who wouldn’t let us stop for 2 hours alongside 20 something year olds in tiny tops and mini sarongs. it took 2 weeks to recover from that one. …and brings me to #3.
3. I hate it that whatever i do anymore makes me hurt , eventually. Stay in bed too long because you are being being indulgent…er i mean not feeling well, and darned if it doesn’t kill your back. Plant those sort of dried up -are-they-still-alive? tulip bulbs that have been chilling in the fridge for over a year - my butt muscles ache in places I didn’t know existed! wave to a friend across the parking lot - tennis elbow that takes 6 months to heal.
4. I hate my lack of mental clarity, menopause moments, brain farts…. whatever. you know, when you go to the sale of the century, after hours of gathering up your i can’t live without them finds and when it’s your turn finally to pay the cashier - where is that credit card? where’s my wallet? i know it’s in here somewhere? with 30 women behind you, not so humored by your dilemma. or how about standing in the bank line and noticing your shirt is on inside out and then trying to act cool like you did it on purpose? Or finding the car keys you lost a month ago in the freezer. hey my favorite was when i was half way down the street, riding my bike, in full gear - helmet, gloves, tank top,running shoes, camelback water bottle and fanny pack and i felt a bit of a chill …i’d forgotten to put on my exercise shorts and was still in my underwear.
5. i hate cockroaches. I love spiders and snakes and rats and all living creatures. except cockroaches. here in hawaii we have great big brown flying ones. I abhor them…they terrify me. really. once my husband picked up an old Quaker Oats box he’d stored some of his men’s treasures in. he was in his boxer shorts at the time. Well heck if there wasn’t a huge cockroach on the bottom of the box that was positioned perfectly to jump on his leg and run up his shorts. Good thing for him they aren’t poisonous - cuz I was long gone the moment I saw what was happening and he was on his own to defend his manhood!

New Art Work

I started several new canvasses. Jesse Reno (in the class I took) suggested one work on several pieces at once - so when you are uninspired with one, you can go to the next. Jesse also doesn't exactly plan what the artwork is to become, he just looks at it as it forms and lets it go however it wants. I worked on the original painting I did in his class....i wish i could say it was done, but i keep adding/subtracting from it. here is how it looks now:

I created 4 other backgrounds and worked very hard on one particular canvas that was red orange and yellow flames made from molding paste and tissue paper. Looking at it I decided what the shapes and colors suggested to me, and drew them in with a black marker. Then i proceeded to paint and highlight my new creation.
It sucked. I hated it. I added tar gel strings, thread for more texture, and highlighting colors. I covered up the parts didn't like and tried to turn the designs into new designs. Finally I ripped off all the texture and white gessoed over the whole thing. Yuck. I just can't free form design...i really need to draw out and plan and fuss and slave over it .....I'm obsessive about that.....I'm not good outside my box....
So I switched to jewelry making.
I finished a baby rosary for my grand niece.
It is made from AB swarovski 3mm crystals and light siam 4mm swarovski crystals, on fine silver. The center piece is a silver cherub.
I made a Black and White necklace using new beads I'd bought in LA. It turned out way cool - it has eyeball beads on it and is made with fine silver. If I ever open an etsy shop I'll save this for it. I love black and white!

Then I made some charms for the "Ties That Bind" Project.



The last one is one of my "fight tooth and nail" charms ( as in "fighting tooth and nail")
My friend Amber Dawn sent me a way cool package of rusty bezels that she had collected for me.

I traded with her for them. She has to poke under the fence of an old factory and dig them out of the mud with a stick one by one to find them. Very time consuming and a lot of work! They are really wonderful. Thank you Amber Dawn!
Here is a charm I made with one of the rusty bezels for a special friend. The vintage bee I thought was copper, but it cleans up like brass. It is set in the bezel with resin.
I bought a copy of "Wrap, Stitch Fold and Rivet" by Mary Hettmansperger - great ideas in this book - and so simple! I made these 2 copper beads. I'm still experimenting.. Next one I make I'll put rivets on it to lace thru - these two are too messy for me to use for anything, but they did open up a world of new possibilities... very organic....just what I need - more stuff to play with!

...and on another note, we have two huge mango trees at our house. The fruit is usually ready to pick early August. Since I was gone at this time, I knew I had missed out this year. But my DH had left one on the tree - and it lasted until I got home and could pick it. It will still take another week or so until it turns yellow and is ripe - I can hardly wait!

It is so very good to be home.

My last few weeks in Los Angeles...

I realized I never posted any pictures of where I was living. I was lucky to get "the blue room" in a lovely upscale home in the Hills above Culver Studios.

Mrs. T, my lovely landlady in Los Angeles, and I, at Ugo, having lunch. Mrs. T is a nutritionist and a caterer, and was a most gracious host while I stayed at her home. Often I would come home late at night to find a scrumptuous meal of veggie lasagna or home garden grown vegetable soup waiting for me. The gardens around the house were full of many vegetables and beautiful flowers.....every night around 8pm the red fox would come to be fed by Mrs. T, and for the last 2 weeks, her 2 kits came too.

Mrs. T's beautiful garden....

The view outside my bedroom window.

One weekend I went to visit my grandbaby Hana. Here's a manipulated photo I did for her - Hana as Hannah Montana.

I brought 2 cameras with me, and I gave one for hana to use and i took the other and we went off for a nature walk. Hana took the most amazing pictures! I won't show them all to you, but she caught on to using the macro lens, etc and shee took over 300 photos- her composition was terrific and her pictures were all sharp. I love the subjects she chose to shoot!
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The pig pets that live at Hana's house

...and then I was very fortunate to have a visit from Terry Ross, a fellow Diva who was in LA visiting her daughter.

Me on the left, terry on the right!

Part of the "tomb raider" set - where we filmed on my last day of work - way cool!

a "woodsman's" grave at a cemetery we filmed at last week. There were several of these at this cemetery...... I love tombstones!

I liked the stone rose on this one.