Door County Bear

Now and then we come upon somebody or something that makes that first impression hard and fast - and then continues to stay in the brain.

This is the head of a large wooden bear outside a shop in one of the wonderful towns in Door County Wisconsin. Might be Egg Harbor, might be Sister Bay, or another of the nifty places to visit on the west side of the peninsula. We were doing a short weekend in Door County and Green Bay, Wisconsin, in mid-October. (When the Packers were still reigning Super Bowl Champions, and orchards everywhere where advertising Honeycrisp Apples)

I just love this guy. He towers over all onlookers. He's carved with finesse, has more character than most wooden bears, and is on major alert. Finding him holding his ground made my day. Kudos to the carver, and the owner of him now. I still yearn to own a Black Forest bruin or two, but this dude would sure be fun to have in the backyard. I may never meet up with him again, but I'm glad he exists. Hunt him up if you get the chance to tourist your way through Door County.

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Lenten Challenge:

4 books gone - 2 sent to a friend - whether she wants them or not.

Give Up Worry: I tried - but ended up early this morning with a good-sized, unplanned panic attack. Spent a lovely time from 3:30 - 4 A.M. reading up on panic attacks online while trying to talk my head and heart back to sanity. Sigh. Give up Worry. Give up Worry. Let the bear stand guard for you tonight. On to tonight, tomorrow, and future days.

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Fare-thee-well,

Sue

The Deal With Miranda: 1/7/03

This drawing has been pinned/not pinned on my bulletin board since January 7th, 2003......

At the top it reads: The Deal With Miranda

Under the drawing it reads:

"Here's the deal," said old Miranda.

"You need pushin' & I need a job.

"I will make a list each day and

you will follow through. If your

brain puts up resistance remember

I'm a bear. A bored old bear

ready to make trouble. So if you

don't want trouble just start

workin' down my lists."

I keep forgetting the deal these days. I'll do it later today, tomorrow, next week, next year, maybe I won't do it. Whatever it is.....

This is not good for life or business. And I don't want trouble. I would like to feel well. I would like to have twice as much energy. I would like to feel up to The Task. Whine. Bitch. Moan. Yes, I realize that Miranda is not real, but I also know that she is watching and listening. And lately I have not been living up to my end of the deal.

So, on to pulling up our bootstraps, buckling on our spurs, and getting back on our perky ponies. Or maybe not. Maybe tomorrow. These slippers feel darned good right now.

No. No. Have a little lunch and get on to the finishing of the other pastel. Listen..... Miranda's growling low.....

Use what you need to get on with your day. I have a bear we can share!

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

P.S.: Lenten sacrifice/challenge: a book a day shall go away. And I have to Give Up Worrying (again).

3 Pages a Day: On to Jan. 30

Yes, I Was Beautiful Back in 2011

Greetings-

Yes, it's hard to change horses in mid-stream. No, I've never tried it, but it seems reasonable. This month I changed Challenge in early-stream, though not on purpose. The brain started out almost O.K., I did make soon Brave (for me) moves, and then Forgot to Remember The Task....

What did start in early January, and has continued steadily, has been scribbling something (3 pages) in the Marvel Superheroes journal every day. Yes, persistence in at least one area of life! Woo hoo! The writing is not brilliant, some is bitchy moany, some is Yes, I've Decided to Live. Some is the noting that, yes, a frozen tea bag will help bring down the puffiness under one's eyes - whew, some is listing of You Tube subjects that keep me semi-happy: Chuck Close interviews, Monthy Pithon stuff, Hank Williams, Dire Straits, Miles Davis, Lionel Hampton, Tim Burton inverviews, Jim Dine interviews, TED Talks, etc etc. My life is etc.-ery. that's just the way it is. And noting of the addiction to the Roz Wound Up blog.

The first meeting of our "What We Need Is Here" group is scheduled for 9 - 12 this morning. A fine group of multi-purposed folks take over a room at The Phipps Center for the Arts. Each meeting is different and usually excellent, thanks to fearless leader, Anastasia. The group has been around for four years - this will be my second as a member. We have learned to make journals, how to ask and listen, learned from experts in a variety of fields, read and discussed two books, took some field-trips, and all in all had a fine high-quality time. I feel lucky to be part of the gang.

Have the Courage to Bloom in New Ways This Year!!

I should be heading out soon, just because I like to spend a bit of time at a Hudson coffee-shop before heading to the Phipps. A few minutes sitting with coffee, paper, pen, and no pressure. And the thought that I could buy a pastry if I wanted one. This will not happen today because the typing is going along O.K. (I'm settling for lots of O.K.s in life lately, because they are better than "badly.") "If I'm not dead I'm O.K." - one of my new mottos. Now to live up to it.

These Giant Guys Perked Up Our Patio in 2011

Gardening is both a long and short time away. These photos are posted to give up Hope. There are so many kinds of plants. Some for eating. Some to simply enjoy or bring awe. This year I plan to increase plantings of sunflowers, and maybe even more basils. (Now that I can make a decent pesto. Thanks to an artist friend with a lovely pesto recipe.)

On To The Grand Adventure

So.... no, I haven't written the three pages yet today. But they will get done. Just like business stuff that is impatiently waiting. And the pastels, finished and unfinished. And February is as good a month to be Brave as any.

On to it!

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

3 Pages a Day - Keeping at It

Greetings -

Yes, I know. This month's 30 Day Challenge is Bravery. I may have to write EPIC FAIL at the end of 30 days or know that there were a few Braver Days and lots of couch time listening to never-ending chiming in right ear. Blah blah blah.

What HAS been continued, though not as real challenge, was to write three pages in a journal every day. Not in one of my "real" journals - filled with real journal stuff and all those Green Bay Packers WINS and rare but heart-breaking losses, not in any of the many sketchbooks, or The Journal of Power and Grace or the Vintage kind of art journal or the real art journal, but the Marvel Heroes Journal. Yes, since January 7, 2012 this hero-y book has been written in every day. Three pages, and today, four. Not always in the morning, as Julia Cameron would suggest, but every day. Once or twice a sketch happened to fill up space, but the pages are mainly filled with words. I didn't cheat by WRITING BIG either. It was to be a discipline rather than a challenge. To see if one could simply Continue Without Stopping. So far so good. Now if I could be Brave every day without stopping, well, wouldn't that be a "Woo Hoo!!" Crawling toward working up to baby steps?

In the front of the book are some quotes from when it was to serve a different purpose.

One by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche: The world does need your help so badly. And so on behalf of this world, I would like to invite you to come and do something about it.

Another, from ZEN MIND, BEGINNER'S MIND: In order not to leave any traces, when you do something, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire... Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes.

Time to keep preparing for the Leonard Baskin & Edward Gorey presentation for this coming Thursday night at The Bikery's Van Gogh Cafe. I will not be at my best and feistiest, but the show must go on. I sure do like good drawers and people who draw well - haha. Got to cheerlead those who used great lines and the occasional color wash to create those wonderful spaces on flat paper for us to explore. And for folks like Mr. Gorey - size didn't matter. Small is good. Baskin? Well, whatever worked.

They were artists who kept at it. Creating books, art, sculptures, theater sets, and prints.

Keep at it.

Keep at it.

Keep at it.

Good Luck!

Sue

Oven Timer Miracle Worker

Greetings -

As you may know, I am mostly self-employed. Four days a month I put on the retail smile and work at American Gothic Antiques, and that is well and good. But especially during Winter and Early Spring the motivation to do a thing or many things has got to come from The Inner Boss.

Having not punched a real Time Card since about 1980, one must create ways in which to be aware of Time and What Gets Done. Lists and the Oven Timer seem to do the trick here - most of the time.

Lists? Oh, so many through the years. In the past they were separate pieces of paper that would get lost in purse or under the table or in The Stacks of paper stuff that wasn't lists or might be a pile of lists.... Oh, the memories of tossed out backs of envelopes with pertinent info now recycled into nothingness. Oh, the finding of little pieces of paper from 1998 from which items must yet to be crossed off. No more of that - now the things that still need to be crossed off are in small notebooks of various kinds - in semi-chronoligical order. Lots crossed, some not crossed. But now, if one is brave enough to thumb back through the pages, one is immediately aware of done/not done. Decisions can be re-decided. Priorities revised. And on those Bad Days you can simply admire the many tasks checked off when you'd thought "Oh, my life has been completely wasted." No, You DID pay those bills, you did enter those art festivals, you did "enjoy the day." Gotta love those little notebooks.

I also love my Oven Timer. It times the bread. It times the muffins. Pizzas. And me. I need structure - even during good times of Flow (just keep re-setting timer). A forced fifteen minutes of "You can only work on business stuff" is short enough to not set off business nerves, but can even lead to another 15 minutes. Sometimes an hour. Woo hoo! Most of the time the timer is set for an hour. An hour is a good-sized block in an artist's life. Enough to focus on Serious Art or Serious Cleaning the Studio. At least when the timer goes off I usually know that I didn't start washing dishes, doing laundry, or cleaning the living room. Artists get turned off the artist path Really Easily. Especially when working at home. The Timer is my Boss. Then it's a good idea for We Who Do Not Remember to note the time that has been used to good stead. In our little notebook.

It's time to make a cup of tea, fry an egg, toast some home-made bread, and then pop that little external prompt. First task: figure out the order of the tasks, projects, missions, moments to relax and enjoy. Gotta find that notebook!

Fare-thee-well,

Be Braver,

Sue

Hibiscus Hooray & Public Speaking

Greetings -

Some long time ago, let's say, Summer, let's say early July, of, ummm, 2011, the camera took control and snapped way too many photos of many magnificent Hibiscus. Almost all pink, all in varying degrees of bud and bloom. The close-up lens became beguiled with line and texture. I knew there was a purpose for all the images, but as of yet I haven't thought of the one true one.

So today's liney pinky picture is put up simply because it recalls a warm day in a different state with beloved family, and also because it so reminds me of a costume that daughter, Tara, made. From real pink fabric for a real fake character who she sometimes portrays.

My 30 Day Challenge to be More Brave is not going so well. There IS almost half a month left, so there is hope. I have a presentation on Edward Gorey and Leonard Baskin scheduled for later in the month. In the olden days this would lead to solid sweating panic and fear. I used to get the occasional Failing Grade (E or F) for refusing to stand in from of a class and doing an oral book report. This was GREAT! I'd walk back to my seat after watching the teacher put the mark in the grading book, heave that old sigh of relief, and get on with the rest of the day. Now, and I truly don't know when/why, I seldom fear speaking in public. Now, if I'm on a roll, I may be even too long and loud. Who have guessed? Me? Never. Oh well. Another Life Mystery.

Speaking of speaking - a great tip learned long ago was "really know your topic." And "Use props." And "project your voice." And "have time for questions and answers." If I had my way almost all my presentations would be mostly Q and A. I want to present what people want to know. And it's fun to invite folks who might know even more about the topic to add to the discussion. We'll see how the Baskin/Gorey goes.

Anyway, a few weird health issues still persist. I hope I'm "in the pink" pretty soon. Summer is coming. Gardening books are sitting here not wanting to be ignored. The three giant "Mr. Jade" plants look longingly out to the patio. But this morning's temp would not have been to their liking. And the last bloom dropped off the tiny brave Christmas cactus. I drew two of it's blossoms in the visual journal so will recall the charm of their rich pink petals. Drawing always seems to be good for what ails ya. Perhaps focusing on something other than one's whiney wimpy self for an hour rests and relaxes the brain, as well as exercises it's ability to tell the eyes and hands what to do. That's quite the blithering paragraph, but a paragraph it is.

On to Brave. On to Pink. On to Public Speaking. On to wondering if the box elder bug crawling over my Things to Do journal would offer to help Pack Tee-shirt Order. Probably not. A box elder bug's gotta do what a box elder bug's gotta do. And we do, too.

Fare-thee-well,

Sue

Jan. 13 - Pump 13 - Friday

LUCK?

It leaves me confused.

Good leads to bad. Bad leads to good. Then there is all the simply Indifferent stuff we roam in from day to day.

May today hold the luck you would wish it to have, and if things don't happen quite that way - well, perhaps your path will lead to new and more and better.

Physics and choices seem to have more influence around here than good ol' luck.

Except when the number 4 is involved - hahahaha ha.

Must attempt accomplishing the continued sorting of the pastels. Just because.

"Take your life in your own hands and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame."

- Erica Jong

Fare-thee-well,

Sue