Phantom Whispers

Found Them!!!

Well, I was looking through the recycle bin on my computer and lo and behold there are my missing pictures. Sure glad I didn’t click on empty the recycle bin or they all be gone. While these pictures are simple recordings of the flowers in my front yard I had a couple of other pictures mixed in that I just really didn’t want to lose. So here are the missing flowers….

 

 

And if anyone knows, could you let me know what these flowers below are? My brother rescued them from a yard of a lady who passed away long ago. They flower twice a year and are hardy as all get out. I can pull a clump and throw it onto dirt elsewhere and the chances are high that it will root and grow. Got to love a plant that tough. And strange looking, too.

So go out and enjoy the heady abundance.

Oh Where Have You Been?

Oh I know I have been most tardy with writing. Sorry. Spring has wrapped me in her arms and I have been enjoying the days of sunshine and the riot of colors from our flowers. I had taken pictures to share with you all but somehow in the process of moving them from my camera to computer I lost them. I looked, believe me I looked but I couldn’t find them. Oh well, at least they weren’t the precious family pictures. And it is a very good reminder to make a back up copy of everything that matters.

So, where have I been? Well at the end of last month I was in Newport, Oregon. There I taught three days of workshops with glorious views of the coast and most of the time it was sunny. There I got to meet some lovely folks and hang out with some friends and fellow teachers. It was great fun and I got to see whales spouting in the afternoon sun off the coast. Okay, I didn’t see the whales but I saw the spouts.

On the way home from the workshops I stopped at my Dad’s house and visited with him and my sister, Kathy. Kathy and I make so much noise that Dad often turns his hearing aids down or tries to hush us. Since most of the sound is laughter we take it with a grain of salt. We figure much better laughter than tears and we know Dad feels the same too. But usually his is a quiet house with his classical music playing in the background. We can’t help ourselves. We are working on a book (a mystery that we are having great fun with but it’s going to be a while) and we were trying to squeeze in a little bit of writing before I had to leave for Virginia for Art & Soul East.

Art & Soul East was a wonderful event. I had the best time with delightful students and I got to make new friends. These retreats are the best because you don’t have to know anyone. You have friends there that you just haven’t met yet. And I get to see all my other friends as well. How can you beat that?

Really, my students we so great. The work they produced was awesome. You should have seen the books they made, the Beaded Goddess Necklaces and the Mask Pins. It truly is amazing to see what happens when folks are given much the same materials and some direction. Their voice and vision comes out in every piece and it is pretty fabulous to be part of it. And no, I don’t have any pictures of them. I get so wrapped up in the teaching that I can’t seem to take pictures but we did get to do show and tell in most of the classes.

And the last night I got to sit and chat with some lovely ladies., Bunny, Carol and Patty. We chatted about families, art, religion and politics. It was such a treat. I love these golden moments.

And now, I am back home, sucking up as much sun as I can get in,  recovering from the journeys away from home, my youngest son’s 21st birthday ( yep, the Produce Guy is of age), Mother’s day and my birthday on the same day. It’s all been pretty nice trying to get the flowers all planted. Yep, I had pictures of them but they are gone now. But I do have this picture of one our cats, Zelda, who hates having her picture taken (but shouldn’t pick the places she does if that is true).

So I leave you now, trying to get back into the rhythm of home life.

Be good and live well.