“Unconditional”

irecallthepushmorethanthefall.tumblr.com – MyRipplesAndWaves – “Unconditional”

The Art of Charlie Mackesy

I’m fascinated by this artist. Charlie Mackesy does incredible drawings, as you can see in the beautiful child reading above. I went to his website to see more after finding this and I’ll be sharing more of his work with you soon.

I also found that he has written and illustrated a book! It’s called The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and the Horse. You can see details of the book, plus order it on his website or on Amazon. It reminds me fondly of Winnie the Pooh, somehow, (one of the highest compliments I can give) and I loved what I saw. I ordered it a couple of days ago, and will share some of the art with you when I get it.

Charlie Mackesy

Yvonne Visser Sculpture

Yvonne Visser Bronze Sculpture

Sad

American Psychological Association

Yesterday I received an email saying that WordPress, my blog host, had received a complaint from an artist and that they would suspend my blog if I didn’t do certain things. At least the notice did give me the information for contacting the artist who complained and the blog posts in question.

I deleted the mentioned posts, even though the work of other artists was included on them. I got scared, due to the threatening nature of the ‘notice,’ so I then deleted all of the posts in the category.

I then emailed the artist, apologizing, saying what I had done to remedy the situation, explaining that I had included all the credit information that was given via Pinterest. I said that the purpose of my blog was to find and display the beauty in our world, the incredible creativity of artists on our planet, to offset a bit of the ugliness that was happening all around us. I apologized again, asking if there was more I could do to make things right.

I have had artists correct information two or three times in the past, and I have been happy to correct anything on the blog, sending them a URL to show the correction. I feel sad that I made an artist angry. Even with the best of intentions, you can make mistakes.

Sunny, Cold Wednesday 11-30-2022

vk.com

We’re back on the roller coaster Mother Nature has set up. Yesterday it was windy and 75. Today is 36 with a high expected of 49, and sunny. No wind. I’m hoping to get outside this afternoon. We’ll see. I’m very thankful the wild weather last night bypassed us. I hope the front goes on past the east coast and dies without causing further havoc.

Lifestyle.livemint.com

Yesterday during my yoga practice (DAY 137) I could only hold the plank pose for 20 seconds without a lot of discomfort. I decided that I would do the pose multiple times, so repeated it 3 more times for a total count of 80. (I have no real idea of how long I’m holding the pose, other than counting while I hold it, so I would imagine that I’m being generous with myself, counting pretty fast.)

I wondered if holding the plank for multiple short amounts of time would be the equivalent of one longer hold. I researched the question, finding opinions vary all over the place. Some people say your goal should be to hold the pose 5 MINUTES. Since this is an impossible goal for me, I continued to research. I found –

_______________

“Search for: Are planks good for 70 year olds?

How long should a senior hold a plank?

Most experts suggest anywhere from 10 up to 30 seconds is plenty. “Focus on doing multiple sets of smaller amounts of time,” says L’Italien.Nov 13, 2019″

________________

Since I am 75, and there is no way in the world I’ll ever get to 5 MINUTES, I’ll go for this advice. If I do MULTIPLE repetitions of however long I can hold before I get really uncomfortable, I ought to be able to attain my goal of strengthening my core.

Bright Horizons

Our yard is finally starting to look as if someone cares. There is ALWAYS something more than we should or could do, but if I get the yard looking pretty civilized and the plants as protected as possible, I feel good.

Two days ago I finally got the planters on the deck cleaned out. There is still some stuff to do to prepare the deck for the winter, but the project is started.

I’m trying to tackle things of higher priority first. I’m going to put a set of loppers in the truck so that each time we come back from errands, we can stop on the way up the driveway and cut off some evergreen branches that are hanging out into the driveway. We don’t want these to be stretched across the driveway, blocking our way up and down after ice or snow storms.

I want to prune our rose bushes WAAAAAY down for the winter. I have two bushes left. Then there is one more planter that is totally overgrown, leaves to be blown from the front yard, weed trees to be cut down to open up our view in the back again …

My goals always exceed my time and energy….

Have a wonderful Wednesday.

“Well, Blow Me Down!”

Popeye.com

When we went for errands this morning, the wind was blowing strongly and pretty steadily. (We could even hear the wind blowing last night after we went up to bed and usually we don’t even hear STORMS.) It has continued to be gusty,winds blowing so strongly I felt I might blow away – and THAT’S a strong wind! – so I haven’t tried to work outside.

It looks like it MAY have calmed down, so I may get out there to cut our remaining rose bushes way down for the winter..

By the way, here’s OUR mailbox decoration of Popeye, one of our favorite cartoon characters. :0)

I hope you’re having a fun day.

The Art of Matthew Cornell 2

Open Water

Sea and Sky

Surf

Matthew Cornell Painting

Matthew Cornell – Orlando Sentinel

Matthew Cornell

Louise H. Art

Onto The Light

Out of the Darkness

Twilight

Louise H. Art

A Bit of Light

Giphy

I’ve finally lost a couple of pounds over the last few days. My scales are still smirking at me, but not so widely.

I’m fasting from dinner until lunch the next day. Typical lunches are a slice of turkey or ham, a piece of cheese, a hard-boiled egg, and some fruit. Sometimes we also eat a very small ramekin of potato salad.

Dinner is a frozen dinner or individual portions of leftovers from meals I’ve cooked, a side veggie or salad, and a roll.

steve cole images-Getty Images

My yoga practice is going well. I even forgot to give myself a glittery silver star on my desk calendar for yesterday until this morning. (I’m on DAY 137 of daily yoga practice, but I’m getting to the point I almost don’t need to keep track anymore. Yesterday, since my back was sore from working outside, I held the plank pose four times at a count of 15 each. I don’t know if that’s equivalent to one longer session, but I do what I can do each day and don’t worry about it.

123RF.com

I also worked in the yard, and that gave me more exercise for the day. I finally got the deck planters cleaned out for the winter. Since we have 8 or so planters out there, that was a good amount of work for the day. Today I plan to cut the rose bushes way back. I’m not sure what else I’ll do, but the weather will be 75 and quite breezy with lots of sun this afternoon.

We’ll leave for errands in a couple of minutes. We have our Christmas mailbox decoration in the back of the truck, ready for us to put it up as we leave. On the way back, we’ll put our trash can in the back to drive it back up.

Have a wonderful day.

Impossible

Louise Jarvis Sculpture 2

Louise Jarvis Art

The Art of Matthew Cornell

Bonfire

Continuum

LouisvilleKY

Midnight at the Cabin

Matthew Cornell

Here’s a Hug

One Green Planet

I thought we might share one.

The Story So Far…

Thesaurus.com

Aaron Blaise Art 3

Aaron Blaise

Fog and Sun on a Monday 11-28-2022

“Foggy Morning Sun Rise” – photo by Warren Birge – FineArtAmerica.com

Fog lay like ribbons between the ridge lines when I looked out the window while dressing this morning. Surreal. Magical. It’s supposed to get WARM this afternoon – 65 degrees F. – and I should be able to get some things done outside. :0)

Yesterday was a lazy day for me, since the weather was yucky. About the only thing I did of any note was my yoga session and holding the plank pose for a quick count of 45. Today we have several errands, plus laundry, gathering and putting out the trash – all kinds of exciting stuff. As I rest between chores, I’ll enjoy more of my book.

Nice way to spend a Monday. I hope yours is good, too.

Managing Holiday Weight

Tee Public

Dani Ives’ “Wool Painting” 7

Dani Ives, Fiber Artist

Mykonos Pebble and Sea Glass Art

MykonosArtGR

Aaron Blaise Art 2

Aaron Blaise

Hopefully Restful Sunday

cutnessoverload-cuteness.com

We had a challenging day here yesterday, so I’m hoping for a calm day today. The weather is still rainy and gray, encouraging quiet activities and maybe even a nap!

solorganix.com

I had a nice session of yoga yesterday (DAY 134) and I could FEEL some improvement in my ability to stretch into some of my poses. I decided to do my plank pose with 3 attempts, trying to hold each one as long as possible, since I had sore muscles and couldn’t hold for the quick-count-of-45 yesterday. It makes sense to me that several sessions holding the pose should be good for building strength, too.

Giphy

One Thanksgiving meal and the next day Turkey sandwiches meal have done their worst. Yesterday I got-back-on-the-horse of trying to eat right. Hopefully, the scales will start to notice a difference by the end of next week. Loss to Date: 23 pounds and 26 inches since my heaviest.

Hopefully, this will be a nice day for all of us.

Priceless

Quotespedia.org

Louise Jarvis Sculpture

Louise Jarvis Art

“Lovers and Dreamers”

I’m in the middle of a wonderful trilogy by Nora Roberts called, Lovers and Dreamers. The trilogy includes Daring To Dream, Holding the Dream, and Finding the Dream. Three women who were raised together, though one is the daughter of the housekeeper, and one was adopted as a child when her parents died, all have dreams that are quite difficult to achieve. It’s wonderful to see how they challenge each other, support each other, and love each other in their quests. Of course, they each find intriguing men they can’t resist. :0)

Terrific huge trilogy in one book for escape from whatever is bothering you. In reading about these three women, you are encouraged to have your own dreams, as well.

The Art of Aaron Blaise

Old Lady of Nepal

Matriarch

Macaque

Calling for Her Mate

Aaron Blaise

Rainy Saturday – 11-26-2022

Daily Express

It’s quite dark outside this morning with Mother Nature preparing to rain on us in a most-of-the-day event. It isn’t particularly cold, though, which is nice. I’m thinking that if she is cooperative today, I’ll try to clean out the planters on the deck. If the rain is TOO hard, or is blowing, I’ll have to put it off until tomorrow.

Katz’s Delicatessen

We had MY favorite Thanksgiving dinner last night – turkey sandwiches. We still have a bit of turkey left over to eat with a couple of lunches, but the main splurge of the holiday is gone now.

UAB Medical West

Our son, and a friend and his wife did a big extra for Thanksgiving this year. They thought the Thai people might enjoy experiencing an American Thanksgiving dinner, and so served plates to people. Our son said they all had a wonderful time.

I’m not really sure what the day will bring. We don’t have any have-to’s today, and for that I’m grateful. I’m in the middle of a good book, and I don’t have to cook a lot today, so I’m a happy camper.

I hope that you are able to stay warm, dry, and happy today, too. :0)

Oh, NOOOO!

istockphoto-OlgaIgnatova-GettyImages

I have had a scary couple of hours.

I tried to find out how Benjamin Hall, the Fox News reporter who was so badly injured about six months ago, was. I clicked on an article that said he had come to a Fox News meeting recently. There was a box that said, click “continue” if you wanted to see the video. I clicked on it, and then another and suddenly there was a huge box on my computer screen saying I didn’t have access to my computer and needed to call Microsoft Support with their phone number for a tech to help me. The screen said not to turn off my computer or try to reboot.

I’ve never had this happen before and it really scared me. I didn’t see anything else to do, so I called the number. I started talking to a tech and noticed it was time for lunch. I took the phone into the kitchen and told my husband what had happened and who I was talking to. He followed me back into the office and told me he wanted me to hang up. I did. He wanted me to call a support group for which he had paid to help us with problems.

We decided to eat lunch, ME try to calm down, and then I would call the other group back.

When I returned to the office, the Microsoft screens were gone from my computer screens and all looked normal. I rebooted, and then talked to my husband again. He still wanted me to talk to the support group he trusts. I did.

The tech cleared all of the background advertising off, and the notifications and looked around at things. He thinks everything is clear now.

I had to reboot again to make some enable some of the changes to finish from our session, but all seems to be working as usual now. I’m still not sure what happened, but my husband admitted that he has had the same type of problems before because he went to an article thinking he knew the source, but it turned out the place he clicked on had changed the spelling of the website and were malicious. I will try to be more aware in the future.

Our son has been upset with my husband for years because he insists on having a video of singing and dancing Corona Beer bottles dancing on his computer. My husband and I agree that if you can’t have ‘dancing beer bottles’ (or the equivalent) life isn’t worth living.

These Are Special

Lesley Anne Greene-veniceclayartists.com

Simon Griffiths

Yvonne Visser

Valerie Davide Drawings 4

Valerie Davide

Two Watercolors I Like

allposters.com

Konstantin Kacev

Getting It Together?

House Beautiful

I just read an article saying that we had better get our act together on shipping Christmas presents this year if we want to be sure they get there on time, and the deadlines are earlier than usual. The list of deadlines and kinds of shipping is long, but suffice to say I’ll be trying to have my stuff in the mail before mid-December.

I know that ‘time passing more quickly than it used to’ is one sign of aging, but this is INSULTING!