Happy Birthday ???

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Yesterday in the mail, I received this book from my only brother as a “Birthday” gift. If you don’t know anything about the book, it is described on Amazon:

“Dinesh D’Souza, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller America, is back with this darkly entertaining deconstruction of Hillary Clinton’s flawed character and ideology. From her Alinskyite past to her hopes for America’s progressive future, the presumptive Democratic nominee is revealed to be little more than a political gangster intent on controlling the nation’s wealth. D’Souza chronicles the sleazy ascent of the Clintons and makes clear what some voters have long suspected: that Hillary is far more dangerous and corrupt than Bill ever was.”

I try to stay away from politics on my blog and will continue to do that. My brother is a stupidly loyal Trump fan and definitely not a Hillary fan. At the start of the presidential campaign he sent email after email against Hillary and for Trump.  I nicely asked him to stop several times and finally just had to block his emails.  I took him off my newsfeed on Facebook, as I did not want to read his rantings of “Fake News”.

So why would someone send this as a Birthday Gift?  I have not idea, so I marked “Return to Sender” and dropped it off at the Post Office.

I am glad it is almost Fall, as it has not been a good summer for me.  I was told if I say anything more about certain family members I will be sued for slander.  I never said anything bad, just a note of what happened. The asthma attack brought on by the fires up north and a dog in the house, was not fun or the trip to Urgent Care. I discovered my neighbor is slowly trying to kill my bamboo, by cutting over thirty stalks at three feet.  I just got this lovely birthday gift and now looking into my fish tank, I think my cat ate George, one of my Betas as he is not in the tank and the Catfish bottom feeder looks quite dead.

So the summer is coming to an end.  The best part of summer was having my granddaughter here for three months. If only all this other shit hadn’t happened, it would have been the perfect summer.

Here’s to Fall.

 

Happy Birthday ???

Cinque Terre on the Italian coast

Cinque Terre on the Italian coast

After hiking up about 500 steps to the top of the hill I captured this photo view of the the beautiful town where we stayed for three days last summer.

Ah for the long and warm summer days. Fall is just cooling our evenings and crisping our mornings and I already long for the warmth of the summer sun.

Cinque Terre on the Italian coast

October Morning in Kingston, Washington

October Morning in Kingston, Washington

There are times in our lives when we wonder about our art. Should I be an artist and try to sell my art, or should I just enjoy the everyday wonders of retirement and paint and sketch when I want to do it.

Last week I painted three days with three different groups of friends and think I must have hit a plateau, as my back sent me to the chiropractor, and none of my paintings were worth sharing.

So many blogs talk about being inspired by friends and nature, but right now most of my friends are artists. we talk about doing art for the beauty of art or for the merchandization of art for the sale.

The one think in life I never want to be is a “Thomas Kincaid” of art. He started out as a fine artist, and gave up his work for the joy of making money. Where do you draw the line in art?

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Lakeside

Lakeside

Can’t you just imagine relaxing in a boat, looking back at the shore? I see a scene from “On Golden Pond” where they do not fun into the rocks, if you remember the movie. The days of Fall are very beautiful in the Pacific Northwest.

Using a Palette knife is very freeing, scraping on paint and then scraping it, moving it and just having fun with it can give you a very natural painting.

Lakeside