Getting Things Done, and I'm Stopping My Blog

While I was on vacation, I got an email from my solar power company  that my usage was not being registered on the system.  I said I was on vacation and when I'd be back.  They called Monday and they guided me through everything I needed to do.  They called on Tuesday and said it didn't work and she gave me different directions. Then they called me Wednesday to let me know it has been booted to a higher level person.   Someone will come in 3 weeks to see if they can reset it. 

I have a friend, Annemarie, whom I haven't seen in several months.  She called sharing her plan to move out of state to be near her son, his wife and a new granddaughter.  She is a psychologist who is burned out doing what she does.  She has put her home up for sale and has had two offers, but not to her liking.  She has already purchased a fixer upper where she is moving.   I had been so impressed with what she had done with her home here which was also a fixer upper, that I think she can do wonders with her new home.  So she is scared.  I think that is understandable, but she does have a plan and is willing to live off less.  Besides, she could come back and get another job here if it doesn't work out.   I have made very big moves not having a complete plan, and it has worked out.  I agree with making a move when you aren't liking what is going on.   She'll survive it and probably do very well!

Barbara, the one I went with on our road trip called to see whether I wanted to accompany her to buy winter plants for each of our vegetable gardens.  It was inexpensive. We split on a couple of the six packs and planned to return later this week to check out other plants that were brought in.  Another day, we went to see Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  It was okay.  I preferred the book by far.

Barbara tallied the money spent on our trip which came out fairly even. We settled up and I was impressed at how close we were. 

We had our Red Hat dinner Wednesday night at Uricchio's.   Their food is quite good. There were six of us, much smaller group than usual.  Shelley could not be there. I think it is Shelley who has gotten us into taking pictures again.   I just plain forgot.  Our leader Evelyn works in a hospital, as supervisor of the pharmacy next door to the Emergency Room.    The staff were trying to save an officer shot in the face.   So staff were also dealing with a traumatic death at the hospital where she works.  We had been hearing about it since it happened on the news. I wasn't even thinking about Evelyn being there, since it was in Lancaster, but that is where she works.  Evelyn said there were about two hundred officers lining the hallway in which his body would be transported out.  It was very emotional for her, the staff and of course all the officers.  It's a long drive for Evelyn to come to our meetings, but she was particularly drained with this.  She will be retiring in early January.   

When I went for chemotherapy, my nurse said the coloring books and colored pencils are a real hit.  She said a young mother comes with her three year old and while the three year old is using her coloring book, mom is using hers. I really am glad it is helping people.  

Janet and I got together after not seeing her for three weeks. I picked up some owl themed items on my trip which I gave to her.  She gave me a cute box of Belgium chocolates made into little pumpkins. We shared a plate of chicken wings when I felt one of the veneers on a front tooth come off.   It wasn't painful.  I called the dentist and got in the next morning. Since it was close to the next dental appointment, I had a full visit.  After X-rays and checking my teeth, he found I had a cavity under the veneer next to where it had fallen off. So I had a temporary crown put on it and the veneer glued back. That was a costly visit! It is sensitive, because it is not completely sealed.  I look forward to the permanent one in two weeks. 

On the same day, I got my organic vegetables and fruits from Hopeful Harvest, plus wines from Fermentations and a box from Blue Apron which had three dinners for two.  One of my sisters is using it and had recommended it to me.  I went to Kaiser to pick up my prescriptions.  They had a sign up to get your flu shot, so I took care of that too.  When I finished that, I started fading fast.  I tried to keep going, but it wasn't in the cards. I crawled in bed to read before sleep overtook me. 

Shelley's a wonderful grandmother.  Bentley is getting lots of love!

Shelley with Grandson Bentley

I told you how Daisy empties my drawers. She did it while I was gone and she continues to do it.  It does not make sense to put it back in the drawer just to have her remove it again!

Daisy Can Do This All Day Long!

I found this on Facebook.  It was touching to me and I thought others might identify with it. Christopher Walken shares what it is like to lose a loved one:

Christopher Walken Shares What It is Like to Lose a Loved One

I am stopping my blog. I don't know if I will pick it back up or not. I'm fine, it is just that I would like to do other things.  I hope you are well and I wish you the best.   Rachel

Doing New Projects

When I visited my friends Marykay and Mike, there was a birdbath outside their backyard window. Their backyard is a haven for small critters including squirrels.  The squirrels enjoy the birdbath to quench their thirst. Marykay and I both enjoy watching them.  When Marykay is on walks, she picks up acorns to leave out for the squirrels. Mike then stated that he sees them as rats with furry takes. My husband Paul did not have kind words for squirrels either. I always was taking pictures of them. He finally got me a squirrel statue to look at through my back window. It broke and I think I'll get another so I can see one in my yard. 

Years ago soon after I adopted my daughter Ronda, we went camping with an adoption group we belonged to.   I had a package of Stella Doro cookies opened on one end on the picnic table at our camp ground. Most people were away from the site and no one was at the table. I noticed a squirrel go up to the package of cookies and gently pull one cookie out and then head to the tree line. When I looked back, there was another squirrel doing the same thing then also going to the tree line and then another one. I looked where they were coming from and there was a line of squirrels each waiting patiently it's turn, not moving forward until the last one had left the table. I was fascinated with this behavior. That incident increased my interest in them. 

An attempt at drawing a squirrel.  I'll do a better one next week

Our Red Hat group was much smaller this month. However, we still enjoyed each other's time together. Catching up is good.  When I was looking at us, I have this sense I'm shrinking.  Maybe it is the angle of the pictures.

Evelyn, our Queen, Judie and Pamela

Claudia and Me

Our Small Group this Month, Left to right,
Claudia, Me, Evelyn, Judie and Pamela

I got a notice urging people to go to the Board of Supervisors meeting to attempt to stop them in putting control of our county library in the hands of a private corporation from out of state. . Our libraries have been woefully supported for years, to such an extent that hours have lessened drastically, they buy few books and they have few librarians. Our county is rated poorly in reading ability.  Many are illiterate. The library is very important to encourage reading and to supply the reading material. We are requesting an 1/8 percent dedicated increase for our library system. The majority of people support a dedicated tax because without it being dedicated, it gets pulled to cover shorts in other areas. We are requesting this be put on the June ballot.  We'll see what happens. 

This is a nice picture of Bakersfield looking over a vineyard before it starts greening up. I got it on Facebook. I think that Mary Wardell may have taken the picture, at least it was on her Facebook site. Beautiful!

Vineyard in Bakersfield  by Mary Wardell

 Here are pictures of two my great grandchildren. 

Nylah has character!

Nylah is pretty when she sleeps too!

Kason is one happy child!

So I have a couple of projects I have taken on. One is reading the Qur'an, The Bible and the Talmud. Fascinating!  I finished the the Qur'an and about a quarter of the way through the bible. Though the Old Testament is a part of the bible, I want to see if the Talmud is different. 

The other project is the development of a family tree. My friend Mike is the one who started this and has done an amazing job. My cousin Barrie gave me the name and email of a second cousin Simy. She has responded with great detail.  Now it is my turn to give her information. I'm hoping I can get some dates to correspond to the people she listed. I also need to give her pictures. I have a lot of research to do. 

I hope your week has gone well. What I'm doing is very different from what I've done. I'm enjoying it. I hope this next week is good for you and I'll see you next Sunday.          

Rachel

Breaking Out of the Fog - My Friend Janet is Coming Around

I worked on the head of a horse.  The same one as last week, but I think this one is better.  When I was visiting my step-mom Kate who is an artist, made some recommendations and copied some pages to help me in the sketching.  It helped.  My teacher Carol had surgery and is getting physical therapy.  She is communicating with us by email and wants to hear of our progress until she gets back in mid March.  I'll send her this.

My horse improved!

Barbara, Janet and I went to a wonderful concert put on by the Bakersfield Concert Association. The group was the Valinor Quartet. There was another violinist this group knew who was in Bakersfield. They asked him to join in with some of the pieces.   This was all instrumental, no singing.  Excellent!  They were an international group which brought the music of their regions to this concert. Their site describes their playing as a unique hybrid of jazz and classical.   These pictures are from their site.  A wonderful group!

While Janet and I went out for dinner, she told me she was thinking about tutoring children in reading. She said "I don't know what happened, but it is like a fog has been lifting."  Her husband Ron died almost four years ago. "I'm bored".  This is good news to hear. She has not been willing to do much, but this year she is going out with Barb and me to the Bakersfield Concert Series which we include going out to eat.   We also went to a concert she had invited me to at Bakersfield College put on by the choir her granddaughter was singing in.   I have also invited her to join my Red Hat group and she finally has agreed to do that and will go to our next one at the Woolgrowers.  She is gradually coming around. She thinks this volunteering to teach children to read  is a commitment of one day a week.  So gradually she is filling her calendar with activities she likes, or at least wants to find out if it is a good match for her.  She also got me a Gwee Gym like she got herself. She is trying to be more active (though she does walk) and is encouraging me to do the same.  It is simple and portable. 

I remember when I was in that fog. When you are in it, it is about impossible seeing yourself feeling better.  It is an experience that someone telling you that you will feel better does not work. We need that time to grieve and each of us are on different timetables. 

There is this wonderful site where a woman reads some great books, shares from them and gives her input.  The site is Brainpickings.org  

When Breath Becomes Air: A Young Neurosurgeon Examines the Meaning of Life as He Faces His Death

The book is by Paul Kalanithi who died in 2013.    The woman who writes Brainpickings.org does a wonderful job of reviewing books.  She does many.  Anyway, I have downloaded this book to my Kindle and I am anxious to read it.  The problem is that I have three books I am in the process of reading and I think I should just wait a bit to give more of my time to this.  Though you can read her material at Brainpickings.org, she would really appreciate a donation, if you are able to.  I say she provides a wonderful service in what she does and she is well worth it.  Tapping on the title above will take you directly to her article.  She also recommends other reading if you liked this book.

Barbara and I went to see  Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the theater at Valley Plaza. They have one theater converted to an IMAX screen and we also received glasses for a 3D movie. The special affects were awesome. It felt like we were in the middle of the scene. Though it isn't the sort of movie I was interested in, I can appreciate all the work that went into making it. 

Afterwards we went for dinner at the Great Castle.  A while back, I had lunch with my friend Vic here which was not up to their standards. Vic made it clear he never wanted to eat there again. Well, I'm glad I returned, because our dinner was excellent and reasonably priced.  I don't believe I would do lunch again though.

My granddaughter Crystal posted more pictures of my great-granddaughter Nylah. She is so cute!

Crystal and Nylah

Crystal and Nylah

Nylah with her Eyes Open!

My great-grandsons Conner and Kason look great. Both are growing like weeds!  They are so obviously well loved.  Their expressions are playful and happy.

Conner

Kason

Kason

Conner

Conner and Kason

I feel so fortunate for the family I have.  It makes it easier to deal with difficult issues when they come up.
So that is it for the week.  All is well here.  I rested a lot.  I don't know if I can bank it or not.  I have some activities happening in the near future.  It would be nice if the rest I had helped for that.  We will see.  I also know that if I take breaks between events, I do a whole lot better.

I hope your week end well and I will see you next Sunday.                          Rachel

A Needed Slower Week, But I'm Okay

Our Red Hat Dinner was in the Belvedere Room at the Padre Hotel. I enjoy the food here. My daughter Shelley found a pink coat that matches her hat. She looked so nice. They have a couple of chairs in the lobby that remind me of Alice in Wonderland because of the exaggerated lengths of the backs of these chairs. So fun!  We had to get a picture using one.  I had found this most unusual Red Hat at an antique store.  It doesn't show in this picture of Evelyn, but there is a doll on top of the hat.  It has some weight to it and you would have to be careful how you move for the hat not to fall off.  It was perfect for Evelyn as the queen of our group.  She want to pick the right venue to wear it.  She thinks it  would look great, and I agree on a Red Hat cruise. At our dinner, discussed going to another painting class, probably in March- a celebration of spring.  We had so much fun with the last painting class which included wine that we want to keep this up.  I think that I'll also do this with Shelley and her daughter Heather at another art session where she could go since she is not 21 years old yet.

Our Red Hat Group

Evelyn, our Queen, trying on the hat I got her

Pamela, Me and Shelley on the Alice In Wonderland chair,

Janet and I met at Sandrini's, a Basque/Italian fusion restaurant. The have excellent pickled tongue, a specialty at Basque Restaurants.  It just was pleasant talking with Janet.

I went to stay with Kate, my stepmom on Friday and I got back home Sunday around 1:30.   On Friday night, we went to an Italian restaurant we had not been before.  A friend of hers said they had a happy hour with good appetizers to buy.  They did have a good appetizer, but you had to sit in the bar to get the happy hour.  So we sat in the bar.  I liked what I had which was a pasta dish with mushrooms and garlic.  Kate got a pizza, but she thought see ordered a vegetarian pizza, but this had pepperoni sausage on it which isn't her desire.  So she ate very little.  I ate them the next day for lunch.  While there we went to the art store Swain's in Glendale.  We went during a very good sale on paper and other art supplies.  A little later we went to see a movie called 45 Years.  It was a somewhat sad movie about a couple planning a celebration of their 45th wedding anniversary when the husband gets a letter about his first love's body being found in the Swiss Alps.    He had been with her, but because of the snow melting, her body was seen in the ice.  He gets emotional about this and his wife starts to feel that their marriage might have been a sham.  Actually, I thought that might have been the  case.  I wanted to read up on the movie to see if that was what it was. So the audience was filled with older people who age wise could have fit the profile.   Then we went to a Pakistani restaurant for dinner.  Very tasty.  It was too much food.  Next time I won't get a side dish of vegetables, because the main dish had lots of spinach.

On Sunday I picked Kate's brain for her ideas on sketching animals.  She is an artist who has primarily done botanical art.  She pulled out a sketch book showing me how with time her sketches improved.  They did.  She was urging me to keep a sketch book on me to do the same thing.    She recommended I use my cats as subjects.  Kate is a docent at the Los Angeles County Zoo and used the animals there for her sketching.  I also showed her the head of a horse I had done.  She had a few suggestions, but felt it was fairly good.  I will incorporate the suggestions she made in my next drawing.  So this week I did nothing in art, so nothing to show.   I will next week.

Crystal posted a couple of pictures of Nylah, my great granddaughter.

Nylah is really darling!

She is already changing some.

This week I came upon two car accidents before emergency personnel arrived.  One was earlier in the week.  A car was flipped over on it's hood very soon after I got on the freeway.  I think they got out okay because both doors were open.  I could hear the ambulance trying to get in driving on the shoulder of the freeway.  Heading home today, I ran into another one just after getting on the freeway again.  The air bags were deployed.  I have never seen that before.  A younger man was helping an alderman get to the shoulder of the freeway.  I didn't hear any sirens, and parts of the pickup truck were strewn across the road.  I never did hear a siren for that accident.

I feel okay.  I just did a lot less this week.   Down time is needed and I'm taking it.   I hope your week went well and I will see you next Sunday.                 Rachel

Photographs, Art and Plants for the Soul

So Mike Dunbar showed this gorgeous picture that he took. I had said on another picture that it looked like a painting. It seemed that this was not acceptable to him then, and yet I thought it was beautiful. Now he does it again and this is gorgeous!  I said I didn't mean to insult him that it looked  like a painting, but there seemed to be something very sensual to what I was looking at. 

Then Mike said:   +Rachel Jerdin ERM, I didn't do anything! (Except go out walking at 5am, mad.) I just turned up and it was there.

ME:   I'm impressed you are out walking that early!  Most of the time I'm still sleeping!  So getting up early would be one thing necessary to get a shot like that!  You live in a beautiful area that is very green!  Now there are lovely places here too, not in the same way, but nature is sooo special. So your setting is really nice!  You must have a wonderful camera. It is more likely to capture what you are looking at. You have a special education with the photography, and, perhaps other subjects that adds to your repertoire of knowledge to draw on like Joe McNally.  And, in addition to that knowledge, You have excellent skills. So maybe it wasn't so obvious to you, but your sub-conscience knows and draws on that. Your personality would also be a factor in what you like. And, then there is luck and timing!  Lots of things go into this picture that you don't give yourself credit in finding and sharing it from your perspective!  I love your work and obviously many other people do too!  You need more exposure. I'm positive other people would love it too!  His commercial site is Mike Dunbar Commercial Photography-  mikedunbar.co.uk.  See his other work.  He is is Scotland, so he has some beautiful areas all around him.

So here is his gorgeous picture which is a photograph!

Gillahill Wood in Scotland by Mike Dunbar

..................

So at my art class with Carol Bradshaw we focused on doing feathers on a parrot and an owl. She talked about shading and getting more of this to fill in the contour of my drawing. She made a point (which she has told me multiple times- "you must get the hair going in the right direction, otherwise it isn't believable."  So the classmate I did have, Wayne, called Carol to find out when we were doing owls. I got excited because I thought he would be back.  He is so talented and I just enjoy him. Well, he didn't show up, but I am hoping he will return.  It makes for a better class because of our interaction.  I had drawn a feather Carol gave me as a model and did a pretty good job. I couldn't return them because my cats killed these feathers. I will work more on the parrot and I picked an owl walking very determinedly.  I did a chicken once with a similar pose.

Parrot was Redone

Owl Ready to Lift Off

I went to the Helping One Woman dinner honoring Debbie Cramlet She had a lot of family members and friends there. She is a very nurturing person to family, friends and community. She owned Deb's Deli in Hanford.   She was diagnosed with appendiceal cancer in 2011 and gets her treatment in Houston, Texas.   That is a long trip!  It went into remission, but came back this March.

Debbie with her daughter Brittany

I stay with Martha when I come here for the Helping One Woman dinner.  We went to a Mexican restaurant called Super Taco for breakfast in Woodlake.  They had a type of Quesadilla for breakfast.  It was okay, but I didn't think it was that great.  I took some of it home and when I heated it for a minute in the microwave, what a difference!  Now that was delicious.  I wonder if they just forgot to do this before giving it to me.  Then we checked out the botanical garden, Bravo Lake Botanical Garden.   started by a couple who live in this town.  Wow!  Now that was special. Most of the signage identifying the plants was torn down. They have to find a way to protect this area. You are allowed to taste the edible plants, but you are not allowed to take them out of the garden.   What a lovely walk that was!    The man, Manuel with his wife started this.  Manuel Jimenez was there so we were able to talk to him about this.  They have a dinner fundraiser in October.  He recommended coming in Spring when there is so much more blooming.  So they have very little money but they do have a fair amount of volunteers.

The Entrance

Martha Getting a Closeup

Martha Catching Up to Me

A Sunflower Going to Seed

Hanging Grapes over an Archway

Colorful Flowers (No sign!)

More Colorful Flowers (No Sign!)

Pumpkin and Gourds

Martha has a cactus plant called a Prickly Pear in her yard that produces a fruit. She had never tried it, but I did. It was mildly sweet and very juicy. The only problem I had is I got stickers in my lip and hands. Now I know where the name came from. It took several days for them to come out on their own.  I think I should wear heavy gloves next time and peal it with a vegetable peeler!

Prickly Cactus Pear

  The other thing Martha showed me was a watering system with clay pots buried in the soil up to the neck.  Her daughter gave it to her.  She had a group of flowers there which were thriving well. You pour the water in the top and depending on the time of year, you only need to water every five to ten days. I like this for vacation.  Here's the site if you are interested. I ordered several. 

GrowOya.com    Also, the original name for this is Olla.  So, if you want to do a search for it elsewhere,  feel free.

GrowOya.com

. 

My friend Vic and I met at a Korean restaurant in Bakersfield called Tofu House. It has much more than that and the food is delicious. We went over a chapter of the book he is writing. I only had minor suggestions on this, but it was a great discussion.  When I got home, I felt very sleepy and fell asleep.  I slept from around 1:30 to 11 pm.  Then went to bed around 2am until 6 am.  I saw my Oncologist Dr. Tun before my chemotherapy. I told him about this and he said he has this reaction from Asian food that had MSG making him very sleepy.  He thinks the sauces have lots of MSG in it. When I have Asian food at night, I just think I'm normally tired. So for the last few weeks I slowed down dramatically intentionally.   Dr. Tun said my level on the MUGA scan was very good at 74%. The time before it was 60%.  He thought of stopping the Herceptin, but he said the cancer came back after he stopped it before. I told him I'd like to continue until symptoms were continuous. Then I'd be open to stopping it.   I thought my body was telling me to rest so I did a lot less the last three weeks. Now I will think about the food I eat to determine if there is a connection with MSG and sleeping. 

I am getting on my stationary bicycle for 10 minutes per day and will increase this in the near future. I am still juicing also, but now two to three times per week. 

Janet and I met at our old haunt, Mexicali's.  We are struck by the choices younger people make compared to what we would wear. We have had this waitress serve us quite a while. She was wearing heavy black frames on glasses she was wearing. If it were us, we would attempt to use contact lenses and if we needed glasses (I do), we would wear frames that would be less noticeable. However, she is so pretty, she could wear anything and look great.

Well, that is it, for the week.  I hope your week was a good one for you.  I'll see you next Sunday!
Rachel

Interactions with Artists on Google+

So I look at the posts on this art site on Google+.  I really am fascinated with people's styles and talent. So one person responded to what I said:  

Thank you, Rachel. Are you an artist also?

ME:  A beginner.  I have taken drawing and water color classes for almost two years. I didn't even have a clue to do anything before this. I wasn't even a kindergarten level then. So I'm excited about it all now. 

+Rachel Jerdin I don't know why I asked you that. I don't ask that and never have asked anyone else. There must have been a reason. This illustrates the very idea that art is not planned or known about before it appears. Just like my asking you about your art, I don't know you and did not plan to do that.

So, if you can take a tip from one who has been fooling around with art since 1963, interrupted by a number of other disciplines like computer programming and fighting authorities that don't obey their own law, you should stop taking classes immediately. I have never had a single class. That would have killed my own creativity by instilling ideas from some teacher. I am not an art teacher, because I cannot tell anyone how to paint or create. All I can do is tell them how NOT to do it.

The danger for you is copying others and then copying your own work. Each piece has to spring forth anew, not be a copy. Therefore, if you stop doing what you have been doing and just paint, let it all hang out, you will find your creativity invigorated by each work you complete. It gets in your blood and like a junkie you have to let the next one out.

Please take my words in the way I intended them, not to preach to you but only to give you the benefit of many years of art and other things have taught me. It is never to late to begin to be your own creative self.

ME:  I appreciate your comments. I'm not willing to part from my teacher yet!  I have found her to be soooo encouraging and supportive. Periodically she will stare open mouthed at what I do, seeming at shock at what I have done. She recognizes my style as very different from hers and doesn't push me into her style, so I'm okay with it so far. And believe me, what I could do May 2013 and I what I can do now are night and day. I'm not looking at your work to copy it. I'm fascinated with art. My step-mother (she's an artist) and I go to art museums when we get together. I look at people's work and try to figure out how they did what they did.  So thanks for sharing your art and thoughts about it. I really appreciate it!"

.......

There is another person, Mike Dunbar who is a fabulous photographer. He has a real knack with lighting. So far I have not seen anyone accomplish what he has done, especially with his Still Life. Just fantastic. And now he is branching out doing buildings and landscapes. So nice. Well I sounded like a broken record saying "Wow!  The lighting is spectacular!"  Then he suggested I read Joe McNally's book THE MOMENT IT CLICKS, who's work is about the lighting in photography. He is a magazine photographer. Great information. I finally noted on Mike Dunbar's site he has written "It's the lighting."  I'm so observant!

I have learned from looking at what they share and I really appreciate it. 

..............

I had another MUGA scan (it checks the pressure of blood being pumped through the heart) this week. The technician is one I had in the beginning and he noticed that I've had a lot of these tests. I told him it is easier to do all this since I retired. He asked what I do with my time and I told him I have had art classes in drawing and watercolor. In the end he said, "bring a couple of pieces next time you come, I'm interested."   So I will.  I keep hearing people say "I can't do that."  And I remember saying that. That is why I will show it. They can do it.  Whether they make a profession or hobby of it, it's okay. I think our brains develop better when including the arts. We deal with issues better,  it adds to our insight into what we and I think it might help in problem solving.  We need more of this!

I met with my friend Janet at our old haunt Mexicali's.   We talk about so much. It is our weekly catch-up. I think it is good for both of us. 

It my art class, a woman, Linda joined us.  She has been with us a few times before.  I showed my work to Carol who had given me good feedback on ways to improve it.  So I have redone it.  I know I have a ways to go, but I remind myself where I have been, and when compared to that, it is WOW!  So I think my drawing is a lot better.  When any of Carol's students doubt their improvement, she gets them to bring their earlier work, and that does it.  They stay with it.   I don't really care for the watercolor of the parrot, but I'm showing you it.  I also will do another painting of the parrot.  Next subject in class is to do a drawing and then a painting of an owl.

Drawing of Parrot by Rachel

Watercolor of Parrot by Rachel

Today, my friend Barbara and I are going to go see Ricki and the Flash.  Both of us like Meryl Streep.  Then we are going for Chinese food.  We like the Great Castle, so that is probably the place we will go.  I haven't seen her in maybe a month.  She has been in Utah part of the time at a conference doing research on family trees.  Her mother had done it for years and she has continued it.  I look forward to hearing how it went.

Another blogger, Doreen Tapper shares her thought one year after she was diagnosed about her fears and the value of her supporters. 

http://doreentapper.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-year-has-passed.html?m=1

So that is it for the week.  So hot these days (it's that time of year), it isn't pleasant to go outside.  So I'm doing things in the house.  I hope your week went well and I will see you next Sunday.

High School Classmates Found

This has been an even slower week, but I think I've really needed it. 

A few months ago, a high school friend Linda Hufano got ahold of me through Classmates.com. We had a wonderful talk and she gave me the phone number of another high school classmate Barbara Wessels.  Well, I called Barbara and we talked a long time. It was wonderful catching up. We are going to visit each other in the near future. I'll take a bus down to see her. These blasts from the past have all been so good.  There is another I hope to see and that is Toni Kimberling.  Linda is coordinating a date around Christmas for the four of us to meet.  I can't express well enough how excited I am about this!  I feel like a little kid and I want to jump up and down with excitement! These people were very important to me at that time, especially Barbara.  I spent a lot of time with her.  I don't know why we ended up just going our own ways.    So I went through our yearbook at copied some pictures, including one when I played in the dance band in high school.  We were called The Naturals.

Starting upper left is Linda, then Toni, then Barbara.
I'm at the bottom, and I look way too intellectual!

So I was in the Dance Band playing the Bass.  I loved it.  This is in my senior year 1967
I used to think I was fat!  That disturbs me, because I do seem to get bigger each year and
I wish that I didn't have that mentality about weight.  Such a bad place for girls and women to get into!
I was majoring in music through my junior year of college and then decided on Social Work.  I had
a lot of catching up so I did six years of undergraduate schooling to get my degree.

At my class with Carol the issues she pointed out in my pictures were to keep the lines going in the same direction and be aware of where the lines would reasonably come from and go- this was relating to the pistil and stamens in the flower.  So I did work on the drawing.  She also felt I needed more layers of color on my daylily. This week we are drawing a parrot. I did a parrot a long time ago so this is a different one.  I'm not ready to show it yet, but I will have the drawing done for class and next week, I should have the drawing and painting done of the Parrot.

This is my most recent attempt to do what Carol  recommended on the drawing of the daylily. 

My Drawing of a Daylily Corrected

More work on the painting of the Daylily.  It needs more layers both in the flower
and the black background.  I also need to remove the mask on the Pistil and Stamens.

Janet and I went to dinner Saturday night since she got back later from the coast where she was playing in a woman's golf tournament. This time we went to The Red Pepper on my side of town. They have excellent food. We were talking about it when we were at Mexicali's last week. They are very creative and do an excellent job with sea food.  Her trip went well - the weather was mild, she had a opportunity to spend a lot of time with a particular friend. I'm happy it went so well. I also shared with her making contact with a my high school friends.  I had scanned some pictures I found in our senior yearbook. I loved sharing this with Janet. 

All the females on the Jerdin side of the family have been texting each other to plan for the next Jerdin child to enter the family. My Granddaughter Crystal is going to have a girl. It is amazing all the details everyone is bringing up. The excitement is high.  They think they are doing it in October in a park because they think it will be a very large group.  This is very doable because weather is usually very mild at that time of year.  They had ideas of the cookies they really liked, but these ran $125 to $150 a dozen. We nixed that. Way too expensive. As my granddaughter Heather said "that is what I take home in a week for my part time job!  I didn't think we would need a budget just for the cookies!"  She will be my third great-grandchild and the first girl of this generation.

That is all I have to share today.  It was a break and gave me a chance to reminisce about people who were very important to me at another time.  I hope you have a good week.  I believe I am doing better.  Talk to you next Sunday.            Rachel

A Beach Weekend

This has been a fairly slow week for me. This was intentional since I have been dragging for quite a while. I thought that perhaps my body caught up with me saying "enough!"  I had dinner with my friend Janet at Mexicali's. She will be spending next week at the beach playing in a golf tournament for women. 

No art class this week, but I did work on painting a daylily. I also drew a version of this daylily.  The painting is not complete. There is a mask on the stamens and pistil. I also want to paint the background black made from the colors I'm using on this painting. 

Drawing of Daylily

Unfinished Painting of Daylily

 We will be working on drawing and painting a parrot and then an owl. I asked if after this we could go back to drawing so I could finally finish the pictures of the dogs my friends Janet and Barbara had. Their dogs  have since died.   I had worked on them but had problems with proportions. I look forward to giving them their pictures. I also want to draw the pictures of the dogs my friends Mimi and Marc have. I need to take pictures to start working on them at a later date. 

On Friday, I had Chemotherapy first thing in the morning. I had a substitute nurse, Edna, who shared with me her experience with going to estate sales.  I think Shelley and I will try this together sometime.  She also suggested for the neuropathy to rub my hands together to create friction to increase blood-flow to my finger tips and also to fold up a beach towel on the floor to rub my feet to lessen the effects of n  She said it would also help for numbness (yes and issue), and pain (not an issue for me).  This seems like such an easy fix, I am very willing to do this. My social worker Robin happened to be here to see another patient.  She also went to the going away party for Susan and Jennifer. We had a nice talk. Kaiser started a senior clinic similar to the one I used to work in with Kaiser in the late 1990's to 2003. It was an excellent clinic for problem solving with patients and their families. I really enjoyed doing that then. Patients and their families need this information, and it is a service that is really needed.

After chemotherapy, my daughter Shelley and I went to San Diego to see a friend of mine Yvonne, whom I haven't seen in several years. She invited me down and said I could bring a friend. Shelley did the driving. I was worried about how I would do because of this sense of exhaustion I have been experiencing recently. I'm happy to say I did pretty good.  We met Rich, a friend of Yvonne's. We went to a small Thai restaurant with delicious food and lovely ambiance. We sat outside with lots of plants all around us. Then we went to the beach to see the sunset. There was a fog bank in the distance that covered some of the sunset, but it it was not a failure. 

Shelley and I at the Thai Restaurant

Yvonne with her friend Rich at the Thai restaurant

Yvonne and Rich at the Beach

Beautiful Sunset at the Beach

Shelley and I in Silhouette at the Beach

The next day, minus Rich, we had breakfast where the surfers hang out. Delicious food and nice bodies and then stopped at points along the ocean. So beautiful!  We went in a crystal store. I bought a piece of Amber hanging from a cord necklace. It is supposed to be the color of your energy. I figure I could use something to increase my energy!  after that, we went ocean side to see Bird Rock!  What a sight!  We took a nap in the afternoon which is exactly what the doctor ordered.  I felt so much better after this.

Yvonne, Shelley and Me at the Surfer Place for Breakfast

Shelley and Yvonne with Crashing Waves Behind Them

Yvonne getting Artsy with Shelley and Me Next to
Beautifully Tiled Bench

A Local Sight Called Bird Rock

Shelley with Bird Rock Behind Her

Yvonne Called this Evolution House.  There was More
around the Corner

We also stopped to get fresh smoothy. Mine was green which I needed for my medications. Very tasty!

At night we went to an Indian restaurant, Spice Lounge. That also was delicious food and fabulous ambiance. 

This morning Yvonne made us chilaquiles.   So delicious!  Shelley and I haven't had that. But now I'll rate everyone's version to what Yvonne made for us.  Yum!! 

So Yvonne is a host on Airbnb.  It is on the Internet.  It might be easier to use on a computer, but you can download the site onto your mobile phone.   She has two rooms she rents out in the Pacific Beach area. Beautiful!  And, she is a gracious host. Price is reasonable, close to the beach, lovely ambiance. No guarantee of a meal, but you'll probably get a meal. Love the coffee! I don't understand why we in America  we would drink such weak coffee that it just seems like colored water!  Ugh!  Yvonne coffee tastes just like great coffee!  Also, parking is an issue.  However, Yvonne gave us her parking spot at her home so we wouldn't have to walk much to our car.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that  a journalist and photographer from Bakersfield Life, a local magazine,  had stopped me and asked me what part of Kern County I liked the most. Actually, there is a lot I like, but since I was downtown I talked about that, First Friday, a monthly event with the emphasis on the art galleries in Bakersfield.  It is a wonderful event and now they are raising money to make this area more inviting. 

I'm in the Bottom Right Corner

Close up of the Caption

This was a good week. I really do much better if I take breaks. I hope your week went well and I'll see you next Sunday.             Rachel