Family Has A Lot Going On!

I listened to this book called Mars by Ben Boba, who actually worked for NASA. It is the  story of an international crew that went to Mars. They end up having a crisis, but they were more supportive of each other after it.  The story is a little old, because they talked about floppy discs, but it does not take away from the story.   

My niece Kerri posted this cartoon on Facebook which fit the sentiment i have been sharing about colored pencils and stress. I love it!

My daughters Shelley and Jennifer went to see their Uncle Brian (my husband's brother). He told them about working with a friend of his on a pit crew for car racing , loving the experience. We are hoping to get together at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  Perhaps Jeff and his wife Stephanie will join us. I also hope they bring their daughters Cassadie and Meagan.

Jennifer, Brian and Shelley

I let Shelley take my car and she got this great picture of my grandson Kevin.

Kevin Enjoying the Ride

We are anticipating the arrival of Alyssa's son any day now.  I'm sure Alyssa's ready too!

A sweet picture of my granddaughter Crystal and great granddaughter Nylah.

Nylah with her mother Crystal

I took the picture of the hearts from last week and added designs throughout the picture. All the colors used are Tertiary. Primary colors are yellow, blue and red, secondary colors come from these and tertiary colors come from mixing secondary.   I did some blending.  The hearts were burnished to give them some shine. 

My brother sent me an email saying he was heading to Eastern Europe. I think he is going on his own. Paul and I took a tour.  Ben took classes in Polish and Swedish, so perhaps he can do it without being on a tour.  He left yesterday. I look forward to hearing about it. 

Yesterday was my daughter Ronda's birthday. She is 46 now.  Her family took her out to eat.  They got some beautiful pictures of her with her daughter Kathryn. So lovely!

My Granddaughter Kathryn and My Daughter Ronda

A good week!  I hope yours was goods and the next one better!  I'll see you next Sunday!       Rachel

Learning More about Using Colored Pencils

There were 5 students in Carol Bradshaw's class.  A couple of them got very creative in how they did their flip-flops. So Carol said we can do more with our pictures such as filling in the white space with designs. It was fun seeing what others had done. This week we are doing a picture of hearts. She stated we could add more, put in a design, but this time with tertiary colors. These are colors using secondary and primary. So these are going to be softer colors. She told us which colors we could buy rather than mixing them. I went to Michael's and Aaron Brothers, but I was only able to get two of the colors.  So what I will have to do is mix them directly on the color wheel and on the hearts picture.   I sent an email to Carol about not getting the colors she asked us to get.  She will not be here this next week and said she would pick them up at another art store when visiting her daughter in Nevada.

When I did the color wheel, I used three colors to do the whole thing.  I did not use a blender.  Of course, the colors would have been truer if I just used one pencil which was already blended.  With the picture of hearts,  I had several of the tertiary  colors I needed (it is all done in tertiary colors).  I did use a blending pencil and a blending marker on some of it.  My plan is to do a design around the hearts.  I am also working on laying at the colors down on a color chart that I can refer to later with it in light, medium and dark.  That one is a work in progress.  I have to say that doing this is relaxing.  It really helps me deal with stress.

Color Wheel Using Individual Colors and Layering

A way to practice drawing flat color with tertiary colors

I met Janet at Mexcali's.  I had found a coloring book with owls in it last week and gave it to Janet. Janet loves owls and collects them, so I thought she would enjoy it. I just bought a 12 pack of colored pencils so she could get started.  Then, because our teacher Carol has told us of other tools to use, I went through what I had and was able to give her duplicates of most of what I had.  She had not started coloring yet, but I hold out high hopes for her doing it and enjoying it. 

I'm sure there are other sites that do this, but I found Memoryglass.com and their Facebook site. I have a girlfriend who said she wanted something on a necklace. She said it would be giving a little piece of me to her.  Here they put human or pet ashes in art and jewelry.  I also like the idea of pet ashes going here.

Memory glass.com

A wonderful saying I found on Facebook. I don't know who to give credit to, but it is true.  

Here are a couple of pictures of two of my great-grandchildren, Conner who is two and Nylah about 9 months old.

Conner, age 2, Meagan's and Billy's son

Nylah is about 9 months.  She just woke up!

Well, that is it for the week.  I hope your week went well and that next week will be good too!  See you next Sunday!            Rachel

Vicki came back! More People are Coloring.

Labor Day was very pleasant. It was in the mid-eighties (which is unusually low for this time of year).  The food, company and weather were perfect.  Nylah is growing like a weed! She has a good disposition, so sweet!  My grandsons, Devin, Kevin and Christopher "are taller than me!  Heather's boyfriend Jake along with my grandson Christopher and Kevin fixed my hammock so it was more comfortable to use.  Alyssa will have her baby (a boy) on the 26, (at least that is the date they have told her).  The family is excited to welcome a new one in less than a month!   Nylah's father,  Lorence polished up the barbecue.  It was also my granddaughter's Kayla's sixteenth birthday which we celebrated with brownies, ice cream and whipped cream.  We had a lot going on.  Didn't get Devin in pictures.  He ran off when picture taking was going on.

Shelley and Kayla

Heather and her Boyfriend Jake

Christopher and his Cousin Heather

Great- Granddaughter Nylah, So Cute

Shelley and Kevin

Two Sisters, Jennifer and Shelley

Jennifer, Shelley with Me

Shelley and Kevin on My New Hammock

Sisters Crystal and Kayla

Alyssa who is Due toward the End of
September with her Cousin Crystal

I Think This is the First Picture of Just Kevin and Me

We had our first class using colored pencils.  There were six students.  Linda and I sat next to each other and Linda kept saying, "I'm going to love this class!"   Well I agree with her. We worked on how to make an even, flat layer of color.  We looked at varying the intensity of color by pressure. Of course, I have used pressure to make it darker, but she also talked about putting layer upon layer to make it darker.  It is hard to do the basics when you are anxious to be further along. But I do need to work on this.

The Secondary Colors, Green, Purple and Orange are
Actually Blending the Primary Colors to Make Them.
I have not done this before.  The idea is to make
it look like it was painted.  I'm a little sloppy and I need
to get a good brush to get the crumbs off my work.

We've started on a color wheel, with the
inside point the lightest and working outward
to make it darker.  I didn't blend it.

Shelley and I went to our Red Hat dinner held at Cafe Med. This a great group of women.   We were all so happy to see Vicki.  Her husband had died 5 months ago (it doesn't seem that long ago!).  Several of us have lost husbands, so I think that was a draw for me, but I like all of them.

Shelley is talking to Vicki

Evelyn, Judie and Jo

At head of the table is Vicki, I'm on her left, then Evelyn,
Judie,  Jo, Stephanie, Pamela, Chrysta and Shelley

Stephanie, Pamela and Chrysta

Barbara let me know that the Sierra Club was sponsoring a film that was shown at The Maya called Blue Gold; World Water Wars.  A very worthwhile movie that talked about corporations trying to buy all the water in the world.  Some people have fought back and won.  Much more needs to be done.   I joined Barbara along with her friend Chris.   Two of her friends, Doris and Cindy, we saw right after the movie.  They had gone with us when we went to the Tejon Ranch Conservancy earlier this year.  This synopsis came from Wikipedia on the movie we saw:

Blue Gold: World Water Wars examines environmental and political implications of the planet's dwindling water supply, and posits that wars in the future will be fought over water.^[4]The film also highlights some success stories of water activists around the world. 

At Chemo, I saw how they set up the coloring books and colored pencils. It was placed in a nice basket by the coffee. There have been several people who have used them. I'm happy about it, because it is a good stress reliever.  Some people have already decided to buy their own to do at home.

My Donation being put to Good Use

I met my friend Janet at Mexicali's.  I had gone to one of the art stores to replenish some of what I need.  I saw a coloring book of owls and this store had a sale of up to 60%.  Janet loves owls, so I bought the book and a set of 12 color pencils to get her started.  She does get stressed sometimes and I think this could help.

So that is it for the week.  It was a good week.  I hope your week went well and I will see you next Sunday.                         Rachel

First Friday, What a Night!

I was talking with Marc on the phone and reading some of the recipes I get when they bring the organic vegetables and fruits every two weeks. As I was reading it, my mouth started watering. I decided to buy the ingredients I didn't have.  I made stuffed bell peppers that evening fairly late, but it was a good meal, and I had leftovers for three more days. This recipe was different in that the pepper, hamburger, onions, tomatoes and cheese were cooked before putting it together and then baking it. Really delicious. I was too full to eat the salad - butter lettuce tossed with a light oil and vinegar  then top with sliced strawberries and 2-3 ounces of crumbled feta cheese.  Delicious.  And, the final recipe, I haven't roasted cauliflower yet.  I think I will do it tonight. 

I got a call from my primary MD saying I needed to see her soon. I felt I have been seeing her.  I wonder if they increased the number of visits to twice a year.  So I saw her Thursday.  Though I don't have a bicuspid valve (which I had thought for years), I do have aortic stenosis.  She said normal was 2 mm.  Mine is 1.5 and we talk about surgery when it hits 1.0   Ugh.   Let's just call it old age and leg it go!

I also went in for my sixth month Prolia injection ( makes bones stronger) on Friday. 

I tackled too much that day and had a pretty bad backache.  It settled down after taking my pain medication. 

The Cedar Fire is very close to being contained.  The mandatory evacuation orders have been lifted.  Thank goodness!  It has been particularly bad for the people that live in those areas, and, some of them lost their homes.

I saw my pain doctor and asked him about the reaction I have when I don't take my meds- cold and hot flashes and I feel so tired I can sleep a long time!  I saw this as addiction, but he describes it as eating. "You get used to having, like a steak. The next day at that time, you'll have an urge for the steak if you don't get one."  Okay, I would call it addiction, even if I don't want to use it recreationally.  When I saw my primary doctor later in the week and told her about it.  She said "If you use it illegally, then it is an addiction.  If you are using it prescribed by a doctor, it is a dependence."   I am stuck with this pain if I don't take my pain medication.   Then I just want to stay in bed.    I am miserable and it doesn't seem like a quality life.  That is not acceptable to me, so I will continue to take my pain medication.  I am quite functional when I take my pain medication. Last summer I had cortisone injections in my back.  That helped a lot. I don't have that level of pain anymore. Now the government requires a pain doctor's evaluation every 6 months. They  said I had to have the second (and last) pneumonia shot also.  I didn't feel the injection, but where I had this injection became sore for a several days.  

Shelley, Janet and I went out for first Friday.  We were so lucky because the high was 92 degrees!  That may sound high, but it is not bad when you are having over 100 degrees most days.  We went to the bar at The Padre Hotel.  Their snacks were very good.  They had beer and I had wine.  We went to the Art Center which was jam-packed.   We wandered and  Shelley found some neat beach wear that was an incredible deal.  I found a great deal in a knit top and a red knit cap that looked fabulous.  Anyway, it was a lovely evening!  When the weather is good, this is a wonderful event!  This one classified as excellent!

By the Alley Cat, A Legend in Bakersfield

Janet and Me

Shelley and Me

Shelley in her beach scarf dress and foot decoration

We did not have art class this last week, or the week before.  But I did work on three that I had already done.  Also I did a little more on the roller skate shoe.  We will have class this Tuesday and we are going to focus on colored pencil.  So the skate I did was with no instruction.  I am really looking forward to learning about what I am doing.

Peacock Feather

Snake

Peacock

Shoe Skate

So tomorrow is Labor Day.  We are having a barbecue.  It is also Kayla's 16th birthday.  So there is a lot so celebrate.  Her mom is baking her a cake!  The rest of us are bringing different food items to the table.  We always have a good time when we get together, so it should be good.

So that was it for the week.  I'm glad I will have an art class this week.  I am looking forward to seeing how you blend it all in. This last week was a lot of medical and there will be some more this week.  That is okay.  I really am doing quite well.  I hope your week went well and I look forward to you next week.                Rachel