Silly sayings and Quotes

Masquerading as a normal person day after day is exhausting.

A small town is a place where there is little to see or do, but what you hear makes up for it. Ivern Ball

A friend is someone who will bail you out of jail. A best friend is the one sitting next to you saying, "Boy that was fun." Jack Miller

If you don't want your children to hear what you're saying, pretend you're talking to them.

When I was growing up I always wanted to be SOMEONE, now I realize I should have been more SPECIFIC. Lily Tomlin

If you haven't got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth

Relax and Enjoy

I guess Summer has finally said good-by for another year. I hope that winter doesn't come in with a vengence.
Last night I curled up with a good book, a glass of wine and reclined in my new chair in front of the fireplace and just enjoyed my new home and the quietness of being away from the traffic. In fact I was so relaxed I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 3:15 this morning.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Where we love is home, home that the feet may leave, but not our hearts." There is peace here and this is home.

A Good Day

Today was fairly relaxing with just a few odds and ends to finish up at the house. Dave was busy hanging pictures while I tried catching up on the filing. After lunch we settled down to watch the movie "Gandi" which happened to be 190 minutes long. Bill stopped in for a few minutes to see what we had accomplished at the house. Spotted our lighted fireplace and headed right for it.
Lynn called me and asked if I wanted to go to the Triad Craft Show in Troy. Never have to ask me twice about going. I got that honestly from my mom. She could have dinner on the table, ready to sit down, and my Aunt would call and ask her if she would like to go away for the weekend. Back in the refrigerator the food would go and off she would go for the weekend. We were now on our own.
By the time Lynn and I arrived at the craft show they were ready to close. Needless to say we rushed through and then out the door we went. Invited Lynn to stay for dinner for a quick meal of bacon and pancakes. Enjoyed the company and had many laughs. Lynn taught us how to play dominos. Didn't keep score, but I never went out and always had a stack of dominos left. I think Dave would probably be the big winner if we had kept score.

A Fun Day

Yesterday I played hookie from housework, cooking and even bible study. Lynn and I started out at 6:45 in the morning and headed to the spa. She went about her swimming while I checked out the facilities. From there we headed to her "Tops" group. That was an interesting meeting. The gal that heads it up (May) is quite a character. After leaving there we decided on an early lunch, so we opted for pizza. Now I am a stickler for certain kinds of pizza, but I must say, this was very good. Don't remember the name of the place but it was next to Deals in Edwardsville. On the way home we got to talking about the things we like to do and I mentioned that I loved to play Bingo. That's all it took. Made plans to head out after dinner to Staunton for a night of bingo. Why do the groups always have bingo on Wednesday night? Had a great time even though I got lost in the game several times (they do it different here in Illinois) and didn't win a thing. Not even close. By the time I got home it was almost 11:00. Took me a while to wind down.

 
 

It was great having Deb here for a visit last weekend. Just wish she could have stayed longer. Got much accomplished with Deb and Cindi helping to sort through boxes in the garage. We can now at least get both cars parked inside.

Practice Makes Perfect

 
 

The way I usually practice doing portraits is to take a photo and draw from that resource. I am bound and determined to not just copy from a photo, but to get that persons personality and feeling on canvas. Before I moved I would spend from 3 to 6 hours a day practicing. Hopefully, I can get back to my routine again. I really need to practice on a live model. Just a little nervous about trying that one out. We shall see!
On the two that I just finished and posted the only thing I would do different would be to make the hair darker on the drawing of the couple, and to add a few lines around the face to accent their features.

Collinsville Chorale Performance

 
 
 

Last night the Collinsville Chorale presented Hooray for Hollywood at Collinsville High School. They did songs from many of the Broadway hits of the 50's and 60's, as well as Irving Berlin's, Sisters and more recent tunes, such as Hail Holy Queen from Sister Act. Some of the tunes brought back many a memory of when my mom and dad would take me to New York to attend the opening of a new Broadway show. We'd always sat in the 2nd tier balcony because as mom said, "the sounds carried better up here than down on the floor."

The next concert is Friday, December 12th at St. John Evangelical UCC. Come, sit back and enjoy the beautiful music of Christmas.