The Vitex

8" x 8" oil on canvas

This is a vitex that was planted in my gardening phase years ago. Now it's at least twenty feet tall and blooming profusely in the back yard. I'm going to plant another one soon. Reese promised me I could. He promised because his heart was full. His heart was full because I was his passenger on the back of his "new" 1994 Honda v-twin 1100 motorcycle for a trip to the country. He couldn't have been any happier. We were driving past a mimosa tree in bloom on the road somewhere between 290 at the Mueschke exit and White Hall, Texas. White Hall is really just a run down corner store with a very pleasant, nice lady who works the register and a dirty filthy restroom. As we were riding, I saw the mimosa tree blooming in the forest. I leaned forward to yell in Reese's ear that that's what I wanted to plant in the front yard, a mimosa tree, and wasn't it pretty? "You could ask me for anything right now and I'd give it to you," he hollered back.

On the road 

Here we were on the open road, driving past donkeys, horses, llamas, goats, emus, great danes, chickens, farm houses, ranch land and forest, and all I could think to ask for spur of the moment was a tree. He extended the offer a few hours and still all I could think of was trees. So I'm getting a mimosa tree, another vitex, and a gardenia, and a hydrangea, and maybe a pine tree. I love pine trees.

If there's ever a next time, maybe I'll remember to ask for something a little more romantic, like a trip to Paris.

Musical Studio

Back in March, I moved the art studio into the big bedroom upstairs. Now, I've moved it again from the big bedroom to the small one.

The light in the small bedroom upstairs is the best light in the house, besides our bedroom, and now that there's not a bed in it, it should be ready to go. The bed that was in it is now in the cozy bedroom downstairs, which used to be the art studio, and before that the study, and before that the screened in side porch. The trick with all of this rearranging is that if all of your stuff more or less matches, it doesn't matter which room it ends up in because everything goes together....more or less.

Things should settle down for a while, and about time, because I've got work to do. Hurray for commissions!

Splatter Physics and Gravity

The waterlilies in the backyard pond refresh my soul. This is the most that have bloomed at the same time - six! Have I mentioned that yellow is my favorite color? I love the flowers in the backyard, especially when I need a break from what might be going on inside.....

.....like this. After an exhausting day of painting, this is what happened - gravity and therefore, splatter physics.

But this is the result of all that painting and cleaning and hauling furniture - the side porch and former art studio is now a cozy guest bedroom!

Three Self Inflicted Messes

Lately I've been catching up on some chores around the house. Still am. I've made a mess of several things.

1. Over the years, the sun faded the soft butter yellow curtains of our bedroom to almost white. So, I decided to dye them yellow again. The Rit Dye directions said one bottle for every two pounds of fabric. I'm sure the curtains were more than two pounds, right? So use two bottles? Well, maybe that was a bit ambitious because now the curtains are nuclear yellow and our bedroom literally glows. Not even kidding. The Amazing Reese thinks we should get a disco ball installed in the bedroom - it's that bad.

2. In the process of rearranging rooms again, and in the spirit of turning the side porch into a cozy bedroom, I'm finally painting the bead board ceiling in there. Let me put it this way, gravity does funny things to paint. And my neck hurts from looking at the ceiling so much.

3. Moving some of my plants to sweep out a mess, I accidentally broke the "put a bird on it" plant container that my daughter Anna gave me for mother's day last year and made a bigger mess of broken pot, dirt, and plant. At least the broom was handy.