November 2013

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Volume 1            

Greetings, Everyone,

I decided to start up my newsletters again to keep everyone informed of my creative endeavors. Each month will include a theme, book excerpts, updates, and postings of a couple of pictures. Yes, I do “talk” on Facebook and will write on my blog, but my goal is to reach more people.

As artists, or anyone in business, promoting yourself and your products is the main goal. My work this year has been all over the place – it often is as I have so many things I like to do – and although I’ve done few shows, I have been working very hard.

If you want to be taken off the e-mail list, let me know. Also, if you know of someone who would enjoy it, please pass it on and ask if they want to be on the list.

Enjoy and Thank-YOU!

A Month for Giving Thanks

What a great time of year to begin anew. This month of remembering to be thankful makes me pause to reflect and allow myself to think about the good. Giving thanks isn’t anything new for me as every night when I go to bed I spend time in gratitude prayers.

I have much to be thankful for. I love where I live and I am surrounded by great neighbors and beautiful scenery. I have a wonderful supportive family and awesome friends. I have a nice home and a good vehicle. I am most grateful that I had the opportunity to travel south in January and February. It was a most joyous experience and I’m considering doing it again. I am also thankful for my job with the InterTown Record, a job which I was able to do on the road, and I love my boss.

My list could become quite large as I am thankful for many little things, too. My kitty, Pele, gives me much joy as does watching the birds from the window. I am grateful for my life, my health, and the opportunities to grow and develop talents and skills. I am thankful for all the people who are able to be out there fighting for the good of all. I commend them for their courage and their strength. I am thankful for those who have hope and believe there is good in the world. I am most appreciative of the creativity that burns like fire in my soul.

The Fires of Creativity

The winter’s trip sparked a fire that roared to life and as I bent to the task of writing a book about my travels, other books sprang to life. How many people work on more than one book at a time? The fire has turned into a firestorm!

I am not complaining. This fire has brought renewal and I feel more alive than I have in a number of years. The challenge is in combining my talents into a cohesive, affordable form because, for me, it’s not just about writing a travel book. It’s including photographs and with my passion in that department, how do I choose only one or two? I cannot.

Too Cold for Alligators is the title of my winter adventures as I was often told that on my trip. My initial goal was revamped during the summer as I decided to change the photos to black and white due to the size of the book and printing costs.

To get into Charleston, Rte. 17 crosses the Wando and Cooper Rivers. Oh, my, here we go again. I feel like screaming (with excitement) when going over these bridges. Is this called a single bridge with cloverleaves or is it considered multiple bridges? The road narrows, its surface concrete with cement railings on both sides and the vehicle tires take on a higher toned whine and thump, thump, thump as each section is traversed. It goes up, up, and over and then goes up even higher and over. Aieeeee!!! But look at the VIEWS. Wait, I can’t look at the views, too much traffic and turns – bridges that curve and have off ramps and on ramps and have other bridges and roadways that cross over and under. Aaargghh, freaky!

Talk about heart pounding and feeling intimidated and scared. Hey, I’m a country gal. I don’t even like driving through Manchester, N.H., and I would never go to Boston, yet here I am in a far away state and taking on situations that scare the daylights out of me. No wonder I’m thinking of holing up for a few days to rest.

Coming down from the bridge, my brain is about fried. Interstates 95 and 93 in New Hampshire are nothing like these roads. The highway narrows between the tall buildings. Stop and go through the middle of the city with three lanes running north and south, traffic turning right and left at traffic lights, and ramps and vehicles passing on both sides. I stay in the middle lane as I don’t know if I’ll be making a left or right. The south- and northbound lanes split again before the bridge over the Ashley River. The hotel sits on land across the river between the south- and northbound lanes. It’s unmistakable as it rises high above everything else in the area. I’m not seeing any sign where to turn. 

Is that my turn; a left dirt section beside the hotel? It’s hard to tell with construction along the highway. I see a sign that says, No Left Turn then I’m by the hotel. Drat, drat, drat! What do I do now?  I have to go further south and find a way to turn around. The next set of lights is also No Left Turn and I go down further. I pull into a left turn lane to find it has no set of lights. At 4 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, traffic is not forgiving and there are three lanes to cross. I can’t get back into the travel lanes to go down to the next set of lights. I have to be patient. Finally, there’s a break in the traffic and I scoot across. I take that road a short distance to turn around. I make my way back to Rte. 17, this time heading north.

The hotel comes up again on the left and just before that, two routes, one from the right and one from the left merge onto Rte. 17 creating more traffic at the crucial point where I need to get into the hotel lane. I cut across two lanes of traffic earning a blaring horn. Yikes. My heart is pounding as I pull in the parking lot and circle around to find a space to park.

Whew, I’m here. I’m safe. The odometer is at 14,436.2. I’ve driven 168.2 miles today and 1,270.1 since home.   --- Excerpt from Too Cold for Alligators

I can’t just concentrate on the one book. I consider other travel writing books and doing day trip stories. There are photo picture books that could be done, too, and I certainly have enough photos that I could vary the themes. But what about art shows? For the most part, those are put on hold for this year although I do have drawings and photographs in places.

The ideas flood into me faster than I can get anything finished. Then there’s the work for the newspaper; editing, writing, putting together the community calendar, and getting interviews and photos.

Life is good! Life is exciting! The creative fire burns hot and I’m happy.

Current art work exhibits:

I have five drawings in Goffstown, two at the Brown Memorial Library in Bradford, two drawings and two photographs at Sunapee Lake Massage, two drawings at Z Pharmacy in Newport, photo notecards at Newfound Grocer in Bridgewater, and drawings and cards at the Gallery at Well Sweep in Hillsborough.

Upcoming show:

November 30 and December 1, there will be Christmas in the Center at the Gallery at Well sweep, Center Road, Hillsborough, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. where I will also bring photos to add to what is already there.