Life Is Weird, And This Week Is Weirder!

Don't ask.....it just sort of fits the mood.....found on Weird Photos.

Would you like a little Monday WHINE with that cheese??? I was pretty sure I heard you say *yes*....... ;-D
And off we go!

• First off, it is hotter than HADES here. And I do not do well in heat. Ever since I got my brains scrambled once sitting in the sun, ad infinitum, ad nauseaum, at an airshow, I literally have NOT been able to take the extreme heat.
• Yes, 90+ degrees, plus humidity, is EXTREME to me. I am sick of inside, and too much of a wuss for OUTSIDE. Thank heavens the grass is dead. (insert evil laugh here)
• I have three days this week of *normal*. After Wednesday, life goes into *medical-mayhem* again, and I am crabby. Yes, I'm tough, but I'm also tired of all my social calls involving a *procedure*. I'd rather have a few that involve coffee or wine and good conversation, but I seem to be getting the guys in white coats. (no hand-warmers, though, hahaha!)
• Does the phrase *bowel cleanse* mean anything to you? (do not be in the area Thursday....you've been warned.....don't call, don't acknowledge I exist, because I am not sure what kind of response you'll get....just SAYIN'!!!)
• Friday, providing the gods of medicine see fit to smile on me, I will be doing the heavy duty work of THE-NEXT-STEP in this cancer journey. I can't wait. I want it DONE.
• Why is it they book you for afternoon surgery and then tell you that you can't have anything except liquids the WHOOOOLE day before??? (oh yes, the bowel cleanse......grrrrrr....)
• Why is it I have no fear of having my guts split open, but worry myself silly about my Budgies while I will be gone? Eh---maybe you shouldn't answer that one. Let's leave it at rhetorical.....'kay?
• Why is it when you KNOW you won't be able to be in your studio that the mind suddenly KICKS into gear and swamps you with ideas? I mean, come on! Can't we do this when I actually HAVE studio time??? (obviously not....)
• Why is it when I'm not going to be around I find a couple of cool new blogs and want to read them from stem to stern? Or sign up for swaps, or...or...or...??? You get my drift? The timing issue again. Pfffft!
• How can I be so lucky to have friends that actually show up to read this drivel AND comment too??? Seriously, I think y'all are just taking pity on me. (okay, at this point, pity is fine. I welcome it! LOL!)
• How can I ever say *thank you* enough to everyone who has contributed to keeping me sane as I walk this odd and circuitous path? I think there is no answer to that one other than you all hold a special and dear place in my heart. (far away from the bowel cleansing)
• How will I function until I can get back here and blog again??? 

Well, that sort of sums the craziness up here at Chateau Lockard.
I am not sure when I will post again, but until I do, seriously, I will miss all the mirth and madness that we find in our cyber-world. 
Blog friends are blessings.
And I am blessed.
And Friday, if you have a moment, please send kind thoughts my direction.
I am held aloft by love and prayer.
Until I see everyone on the flipside, I remain,

Your blogmistress & loving friend,

Sometimes, Silence

Sometimes I remain silent in a meditation.

Life becomes cluttered and what I would say perhaps need not be said.

Things are barbed and sharp......exterior and interior forces keeping me bound.

None the less, I bloom. In drought, I still bloom....brightly and full.

And retreat quietly in the twilight to ponder the twists of life,

still rewarded with a lovely vision. 

I wait.

And mull this moment.

Blast from the past.....

Time flies.............if you don't believe it, go back through your artwork, especially those pieces that should, for some unknown reason, have a date prominent in the design. I found these pics this morning while debating on doing a post; I'm still kind of wiped out, I have DH home through the weekend and a load of work both physical and on the computer awaiting. And I'd like to crawl back in bed. The latter is not going to happen........ ;-)
At any rate, of the number of quilts I have made, this is one of my favorites and sadly, the vinyl the jacket was made of is deteriorating. When it was out on tour, it was not stored in a climate controlled space, came home with creases and pet hair and I was sick. That was one of the determining factors in my withdrawal from shipping and showing work, and also a beginning of the desire for mixed media. I just knew there had to be a better way of self expression, and I learned that the lure of money or my name being out there meant little. I guess it was then that it hit me that I do art for the pleasure of ART, and hopefully for pleasure it brings to others (which is why I blog).

The name of the piece is "43 Enshrined: Inner Sanctum". It speaks of that point in life where you are midway. To the viewers right is the sturdy whole column, to the left, the inverted torch and crumbling rock and brick. And there *I* am, right in the middle, my life and loves summed up within the representation of my signature leather jacket. Music, New Orleans, my tattoo artwork, other small charms of protection, and good old skinny me in a pair of leather pants I would give my eye teeth to squeeze back into again! (delusional Anne......carry on) And my favorite bass, a Fender Jazz bass, now sold.......oh the action was smooth, the neck fast and the sound out of this world!!! How I miss it.

It seems like this past year has been such a time of transition in one form or another, that if I was to remake this piece today, I ask myself, "What would the contents of the jacket be?" What would be the dominating themes in my life? Where, exactly, as an artist and as a person am I now?

This was easy at 43. It was a full year, a ripe and verdant time. In the year of the impending 50, I am not sure. Is life defined by decades or moments, sweet and short? Is it filled with pleasure or pain---do we subtly forget the hurt over time and fill our *jackets* with the warm memories of things past and accomplishments achieved? As we grow older, do we wish to DO more but find less time, and have to face the realization that there is a finite amount we will achieve and refine that area?

What fills YOUR jacket at this point in your life? What road are you on?

And the question I perpetually ask myself: Am I where I am supposed to be, doing the work I should be doing, or is it all a tempering of mettle for something else ahead.

So.........where are YOU and what is your life full of?

I hope creativity, in one form or another is part of it.

Pax.