...it's full of stars!

For your viewing pleasure--My friend Michele T. sent me this--I had to watch it all the way through to believe it, and she was right; it is just so typical of our sense of humor. ( We go waayyyyyyyyyy back. She's just gotten back from Santa Fe and I am so jealous...last time I was there was our trip back in '75. Ask me about sleeping in a church yard sometime...

more unrelated news--so many of my friends and fam are complaining about gaining weight. So we are headed into a planetary alignment thingy and our gravity is getting suckier and causing such frustration on the scales! I hate it when we align! When we emerge on the other side of 2012 I just know I will have rid my self of at least a few pounds... Look to the skies!

And congrats to Julia Royal for sticking out the hair competition.--In the top quarter of finishers and I am so proud. Hey Jules! I need a trim!!!

So what is full of stars, you ask? Why it's Weeki Wachee! Underwater, that is. I have been checking out video that was given to me by D over at SWFWMD to use as inspiration and reference for my new project. I am looking at footage to get info from for a cutaway view of the spring. There is a scene at the beginning where you can see the rain falling into the water, like stars or diamonds. It's just as I remember it . The water was so cold and yet up top the rain felt so warm. And there was a part where the mermaids had signed their names under the stage. So amazing to get a look at that area!

Spent the morning with Lynne and Karen H. at POP, the new studio space in Bville. Lynne was creating a leathery floor with polyurethane and brown paper with Karen. I mainly complained and mopped. (so stressful, watching them work!) Then we had pizza and I left to meet Masao at the City Hall. Rhonda was not around so we went to the printers after I gave him 4 bags of cans. I make my friends recycle my stuff. So easy.

Chris, my darling, was watching the Guitar Heroes, Themselves--Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood and then my fave Eric Burdon. Burdon...wow. Now where did that guy get IT from?

I relieved him of dog watching and cuddled up with the girls. Then I proceeded to figure a way to remove DVD scratches. Toothpaste, check. DVD cleaner, check. Scratches still there, check.

*sigh* Anyone with more ideas in that direction, send me a line!?! I swear, that video is worse now...

June 10th is an interesting asteroid day as well.... Let's all get up to see the launch of one of the very last space shuttle missions on the 13. To Boldly go....

The Incredible Adventures of Julie Komenda!

Okay, so they are slightly credible, if not fantastic.

Note the Woman in the Tail...Thanks to Evie Harper's great restoration project and my thanks also for allowing my art in the park!  Dreams do come true! And the lovely people below are Myrnita, Dad, Stefi, Cory, and leni & Moi.

Today I spent the morning updating and reinstalling applications on my mac, and trying to get fingerprinted at the Children's Center.  The afternoon was spent getting fingerprinted at the Sheriff's Department (yay! it was the sex-offender's day to report!) and then off to Swiftmud to see if I could get info on the Weeki Wachee Spring.

Why?

I needed to be fingerprinted in order to work at the summer art camp and for some mysterious reason my fingertips do not appear on electronic devices. ("Tell the High Commander it's working!)  The Swiftmud thing is all about my latest project detailing the interior of the Spring and geology around it.  It's just all leading into

The Adventures of Juan Ponce De Leon, otherwise known as Ponce Upon a Time.

You know who going to discover the you know what.  Time to contact my hydrologist friend, Mr. Anderson, who is Corn Mother's Son.

Chris Jr is a certified Lifesaver !  Perseverance and persistence!  Constant Vigilance!

Sky Skyped us and he is looking wonderful and somewhat restless, if sleepy.  Some great stories and insights from him.  We discussed the passing of David Carradine, Sky having had many suicide prevention information sessions, courtesy of the USAF.  I am not buying it.  I remember the first time I saw him, in "The Longriders" .  He had his brothers with him and there was a bar fight scene in which he fought over Pamela Reed as Belle Starr.  What charisma he had!  And nobody will ever say the word "grasshopper" without me thinking of him.  Mr. Carradine will be missed.

I was shopping the other day and came across some ruby slippers.  Well, not exactly slippers, more like sparkly red loafers.  If I clicked them together three times I would probably wind up right where I am, only I would have all my family here with me, and we would be sitting at the table eating and laughing and snorting out orange juice or pepsi through our noses, such fun we would have.  If only.

2001 FE90, passing through our neck of the planetary neighborhood on June 28th....Not so close!  We hardly know you!  check it out at JPL or Nasa.  Just sayin...

Like We Never Left

I am so happy because I get to be with my sisters this weekend.  We could be meeting under happier circumstances, but just being together lifts the occasion.  How wonderful it is to be with them, to get high just from eating together!  Dad and Myrna complete the picture of this particular circle...one day I would love to have a huge reunion with a gazillion Adler sisters and kids.  The Eagles (meaning Adlers) have landed.

After several hours wrangling with Apple, I am getting a live technician in my actual office/studio to fix my Mac.  I am so relieved .  He is bringing a new optical drive thingy and some other goodies to fix this machine.  Saves me a lot of grief, and I may just record the visit for posterity.

Bandit's lesions are back again on her nose.  More meds and we will keep an eye on her.  So far she seems comfortable, but I know she may not be.  Seven years old and still awesome.  She actually got under the bed yesterday when it rained....

PAY ATTENTION.  According to Spaceweather.com, the magnetic flux stuff is higher so I am predicting even more earthquake disturbances for the upper and mid latitudes.  Say 4-5 on the Richter scale.  And there will be a Near Earth Object flyby on June 28th, the closest.  Don't ask me how I get this stuff.  It's what I do.

Birds will fly backwards, whales will beach themselves...oh wait. That's a movie.

Make it a Memorial Day

My friends,

Bear with me as I reflect on Memorial Day...It has always been a significant holiday for me.  Long before I connected with my Dad's role in the service, I was a peace activist.  I also had a mind open enough to see the commitment to our way of life behind whatever policies were being enforced at the time.  I've read many books about troubled times, and am part of the generation that fought in Viet Nam and came back hurt, confused and unappreciated. 

 "The Lord of the Rings"trilogy gave me  a different perspective on war .    Tolkien himself had seen so much of battle that returning to academics was always tinged by his experience.  To live a life without appreciating sacrifice was not fathomable to him and was played out in his writing.  For me, the key to the story was at the end, when Frodo returned to the Shire.  It had been overrun by "Sharkey's" bullying gang; his family was thrown out of their homes, the Shire had been burned, ransacked, and politically compromised by outsiders with a terrorist agenda.  And amidst all these concerns, the total environment that had been so long protected and taken for granted was polluted and laid waste.  Enter Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippen, who had given so much to protect their way of life.  The cost was dear, and the homecoming bleak.  Sacrifice by these seasoned warriors seemed almost pointless.  

I believe with all my heart that for war and sacrifice to have meaning, we must live the best lives we can.  That does not mean the richest, most extravagant life, but the most meaningful.  We owe our military members at least that much.  My favorite movie is "The Best Years of Our Lives", because it deals with the aftermath of war.  Even as the heroes were appreciated, the effort at home to give them opportunities lagged, and the transition was not easy.  Today is no different.  My sons in uniform face difficult choices every day, and just the thought of a possible lack of employment makes the decision to leave the service a tough one to make.

So today and everyday I will remember to make a good life, as they and so many others have made that possible.  And to my future grandchildren I say "Keep on Keepin' On."  

 

Will Art Flow Downhill or Float?

An interesting week.  The art thing later.

Dad is out of the hospital and on his way down with the lovely Myrnita, can't wait to see them!

Leni made it through her day at the doc's and I think the nail marks on my hand are almost gone.  She is such a trouper, so brave, so lightheaded yet down to earth.  Makes even moi in awe of her example ( and I have enough ego for at least 3 of us!)  So far no word, but then no news may be good news.  Here's hopin'

Chris Jr, Marine extraordinaire, is planning to get his degree in Homeland Security stuff.  I will sleep better just knowing he is out there.  Sky is planning his next hand...Laura is taking a quiz.  Such busy bees, everything they build is honey to me.

The weather leaves big Chris uncomfortable but still, it is cozy when it rains and Stevie Ray is on the T.  The wolfpack is getting antsy to run on drier grass and I am getting tired of slipping on wet poop.  Ahem.  But I have a full rainbarrel and baby peppers growing by the front door.

On Art.  Went to the meeting at Weeki to form a Citizens Support Organization.  The mural thing is on hold (at least at the theater) but the powers that be assure me that there will be opportunities elsewhere.  So I will continue to paint park stuff in readiness and anticipation of that assignment.  I got to see Barb and Vicki and Fawn Germer, a wonderful author of fiction and non fiction, already endeared to me with her novel"Mermaid Mambo" and now knowing that her Mustang Sallies intro is the Commitments singing Mustang Sally, one of my alltime favorite songs.  Vicki, Barb, Fawn, and John all viewed my Vicki painting and I was thrilled to see their reactions.  A good day!  I heard from my soul sisters Evie and Lynne with lots of encouragement and great friendship.  What more can I ask for?  And also

Julia Royal, my Circuit City twin sister, asked me to paint a dragon on her jeans that she plans on wearing to a hair competition in Orlando.  She has worked so hard since I have known her, in fact, to live her dream of doing hair and making a good life for her family!  Of course I said yes, and the evidence is this picture.  It is supposed to be a lucky dragon, but then, she already has the skills and heart to make her mark at the show.  Good Luck, my friend!

My Cory, my Stefi, my Leni, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura...yep.  A good week to have made it this far.  Live long and prosper!

Henny Penny

Okay, two pages of notes later on "LOST" and still going.  I love challenges! Speaking of challenges, I worked with acrylic paints this week on a mermaid painting.  It's all coming back to me now.  It's been a big day.  Dad is in the hospital (fine, will be out shortly) Checking on Leni up in G-ville, sold a print on Fine Art America, had mulch delivered, and still can't wake up.

So. The sky is falling.  Now why would NASA be making such a fuss about having standby shuttles available.  Like there have never been dangerous manuvers before.  And the Hubble pix.  So if they see the Eye of God out a bazillion lightyears away, how come we can't find Bin Laden  and those license plates on Mars....

I have a new Corn Mother painting coming out soon as I get a big something to put it on.   and new bee stuff.

Eating lots of dried beans, Mexican and Indian style.  I feel good! and Mexican chocolate with cinnamon.  ooooooooohhhhhhhhh.

Laura got a scholarship--I am a very proud mom in law. Lucky lucky me

"Lucky lucky lucky lucky"  Ripley in " Alien"

What Are We Looking For?

Just got back from G-ville.  I visited Leni, the hardest working person I know.  She looked great, sassy as ever, a bit tired, and working life out on her terms.  It's always good to spend time with her--she is warm and funny and focused on what is in front of her, step by step.

I am all over the place in my head.  It isn't multi-tasking, it's more like pick-up sticks.  You know, balance here, and the other one falls.  And connecting the dots at the same time.  Cory says she is wondering where Stefi went.  Slipping through the cracks of life Stef goes, barely caught by a memory or a task not quite finished.  With only a shred of her left, we keep trying to reconstruct her therapy by therapy, pill by pill, person by person.  It is a known fact that Adler Sisters require mirrors or store windows to see themselves, just to be sure what face they wear that day.  I fear Stefi's mirror has failed her again, and as she wanders by the store fronts she forgets to see herself.

I may never get the hang of this planet.  

On the mural thing;  things are on hold til I speak with the state guys.  I am spring loading my guns (a pun) and working on a strategy. and painting.  The main thing I like to get  across when I do a painting with water in it is to make me thirsty. It can be all overwhelming to think about so I am trying to focus on my vision and techniques.  Dharma Trading requested more pix or bio for their website, and that is a great place to start defining where I am today in batik, and out of batik.  Glad to have the opportunity to show there.

And all the new archaeological finds in Egypt!?!  Are these collateral findings, or is there a race to find something else going on?

Predictions for this summer:

8 hurricanes--4 major, 3 hit FL, not Weeki, though.  Look out Texas and the Carolinas.

Harry Potter will exceed every standard set so far

Sunspot -watching will become almost as popular as weather forecasts

Miracle -Gro will go up in value

A major and very old secret from many governments will be revealed, as hackers scratch some very odd surfaces.

Ancient burial sites from around the world will be opened.

I will get my last tan.