Sidetracked Charley

Bluebird of Happiness To my city bound friends my new acquisition makes little sense. But if you live on the edge of a national forest in extreme drought you should consider it a survival tool: BUG OUT NECESSITY. Real estate season is beginning next month and so is fire season. While the flatlanders and out-migrators are looking for their castle in the trees abutting the seemingly lush forest us long term locals are reordering our Must-Go and emergency boxes in case there is a fire. Before moving to the wet side of the mountain I lived a half mile from the front line of the Hondo Fire for 22 days. I had watched the black and red billowing smoke signal its setting of the ground speed record of nine miles in a half hour. That was May. I bought my house in the large meadow with only one tree in November of that year. I thought I was safe. Across the street and one of the rare snows this year The hills around me are forested, however. I joke I would rather see the trees th

Been a bit of a roller coaster week. It is spring here in the mountains and there is no telling if winter or summer will show up any given day. I spent time in the garden this week pulling off the winter devastated plastic on the poly. And the next day the temps fall to 18 degrees. I feel I am on a time clock. All these things which got moved up because there is going to be this window I have to align myself to. Yes, the cataract surgery is minor but there are all these restrictions pre and post op to align yourself to. Even exercise will have to be curtailed. Allergy meds not used during a high spring allergy season. No lifting, not exertion. No out in high spring winds. So I am trying to cram as many forbidden things in the next month as possible. I should be in the most restrictive period when the garden needs tilled and planted and the plastic stretched over the little seeds.  Considering stretching several canvases (yes, that can be exertion) so I can just sketch or paint fo

There are times when the currents of life get off balance. Or the tides are just going against you. Or you have skated along too smoothly and it is all catching up. And having just had a great bitch session with my neighbor I fully believe it is a tidal wave or sea change or something. This is not just about me. Yes, there is a lot going on in my life right now. That hit me this morning when I came down the bedroom stairs and realized my aging standard poodle, Mardi Gras, had not had the best of nights. She is in beginning of liver failure and has her better or worse days. The vitamins the vet prescribed are doing well when Mardi deems to take them. She is great at cheeking pills. She managed to get my curling iron down the stairs, the dog food bowls knocked over, three of my six foot cacti laying down, etc. She was trapped in the far corner of the studio behind the Crown of Thorns. And I was so exhausted last night I did not hear a sound from downstairs. So add lots of guilt to

This was suppose to be a weekly post of my progress through life. An on line journal. But it has been over two weeks since I last posted. I stared at that date for a while and tried to remember what had happened in that time. At first I did not have a clue. Had to walk backwards through my physical calendar which lays beside my computer. First I had to find it. My library table is totally a mess. Which means I have been spending too much time at my computer because of submitting sorting through photographs to submit to a printer. And editing photos of paintings I have finished in the last month to submit to another show. I have spent extra time trying to market on social media. And enjoyed some good results. And then there was the broken camera which had to be sent back to Nikon. Under warranty but that also takes time; hurdles that have to be jumped through on the computer. Then I had to drive to Raton and up to Trinidad, Colorado. The Nikon D3200 is off in California so ba