Sidetracked Charley

Hard to soar with eagles when you are flocking with turkeys. With apologies to all the rest of the flock. I quit my resistance group. I am more of a monkey wrench gang member. Apologies to Edward Abbey. And it was becoming far too popular and really mainstream for what was once a secret group in the white male heart of Trump land.  And for those who want to condemn the snowflakes because they all melt away, let me say that is not what has transpired here. The French underground were not big joiners either. And in the days of Marie Antoinette it was not a public movement until she stood on the platform of the guillotine. I am still resisting. I am still doing all the same things the group I was in did and are doing. I am just not seeking their approval or exposing my actions to their scrutiny.    Not having to seek their approval is allowing me more time to preserve who I am. What do I gain by resisting if I give up who I am? I am a solo flyer ...

Camp Robber First Place NMGC - Wildlife   Been a month since I blogged here. It was busy on that last blog and it got way busier in April. And shows absolutely no opportunity to slow down until May. But busy has included some good news like wins in the New Mexico Garden Club photography contest. Won two firsts and two seconds. And then an invite to do a solo exhibit at the new Trinidad Photography Gallery in May. Show Off First Place Butterflies NMGC And gardening season is beginning. Have my beds prepped but need to plant seeds and put up the low tunnel. Then prepare for the high tunnel. Some repairs needed. Boomer in full dress Second Place - NMGC Birds Reflections in the Mist Second place - NMGC - Insects Meanwhile in totally artist mode I am wondering why I didn't place in Landscape and Horticulture. Got to try harder.

  Been a busy month but not sure why it included no time for reflection. And I don't know if I have done anything really major. Too much social butterfly time. That is what my sister titles my meetings and having coffee with friends. But some of the friends have been four legged.  Boca has been here for two weeks and Avy joined me for just three days. And Carol brought over Emory for a romp in the fenced yard for a couple hours.  Happy Dogs. Avy and Emory My quiet time has been focused on the orchids which are beginning their blooming season. There are 13 orchids now. I figured I did not have this color but who remembers from a year ago and rehoming some orchids from others. The newcomer An orchid which is blooming again for me And then painting small watercolors of flowers to add to note cards. Making and sending these little creations and sending them to friends. But if I had to pick one word for the last month it would be Water. Seems I am alway...

I have a friend who sends thank you notes. Not via the internet but by snail mail. For over a year now I have been delighted when I receive one of these thoughtful missives. They are not wordy but she has obviously spent some time in the process of selecting the right note card with the right image. I find that I stand these notes around on my desk to view as I ponder the correct response. Sadly, until recently, it was often a quick personal message on a social media platform saying I received her delightful card. Anyone who takes the trouble to find an appropriate card, research the correct address, buy stamps and send it off deserves at the least to know it has arrived. I used to make all my Holiday cards and eventually discontinued that because of an ever dwindling response. And email, and social media seemed to replace them. But there are things the digital media just is not adequate to address like condolences and sympathy and offers to help out in trying times. O...

In the midst of emotional angst I wrote a blog, My Day to Whine, which was either not read or misread but definitely misunderstood. Which has resulted in my being really annoyed. Annoyed sometimes at me because I must have not said it right. One of the survivors of the most recent school shooting said she should have the right to feel safe in school. I never felt safe at school. My first grade teacher had a huge cricket bat she used to spank us with. Second grade on Roswell Air Force base began duck and cover. Then the bullies.  Then high school my art teacher and his mat knife and getting kicked out of class because I screamed and he slammed into my drawing table with knife raised over my head. The school counselor was trying to get me to change my story about the teacher so I could be reinserted into his class. I cried this all out to my father who knew a member of the board of education and they tried to get me sent to Sandia High instead of Manzano. That was scary bec...

I loathe, hate, abhor, and dislike making posters. I feel diminished, dismissed, degraded by being asked to do them.  I dream about leaving groups who believe they "honor" me by asking me to do them. I even come to dislike those friends that so dismissively assign me the task of SIGNS.  I got rid of my large format printer to make it more impossible for me to do them. Nobody seems to have noticed. I just have to do them by hand.  I have tried to process all the horrible Post Traumatic Stress which in unearthed whenever I face another lettering task. I have decided it is entirely too enmeshed in my memories to just vanish it. I can name it and the participants. Mr. Featherstone, the art teacher; Mr. Brown the principal; a school counselor I have relegated to the unnamed witches of my past; Mr. Mealy, the hero; Manzano High School, which will never be a fond memory because of lettering. I want to be cremated when I die. Please lay for my memory no stones...

I get my news from the internet. No, not Facebook, but Youtube and sites for MSNBC and CBS. I do not have access to television via airwaves. And have not had subscription television since the six feet snow of 2006 when Dish and I came to a major parting of our ways. I refused to pay for the two weeks when I did not have access. They refused to give me credit, which launched a debate on me paying for 11 channels of religious channels ($1 per channel) which I saw as a suppression of my freedom of religion or not religion. But I have become very good at finding the sources of news and even entertainment I do not have to pay for though sometimes I have to wait overnight to view. And I love Youtube and Google. So once longed on I frequently, right after Rachael Maddow, open my Facebook window to check up on my few close friends there, and update my Binford-Bell Studio  fanpage with the newest photograph of the day. I also have a couple secret groups I belong to there. Have have...