Back Home and "Stuck"

FUNNY how we slip into the same old grooves the instant we return home from a vacation.
I think the first thing I did was sweep the kitchen floor. It always makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something that needs to be done and I can see instant results. I'm probably the only one who notices, however.
Well, I promised you some photos so I'd better catch up. I have the picture of the old leaning barn in the field of red clover. I should have taken 20 more, but didn't. This is the picture I wanted so I turned around, just after starting my journey to the coast, and got it!
Indian Beach - Cannon Beach's best-kept secret - was another wonderful place. Gorgeous weather for laying in the Pacific sand. I even got my feet in the water. (Check out those ferns by clicking on the picture. The curly leaves along the side are too cute!)
Indian Beach has these rugged rocks along the shore - the one with a hole through it. Watching the tide so it doesn't come in and trap you on one of those rocks is a smart thing to do. You don't want to lose track of the time while you're exploring here.
Here's a little guy I found on my way back out from the beach. I don't know if was asleep or had expired after completing his life's work.
Now that I'm back home there is plenty to do outside and inside and I'm sort of stuck. Sometimes I want to scream, trying to balance the important things I "need" to get done with the fun things I "want" to get done. (Oh, no, she's singing this old song again!)
Why not a little of both, I hear someone say. Good idea. I'll get right on that after I take a short nap - femminismo

Second Day of Solitude.

TREASURE; time alone - and time, alone - is treasure. Spoiling yourself until you can't stand it.
Sitting by the fire, watching a movie (any movie you want without anyone saying a thing), a walk on the beach (walking at your own speed - not keeping up, not getting ahead), taking a nap, finding another book to read. Carving a stamp!
What a charmed life I lead.
I found a way to take pictures with my BlackBerry and then download them onto the computer. So here we go. Let's see what it looks like! The seagull obliged me by staying put so I could include three elements. (As always, click on the photos to see them in larger format.)
I found a shoreline full of white shells and arranged them into this word which describes my state today: PEACE.
If you have found peace today in some small way, shape or form I hope you savored it. My walk on the beach was invigorating and daring. I tend to stay by myself when I'm alone, so I'm glad I went out and played with the waves and saw such a great sunset - femminsimo

I Am At The Beach!

THE room I have here is very large for one person. (Please note: The photo at the left does not depict the motel. Keep reading.) There is a fold-out couch and king-size bed. Three pillows plus my dependable one from home. Gas fireplace. Windows all around. (No ocean view, but I do overlook the courtyard on one side and the next door pub's back yard, which like everything in Cannon Beach is planted with the most wonderful, gigantic flowers. (The calla lilies are in bloom: can you hear the Katharine Hepburn in my voice?) The most wonderful smells come from the pub. Not beer, but garlicky, oniony somethings frying in a pan.
It was pure glorious May sunshine for the trip over, which was nice for driving the rough roads that have just been patched and cleaned up (a bit) since the horrible, awful, ghastly winter snowstorms. When I arrived the coastline was overcast - not unusual at all - and around 6 p.m. the "mist" began.
There is a television and DVD player here, with free movies in the lobby to pick up, but so far I've avoided that flickering box and devoted my time to tea and finishing "Eat, Pray, Love." It was an OK book. I'm going down to the car soon to find "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress." I think it might be more my speed than following someone from continent to continent as they search for their next boyfriend. (I'm being really mean. Gilbert's descriptions of Balinese ceremonies and way of life were great. Her description of the Yogic path was terrific! "We have failed to recognize our deeper divine character. ... Yoga is the effort to experience one's divinity personally and then to hold on to that experience forever." However, I do think the book could have been shorter.)
Well, on to other things: I brought all of my art journaling supplies with me but didn't anticipate such a long haul from the car to the second story room I have. Not much table space and I wonder if the maids will "report" me tomorrow when they find the area covered with newspaper and gesso drying? Oh, well, I paid good money for the room and I'll be careful.
And regarding the photo above: When I left home I stopped on the journey (actually turned around and went back!) to take a picture of a truly majestic leaning barn amidst a field of red clover. However, the cord to get that photo onto this computer from my camera does not work, so you will have to make do with Carl Sandburg's cousin's nephew's barn - femminismo

PHOTO: Old barn on Charlie Kran's farm, a cousin of the poet Carl Sandburg. Taken by photographer Allan Grant, February 1953, in Galesburg, Illinois. Published in Life magazine.

You'll Never Guess What Happened!

YOU won't ever guess what happened and you'll have to wait until the end of the post. Don't peek, either. Those are the rules.
Remember how I took JoAnn's photo in the Red Riding Hood outfit? It's in yesterday's post.
Well, she took a picture of me being photographer, too. She calls me Sister Mary Jeanne, and I think it fits pretty well. Say a prayer to me, the Patron Saint of Small Digital Cameras and you will always find them sandproof, waterproof and loss resistant. (I said "resistant." It's not a sure thing.)
I told JoAnn I may have to line the hood of my raincoat with some other color. Maybe chartreuse. The way the vented back flares out makes it look like a veil, too. How funny!
I wanted to show you some of the wonderful flowers in Cannon Beach before I go on to other things. Here are some lively little faces.
I love the sweet blue and yellow faces on these pansies. The flowers in this town are amazing things. They grow so big and last so long. It's the misty cool facials they get, I think. And maybe just a little magic fertilizer.
The yellow ones got shortchanged, however, so I added a little something.
Feeling very tired and a little - lot - silly.
These hydrangeas were magnificent. They were very close to a yarn shop and JoAnn said it was a good thing her purse was in the car and she couldn't buy yarn. She is a great sock knitter, something that looks way beyond any amount of patience I have left in me. Check out her knitting at her blog - and her yummy photos, too.
OK, here is the wonderful thing that happened ... since you've waited so patiently and not looked ahead. Right?
In Cannon Beach, JoAnn and I went to peek at a little craft fair in town. It was put on by the American Legion and so I bought two baggies of chocolate chip cookies and then, since they asked and I couldn't say no, I bought six raffle tickets for $5. You wrote your phone number on them and put them into the jar that offered a prize you'd like to win in the raffle.
Well, I never win anything, but I wanted to help the American Legion and these women who had worked so hard at making the craft fair a success. Now you can guess what. I won something! Me, who never wins anything. I won a FREE overnight at the Inn at Cannon Beach! I am so excited. Now I can take the Mister back with me and we will have a free evening in town to enjoy ourselves.
I promise not to post so many photos of the trip I make you ill - femminismo
p.s. The Mister has been turning out lights for the past hour. He just might pull the plug on the computer. Gotta' go. Nighty nite.

Stimulating Scenery and Scintillating Company.

YOU CAN'T ask for much more, can you? Good company and great scenery lift the spirits and get you quickly out of the doldrums. The Oregon Press Women met Friday, Oct. 3, through Sunday, Oct. 5, in Cannon Beach. (And, yes, as you can see, there was dessert.)
Jan Jackson spoke on "Shoot the Story" and gave us great tips on how to get "stories" in our photos - and much more, too. Check out some of her own wonderful photos and stories. (I was even brave enough to still use a camera within eyeshot of Jan after her talk.)
Kim Cook's topic was "Reject Me Please!" Very good information on marketing, "branding" yourself and taking rejection in stride and using it to make you stronger.
Freelancing was addressed by Jo McIntyre, an Oregon writer who is also president this year of Oregon Press Women. She writes for the Sheridan Sun Newspaper and other publications. Sorry, Jo, I couldn't find a link to your name. She left for Amsterdam today, however, and other exotic European locations, so don't feel too sorry for her.
Sally Petersen spoke on the business of running a business. Very practical, good advice. The kind you really need if you're going to turn your words into a way to make a living from home by yourself. The real American dream. Check out her book.
And Susan Butruille! Oh my gosh, what passion and persistence. She has written a readers theater production on womens suffrage that is just terrific.
JoAnn, a colleague, and I shared a room at the conference and enjoyed a Saturday night out to dinner with the OPW group at JP's in Cannon Beach. We enjoyed luscious food and fabulous conversation. I had the seafood pasta and JoAnn had the steak. Delicious! Real roses on the table, flaky-crusted bread, chilled small pots of butter, glittering candles in glass lanterns - very romantic. And the wall mural put you in Italy - a fine place to be. I sat next to Serena who used to cover fashion for The London Telegraph. Such stories she had, you wouldn't believe. JoAnn and I both agree when we are older we want to be fabulous, juicy women like Serena and have magnificent tales to relate. (JoAnn's chocolate cake had a marionberry cheesecake filling. Can you imagine?) Sorry the photos are blurry. Low, low light.
So, today, on Sunday, JoAnn and I walked to Haystack Rock after breakfast. It was a little windy (just a little) and a little rainy (just a little) ... we made it to the rock and took photos as we went.
The seagulls were all over the beach. It must have been their own Sunday-go-to-meeting time.
I took so many photos I can't possible post them all. I did do some art along the sand however, so I'll show you that.
JoAnn is just the "sweetest-heart" and most encouraging person. There is nothing she doesn't think you can do. Just put your mind to it. I am lucky to have her to encourage me along my path to doing ... what? Something, I'm sure. That's what.
Here is my favorite picture of her, taken today as she did her "photog" thing. I am sure I looked very similar, only not like Red Riding Hood, but like a nun - in my black raincoat with the white trim around the hood.
I had better go. I need to get some sleep and talk some more with the Mister, who was generous about me getting out of the house and running away for a while - femminismo

Guess Where I Am!

I WON'T keep you in suspense: I'm at Cannon Beach, Oregon, attending the fall conference of Oregon Press Women - and no, we're not bench pressing. We're talking about writing for newspapers, magazines, writing in general and how to market our writing ... and where to go from here if we're working for the fading newspaper industry, which is an ancient idea begun by Egyptians trying to market papyrus.
Cannon Beach is a lovely town. JoAnn and I can see the ocean from our window and Sunday morning, before we leave, we hope to get through some of the shops and walk on the beach. There's an actual independent book shop in town that I love to go through when I'm here, so that's on the list.
I don't have any photos to post and it's just as well. Since we are in a "bowl" here at the Hallmark Inn there is no wireless Internet service and I'm back to using dial-up. Yikes! Ever think you could go back to that again? Think again. I am - femminismo

OK ... This Is Really Funny.

WHENEVER I check in with Judy Wise, I find something that looks like so much fun that I have to try it. But a few weeks ago she tricked me. Actually, it was my eyes that tricked me.
Here is Judy's page and I hope she doesn't mind that I'm sharing a small portion of it with you.
First of all it had this incredibly colorful face in the middle with lots of her little tiny handwriting, because she likes her journals to last F.O.R.E.V.E.R.
I saw the "stamps" with her in all those different hair styles and I thought she had done one of those computer downloads so ... well, you can guess. I wanted to do it too. (Judy always says to steal great ideas!)

So I spent at least an hour and a half taking head shots of myself and a side shot and downloading them into the Stellure "try on a hairstyle" program. When I finished I had a 3-D model of myself and I could try on some hairstyles and make them all sorts of colors. They were mostly ugly as sin, which you will see when I show you this page from my journal.
Also, when you took the photos you were supposed to NOT have hair in front of your ears in case you wanted to have a hairstyle that exposed your ears. If you had hair in front of your ears it would still be there in the form of werewolf ear hair when you "put on" a style like ... oh, say ... the ponytail. Don't I look cute with hairy ear patches?
When I looked back at Judy's journal page, I realized she had merely cut out women's heads from a yearbook, removed their faces and inserted her own. Smart Judy! Well, as you should know by now I can laugh at myself.
The Mister says these photos don't look like me. But if you ever want to do the same dopey thing that I did, and you have an hour and a half you don't mind throwing away, go to stellure.com and try it out. Actually, don't. It's faster to do it the "Judy way."
Today is the last day of September and I'm reluctant to say good bye but I guess I have little choice in the matter. This weekend I'll be attending the Oregon Press Women's fall conference in Cannon Beach with a colleague, JoAnn B. I hope to have lots of great photos to show you when I return - femminismo
p.s. No comments on my batik? Come on! Aren't you going to try it too?