A Little of This, A Little of That

Happy September !

So, perhaps you’re thinking I fell off the face of the blogosphere. Not really; just spent some time out of town visiting family and haven’t been terribly focused on blogging since my return. I seem to go through phases like that. I admire bloggers who maintain their blogs posting something every day or nearly every day.  My hats off to you!  Of course, I sometimes wonder when those bloggers sleep as well. Maybe they have little blogging elves working for them.

Family; most of my family now lives in Ohio. It had been nearly two years since I saw my family. Yes, nearly two years. We do keep in touch via phone and email but face-to-face visits aren’t frequent. This has its pros and cons: you miss the dramas and you miss the dramas.

Here are a couple pictures of my family, taken before Sunday brunch.

Me and my brother Chris

Me, April, Mom, & Cindy

Fall Just Around the Corner

We’ve had some chilly mornings the past few days. You know it is officially cool and that fall can’t be too far away when Woody the elder becomes Woody the bed lump:

Woody the Bed Lump

Yes, he just loves to crawl under the bed covers and sleep for hours. Or at least until his tummy gets grumbly and he comes looking for lunch. I’ve often wondered how he breathes when under the covers. I tried napping under the covers once and found it rather stifling. But then, I’m not a cat, so what do I know.

Weekend Workshop

Natalie, a fellow art guild member, and I attended a great workshop this past weekend. The workshop was “Starving to Successful: Art Marketing Strategies for Professional Artists” by J. Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.  Jason shared lots of great tips and recommendations for working with galleries, how to approach galleries, creating a portfolio and how much art work to have ready before approaching galleries. While I was familiar with some of the information, overall the entire workshop left both of us motivated to set new goals and to move our work to the next level.

And it was nice attending the workshop with a friend because Saturday was the day Hurricane Danny hit Massachusetts.  Natalie and I both admitted that if we had to attend the workshop alone, it would have been mighty easy to hit the snooze button, roll over, and go back to bed given the rain falling at the wee hour of 6:00 AM that morning. Fortunately, Danny didn’t dump as much rain in our area as originally predicted. We had 2.5″ and some areas had up to 5″.  The original prediction was for 5″ to 7″ of rain.

Senator Ted Kennedy

If you had the telly on as August rolled to a close, you were certainly aware of all the coverage on the passing of Sen. Kennedy. I heard of his passing the morning I left Ohio and was deeply saddened by the news. Like many other people, I kept hoping this day wouldn’t come. Being from Massachusetts, you start to believe that Sen. Kennedy would always be around.

When he was diagnosed with a brain tumor my heart sank. I know how brutal that diagnosis can be. As has been reported by all the media, Sen. Kennedy beat the odds to some extent. He did live longer than expected. Unfortunately his age was probably against him.

As footage played of his last appearances, I started to remember where I was at those various times. When he announced his support of Barack Obama’s candidacy for President in January, 2008, we were skiing at Deer Park in Utah. The mountain was fogged in and snowy and I stayed off the slopes that morning.  When he spoke at the DNC in Colorado, I was here at home watching the convention.

Okay, does this mean I’m getting old if I can pinpoint where I was or what I was doing during certain memorable events?

Anyways, I was not always a big fan of Senator Kennedy. I was especially turned off when his nephew William Kennedy Smith was charged with rape following an evening of drinking with Uncle Ted and cousin Patrick.  I’m sure I thought, at the time, “there go the Kennedy’s, protecting each other no matter what, even if one is potentially guilty.”

Yet over this past weekend I couldn’t help but be drawn to watch the memorial, parts of the funeral service, and the burial. I learned how this man, admitted faults and all, earned the respect of so many people. That he was human. That he fought for what he believed in and that compromise, within reason, was the approach that garnered results. I was awed by the number of people whose lives he touched in both public and private ways.

Sometimes we realize too late how important someone really is to us.

While I imagine that Senator Kennedy didn’t want tons of acclaim for all he did, I did learn the importance of truly admiring and valuing people while they still walk this earth, no matter who they are or what they do.

Most people don’t ask for glorious recognition for all they do; a simple thank you will suffice. I am trying to put this into practice myself each day. How about you?