March 7th 2012

Okay folks...I never said I would write every day.  It is now the 7th of March, 2012 and I have been so busy with matting, framing, painting and writing in my other enterprise.    I wanted to explain a bit about each painting and give a general background on how it came to be.  Sometimes things just work out in a way you never expected....AND they turn out Great!!!  Sometimes they don't.  I find I have so many ideas and so much to pack into a day, they I get overwhelmed and do absolutely NOTHING!!!  That is rare, because I have trained myself to keep my eye on the ball and look for the best possible outcome.   But you never can tell from day to day what may come up.

My mother, an artist also in her day, is now 90 and has Alzheimer's. She is in a memory care facility.  All 5 of us children go and visit her regularly, but it is very sad for me that the mother I did know - is gone completely.  It is the strangest and most ugly disease I have ever known.  We used to talk every single day either by phone or in person and I miss that with all my heart.
How could your essence as a human being just disappear and you have no memory of your marriage, your children, your career, your lovers your very self?????  Actually, when she sees us in person she knows we are her children, but I am pretty sure she thinks she has no children when she is not with us.  She is confused, sure, but most of all what I get from my visits is the loving and warm, beautiful thoughts she relates to me.  I have seen a lot of these kind of patients be very angry all the time, but luckily, my mother has turned to warm soft love...24 hours a day.  It is the best possible outcome from a hideous disease.  At least she is happy and healthy when I see her and that is what counts.  The disease will kill her cruelly one day...it will tell her heart to stop, or to not breathe.  But until that day, we all cherish the fact that we still have her with us.  Her oldest child is 68 years old, and the rest of us are all in out late 50's to mid 60's....so,  for the very fact of her being alive still - well, we are all very fortunate.


Okay, now I am going to explain the beginnings of each work.