My granddaughter, Kari, visited last week end.  We went out to breakfast, picked my dad up from the rehab center and then came home.  She wanted to paint.  She started out with gold flowers.  She added some green, some pink and then I noticed that she wasn't looking too happy.  "I keep messing up", she says.  She had dragged her sleeve through the flowers on the bottom of the painting.  She was ready to quit.  I explained that she could just paint over the parts she didn't like.  She painted the whole canvas blue but then she was done for the day.  Painting is like that sometimes.  Things don't work out, you cannot satisfy yourself.  I've been there myself.  I will save her canvas.  We will paint another day.  

Sunrises over Lake Michigan are a favorite subject.  I often like the time right before the sun comes over the horizon, when it is still dark but the colors in the sky are vibrant.  I started this one a couple of weekends ago and it came out way too dark.  Today, I brought my card table out of storage, moved the furniture around in my bedroom, laid a drop cloth over the carpet and set up a permanent space for me to paint next to our north windows with the light from the east window at my back.  Then I sat down and took another stab at this one.  I am much more pleased with the results.  That is a good thing because I need to take something new into the Blue Heron Gallery.  I think this one will do 

Happy New Year!

Today is my 60th New Year's Day on planet Earth.  I think it is common for people, including me, to view January 1st as a day to welcome for the promise of a new, better year to come.  I welcome January 1, 2016 with a mixed bag of hopes and fears.  My father is in the hospital after having major abdominal surgery. He is 83 years and has had several health challenges this fall. I hope for fewer MD visits and 0 hospital/surgeries for 2016!   

My children are well and my wife, Karen (yes, I said wife-we've been married a year now) is recovering from a second knee replacement and doing very well.  Karen is retired now and I am planning on retiring no later than my birthday on February 27, 2016.  We plan to travel, see parts of the country for the first time and return to favorites.  I also hope to make time to paint.  When you are working full time and being a caregiver it is hard to find time to paint.  

I choose kindness, generosity, peace, love and happiness for myself, my family and friends.  

Happy New Year, everyone!

Terry