Monthly Archives: January 2008

28 January 2008

Kennedy Endorses Obama

By Nicki

I cannot believe that I was the only one watching Senator Ted Kennedy today as he endorsed Barrack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination who was thinking of the irony in what Kennedy had to say.  I was trying so hard not to laugh at the words Kennedy was professing that I had a stomach ache when I was done.

First, it is Ted Kennedy.  The man was first elected to the United States Senate when I was one year old.  Granted, I stuffed envelopes as a 12 year old for George McGovern, but I have only been able to vote for a little under 30 years.  Senator Kennedy is a Washington fixture.  He has history there.  There is probably not a Democrat that is more in the Washington circle than Ted Kennedy.

Second, it is Ted Kennedy talking about change.  I don’t know that Ted Kennedy has ever thought about change.  Yes, he did back civil rights in the 60′s but was there a democrat who didn’t?  He is more about business as usual, than change.  The irony keeps coming.

Third, do you not find it ironic that a man who has worked in the US Senate for 42 years thinks the people – the majority of whom have not yet voted in the presidential primaries – cannot decide for themselves who to vote for?  This is definitely a political thought.  He knows better than you or I and wants to be sure we know it to.

I fully support Ted Kennedy – as well as any other registered voter in the United States – to pick who he wishes to support for president.  I do not want to know why he thinks the rest of need to know what he thinks months before the convention, at least a week before the largest primary day on the calendar.

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28 January 2008

Political Junkies Take Heed

By Nicki

This week is a political junkie overload. Beware! It all actually started Saturday and will run for ten days. It is almost too much for me to even think about as it will be big when it all ends in the wee morning hours of February 6th on the east coast.

Saturday was the South Carolina Democratic contest. I am not sure about race and gender. I don’t generally look at that stuff but it was definitely front and center in SC. All you could hear about on television for most of the week was what Bill or Hill was saying and was it in response or trying to illicit a response from Obama?

So the rest of the time lines up to be more interesting, I hope. I re-read an article about Hillary, Inc and those running her campaign and I don’t think it is over yet.

But anyway, tonight we get to hear George W’s view of the state of our union. Seems lately like there is more disunion than union. And, haven’t we heard enough from George lately? Seems every time I turn on a news program, he is giving sound bites for some reason or another.

Tomorrow, we can watch the Republican party ditch another one or two of their faithful. While I don’t think Romney or McCain will leave the race until August or September at the convention, I do think at least one more potential candidate will go after Tuesday. Rudy Giuliani has put too much time and resources into courting the snowbirds in Florida to not take at least second place. My gut instinct is that he will be lucky to break into double digits and that means no delegates and a waste of time and money. He will most likely place fourth and not even, come Feb 5th, take his home state of NY.

Then, after all that excitement, the debates take front and center stage with the GOP debate on Wednesday in Simi Valley. What a back drop for a debate of this nature – the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library! How they will all react after the campaigning that has been going on in FL will be a big test. A lot will look to see if they can handle the load and the travel and the lack of sleep.

Thursday brings the three democratic candidates to California for their final debate before Super Tuesday.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Politics

28 January 2008

Valentines for the Troops

By Nicki

Lori Roberts lives in Las Vegas.  She works at an arts and crafts store – Michael’s – and has convinced them to supply the raw materials to make Valentines to send to our troops in harms way.  Since Nellis AFB is nearby, they will transport these cards.  I told Lori I would help her.

 I sat down and made some Valentine cards.  I didn’t use normal just reds and shades of pinks.  I used patriotic colors – red, white and blue.  I love this stamp and made a number of cards for Lori’s drive.

Valentine Card

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18 January 2008

Ben’s First Dive of the Season

By Nicki

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17 January 2008

More Marbling

By Nicki

I finally received my book – Paper Transformed by Julia Andrus in the mail.  The more I read about marbling, the more I was sure I wanted to use some of the other supplies I have around to marble additional papers. 

 I have mordant mixed up so that is not a problem.  Both boys had events last night so I was home alone for a good two hours.  I had several projects I am in the middle of but I set up a marbling station.  The station consisted of a 9×13 aluminum pan with about a quarter of an inch of water in it, a set of papers already treated with mordant and dry to be marbled, a place to dry the marbled papers, a plastic knife for scraping and several plastic forks for swirling the marbling.

Blue Pastels

 This particular attempt was made using about a quarter inch of water in the pan.  I, then, took the plastic knife and scraped pigment off three different blue pastels.  When I placed the treated piece of cold pressed watercolor paper in the water, it came out like the yellow and orange piece below.  I had a paintbrush near by so I wet it and ran it across the paper also.  This is how I got the piece above.

Sunrise Pastels

The particular piece above is just the pastel without any help from a paintbrush.  What I just noticed as I was scanning these papers is that the pastel pigment in this example was not really – even after treating the paper to accept the marbling – take.  I have orange and yellow pastel all over my scanner.  I just took a tissue and rubbed this particulare one and it looks more like the blue one now – just yellow and orange and red.

Iridescent Ink Marbling

The marbling above was also done using water as the size.  I found, in my craft stash, old iridescent inks from Stampa Rosa – a company that has long since gone out of business.  I splashed inks on top of the water.  I, then, laid treated cardstock on the water and lifted it off.  It dried overnight.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Art, Triple Eight Challenge

16 January 2008

Button Swap

By Nicki

Snowman ATC

So maybe the background on this ATC (artist trading card) looks familiar to you. I did write about it in a workshop I am doing – marbling. The workshop is based on Julia Andrus’s book Paper Transformed.

I used denim, espresso and eggplant to create what I was hoping would look like a stormy sky as a background. Then, since the swap required that you sew buttons on the ATC, I took my white buttons and made snowmen. I love snowmen!

Above is the finished product!

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14 January 2008

More About Gratitude

By Nicki

My Simple Abundance posts are not quite daily.  As the year goes on, they will be come less frequent also.  Just making sure you know.

 As I was reading on the tenth about old cemeteries, several thought quickly ran through my mind.  First was how grateful I was to be alive.  The second thing was maybe this was what put the thought in my head that I wanted to visit old cemeteries and photograph headstones.  I know even my teens think it is weird but I just love the idea of a book of cemetery shots in black and white.

I was also struck by the quote that started the day by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.  I have been thinking about her work on grief a lot lately.

January 11th had a new meaning this year.  I truly believe that the US is headed into a recession.  The sentiment that men know how to live with money but women know how to live without it was interesting.  All the while, Sarah Ban Breathnach continued to point out that the most important part of this was gratitude.

Still thinking about recession, the scarcity discussion on the 12th made me think of more recession talk.  It was true that when items get scarce, laser focus comes into play.  When gas goes up to $5 a gallon, the focus will be on ways to conserve, on ways to get around without a car.

As we continue to discuss gratitude, SBB says that she finally realized that it was not security that she was searching for.  She was searching for serenity, for peace.

 The reading on January 14th discusses the one item that Ban Breathnach says is essential to the journey to authenticity – a gratitude journal.  This year I am using a composition notebook I received in an altering swap last year.  It is beautiful.  Every night I will write in it five things I am grateful for.  These things can be anything from the standard health, family – these come to mind when the days are long and tiring and hard – to the flowers and the birds – when days are brighter and lighter.

What are you thankful for?

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts, Simple Abundance, Triple Eight Challenge

14 January 2008

Creative Self

By Nicki

Flowers and Pumpkin

Okay – so as part of the Triple 8 Reading Challenge and as a year long workshop, I am reading Celebrate Your Creative Self by Mary Todd Beam. I have been patiently awaiting the mail delivery of my book and have had a friend tell me the basic concept.

Unfortunately, one of the promises I made to myself this year was to use what I had. In other words, no new purchases for workshops and such. This is not really difficult as I have enough paper, paint, ink, etc for a lifetime. Then, I needed illustration board and contact paper. I didn’t have either. I opted for a smaller gessoed canvas that came in a three pack and masking tape – lots of masking tape.

I covered the entire canvas with masking tape – overlapping so that I could not see the canvas. Then, I quickly drew my elementary flowers – which I tend to draw on a lot of things. I took my knife and cut around the outlines of my flowers and peeled off the other tape but left the flowers taped up. Then, I mixed acrylic paints. I wanted my favorite color d’jour – pumpkin. I had crimson and gold so mixed away until I had an orangy color.

Above is the result. I am trying something else with the process and different colors tonight so look for more tomorrow.

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13 January 2008

Run on a Clear, Sunny Sunday Morning

By Nicki

Looking Ahead Down the Road

So today’s run was more like a short run and an extended walk, then another short run, then a stop for some pics, then run, then walk, then stop.

The Hermitage

My run to the hermitage and back – approximately 2.4 miles – took 44 minutes. That is record slow time.

On the Way Back

To make up for the record slow time, I have about 15 images from my very old – in the digital world – digital camera. Some of these images are for a digital altering challenge and some are just for me.

A Look South on Bradley Creek

The run was sunny and beautiful. The water in the creek was running but not as loudly as earlier this week. The road was quiet as it was early on a Sunday morning. I didn’t run into any hawks, turkeys or deer this morning. I did see a couple of planes either taking off or landing at the local airport.

Which Way Home?

 Great run!!

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Just my Thoughts

12 January 2008

Road Trip #2 for 2008

By Nicki

Purple Eagles’ tickets

Well, well, two weeks into the new year and two road trips have come and gone.

As noted previously, my 20 year old daughter attends Niagara University. Her twin brother attends the State University at Buffalo. He had to be back to school before her dorm opens for the new semester. She and I decided “road trip!”

We left home around 11 am yesterday, Jan 11th. By 2:30 pm, we had dropped Andy at UB and were on our way to see how many things we could do before our athletic destinations.

We made a stop at the campus store at Niagara. Books for the upcoming semester were purchased for under $100. There are two books still outstanding so another $75 or so and this will be a cheap book semester.

We made a visit to Campus Activities to visit friends of Lei’s. This is always a favorite stop of mine. I love the CAO staff!

Then, it was a sneak up into her room to leave the books. My suggestion if we could get in the dorm as it meant one less thing to forget to pack.

Then, off to shop. I had promised her a trip to Steve & Barry’s as we don’t have one near us at home. She got a new pair of jeans and new running shoes. I got her 13 year old brother a pair of jean as well as a pair for myself.

We had a quick dinner at Wendy’s before finding a parking place with our ultimate getaway from campus in mind – which would be at about 11:30 pm as we were staying for the 9 pm basketball game.

A very windy walk over to Dwyer Arena put us at our first athletic event – the Purple Eagles of Niagara against the Colonials of Robert Morris in men’s ice hockey. Having watched two Purple Eagles’ games last weekend, I have to say that last night’s was probably the best of the three. I don’t say this because the end result was a 7-2 win but because it was by far the most physical and well-skated of the three games.

After the seventh goal was scored, we headed over to the Gallagher Center to watch the basketball game – Niagara against Siena

The game was the third straight sell-out of the Gallagher Center. I got one of the last three tickets available. We couldn’t find seats but did find some of Lei and Michael’s friends in the student section. We stood the entire game. It was close but not close. It was college basketball at its best.

The end of the road trip was leaving Niagara at 11:30 pm and heading for the four hour ride home. Lei had had me drive up and do all our driving around so she could stomach the drive home. We made a quick stop at Pembroke Service area on the NYS Thruway and then one quick one at her oldest brother’s in East Syracuse. Lei and I were tucked tightly into bed by 4 am.

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