What do you do when a friend is hurting
But won’t let you console her?
What do you do when a friend is down
But won’t let you help him smile?
What do you do when a friend is hungry
But won’t let you feed him?
What do you do when a friend is thirsty
But won’t let you give her a drink of water?
What do you do when a friend is crying
But won’t let you wipe away the tears?
What do you do when a friend needs a hug
But won’t let you hold him close?
What do you do?
So many things go into the quality of life we all enjoy in our various communities. The community itself looks to enhance the quality of life for its residents in attempts to keep people interested in living in the community.
I have found that one item that really plays to quality of my life is art. I like to create art but I also like to know that art is an important part of the community in which I live.
Gronk and BC in front of Barnes & Noble, Vestal
A recent attempt to help rejuvenate downtown Binghamton, an art-based attempt at that, has failed. hArt of BC attempted to place 22 fiberglass dinosaurs – Gronk – around the city of Binghamton. Various artists decorated these fiberglass creatures but, in Binghamton, there were problems. Vandalism. These dinosaurs are five feet by five feet. They are to be auctioned off to benefit charity at the end of their time downtown.
That time was ended prematurely when the 22 downtown dinosaurs were moved to the Oakdale Mall on July 1 – after only being in the city for a month – due to vandalism.
On the other hand, Ithaca is in its 11th year of Art in the Heart of the City. This is an annual outdoor art exhibit. Granted the exhibits just opened on Friday, when I was last in Ithaca, but I presume some took some time to install so they have probably been up for a bit.
Look up in the tree
So, if you are in Ithaca this summer, enjoy the lake and the falls but make sure you take time to head to the Commons and see Art in the Heart of the City.
I am absolutely amazed as I head out the doors these days that a week ago my area had a dump of two feet of snow and now I can see the driveway down to the dirt and the lawn in areas. In a salute to the resilience of nature and of those of us humans who love to look at her strength and her beauty, I offer a sunset from early this week and the sunrise this morning.
I have always been a mover. I sit in church but my leg is bouncing or I am tapping my foot with the music. I sit at the computer to work and I move this way or that as I do my work. Even in the car, a passing driver is likely to see me playing drums or piano on the steering wheel. I like to move.
Then came last week when I pondered aloud and shared all those voices in my head with you readers, the voices that were talking about posing nude for artists. I don’t think a single one of those voices took into account my desire to be in motion. I am sure I didn’t take my desire to be in motion into account when I told Ben I was in and would be there Sunday as the model for the sketching group.
Needless to say the voice in my head that said do this was right in that there is nothing wrong with the human body – male or female – that requires it to be covered up. What I, and none of the voices, took into consideration was the stillness.
I have grown up on video – taking it over my kids, my parents taking it of me as a child (okay, so that was a moving picture, not video), video my wedding although I have no clue where that is now. Even my artist daughter did not say any thing about my not being able to hold still before saying it was great I thought I could do this. Actually, she didn’t say anything other that it was great.
My male children voiced concerns from the 19 year old (#5) asking who would want to look at my body at my age to the 15 year old (#6) calling it gross that his mother was going to pose naked. The two girls (#3 & #4) could care less. The oldest (#1) generally supported the other two boys. #2 is at college so couldn’t partake in the verbal “beat down on Mom.” Now, after reading Kelly Diels’s take on negative compliments and pick up artists, I think my boys are in for a new lessons this week on women and on people in general.
I planned out my weekend so I knew that the only thing that would keep me from showing up on Sunday from 1-4 pm was really bad weather. Sunday was beautiful here where I live. I went to Mass at 8:30 am as that was when the choir #1 and #3 sing in was performing. I came home and went out for a quick five mile run, showered, didn’t dry my hair – a new thing the past week or so, and headed to Ithaca.
I opted for garage parking as the snow had left the street parking to be a bit narrow. Could have managed it but the garage was much easier and should it snow while I was busy, I wouldn’t have to clean off my car. I strolled down the Commons – an area in Ithaca, if you are unfamiliar with it, where the street has been closed and paved over and which you can see through the link to a web cam if I did everything correctly and found the store that had been mentioned in the email from Ben. I went in and starting looking around. I will definitely be back to the store as I found some amazing things there.
The sketching group/class – I don’t know what they are called – meets upstairs. I went up with Ben and thought that I should have brought my camera in to photo the area but I left it in the car for some odd reason, maybe nerves. Several times prior to getting started, I was thankful to those supportive voices in my head that kept telling me to take a deep breath.
The group started with several – I couldn’t tell you how many – one minute poses. This may be common sense to people who model regularly but I was stretching back in my mind to remember the various poses I had seen on Ben’s blog.
Then, there were two minute poses. I also tried to keep track of where I was facing. How many times would you want to be the person who got to draw my back or, for that matter, my ass?
The five minute poses were okay – sort of in between short and long. The final five minute pose I did was hard as I was tired and it involved one arm being above my head. The one and two minute poses were a little easier and were like a really long yoga or stretching session for after a hard run.
There were also ten, fifteen and twenty minute poses. This is where the staying still was difficult for me. I came to the conclusion I needed to find a focal point – just like in labor. For a lot of them, I would concentrate on someone’s shoes. In my mind I would make up stories to go with those shoes. Big Little Wolf, if you are ready this, there was a pair of black shoes that I think you would have loved. I even, eventually, told the woman – most likely a college student – I was in lust with her shoes. This was all fine and dandy until the music would have hysterical lyrics. Listening to Ben Folds and some of his songs while trying to stay still is really hard.
All in all, I learned a bit about myself yesterday. I can stay still if necessary. I am not good at it but I can do it. I also realized I may say I am shy but I think I really like my body – or most of it. I did not feel self-conscious but once and that was when I could see the stretch marks I have recently earned from losing weight. I had at least one young female tell me I had a beautiful body. Of course, she has posed before and I am sure she is young enough that I have more than one child older than she is.
This past Sunday I was still nursing a problem with my hip. Rather than do my normal four or five miles – it was beautiful outside, though brisk – I took my new DSLR out for a walk on my normal running route. Below are the pictures that came from that walk, including one of the moon out in the clear blue sky.
The area of Upstate New York where I live is finally getting the winter we have been waiting for all season. Until today, the storms have maybe hit five inches but only once or twice. My son’s school district has had two snow days, before today – both of which were not bad enough to stop me from traveling.
Here are pictures from today early and about dusk.
Upstate New York is finally paying for the lovely October – okay, so there was one small snow storm, beautiful November and almost pristine December weather that was had. It is January, a new year, a new decade and evidently a new weather trend – cold.
What is one to expect when living in Upstate New York? I have lived here most of my entire life so should be use to the cold that comes but this was quick. It is not welcome at all. Yesterday morning when I crawled out of bed, the temperatures quickly started going down. That’s right the sun was coming up but the temperatures were doing a nose dive. By 7 am, the wind chill was below 0F and it never came back to zero, let alone to positive numbers.
I woke this morning to air temperature of a single digit. I know nine is so close to ten but still, it was a single digit. And the wind chill was a negative nine. Glad I didn’t have to go across the road to get a newspaper out of the box. If I had, it probably would have stayed there all day.
So what is one to do with this frigid clip of weather? There are all kinds of indoor activities. One child is heading to the movies today. One child is heading back to college today. This activity will end up making me cold, of that I am sure.
I tend to plunge into writing or reading when the weather dips below the zero mark. I like to do my workouts – especially my runs – outside but not when I can’t breathe. I will run inside which is not quite as effective but does keep me active.
I will read. I have been through two short paperbacks since New Year’s Eve. I am currently working on a third. I will read as I can do that all bundled up with a mug of tea on my night stand.
I will write. I have tons of blog entries in my head. Out they will come! Aren’t you readers in for a treat??
I will create. I have some art projects in mind. I will find the space I left covered up last year and will draw, paint and create.
What do you do when it is too cold to be outside? What are your favorite inside activities?
The last year of this decade was a huge one for me personally. I did not sit down at the end of December 2008, as I normally would, and review the past year and set expectations for the year to come. I let 2009 roll in and through on its own. Parts of that were very good. Parts of that were not so very good.
I lost my art drive. I have seen a lot of art but have not created much in 2009. I took what I thought would be a brief hiatus as I was leaving town to go to my daughter’s college graduation. When I came back, my life was in full swing here with other things going on. I kept saying I would get back to my art but never did.
I lost my father this year. He had health issues. They had come to light more in the last few months of 2008 and then again in the beginning of 2009. He did not like or want to face these issues. I know, through my faith, that he is in a better place now and that his life, had he lived, would not have been what he wanted. This provides some solace.
I made many new friends this year. These people may be people around the corner or in town or across the Atlantic Ocean. Some of these people are ones that I turn to in distress and in happiness. Some of these people are artists. Some of these people are like family to me. If you are someone I did not know in 2008 but do now, please know that I am happy we met.
I rediscovered my life in 2009. As is often the case with single parents, my life had been my kids’ for many years. I went out, had friends and did some things that were mine but most things were just for my children. I found, and how I didn’t realize this sooner, that my children are happier if I am happier. I found my life in 2009. I did things for me.
I rediscovered how much I love to write in 2009. I have written a huge portion of a novel that I will finish up by the end of February. I have also taken to writing here more frequently. I have additional poetry that I have written in 2009. The last poetry I had written before this year was at least six or seven years ago. The best of my poetry before 2009 had been written in 1999. Is it a decade cycle? Let’s hope not.
Had I been asked near the end of December 2009 how I would rank the year, I would have definitely said the good outweighed the bad. As a matter of fact, I did say so in comments on Little Big Wolf’s “Scoring the Decade: Your 10 Years in Review…” Then, I turned my year topsy turvy without thinking.
Was 2009 a good year? I still have to say yes. The good times, the good friends, the good things that happened by far outweigh the bad. Unfortunately, the stupidity of me and the bad that happened was close to the end of the year and that is weighing heavy now.
I have been to the first and second meetings of the Groton Photo Club. I really am loving taking pictures with people who know much more than I do and in a place I do not normally take pictures. You see, I am not from Groton but drive up for this event once a month.
Last night, we talked about night photos. I had done some experimenting with these at the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train last weekend but was intrigued to have found more settings on my point and shoot camera since then.
A few tips I have discovered:
So, for those who can’t wait, here are my pictures of Groton last night. It is a typical Smalltown USA.
Yes, in spring, the color we all long to see is green. Here in upstate NY, I will be very happy when green replaces the brown – and, unfortunately, the occasional white – that is the outside right now.
In honor of spring, I joined an ATC – Artist Trading Card – swap at The Latest Trends in Mixed Media. Unfortunately, I had to bow out of the actual swap as I didn’t get my ATCs in the mail in time, due to work, but here is the work. The theme was monochromatic green.
