Yes, it’s the 10th anniversary of 9/11. No, I will never forget that day. Yes, I will always remember it.

But…I also will not dwell on it every year.

I remember my mother calling me that morning, telling me to turn on the TV. I really don’t want to go back and relive the horror of that day.

My mother has since passed away, but I don’t dwell on the day she passed on, either. I prefer to celebrate her birth every year.

So, if I dwell on anything on 9/11 every year it will be the re-birth of our nation and how we all came together, as one.

United. For once.

No Democrats. No Republicans. Just us. United. Fiercely loving our country.

Amen.

Breathe, smile, have fun!

That was my calendar entry a month ago – the day of my daughter’s wedding.

At our house.

With a hundred guests.

For some wild reason, I forgot to look at my calendar that day.

I was actually cruising along beautifully…until the first people started to arrive at about 3:30 p.m.

Then my life sort of flashed before my eyes and I didn’t know if I was going to pass out or lose my lunch.

Oh, wait. I’d had no lunch!. Pass out it was.

To make a very long story VERY short, the people all came, it was very hot, the ceremony was beautiful, and my daughter and her new husband have been in total wedded bliss ever since.

I had discovered a 3rd option that day. I simply checked out for a few hours until it was all over. As I kept telling people, “Denise has left the building. Don’t ask me any questions, because my brain has stopped communicating with my mouth.”

The last thing I remember was getting to bed at 5:30 the next morning! It was starting to get light; the birds were starting to sing; and I fell into a delicious, blissful sleep.

What I’d like to know is have any of YOU been successful at getting your kids to take the money…and elope instead?!

Next, I’ll let you know what I’ve been up to with my art for the last month.

My first daffodil finally bloomed this week! My first thought was one of pure ecstasy: “Spring is here!!!!!!”

My immediate second thought was, “It will snow any day now” (together with, “They’d look a lot prettier if I cleaned up my garden…”).

Sure enough, it snowed today.

As sure as the sky is blue, my daffodils will always end up with snow on them. But fear not; they are hardy little buggers! I’ve seen a foot of snow crush them, only to have them spring back as soon as the snow melted away.

And in light of the recent Colorado fires we are thrilled to have the moisture, so bring on the snow!

For an Artist Date this week, my son went with me to the Butterfly Pavilion in NW Denver. The last time we were there was probably 10 years ago, back when I was homeschooling my kids and we were volunteers there.

My fondest memories were of the quiet mornings in the atrium (picture harp music here), before the crowds arrived (now you hear birds singing), when we would have the whole place to ourselves, all the while with butterflies floating around and landing on us (more harp music). Ahh…

Time to burst that bubble. Stop the harps. We couldn’t have timed our arrival more perfectly, for just as we pulled in…so did 3 SCHOOL BUS-LOADS of children! Not one, not two, but THREE! I am happy to report that they were all very nice kids, and I could see over all their heads.

My son’s memory of our volunteer stint was a bit less romantic. He remembers collecting caterpillars. I don’t remember that at all. Why, you ask, wouldn’t they want caterpillars? Caterpillars become butterflies, don’t they? Well, it’s because CATERPILLARS ARE EATING MACHINES! If you want all the exotic plants and flowers, then NO caterpillars. Only pupa. Which travel well in the mail.

Good thing I had my son with me to point out all the other cool things. Like this turtle doing isometrics:

I think he was stretching his leg out for a race. Then there was the anole hiding in the shadows. Cute little guy.

All in all, we had a wonderful trip down memory lane. On the way out we were reminded to:

Oops, found one on my coat:

Since I’m too lazy to do it for you, you can check here to identify the butterflies. Then you can tell me what you found. Do you have a favorite butterfly? Mine is the Tiger Swallowtail.

My friend Nanci Hersh illustrated a book called Butterfly Kisses and Wishes on Wings, which I think is the most beautiful book title I’ve ever heard! I think butterfly kisses win out over Tiger Swallowtails.

Did you see that magnificent HUGE full moon last week? Wow!!!

Full Moon Rise over Denver

I’ve been back in town for almost 3 weeks now, after being gone for 3 weeks, and am just now getting my groove back. My groovy groove.

I am happy to report that I finished my Moo redo last week. I was also going to varnish my Moo painting for the owners last week. But it’s been SO windy lately that I had to wait until this weekend. Done.

Here’s the blow-by-blow of me creating the new painting:

First things first. After toning the canvas, I started to draw.

Then I started to slap on some paint. This is when I realized that it was going to take me way longer than I had planned, because I was trying to make it look like the original – same colors, same spacing, etc.

Getting pretty close.

Voila! The hardest part, well, no, just ONE hard part, was making sure I put the paint on the new painting and not the old one!

Now we wait to see what the new owner will select for the title of HER cow painting. Here were the suggestions:

Moo Redo

Moo2

Moo Too

New Moo – or would that be Noo Moo?

Moo Anew

More Moo

You moo me

Moo Two

More Ado About Moo

Mooooving Along Little Doggies

Moe Moo

Moo Too

Or:  Eenie Meenie Miney Moo

It’s time for your 2 cents. Let’s take a vote and submit the results to the new owner! What’s your choice?

I had 2 frogs to eat today–and, actually, it has taken me 2 days (if you’ve never read Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog! I highly recommend it). Here’s his explanation:

An old saying is that “If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long!” Your “FROG” is the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don’t do something about it now! It is also the one task that can have the greatest positive impact on your life and results at the moment.
And:
It has also been said that “If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first!” This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first. Discipline yourself to begin immediately and then to persist until the task is complete before you go on to something else.

Anyway, I wanted to start with a clean slate before I relaxed into my newly and beautifully arranged (arranged, not decorated) studio. I don’t have a new picture yet, but it still looks sort of like this:

Studio "Before"

(Except that the metal drawer cabinets that are up on the counter in the corner are no longer there. And the four from the other side of my studio are no longer there. They are now under my desk area.)

One of my frogs was to finish my year-end taxes, which I did. CHECK!

The other was to finish my Christmas cards… Don’t judge me.

I know, I know, it’s mid January!

Actually, I wrote my annual letter on Christmas Eve eve and could have hustled and gotten the cards in the mail right away.

But then I started stressing about using my impersonal, computer-printed labels.

That didn’t last long, though. I decided to opt for the “Get-over-yourselves,-whiners,-would-you-rather-get-no-letter-or-one-with-a-computer-generated-label?” approach. Those who I know would rather get no letter get no letter. That was easy.

My next timing option for sending the cards was to get them out the following week and seem unspecial and pathetic. You know how when you receive cards after Christmas they’re not nearly as special? And you can’t hang the card up for a decoration anymore.

I was not going to be last-minute Denise this year! (Why show them a new side of me now?)

So, I had the brainy idea to wait and be everyone’s first letter of the New Year!

Not doin’ too well, am I?

At this point, all I know is that I’d better hurry and get them out while there’s still snow everywhere, because I, smartly, opted for the “Season’s Greetings” slogan, with the little snowman and snowflakes, on our photo-greeting cards this year.

I have learned not to buy the “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Holidays,” or “Happy New Year” ones. They’re much too restrictive.

Tomorrow I will plop them all in the mail (I’m using Hawaiian surfer stamps so that no one thinks it’s a late Christmas card) and can finally say, CHECK!

What are your frogs??? Mmmmm, yummy.