Going in Circles

Bay St. Louis Bridge

My sweetie and I went to Camp Getaway, our house in Bay St. Louis, this weekend and found the weather too oppresive to do much of anything except stay in the air conditioned house.   Well...I'll speak for myself.  Tony put up the last two storm shutters he built and he and SkippyJon, his new worker cat pal, spent some time downstairs doing guy stuff while Pookie, the Queen Kitty, and I stayed upstairs and did our girl stuff...napping, reading, napping; you get the picture.  Seems the two tuxedo cats have claimed Tony as their person but I'll do in a pinch or at meal time. Since it was too hot to launch the boat, we decided to take a ride down hwy 90 Saturday afternoon and go do a little shopping in Gulfport.  I was shocked to see quite a few people on the beach in spite of the heat.  There were also a lot of workers up and down the beach cleaning up any trash, debris or tar balls seen from the oil spill.  We are all relieved that the well cap seems to be holding, that our Mississippi waters were reopened for fishing on Thursday and that the oil seems to be going away much more quickly than anticipated.  The booms are still out and it will be so wonderful when they are gone and no longer mar the beautiful coast line and waters.

Saturday evening just before six o'clock we discussed what we wanted to do for supper.  That's dinner to some of you.  We decided on Ricky's, a local eatery.   I said I could call in our order and go pick it up but he said no let's just go there to eat.  We got there a little after six and found a line out the door so we decided to ride around a little while and then try back.   We rode around old town Bay St. Louis and admired the great old houses and enjoyed the time together.  Thirty minutes later we dicided to go back to Ricky's and hoped that the crowd had thinned.   No luck.  A longer line.  OK, where from here???   We rode around some more and it seemed everywhere we thought we'd like to eat was packed.  By this time it was almost eight o'clock.  We headed back to Ricky's and got inside and put our names on the waiting list.  To our surprise it was only a short while until we were called.   My initial delight was short lived as we were led to the very back table by the bar and the "smokers".  Neither of us can tolerate smoke so we were put back on the waiting list.  It seemed everyone in the place was either just placing their order or had just recieved their food.   I told Tony that we should just place a to go order and come back and get it.  So we did and for another twenty minutes rode the streets of Bay St. Louis up and down and all around.  We both were getting extremely hungry and  a little irritiable.  At eight fifteen we picked up our order and at eight thirty, two hours after I initially offered to pick up an order, we sat down at our dining table to eat our "to go" order!   

A Corner of my Little World

Begin

Rainbows and Lollipops

On my May 10th post, I listed some of my favorite things.  This past week I was able to very much enjoy all but the last one.  

Spending time with my Daughter    
Tony and I took Tara out for a 33rd birthday celebration luncheon Tuesday and then she and I spent the afternoon in the studio playing with our art journaling.  What fun to pull out the scissors and paste and colors and paints and just make a mess which is what we generally make.


 Peanutbutter and Chocolate Ice Cream
My sweetie and I had a nice luncheon today at Rio Grande, went to BAM and then stopped by Baskin Robbins for a special treat. You know someone loves you  when you are already too voluptious and he still buys you ice cream.


My cats' Happy purrs       
Can count on Thunder, Pookie, Mary George and SkippyJon for my daily purr therapy.


Doing anything with my Sweetie
I am a lucky girl because he spends quality time with me every day even if it's just being.

Reading in Bed
Been reading James Patterson's "Deception" every night. It's taking me longer to read a book in bed these days because I read two or three paragraphs and am out like a light.

Writing in My Journal
Have been making a concerted effort to write in my journal more the past few weeks. I have all these thoughts ricochetingy around in my head but often don't slow down enough to put them to paper. The purpose is purely to document my own madness you understand.
The movie - Driving Miss Daisy
Caught the tail end on tv Tuesday night. I've seen it a dozen times and still the scene where Hoke feeds Miss Daisy the pie gets me every time. Something so bitter sweet about it.


Photographing Nature  
I didn't take the first photograph this week.  Had other things to do but hope to have a chance to get out on the water in the Bay next weekend.

All in all a very good week of enjoying a few of my favorite things.

Free Cat ... Anyone?

Toddler SkippyJon being reprimanded by Pookie

                                                         SkippyJon

A few weeks ago we brought a new baby into the house, who quickly grew into a VERY busy toddler and progressed with the speed of light into a delinquent adolescent!   The one and only SkippyJon Jones Stuart.  A little background history...my daughter called me and said she had found a kitten at an abandoned house.  No other kittens nor mama cat in site; no neighbors claimed him.   The next day I get a text from her.  "Do you know anyone who might take the kitten?"   No - I did not.  All of my friends are up to thier eyeballs in free cats and I would never ask that they take on another one.  A a couple of days passed and she was not having any luck adopting him out.   The writing on the wall said she would be throwing him into the mix at her house with four adult cats and two adult dogs; all  rescues.  I had not seen the kitten at this point but I thought about it and asked Tony what I should do.   Do whatever you want to he said so against my better judgement I called her and said I would take him on a trial basis.   Yeah - right.  Here she comes bringing in this miniscule (maybe 9 oz.) ball of black and white fur.  He immediately made himself right at home and I was immediately smitten. What to name him???  After observing his personality I knew right away that it had to be SkippyJon.  For those of you who are children's book lovers, like Tara and I are, you know exactly who he's named after.  SkippyJon Jones, the siamese kitten who thinks he's a mexican chihuahua who goes on wild imaginary adventures.  I was afraid my three adult cats would not take to him very well since they are ten and eleven years old.  My fear was that my big black male cat, Thunder would pounce on him and hurt him.  I knew Pookie would avoid him and Mary George would establish her boundaries and then ignore him.  Well...within a couple of days Mr. SkippyJon was running the joint.  Poor Thunder is the one he has chosen to harrass because Thunder amazingly just sits there and whines while SkippyJon is hanging on to his neck and wrestling him.  I have even found myself encouraging Thunder to take up for himself!   How can someone who weighs (still) less than two pounds, have a nearly twenty pound cat acting like a wuss I ask you!  On the flip side, he has me looking like an abused woman.  Every step I make he is leaping out from behind doors or furniture and pouncing on me like a psycho maniac jungle cat.  My legs are scratched from ankles to knee caps.  I resorted to trying to scare him with a fly swatter and two swats resulted in two injuries ( to me - not him).   I am resolved to take it one day at a time and put him in time out in the sun room with his favorite stuffed rabbit when I can't take another minute of his shenanigans during the day.   On the upside, he has chosen Tony as his person.   All sweetness and licky licky, purr purr.  That's graitutude from a free cat for you!  

A Little Slice of Heaven

                                                                                                            
                                                  6/25/10   Bay St. Louis, MS

  6/25/10 Railroad Bridge - Bay St. Louis, MS

There are moments in life that if we blink we may miss. Moments that are so seemingly simple but leave a lasting imprint on your heart and memory. Last Saturday my Sweetie and I got up at 4 AM and headed out in the boat to watch the sunrise and hopefully catch a few fish. We rode along side by side in the dark; the moon spilling it’s beams on the water and no other humans in sight and as the sun began it’s ascent and the warm rays reached out to us; I realized that was one of those special moments that I will always cherish. Being priviledged and blessed to share the glorious sunrise and the wonder of God’s creation with the one who has been the better part of me for nearly forty years cannot be equaled.  It is these small and yet so very significant moments that I will remember and hold dear.  Truly a little slice of heaven.

Young at Heart vs Biker Chick

 

Marti and Bernie

Sunday Tony came back from running errands and yelled for me to come quick he had something to tell me.  He began by saying that Thames, our air conditioning guy, had called him on his cell phone to say that he had a young lady on the back of his motor cycle and was going to put her on the phone to see if Tony could recognize her voice.  He said that when he heard her voice his ears were telling him he recognized the voice but his brain could not make it sync.  He asked who it was and she cackled and said it was Bernice.  Bernice?!   Bernice - my little 4ft 9" 80 year old Mom Bernice???   Yes she said it certainly was her and that she had not been on a motor cycle in years.  Tony said he literally held the phone away from his ear and looked at it as if an alien voice was being transmitted.   As he was telling me the story I felt like I was trapped in the twilight zone.  Yes, her name is Bernice, yes I know Thames, noooo - a motorcycle in the equation was crazy.   My brain began to frantically search through my mental files to try to make some sense of what he was telling me.  Ok, The Myrtles, the Nursing facility she's in, had had a luau on Tuesday for which I had provided her with a festive outfit, lays and a flower for her hair....now let's see....oh yeah!....now I can see it clearly on the May calendar the Myrtles had sent me....a motorcycle something or another.  I  hadn't paid much attention to it but I'm pretty sure it did not specify that the residents who wanted to would be given a ride.  Who'd a thunk it.  Even so, she is about the last person I would have expected to climb on the back of a harley.  I called her as soon as I thought she would be back in her room and got the scoop.  She was still giddy and said she had not expected to do it but decided why not?  She said she wore a helment and that he didnt go too fast.   I guess I'm a lot surprised that she'd still be willing to take on such adventures but then on the other had I'm really glad she did.  I think it's pretty wonderful that those guys take time to make someone's day a little brighter.  Wish I had been there to take a picture.

A Perfect Space to Create Art

I decided to set up a new blog for my artistic endevors.  I have wanted to set up a studio for a long time now but could never decide where to do it.  I considered taking what we call the "window room" , which is one of the extra bedrooms with lots of light, as the name implies.  I just couldn't seem to bring myself to take down the antique bed and change the room's pleasant ambience.  I've been dragging everything to the dining table when I want to work on an art project but then once I was done I'd have to drag everything back to the laundry room where I've been storing my art supplies.  That has not been working for me for sometime though because I have accumlulated so much stuff I've outgrown the space and it's caused me great frustration because I couldn't organize or find anything!  Tony has suggested several times that I take one end of the sunroom for my studio but I have been obstinate.  I have a hard time changing things once I have them like I like them.  I just couldn't wrap my head around giving up some of the sunroom furniture and moving in things I may or may not be satisfied with.  I finally acquiesced and let him convince me that it would work.  He brought the antique drafting table from his office and bought me a new ergonomic chair, helped me move in the old bookshelf  that I had stored in the garage and provided me with a huge roll of paper to use to protect the table when I paint.  I've spent days now moving my art supplies and books to their new home and generally "nesting" as Tony calls it.  I am a little surprised at how pleasant the space is and how much I like it.  OK; he was right.  There I said it.  He asked today to see something I've done.  I had to admit that I haven't done anything yet.  I've been much too busy getting everything just right to actually create art!  I am very much looking forward to getting started though.  Tara and I have been collecting ephemera to begin our art journaling project.  Now we have a great space to work and spend time together in.   Maybe tomorrow I will pour myself  a tall glass of ice tea, put my 300 + CDs on shuffle, turn up the bose speakers and see if I can get the creative juices flowing. I feel a little bit like an imposter though pretending to be a real artist.  Maybe my new studio will inspire me.  Wish me luck. Stay tuned. 

Picture This

I've been a serious amatuer photographer since 1977. My husband bought me a $300.00 35 mm Pentax SLR when our daughter was born and I was hooked. I have hundreds - maybe thousands of photos I've taken of her over her lifetime. I cringe to think how many more thousands were discarded back when I burned up roll after roll of film. I would wait eagerly for days for them to be developed and then to my great disappointment come out with one or two good ones out of the whole lot!   For years I hauled around (I must give my hubby credit for many an afternoon he did the hauling for me) multiple lens, filters and flashes so I could be sure to have the right one to capture any situation. Then the life of us ametuer shutter bugs got a lot sweeter when the cost of digital SLRs became reasonable enough  for us to buy. My first 35 mm digital camera was like a magic box. Being able to immediately view what I'd just photographed and deciding whether it was a keeper or a goner with a touch of a button was just too good. No more film to buy and develop, no more heavy camera bags to lug. Freedom - to go and SHOOT to my heart's content. Then I graduated to more advanced digital SLRs and began experimenting with different techniques and effects. Some worked -some didn't. Then I discovered photo editing programs and took my photography to a whole other level. Those photos that I might have been inclined to delete I now take a second look at. It's amazing what you can do to a not so great photo with the magic of Photoshop!  Today I signed up to take a 50 hr. digital photography course at USM. I have the best cameras anyone could possibly need other than a true professional maybe; and I think I take pretty good photographs. I really want my photographs to be better than good; I want them to be great.   At the end of the next two weeks I expect a drastic improvement in my artistic photography endevors. I'll keep you posted.

A Few More Of My Favorite Things

Spending time with my Daughter

Peanut butter and chocolate ice cream

My cats' happy purrs

Doing anything with my Sweetie

The movie - Driving Miss Daisy

Reading in bed

Writing in my journal

Photographing nature

The Perfect Day

                                                              

Have you ever had THE perfect day? Seems I have a lot of them but last Friday was definitely one of the most perfect. Tony and I went to Camp Getaway late Thursday afternoon and immediately went to Cuz's with our friends, the D'ilios, for some great seafood . Early Friday morning Tony got our fishing gear together and we headed out to try our new bimini for Teddy R. and dip a hook in hopes that with a little luck we'd catch a fish. The wind was a little cool with the boat moving but the sun was sparkling on the water like diamonds, gulls and black-winged black birds were singing and sailing on the breeze and I was enjoying it all with my sweetie. We headed to one of our go to fishing holes; the Gene Taylor reef; and found several boats already there. We anchored and Tony rigged my rod and reel. He baited my hook with one of the many kinds of artificial baits we try to lure the fish with. In the past none of them seemed to work very well for me. Seems the fish are always smarter than I am but catching the fish has never been the main objective; and that's a very good thing Martha Stuart. For me the end goal is to enjoy and savor the time Tony and I spend together. Last year was the first year that Teddy R. was launched and Tony was trying to work out any kinks. I got a little whinny because we didn't have a bemini for shade or soft seats like the pontoon boat. Sooo...Tony installed padded seats and a bimini (for my fishing comfort) so that we can fish longer periods of time without me being a whinny butt. OK- I digress; where was I? -oh yeah - I was ready for my first cast which usually ends up with my line getting tangled or getting hung up on debri. Hard as I try to be self su-fish-ent; it almost always ends up with Tony having to stop and come to my recue. He's always a good sport about it though. I cast a couple of times and so far so good except NO fish. I didn't see anyone else pulling anything in so my expectations were low. All of a sudden I felt him... I told Tony "whatever it is it's BIG". He (the fish - not Tony) began to strip my line and I was sure it would break before I could get him in the boat. I "played" him (see...I do know some fisherman terminology) for a little while and slowly but surely brought him right up to the boat where Tony could net him. A 24" 8 lb. redfish.  Woo hooo! I think Tony was more excited than I was since he always wants me to catch a big ole fish. Now we're cooking - I thought. I was ready to reel'em in until we reached our limit and had to stop while all the other fishermen (and women) in the other boats, who had caught nothing, looked on with great envy.  REWIND...we continued to cast about for a while with not even one more bite. Finally we had to admit that the dream of getting our own fishing show was looking pretty dim. We headed out toward Pass Christian, then to Grassy Point and stopped along the way to test the waters. Tony caught one nice flounder and I never got another bite.  In all we went about 30 miles that day. In the end we caught enough fish for supper, had a boat load of fun (if not a boat load of fish) and best of all I got to spend the etire day with my main squeeze.


The perfect day.

LINKS to my ART Sites

Below are links to my art site and my face book page.  Hope you'll check them out.


Fine Art America

http://m-stuart.artistwebsites.com/

http://www.facebook.com/mkrstuart



You can access links to my sites from my facebook profile page under links.





















Other sites that might be of interest.



http://www.photographymasterclass.com/tag/creativity

The Painted Lady

                                         

I am painting cats these days (well pictures that is) although I did have an absolutely stupid idea one time (Yep, only once!) that involved painting a real cat, sort of. I decided to put red paint on Pookie's foot (one of our three cats) and use her paw print as the logo for my MPRints cards. I managed to get the paint on just before she tore away and sprinted through the house tracking red paint all over the floor and then managed to "wash" her foot, face and ears before I could stop her. She looked like she'd been in a terrible accident and looked at me like "ARE YOU CRAZY!?. ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!? I tried to gently wash the paint off amid the sqiggling and yawling but to no avail. She had to endure pink ears and paws for about two weeks. You could tell she was humiliated and I felt like a fool. Have you ever apologized to a cat. Forget it. They just give you a go to you know where look, turn and swish their tail and walk away.  Can't say that I blame her.  The next time I have one of those "Watch This" kinda ideas think I'll rethink before doing.   Anyway, I'm sticking to painting cats only on paper these days. I'm sure Pookie appreciates it.

One Of Those Days...

A while back I was on my way to Columbia, MS and am driving along, humming to the radio and feeling pretty good about how my day has gone so far. As I pull away from the red light and accelerate slightly I become aware that cars all around me are speeding by; leaving me behind. I look at my speedometer and verify that I am going the 65 speed limit. I wonder where all of these people are going in such a rush and am feeling smug about the fact that I will not be the one getting a ticket. I look out the window and the trees appear to be standing still. I feel like I am in slow motion as the cars keep whizzing by. I press the accelerator steadily and am alarmed when I see that the dial reads almost 100 miles per hour. If I am going almost 100 miles an hour just to keep up, then how the hell fast is every one else going? And why?  Is there some catastrophe I'm not aware of.  I have been on the highway for about fifteen minutes and have gone maybe 10 miles. I have 20 more miles to go. At this rate it will take me two hours to get there. Am I in a time warp, having a stroke, finally lost it completely? Were the mushrooms I had on my pizza at lunch "funny"?  I now have that funny tingly feeling you get from an adrenaline rush.  Before I totally panic, I decide to call my husband. As I explain the situation, I realize how ridiculous the words sound coming out of my mouth. I'm going 95 miles an hour and I feel like I'm in slow motion I tell him.  I can't keep up with traffic I say.  I'm trying not to alarm him but I know he will either go into high alert or laugh at me.  He doesn’t have a clue what could be going on he says. Tells me to take the car in for a check up. Doesn’t do a blasted thing to make me feel better about this predicament I am in nor does he even try to assure me that I am not luny tunes; mainly because he probably thinks I am. I take my foot off the accelerator and slow to 60 miles an hour and wonder if I am actually going to have to get out and push the car. The cars keep whizzing by. Fifteen minutes later hubby calls back – I knew it ! - he really does think I’ve gone over the edge and is checking up on me. He asks if I see something on my dash that says ME. I see the ME button and he says to press it. I do and when I look at the speedometer it says I am going 45 miles an hour NOT 85. It just came to me he tells me; that it somehow got switched over to metric. I notice that he is careful not to say that I am responsible for the switch, which I am grateful for although I know he's thinking it.  A rush of relief floods over me; I am not crazy after all – well not completely. I thank him and continue on my journey at what now feels like an out of control speed.  At 65 miles an hour, I am now passing other cars and the trees are a blur and no longer standing still. I wonder if other people have these kinds of days or if I am the only one lucky enough to have something this crazy to make me laugh … mainly at myself.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

     A  Few Of  My  Favorite Things



Dew drops on flowers


Chocolate


My husband's dimple


The sound of rain on a tin roof


Puppy breath


Turning leaves in fall


Old houses


Snuggling with my Sweetie on a cold night


Old books


The shapes of bare trees in winter


Photographing my daughter

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

     Don't   Hate  Me  Because  I'm  Beautiful


Seems that we have an unlikely celebrity in the family.  Pookie.  You might know that the "other" woman in Tony's life would end up stealing all of the limelight.   Was there ever any doubt that I'm just chopped liver.  Check out my blog "The Other Woman"on 9/08/08 for the rest of the story.  She was the headline story for the Paw Print Post on January 21, 2010.


Today's rescue story: A cat who showed 'pretty toes'

Caption;  A reader named Marti writes this about a cat they saved from a shelter:
"This is Pookie. She is a beautiful black and white Tuxedo cat who is about 9 years old. Our daughter went to the shelter looking for a companion when she lived alone. When she passed Pookie's cage, the kitty reached out her paw though the bars and "showed pretty toes". That was it. Those toes CATapulted her(excuse the pun) into a life of luxury.



When our daughter moved back in with us for a few months while she was in college, Pookie came too. Pookie fell deeply and madly in love with my husband, Tony. She's in his lap every time he sits down. She stretches out on his chest, rubs her head on his chin and reaches up with her paw and touches his face. No doubt that this cat is in love.

Needless to say, when our daughter moved out into an apartment, Pookie stayed behind. She has the sweetest disposition of any cat I've ever known. We say she is the Mother Teresa of the cat world. On weekends, we take her with us to our house on the gulf coast (about an hour ride). When we bring the cat carrier in, as soon as she sees it she goes to the litter box and gets ready to go. I used to have to say "go potty Pookie" but now she's ready to roll!   It still melts my heart when she comes up to us and stretches up and spreads her pretty toes. We decided that it's her way of saying hello. Although I am second choice in her world - that's ok. I wouldn't exactly say Tony is her owner. He's more like her person."  Well there you have it.  How can I ever compete with that!?

A Lovely Way to Spend An Afternoon

                                                                      Duncan


Last Monday I had the pleasure of spending the absolutely glorious afternoon photographing my little (not quite one year old) neighbor, Duncan, in my backyard. He is a beautiful child and so photogenic.  Always smiling...a real heart breaker already. He has recently started walking and is now busy exploring everything in his universe.  Since he's become mobile, the world is a smorgessboard of endless ways to excite his sense of touch, taste, sight and smell ....we will discuss hearing in a minute.  His Mom and Dad, Susan and Chad, helped me by trying to gently persuade Duncan to go in certain directions or pose in certain ways.  Toddlers, however, have their own agenda .... staying still or in one place was most definitely NOT on his agenda.  A great deal of our time was spent with extracting leaves, bark and small twigs from his mouth.  Leaves in particular seem to be of great interest to him.  Oh, and I mentioned hearing ... he was not in the least interested in hearing his Mom ask him nicely to spit out the leaves.  Unfortunately this period of turning a deaf ear, so to speak, gets worse before it gets better but I didn't want to alarm Susan this far ahead by bringing up the terrible twos!  That will come soon enough.   It is amazing how much ground a person that barely comes up to my knee can cover and very quickly at that.  It became clear early on  how much energy he has and I don't.   It's been a long time since I've chased a toddler around.  Sorry Tara .... hey what can I say, it has been a long time since you were that age!   I  simply moved along with him and watched with delight as he proceeded on his journey of discovery.   His expressions changed with each new thing and I managed to capture some wonderful moments.  It reminded me of all the afternoons I spent photographing Tara.  I cherish those memories.  I pull out the photos often and I can remember the exact place and moment I took each one.  Every image a snap shot of a moment preserved  in the tapestry of our lives.   I hope the photographs I took of Duncan will preserve memories for his parents.   What could be a more lovely way to spend an afternoon than rediscovering the world through the eyes of a child and making memories. 

PS: I hope Mom and Dad will forgive me for including some shots.