My Christmas Present

Photo: Have the happiest holiday season ever, eh?


I love the way the universe works. I am hooked on the intricate interconnections it interweaves when it wants to.
It happened again today.
I’ve been hugely busy stocking up on my netwriting so I can take time to be with the WGG, my two sons, thei r wives, in-laws and the whole famdamily. Also singing with my choir in holiday concerts. Also putting my photos on exhibit with the local Artists and Artisans Guild for seasonal shoppers. (Not a ton of room in there to blog, sorry!)
Of the several hundred artworks on display, I had five. This being my first exhibit, I messed up my first attempt and had to reframe them. The very kind folks allowed me leeway and I got them hung. Then waited for the great news of a sale. They were hung Nov. 27. I got the call Dec. 17 that one had sold.
It was a thrill like no other. The caller didn’t even know which one had found a new home. It was several days before I was due to “sit” in the gallery. This is how we artists pay for the display space (along with the commission); we sign up for three hour sessions to welcome viewers to the gallery, answer questions, take money, etc.
When I went in, I could tell right away which photo had sold since that information was listed beside the gallery door. It was a photo of mountain peaks seemingly floating on clouds. I peeked at the receipt and discovered a friend had bought it. Which is very nice, knowing a friend would have my photo hanging in their home. My artistic side, however, finicky as always, speculated on whether the friend bought it because we are friends. It whispered that real proof of talent is when strangers buy your stuff.
I know, I know, stupid to be fussing instead of enjoying the pleasure.
At three more three-hour “sittings,” I got to study both buyers and art. What did people seem to like and how was the art presented? The answer to the first is, “everything:” each person liked something different. The second was more helpful. I was the only one who had used oval mats to frame my pictures. I asked another photographer, and he agreed: “Oval is out.”
As well, the majority of mats were white. I had used colored ones, even double matting some. My mother had done this. Artists do not.
I had hundreds of examples to study, and concluded that square white mats look like...art. Colored oval frames look like...family photos. Thus I used my time in the gallery well.
With one hour left to go on my last shift, a woman walked in during a lull in a busy morning. She headed toward the wall next to my desk. I asked her if she was shopping for Christmas gifts and she said yes, her husband liked “that one.”
And she pointed to my big horn sheep photo. With its colored (but square) mat. I got goosebumps. I pointed out the head of a female sheep just to one side. She said they had not noticed it. I took a deposit and she said she would be back to pay the balance and take it with her.
The universe was already working , but I was too thrilled to notice. Validation from both a friend and a stranger. It didn’t get much better than that. I happily wrapped up my sheep and put it in the back room for pick up. My time ran out, my replacement arrived. I showed her the package, packed up and went next door to the library to get some books for Christmas reading. Grabbed several and was leaving the building when I held the door for a woman loaded down with packages. She smiled and looked familiar. I smiled back and watched her go into the gallery. My patroness! I decided what the heck, stuck my head in the door and asked her to thank her husband for buying my photo. She thanked me for taking it.
The Universe bringing things together like it does, to let me sell my own painting, savor the thrill, meet the buyer and thank her...it does not fail to amaze.
May it do the same for you. And bless us: everyone.
SLI

Do you hear what I hear?

(photo: All of us a week ago united in song)




The temperature was minus 33 on Sunday. I know because I was outside and it felt like it. I have tried to explain to those in San Francisco or other places unfamiliar with the concept of snow or freezing what it is like.
I can't do it very well. Yes, it's like walking into a freezer, but the thing is, the freezer has a door and you can go back to an unfrozen land. Winter in the Great White North has no door unless you are a Snowbird and decamp in October to Arizona. Or you fly off to Kauai for a holiday.
Yes, there are doors here. But the ones that lead outside lead to that endless frozen desert. Minus 30 on a ski hill is even colder, especially sitting on the lift with the windchill in your face. At least schussing downhill your muscles are warm.
I prefer snowshoeing for several reasons: safety, I've been run into by too many clueless snowboarders; cost, tickets and equipment strain the budget(especially when a boarder cuts your day short); and I like not having to stand in line (there aren't any when you shoe). I may try cross country this season, it shares many benefits of shoeing.
Sadly, I don't skate, but I might try that at the indoor rink if I can find someone to go with. They skate on the outdoor rink and have dogsled races and it looks like fun.
That said, once winter slammed the door on the lovely fall we were enjoying right up to November 30, I adjusted my garage-less life to getting into a car that is a frozen block and holding my breath until I can get the windows open to keep it from frosting up inside. Walking with shorter steps so my bare skin doesn't brush against frozen pant legs. Leaving 15 minutes early to bundle in parka, scarf, mitts and toque and dig my car out or scrape the windshield clear.
The joke on Sunday was that it was balmy compared to Edmonton, where the temp was minus 48 and with windchill, it was 57 below. I shivered through six winters there.
What has kept me sane through the deep freeze has been music. My choir of 60 men and women who started rehearsals in September performed three times, twice in concert, and OMG, it was...heavenly. We did it. Rose to the challenge, responded to the audience, sang our hearts out.
And I did it standing next to a Steinway piano.
WOW.
Worth every frosty day.
May your holidays be full of harmony

SLI

SOWing

(cartoon: thanks, Cuz, for sending the jpeg. So much better to see it!)




(photo: Like this snow "possum" I'm having trouble getting excited about winter.)





I admit it, I'm in a funk. The weather is minus 30 plus and I am holed up in my place and do. not. want. to. go. out.
This has been going on for a week. I can do it because I'm a netwriter and work at home.
But it isn't healthy. I need people. The kitties are not enough.
It stops tonight when I go to the tech rehearsal for my choir. Gotta go. The concerts are Friday and Sunday. Have other things to do as well. Life intrudes on my funkiness.
My poor Prezzie sits frozen in the street. Those of you south of the 49th parallel can not imagine the depth of the cold. That said, millions live here, more millions come for the skiing and winter activities, time to stop being a baby, missing California and get cracking (like ice: Ho, ho, sob)
Here is a funny my cousin sent. I appreciate all forms of humor these days, it is getting me through. Like SOWing good cheer. Hear. Hear.
Enjoy please.
SLI

SOW time

(Smile of the Week)



(Photo: Peli can laugh, can U?)




The snow has fallen, the temperatures, too,
now we have winter to slip-slide through.

A thing of beauty when sun sparkles the hills,
I grow weary scraping windshields and braving windchills

To brighten the day I share a warm winter SOW ,
The best route to spring is to frequently howl!


http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=2d3fb517a3&view=att&th=1256a84ca60018e9&attid=0.1.1&disp=attd&zw

(I sincerely hope you can cut and paste the above URL and get the Why email was invented.wmv This is its address, but I can't get the blog to let you just click on it. Mea culpa, or maybe Google or Blogspot - good luck, it's worth it. SLI)

Who Gains from Brain Games?

(Photo: Mazes clear mental hazes for both creators and players.)

I really swallowed the hook with online “brain” games.
Playing on the terror of senility apparently not restricted to seniors, such sites promise to keep mental faculties sharp simply by sitting at a computer playing games that are, they claim, “scientifically based.”
Based on what? Once I got my mind out of the euphoria of keeping it compos with gamesmanship, I started to search for the basis for those claims. I looked for scientists, docs or anyone credible (who wasn’t conflicted by a vested interest in one of the gazillion brain gain sites) whose opinion was that they do anything to stave off senility.
Not that the sites mention dementia. This is Mad Avenue at its slickest. They don’t call the 800-pound gorilla by name. They don’t have to. They just play on the fears of losing our minds. The stakes are enormous: all the current seniors and the tsunami of Boomers set to become official seniors next year.
And all future seniors. Some subscribers, by their own description, are in their 30s.
If it sounds too good to be true...
Some sites are beautifully constructed. They include the credentials of the founders and directors. Some of them have a medical background. More of them have backgrounds dealing with creating similar websites. I’ll repeat that: their expertise is in creating websites that attract subscribers.
Studies show challenging your mind builds new neural pathways (which means you have more brain to lose, it's always good to have plenty of spare synapses.) Activities that train baby braincells include crossword puzzles and learning Chinese, anything that makes you think hard.
Brain games are like a diet pill. The only way to lose weight is eat less and exercise more. The way to keep a brain sharp is to challenge it with new stuff. Doing crossword puzzles and consulting the solution on the tough ones doesn’t count.
One of the sites I tried (and I only scratched the surface of the iceberg on these brain gain sites)is British or Australian. They use different names for things like fish and garden tools. I didn’t do well since I’d never heard of the words.
That is troubling. Were I truly paranoid about dementia, that site could deepen the despair, especially for one who lives alone and doesn’t have friends to tell them they’re OK.
But these folks aren’t in it for our peace of mind. They’re in it for a piece of our fortune.
For a piddling $14.50 a month, you can play them all you wish, get comparisons of how you’re improving, compare your scores with...well, who knows who you’re comparing your scores with. One site advises that your scores are matches with others on the site, not the general public. That changes the dynamic hugely, but it’s a small notice and easily overlooked.
Another suggests playing games that make your eyes move at most 8 inches from the centre to the edge of your computer screen will keep you from having car accidents.
The AARP has games, but with a disclaimer that that is only what they are: games. They do not claim to improve mental acuity or retention.
Bless the Internet: it giveth and it taketh away. Play the games, sign up for the trials, join, if you get a kick out of it. For sure it beats TV. Just don’t buy their comparisons and scales and assessments.
RSVP. If you’ve found games at a certain site to be a head boosting trip, I’d love to know the details. And if you have proof of disinterested studies that show positive results, we would all love to know those.

SLI

The Down Side Slide

(photo: A hug at the right time is a life line)
I got a call yesterday out of the blue from a new friend inviting me to tea.
It was a life line.
Since Monday, when the balmy temperatures of last week dropped to the negatives and kept going, I’d been slipping into a depression. Like an avalanche, once started, the Down Side Slide gathers momentum. Little things go awry and spilling the milk gains import. I know this, but it hasn’t happened for a while. I slipped onto the slide before I knew it.
The handrails are hard to grab, especially when you’re in a new place just making friends and without an office job to get you up in the mornings. In the same way as blowing a small ache up into cancer or arthritis, it’s what depression is really good at. By Tuesday I was convinced I had Alzheimer’s and life as I knew it would just cease to exist--although I would not.
I was researching an article and ran into a site that offers brain games to improve your cognitive powers with a free trial to measure your progress. If you like it, you can keep your brain nimble; for a fee. I tried it. My scores were so low as to be alarming. OMG, did I have it and not know? How would I know? I was convinced my future was to watch the world close in and reduce my joy to the next meal.
The universe sent this dark, jagged, negative energy back. Car pool partners who may have brought fresh air into my gloom cancelled. Bills arrived with no cheques. It took 15 minutes to scrape the ice off my car so I could see to drive. The open road became a black tunnel.
Then the phone rang. My friend explained she’d arranged to have a mutual friend over and my name just popped into her head. She always listens to her inner voice.
That’s the same voice that tells me to take an umbrella when I leave the house on a sunny morning—and means I will come home soaked 12 hours later if I ignore it. Of course it’s connected to others, I just didn’t think about that. There have been times in my life when the depression was so strong I retreated instead of grabbing the life line. Thanks to a very special therapist, lots of help from friends and soul-searching, I am thrilled to say I welcome help. I can’t do it alone. And I have friends.
Today, the temps are still below freezing, but I hopped on the treadmill, got the blood pumping, speculated that the website could, perhaps, adjust the results to make folks on the trial score very low to, maybe, encourage (or scare) them into signing up. I have my list of Things I Must Do, which includes a Thank You to my two friends.
Depression can hit at any age, but I think the older we get the more susceptible we are. Threre are a whole bunch of very real scary things that might happen to us, the very biggest being we will die. The trick is to keep living—and enjoying life—until that happens.
One good way is to help others stay off the slide.
Cheers
SLI