Hi again dear readers, what a wacky start to 2026 we have had! The rapid changes in weather nationally (not to mention globally) the ever evolving nightmare of news topics and the dynamic creations of new community establishments that we are all having to make, to keep an even keel in these turbulent times. I hope you are staying in the boat! And don’t stop rowing.

I did not do a Global art news post in January because I did a whole BUNCH of things in January! So that’s updated now. The short list is:

1. I sorted through over 1,000 family slides and narrowed it down to 560+ that I digitized myself and burned to USB and USBC drives for immediate family. I was going to use a service like iMemory, however, I called to see if they could do a straight digitizing to direct media without “foreverizing” the family photos… meaning they put them all on their proprietary servers and apps and charge you access to them… forever. Yeah, no thanks. So after the purchase of a little Kodak Slide n Scan Digital Film Scanner and the purchase of an ancient SD card and SD card reader, I was off and running. It felt good to get those to family without being financially gutted. My mom said “this is our family business, do not put it on the web and do not do DNA.” So I honored that request. I still have some more slides to sort through from a New England trip they took, however I don’t think anything in there will be worth historical significance. So I will take my time with that.

2. While sorting through the slides initially, I took a break now and then and painted the interior of our old kitchen cabinets that were just WAY too dark and yucky. They are nice and bright now, and so much cleaner.

3. I also painted another small tile canvas for the muralmosaic group and got that photographed and submitted for printing and installing in a mural that will be announced later this year. This is my 3rd painting for this group.

4. We booked a trip for our anniversary, later this year and made plans to attend a play an old friend is in, later this month.

5. We saw our last remaining parent, for 2 different events and met up with our friend Beth Howard who was promoting more viewings of her film PIEOWA. We love Beth and we love pie! We even had a chance for her to meet up with our daughter for another showing. Promoting unity through pie. It’s no lie!

6. In the middle of all of that, we had a small electrical fire in a junction box in the garage. Fortunately it stayed contained and we were able to get the repairs done quickly and fairly affordably. Watch out for old wiring connections, they can jiggle loose and cause arcing that is very dangerous. We thanked our lucky stars (and probably our parents who have passed on) for watching over us and are glad to be here today. Whew!

7. We spent a decent amount of time checking in with friends and some family in the south and east of our country as they experienced a rare ice storm. Thankfully, the ones I checked in with kept power and stayed safe. Meanwhile, we were picking oranges from the tree on our patio and swapping them with friends for lemons and Meyer lemons. There was some juicing involved and we were grateful for the free vitamin C and fiber in the “winter” month.

8. We received our new passports and were relieved, since the government is once again heading into a shutdown soon. They can’t seem to keep things running smoothly, so we were concerned and then relieved that things went quickly and well for that process. Thank you to the workers who actually do the work.

9. We collected tax documents just like everyone else.

10. I unpacked a hand-painted bookmark my mother had used for decades. So that is my header graphic for this post. I love unique things. It doesn’t have to be expensive or a collectible, just unique, original and hand made, much like the board the bookmark is on (made by @melanie_made_this who is an Emmy nominated lighting designer by day and in her spare time she makes incredible, useful art out of wood.)

Whew! What a month January was.

February has started off with our government shut down (again) and our first house guest of the year, for one night. The two instances are not related. (hah!) We had a great time catching up. It had been MANY moons since we last saw each other.

I took another crafting class and made a hummingbird sun-catcher. You will be able to see that in the Crafty Girl pages. It reminds me of my mother, who would sit so still on her patios that hummingbirds would come and hover all around her. She loved that!

I checked in with a “mom” friend who has her hands full all the time with family illness issues and she has had 3 of her art pieces win prizes! I am so proud of her for keeping her hand in creative endeavors in an environment that generally sucks up ALL of your personal time.

I have been reflecting recently on how I really did get “the best times” in many circumstances before things began to degrade. I was in on the early beginnings of cable TV, I worked in the .com world before the bubble popped and there was NO A.I. or machine learning. I still remember a “free” internet where you could find out ANYTHING without pop-up windows slowing you down or cookie/privacy data choices having to be done at EVERY website. I painted lots of landscapes that just don’t exist in the same way anymore, due to fire or flood or “progress”. I could meet people of all political persuasions without worrying about my safety. I could walk barefoot in grassy parks without worrying about pop-top tabs, broken glass bottles or needle waste. My beaches did not have tar blobs on them and the oceans I dove in did not have the “rainbow sheen” seen in so many places now. And I won’t even get into the “forever chemicals” issue, except to post a link about it in this sentence. Lord. We, as a species, really have let some powers talk us into the fact that “this is not happening” “don’t believe your eyes, believe what I say” and such. (I’ve always loved the word “such” – Southerners use it a lot… ex: “Catfish and Such”, a well known restaurant in Atlanta, GA.) I hope and pray that we can start to pay attention to what we see rather than what we hear – more.

The “snow” we have in our area in February is the pear trees blooming and then releasing their blossoms in a white shower that looks like a gentle snow fall or an outdoor wedding. Just lovely, except I am allergic to that beauty. Hah! Life always has a sense of humor if you look for it.

Here’s a nice shot of the pear tree BEFORE the “snow fall” that is now happening.

Oh yes, and February starts Girl Scout Cookie season here and we’ve already bought two boxes and sent a box to the troops. However, my Trefoils (a Girl Scout standard) did not taste the same this year. They are harder and less “shortbread” in texture. I could not figure out why, until I looked at the box. It now says “inspired by the original Girl Scout recipe”. It was not inspiring at all. So my suggestion is, change it back. Don’t mess with what has worked for well over 100 years.

I have worked on some connectivity issues with my printer this morning and got that working again, so I’m pleased that my amateur tech skills are adequate to keep us rolling forward. My goals this month are to do taxes, plant a tree in a local, state historic park, continue to optimize and declutter physical things I inherited that just don’t need to be physically here, work on family genealogy a tiny bit and try to keep eating well despite the rise in EVERYTHING lately. The cost of living is a discussion in every women’s group I attend. Lastly, to catch up with friends who have been way too busy and keep my exercise routine somewhat in tact with the changing weather.

The live drawing class I thought I would be attending weekly this year – rather fell apart after 2 sessions so I need to get moving on doing it myself routinely. I have all of the supplies, I just need to carve out the time. What are your creative goals this month? Do you have any yet? I know if you make time for them your life will be happier. So take a few minutes to jot them down and pick one to implement. Until next time… peace and positive creations.