The meaning of life

Who isn't on a quest for their best life? What is the secret? What is the meaning? Why am I not happy more that I am? I am reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and I believe this will help anyone find a more fulfilling life. I know meditation is a key but I'm not doing that. I am also reading Eat Pray Love and that is a great read. In that book I was relieved to find out it's not that easy to meditate and you should learn from a Yogi. For some reason the message I am getting from A New Earth is easily digested and hopefully easily applied to one's life. The nutshell is check your ego, don't judge, don't attach, and don't resist. Don't attach yourself to any outcome. Don't resist the uncontrolable bad things that happen to you. Go with the flow. When you resist anything, you resist the whole universe. If you cloud you head with negative thoughts and emotions you will miss an opportunity for the better solution. I recommend everyone read this book for everyone's further enlightenment.

Got milk?

What's in Richmond, Va.? Cool old buildings, that's what. I call this the milk bottle building. At the time of this photo it was an art studio of sorts. A raw old building quite unrenovated. Inside I found this great old "milk" colored tom cat. I looked up some tid bits about the building that you can see here. Another view of the building that I dont have is from the other side. This building has been turned into apartments that I have not had the pleasure of seeing. In this link, there are buildings from all over with the milk theme. Who would 'nt want to live in a milk bottle? I love all the old building, factories and things like that. The Kanawha Canal area was renovated and further development is ongoing for restaurtants, housing etc. so everyone can enjoy the historic district.

custom order

I received a request for a shirt based on the Kelly green shirt. I work by instinct and not by measuring or keeping track of anything really. So the outcome of the final product does not resemble the original shirt. I actually like the new shirt more than the bright green shirt but was distraught over trying to get very close to copying it. I dont have the patience for measuring and detailed notes so when I finish with a shirt I'm not likely to duplicate it again unless by dumb luck. So there's the dye powder to measure, the soda ash and salt. they all affect the end results. The first shirt I did yellow then fuschia and turquois blue last. On the second shirt fushia then green. I also have a plan B shirt that I continued to work on and have finished today but will need to wash and photograph it when I have some daylight. I'll add it later for comparison. I have broken down and am taking notes so I can master the colors.

I forgot to come back and update this post. the very top photo is my plan B shirt. Once I saw how different my first shirt was I started a second with of course a completely different look than the first two. However, I like the coloring on this one too. I like to call it camo as it reminds me of camoflage.

My furry friends

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Check out my flickr account. Meet my four legged friends.
This picture is Katie who is Pookie. Unfortunitely she passed on 1/3/08 at the age of 15. She was adopted as a tiny kitten from the SPCA. She was talking the loudest in the depressing room of wall to wall cages. I never tired of her talking to us and encouraged her to talk back all the time. She was to be the companion of Spencer. They were about the same age. Spencer was a survivor. He was the only surviving kitten of a litter and was nursed to good health without his mother until he was old enough to adopt. On of the managers at work was asking everyone if they were interested in adopting a kitten that his daughter was taking care of. And I took him home. Cat number 3 is Baby. She is about 11 years now and quite large. My guess right now is about 16 lbs if not a little more. She loves lots of one on one, face to face attention. I had to have her because she look so much like Pookie. A friend from work had kittens that needed homes. Once I went to her house and saw her, I had to have her. Teddy is the newest member from July 2006. He is almost 2 years old now. He is a very easy dog to live with considering all the types and temperments available. We havent done any obedience classes which I would still love to do except for the expense of it. I would also love to do the agility training etc. but I cant imaging the tons of cash that would cost to do that on an on going basis.

old art for motivation

I thought I would add some old art for my own motivation. I took the photograph in a bar and worked from the photograph to paint this.

Quilt

This quilt was created from children's art work. I chose the art work, created a layout and sized the images to fit the grid layout. All of the small pieces are hand sewn and outlined with embroidery.

My cats

These three paintings in oil are of cats from the same litter. I had these cats years ago so the paintings are not new. The white cat is Chloe who looked like a siamese with blue eyes. The dark tabby is Winnie and the orange and white tabby is Tater. I kept these cats as long as I could before I had to move and could not keep four cats. I kept their mother "Ralph" as she was partly wild and would be difficult to re-home.