Tuesday, January 10, 2006

"Where I'd Like to Go..."
11:25pm

While reading Superhero Journal, I learned of a fun project called 52 Figments. It is a weekly project in which Christine, aka 'Swirly Girl' gives us prompts to create an image about. Last week's was "What is your theme of 2006?" If you look at her page of thumbnails, the one third from the top left is mine. I have a larger version of it.

This week's theme is "Money is no object and your safety is guaranteed - where in the world to you want to go?" I had fun with this. I thought of lots of places that intrigue me. Here's just a few:

Egypt, Brasilian Rain Forest, Mountain Parks, Prague, Greece, Great Barrier Reef, Stonehenge...

Hey, if "Money is no object and my safety is guaranteed," why not?

Thursday, January 12, 2006

"Large Star Doodle"
7:25pm

I did this yesterday evening. I like it, even though it's simple. It has a feeling like it's spinning...

Friday, January 13, 2006

"E is for...EAT"
8:25pm

When I first heard what the Friday Illo theme was, I thought, "Hmmm, strange." "E" is for... I first thought, "E is for ENIGMA". But when I let my 'subconscious' at it, it was clear one thing was on my mind. This is the initial sketch:

Kind of raw, I decided to have another try:

This one was mostly colored with markers, except for the bread, sky, and skin. Maybe I should have bought the big box of markers.

Anyway, she's chowing down on some of my favorite foods. I love fresh broccoli. I love the chewy bread dipped into olive oil. I also love dark chocolate...

Saturday, January 14, 2006 A

"Brain Food"
7:13am

After an extremely weird dream which was a jumble of various thoughts and events, I woke up thinking about yesterday's picture. There is something weird about it. Okay, there is a lot weird about my drawings, usually. But this weirdness has to do with the young woman's head. That wild hair maybe is representing something else. I seem to have captured her brain and spine, her central nervous system.

Adapted from Wikipedia

Anyway, I seem to be saying in that picture that food feeds your brain. I know personally if I get too hungry, I get light headed and I don't think so well.

Saturday, January 14, 2006 B

"Renewed in Spirit"
2:11pm

When I looked over the movie choices, I was thinking "Last Holiday", a remake of an old 1950 movie, sounded like a delightful romp. When I read one review, I knew I had to go see this one:

"Latifah plays a sales clerk named Georgia Byrd, who works in a big chain store in antediluvian New Orleans, giving cooking demonstrations. At home alone in the evenings, she prepares elaborate gourmet dishes, watching TV cooking shows and training herself to be a great chef. Then, more often than not, she eats a lonely Lean Cuisine, because she's on a diet.

The need for dieting comes to a sudden halt when she receives bad news: She has three or four weeks to live. Her HMO won't cover the expensive treatment, which might not work anyway, and so Georgia throws caution to the wind, cashes in her 401-K, and buys a ticket to Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic. That's where her hero, Chef Didier (Gerard Depardieu), rules the kitchen, and she decides to go out in style, eating everything on the menu and treating herself to all the services of the spa and the ski slopes."

My mouth dropped when I read Czech Republic. I'm not wanting to do anything that extravagant on my small budget, but we could at least see some of the sights on the big screen.

So we rushed like mad to get to the theater. We got there in plenty of time. Let me just say that movie was the most fun movie I ever saw! I laughed 'til I cried, and then I cried, and then I laughed some more. Never mind the plot holes, how come her region's senator and the owner of her company end up at this luxury resort in the Czech republic. Just ignore all that, and enjoy yourself right along with Queen Latifah.

Upon exiting into our warm, sunny winter air, Julia remarked how it's cold there in Karlovy Vary. Oh yes, I agree with one of the movie characters, who declared, "I hate snow!" Yeah, I hate snow, too. Maybe the spirits of my dead ancestors from Prague are cheering me on, saying "Hooray, you got out of there!". Yeah, maybe to those people freezing their butts off in Karlovy Vary, our winters and our snowless mountains might look positively heavenly.

Meanwhile, we don't have to have Chef Didier, we've got some fine restaurants here in town. Last night I felt the itch for a change of scenery badly. So I suggested we go to Ciao Bella. It was expensive, but not so much as a trip out of town. I go there, not just for the delicious food, but for the atmosphere, as well. After the tomato and red pepper bisque soup, split swordfish entree, and rich chocolate mousse, I felt renewed in spirit, as well as in body.

The movie is ultimately about enjoying life to the fullest. Queen Latifah does that in grand style.

And 'Queen' Joan doesn't do a half bad job of it, either, on occasion.

Saturday, January 14, 2006 C

"Getting 'Out of the Box'"
7:35pm

One of the lines in today's movie has Queen Latifah saying, actually writing, "I've spent too much time in this life in a box." The main theme of the 52 Figments is 'getting out of the box'. Can it be said that getting out of the computer screen, in one's tiny apartment and going to a movie auditorium is just upscaling one's box a little? We get to experience a vision of life maybe even vividly, but it is still not quite OUR life?

Those thoughts thought, I felt the itch to get outside. While furniture hunting last week, I drove by the Robert J. Moody demonstration garden. I remembered reading about it earlier. I'd marked it as a place to visit, and then forgot about it. So this weekend, I put a fresh disk in the camera and off we went.

It's amazing what has been done with the small area. There's plans to add to it, as well. The smells alone would have been worth the trip. Tiny yellow flowers on several bushes were responsible for a good part of the fragrance. I didn't get a picture of those. I'd filled the disk up by then and hadn't thought to bring two.

But I did capture a few good shots.

One of the sun dappled paths...

Julia under the gazebo...

The roof of the gazebo is covered with colorful passionflowers...

After the short walk, my legs did not feel stretched enough, so we then headed over to Smuckers Park for one go round of its path. Many people were out enjoying the fresh cool air. Some were just sitting enjoying the sunset. Others were in a large party. There was a inflated jumping castle for kids. I saw some kids beating at a candy filled pinata, as well. Earlier, two kids on bicycles passed by us, shouting "Whee!" I enjoyed their enthusiasm!