The Fog

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I intended to be writing more, but I have to admit, I have been putting my energy into my granddaughter the past 10 days.  This is the third year that we take Alanna for two weeks in the summer, and indulge her in every experience that we possibly can.  I joke that her social life is better than mine, which means we move like twisters.

We swim a lot as we are graced to know many people with pools, a necessary respite on hot summer days when you don't have A/C.  We've also watched the first three Harry Potter movies, and just borrowed the next three from a friend. I am hoping that one of us will take her to see the last one in 3D before she goes.

I was not the perfect parent.  I loved my kids, but I was a stressed single mom who had no money, worked and went to  college to get my BS and MS so that I could have a good job with benefits to support my kids.  There price for that often took its toll in ways that make me wince.  Short tempered, always rushing through life, worrying about the next bill...unhappy in my station.  I look back on the person I was and feel like I don't know the past "me" anymore, so I stay in the present and enjoy my time now.

One of the joys of being a grandparent is that we have the wisdom to know what really matters 10 years from now.   And it helps that I learned how to love, and love as well as I can.

Alanna often goes to the studio with me to work on her own art projects when we are not swimming.
She has been building a fairy house out of a cardboard box and found objects in my studio.  I think this kind of project fosters creativity, problem solving, and magic happens..... I  have worked on a few things, one of them being finishing this painting I started in the spring.  It was hard to get the correct color; it is mostly shades of blue.  A bit Hopper-esque.  It is from a photo I took one very foggy morning along Abeel Street in Kingston on my way to work.  It was incredibly foggy and beautiful and I was lucky enough to get a photo.  I found a great frame to float it in for under 15.00, so that if I work in the same format I can switch the canvases out for various shows.

Hope you are all enjoying the summer....I for one, am delighted.

Patti






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