Thoughtful Self Portrait

How many people have wished you a Happy New Year? Well, I am not happy, I am overloaded with problems, so there. Have a reality check on me. I mean, I don't wish to spoil anyones' good time or anything, but more people commit suicide over the "Holidays" than any other time of the year and this year, I could see why. Grim, just plain grim. At least with some snow on the ground, it feels festive, the decorations look right, but this snowless winter is wrong.

It did snow once, about two inches up here on the mountain top and of course, I fell down, off the porch stairs, in the process of walking the dogs. LuLu pulls and Maxx just looked horrified. He waddled over to me and stared into my face, puffing his dreadful breath into my nose. I was good and down. He is only 8" tall, after all. LuLu was meanwhile going #1 and could have cared less as to my plight.

And it was the one time I had ventured out without my cell phone, to call for help in such emergencies. We have all sorts of wildlife waiting for adventures like this for meals on feet to eat. Ruth reports a possum rooting around but her property is a cornucopea for all that eats. They garden like pros over there, and share abundantly, Bless their hearts, and Ruth, oh, she bakes delicious yummy things for me to eat that are so good I hide them. There, my secret is out. I am a closet pig for Ruths' pumpkin cobbler, but everyone knows this, and begs a piece when they see her coming!

John, I owe thanks for the idea of not leaving the house, period, without my cell phone when I go to walk the dogs. I have been walking them for years in the woods, knowing how isolated it is, and never stopped to think what a good idea it is to have it with me.

Well I knew I was falling and loosened myself up for the fall. It worked and I wasn't even sore the next day; shook up is all. I broke my leg in two places the last time I did this very same thing, so I am not being paranoid, although I might be that too. Why not, i am everything else.

Decided to post a self portrait, which I call: Thoughtful Woman, and a another picture called: Seven Cats Once in a Blue Moon. The more I figure you have to read, the more pictures you get to see. I thought that was a fair deal. And it forces me to paint more pictures.

There are four totally different versions of Seven Cats Once in a Blue Moon. I wasn't at all happy with the first three, and yet I liked the bottom seven cats very much and wanted to keep them. I had to make the rest of the painting work, somehow, and it took me a couple of days to figure out the puzzle.

One thing I learned is that I don't think I am quite ready to put text on my paintings. It seems to distract a lot, at least with the cat piece.

Well, have a Happy New Year anyway, as I have decided I will and must. Being miserable is not an option to me, as I have too much to be happy about , and grateful for.