Really enjoyed Pres. Obama's State of the Union  speech on Wed. night. That man can give a speech! It's so refreshing after 8 years of unintelligible smirkiness of Dubya, that nitwit. I liked how Pres. Obama set out a lot of new plans, reminded the Democrats to have a backbone & chided the Republicans as the party of No.The latter didn't contradict him, as they failed to applaud his ideas for small businesses, new jobs & college tuition help. I was alarmed though at the President's comments about permitting offshore drilling & new nuclear power plants. One of the main premises of the Democratic platform is supposed to be protecting the environment and those subjects are the opposite of that.It was also disturbing at how many proposals had already been approved by The House of Representatives, but  hadn't yet been by the Senate. Why do things take longer in a group with fewer members? I did think it was weird that Congresspeople were asking Pres. Obama for autographs as he made his way out of the room, as if this was a Hollywood awards show and not a nation's government in action.
   It's been rather cold in Cleveland this past week, temperatures in the teens & 20's F(well below 0C) and a few days of snow leaving an inch or so on the ground. It's been mostly the wind, which has been biting, making it uncomfortable to go out, even bundled up.
   On a personal note, I don't think I'll get my chicken drawing done for the online exhibit on Barnyard Animals by Sunday. The show was only for this month, though the website does have a show in Dec. called "Better Late Than Never", which is a round-up of projects intended for certain shows, but not finished in time. My mixed media drawing, of 2 Barred Plymouth Rock hens, is almost done, but still needs some shading & final details that I don't want to rush. Cluster migraines at the beginning of the month prevented me from working on it for days, making me fall way behind schedule. Then I didn't know how to get a certain effect, which took almost a week to figure out, so it's a missed opportunity that couldn't be avoided.
    Some of you might know that I'm one of the reviewers on the international literary website Vulpes Libris, which means Book Foxes). My reviews usually post on Monday each week, so I think I'll start putting the link to that week's review on this site too. This past Monday, was a review of William Fiennes' memoir "The Music Room", which concentrated on the difficulties of growing up with an ill brother in Broughton Castle.  Yes, he's third cousin to Ralph Fiennes, my favorite actor. *wink* Here's the link if you're interested: Vulpes Libris- The Music Room

 In praise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 A man who truly changed the world.

Who left us all too soon.

Live The Dream.

   So the new year has begun. Not off to a good start, as I've been having headaches nearly everyday and then the u.colitis is aggravated by all the Advil I must take. Maybe the weather is creating some of the headaches, because there's been a lot of cold fronts moving through the area & bringing a ton of snow. The snow is beautiful, especially when it's the wet kind that sticks to everything, turning things to a postcard view. There's also been some teeny, tiny flakes at time that looks like glitter falling.
   Because of the headaches, I'm still dismantling the Christmas decorations. Most of them are down, but not yet put into boxes, being piled in a corner of the living room for the moment.It's somewhat an ordeal to dig out the storage boxes from 2 different closets, so I've not felt up to it. The place always looks so sparse & dull when I've removed the decorations, so it's a bit sad.
   In between doing that, I began a new picture, a pen & ink, mixed media of chickens for an online art show of "Barnyard Animals" at the EBSQ website. I've wanted to do a drawing of Barred Plymouth Rock chickens for a few years and here's my chance. Though there's more pictures of chickens in the show than anything else, cows, being the next popular.  The show runs through January, so I need to get busy to complete my entry in time.