My sister, who is a nurse, has to work today, so we are having our celebration tomorrow when she's off. It will be both of us and our mom. I made a special dinner of Stouffer's stuffed peppers and mashed potatoes for my mom and I and I gave her some of the candy I bought her, saving the bigger box for tomorrow. The sneak peek seemed an appropriate treat so as not to ignore the holiday on the actual day.

Since I'll be at a craft show tomorrow and don't know if I'll be online, I'll put this poem up early. I recall when they used to hand out artificial poppies in stores & places to mark the day, but they seem to have stopped doing that, at least in my area. But I hope people still remember soldiers who fought, in all the wars, so many of them pointless.

Since I don't like Hallowe'en, because of all the spooky stuff, I shift my focus to Reformation Day. That's when Martin Luther, a monk who saw much corruption within the Catholic Church, posted his 95 Theses or points for improvements. Legend has it that he nailed the list to a church door in Wittenberg, Germany where he lived. In reality, he sent them in a letter to the bishop of the district, but either way, it did not go over well. Luther was eventually excommunicated and started his own religion of protest(hence the word Protestant) which came to be called Lutheran. Today marks the 500th Anniversary of Luther sending out that list.
As a teen going to a Lutheran high school, I always enjoyed the celebrations of that day and the singing of Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" in chapel. The event always seemed wonderfully revolutionary and dramatic and still does today when I know even more about the history of the times.

The announcement last Monday that Tom Petty had died after a cardiac arrest at his home was shocking, especially since he was only 66. He had finished a tour with the Heartbreakers only a week before, which was astonishing timing. After I heard the news, that night I watched a bunch of my favorite videos online and since then, his songs have been playing in the back of my mind and I'm not sure if that's helping me cope or not.
There was a period in the mid-90's when I was obsessed with Tom Petty after seeing the video for "You Don't Know How it Feels" on MTV(where this photo is from), though I recalled hearing him on my sister's ever present radio long before that, during our high school years in the 70's. And once MTV arrived, his well made videos were frequently played and they always caught my attention. He once said in an interview that he thought of music videos as mini movies & it showed. I enjoyed his work with the Heartbreakers & solo, and sometimes couldn't tell them apart. And then when the Traveling Wilburys was formed, that gave new definition to the term supergroup. Once I dived into his music with the album "Wildflowers", I played it all the time; painting, cooking dinner, even the last time when I dyed Easter Eggs. The mid-90's was a transitional time for me and I was still having cluster migraines then, which his music helped ease. That intense listening slowly faded and even though I had a few of his recent albums, I wasn't up to date with his music & events. I didn't even know about his rehab for the brief heroin addiction in 2003. Earlier this year, I did see him in the HBO documentary about important record producers, though.
My sister used to say that his voice was droning, and I supposed there is a bit of truth to that. He didn't have a wide range of vocal ability, but I didn't care since he really knew how to write a catchy song that had some depth and created a mood. His early work were more typical rock songs and then at some point he got the label "Americana" which I always thought was an interior decorating theme. No matter what name was given to his songs, I liked most of them. And once I'm over the shock and the tears, his music will remain.

I see by the date of my last post that it was just as the computer and car problems began. The computer started having freezing problems around the Fourth and the car kept having one thing after another go wrong since late June, with nearly weekly breakdowns in July. And I couldn't take the computer into the shop, because the car wasn't working. In one of the few days it was, I managed to get an inexpensive laptop, thankfully, because it was even longer than anticipated before I got the desktop fixed and hooked back up.I don't have a cell phone or many local friends, so the computer is my main communications tool. The car is still giving me problems & tomorrow I'll have it towed to the mechanics yet again, to replace a low quality battery that AAA put in that keeps failing.
Because of lack of transport, I wasn't able to attend the outdoor antique show or do much else as far as summer activities. I never travel, but I do usually go to a few local places that I enjoy, such as parks and nature centers. So far, I've not done that. Hopefully I can still squeeze that in when the car gets repaired again.
So many broken things has sapped what little energy I have(due to health issues), so I didn't complete my newest painting that I'd planned on sending to the Cold-Blooded Creations art show in Florida, despite many really intensive days working on it. I sent three older pictures instead. The new one, with baby leatherback turtles swimming past a coral reef, is progressing and I hope to finish by the end of the month. If it hasn't sold, I'll send it to the show next summer.
With all that's going wrong, I feel a weird state of suspension and the summer is really passing by quickly. I hope I can do a few fun things before it gets cold again.

Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone who is celebrating has a terrific day. I'll be working on my coral reef painting and writing a book review for the literary website, Vulpes Libris on WordPress. It's my last post before the site takes a month long Summer Break. I hope to get a few pieces written while we're off. And I need to finish the painting before the end of July, so far it's coming along.

My sister & I went to the Farmers Market at a local shopping center this past Saturday morning.The weather was beautiful, warm, but not hot and a cool breeze blowing. There were a lot of tables, though they contained more bakery items than vegetables, perhaps because it's early in the growing season. I know it was an upscale location, but some were ridiculous prices, such as $8 for a loaf of bread! We bought a couple mini-pies and my sister got some caramel popcorn. We ended up getting most of our stuff at Trader Joe's at the other end of the shopping center, which is laid out in short streets, Disney style. That meant lugging the groceries back to my sister's car where we'd parked near the farmers market. I had a backpack, but my sister was carrying hers in an increasingly damp bag. We made it back to the car without it breaking, thankfully. Earlier we'd stopped for a slice of pizza which we'd eaten at an outdoor table, enjoying the pleasant setting, right near a Barnes & Noble, which we intended on visiting, but once we had perishable food, we couldn't. Bad planning on our part, though better for my wallet. It was a fun outing, in any case.

May was certainly a busy month. The biggest thing was preparing for a solo show at a local library, thankfully, my sister helped carry them to her car & then to the library for drop off last week. The staff was hanging them, so all I had to do was present the paintings and price list. I am still recovering from bronchitis, so her help was much appreciated.
Another thing we did a few weeks earlier was visit artists studios at The Screw Factory in a nearby suburb. It was, and still is, a working factory, but now it's sectioned off and 2 floors are very basic facilities for artists of all sorts to work. Divided into "rooms" with plywood walls & padlocks, it was much rougher than expected. Not enough lights or bathrooms made me wonder why it would be an appealing work space, but it has a trendy reputation. We enjoyed much of the art, but were both a bit freaked by the atmosphere & imagining working there. It was originally a car factory 100 years ago, and even had a small collection of Gatsby era autos on display, so we enjoyed that too. Since we lived in the area for a few years in our childhood, we made a quick trip to see our old house and school(the latter completely rebuilt).
I have started one of the new paintings I've planned for the Cold-Blooded Creations show in August, a jungle scene with a basilisk that has become even more involved than I thought it would be. Varying the jungle plants has been overwhelming and I hope I get a handle on it soon.
Pleasant weather has finally arrived and there is lots of bird activity around my apartment building. I enjoy watching them from my windows.
There's a number of events happening in June that I hope to visit, some with my sister when she has the day off. I'm hoping the bronchitis completely recedes or at least, doesn't get any worse, so I can go.

I just love the idea of a holiday honoring Star Wars. And R2D2 is my favorite character, though I also like Yoda and the Ewoks.