Dog Hair

From one petting. I might spin it and weave it then make a sweater!

Lavender

Concentration

I Have a Brand New Ball

Do you have a brand new pair of roller skates? Kids toys are fun and you get a good workout! Who doesn’t need more fun? I was surprised by how much fun as well as exercise I could get from a simple child’s ball. It’s a medium size. I really bought for my dog Darla but she didn’t like it. She won’t chase a regular size ball like most dogs so I thought maybe she would herd a large one since she likes to chase things and bark at them. But no, she didn’t want to play with it, so I did. Throwing it as high as I could and back and forth between hands trying not to drop it. Loads of workout power. The next day I played great game of Dodge ball with my grandson. Now that was fun because he didn’t think Grammie would be so rough with him. He didn’t think Grammie had it in her. Loads of giggles and fun. Another great workout.

http://youtu.be/3FPn5noN_qs

The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles – Book Review

The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles is the gripping story of two men whose separate lives are tried and tested to extremes at the end of the American Civil War.

Britt Johnson was a free black man who moved his family to North Texas to start a new life where his wife hoped to become a teacher and he would be a freight hauler. Samuel Hammond was a Quaker who had just taken part ownership in a ship when a turn of events instead landed him the job of Indian Agent.

Britt Johnson’s family was almost destroyed by a horrendous Comanche and Kiowa  attack. Samuel Hammond’s seemingly impervious Quaker faith takes a beating during his tenure as an Indian Agent in North Texas around the time of 1863.

In this historical novel Paulette’s writing style develops both men’s personalities simultaneously as both are dealing with Native American problems of their own. Britt’s cautious and shrew nature serves him well on the most momentous undertaking of his life rescuing his family from the Native Americans. If it hadn’t been for Samuel’s tempestuous time as an Indian Agent his sincere and unfailing faith would probably never have faltered during his lifetime.

I enjoyed Paulette’s writing style as a break from the violence every few chapters was very welcome. Her extremely descriptive style allows the reader to become completely enveloped in the vastness of America that for a time only a few people knew. It was a place of freedom as well as great peril.

Reading The Color of Lightning was a journey through fear, history and a psychology course all bound up together. I laid the book down, walking away from it crying many times saying that I could not continue on. Every time I went back to it knowing that I had to find out what happened to these people whose lives were so drastically altered.

I would now like to read more about the different Native American groups as well as the beginning of the American Civil War.

Paulette Jiles lives on a ranch near San Antonio Texas and has conducted a lot of research into the story of Britt Johnson as the history of North Texas and the Comanche and Kiowa people. I plan to read her other books, Cousins, Enemy Women, and Stormy Weather.

Need A New Ride?

How about the motorized monocycle from Hammacher Schlemmer?! This is one strange looking cycle.

Every Girl Needs A Pink…

I love this! Sadly only the photo of the camera is for sale  😦

How Could You?!

Look at this face. Look into those loving sweet eyes. How could anyone ever purposely hurt an innocent animal by using it for research? What kind of monster are you? These labs have to be hiring the kind of people who are killing machines. Is this where all of the manic serial murderers come from? They decide to stop working in a research lab torturing animals but they are so warped they turn to humans for their kicks? No dog, no animal should ever, ever be treated this way. Nothing gives you the right to do this. Nothing.

Please help these owners find their precious pet if you live in this area. Please help this beautiful, sweet creature live out the rest of his natural life with the love he deserves.

Gadget

The Gospel of Rutba

I have not had a chance to read this book yet but as soon as I can I will. I read Greg Barrett’s other book, The Gospel of Father Joe, several years ago and it was very inspiring. I have been on-line friends with Greg for some time now. He travels to places that most of us would never want to go, to share the Gospel of Christ if possible and to tell people’s stories. Check it out. Go on now, pick it up and give a read.  I’m almost certain that you will enjoy it and be moved by it.

How I Made The Watercolor Of Luna

I found the photograph that I thought I had deleted! So now I can show you the process. I started by tracing all of the shapes and shadings in this photograph using my Wacom Tablet.

Then I printed the tracing out and retraced it the old fashioned way to get more detail. I am not happy with the way my tablet is working but I hate fiddling with the settings. It’s old so maybe I need a new one. This way works for me so no big deal.

Then I used these watercolor lessons for the first few steps, the eyes in particular. I started with the eyes unlike the lessons.  And the black part is too large but better luck next time around. I am just learning after all.

Then I blocked in the ear and started laying light colors that I gradually built up over time.  This picture is about the halfway point.

Many times when I thought it was finished I would find something else that needed more attention.  After I uploaded it too the blog I noticed the top and bottom eyelash area and was not one hundred percent happy with it but I really feel as at this point I should not do anything else. It’s done.