11.11.11

I've looked so forward to 11.11.11 and it has been  great day. I saw the time at 1:11 am, 11:11am, 1:11 pm and I'm going to try and post this at 11:11 pm.

I marked the day by climbing a 70 foot fire tower. I was on the top at 11:11. I made a lot of pictures and it was such a good time.

The fire tower belongs to Tony and Susan. They have the most interesting things, chickens, rocks, a fig tree, eggplant vines, trees, a rusted out tractor, an old car from England, a solar heated chicken house, a swing with a fire burning in front of it, flowers nipped by frost. They are such interesting people. I had the best time.

Uncle Joe

Tomorrow I'm going to the funeral of my Uncle Joe Matthews. He is the last of my mother's brothers. My mothers hasn't been dead quite 2 years yet. Her youngest brother, Billy, died in 1965 and W. V., the oldest, died in 1976.
I am the oldest of 7 grandchildren. So now I am the oldest in the blood line. I will be 65 in December. It's an odd thing to be the oldest. I'm the oldest of my Chosen Family.
The Matthews will die out with our generation as will the Adams with John Michael.
There are children but not with the Matthews or Adams name.
I'm afraid I'm going to be really sad tomorrow, I'll probably be the chief mourner.
My uncle and my mother looked so much alike, they had the same facial expressions, and they held their hands the same way, their fingers intermingled and folded. They had the same sense of humor although mama was quicker to talk and tell tales than Joe but when it did it was memorable.
I've been practicing not crying but it isn't working. Waves of grief wash over me and I can hardly stand it. But I will.

Poor blog. So neglected.

READING

I'm going to read DRACULA by Bram Stoker. I've never read it. Amanda says I should, so I will. I'm also reading FAIR AND TENDER LADIES by Lee Smith. I've read it several times. During January, I read new things and old things, some I read years ago and one that was just published. I loved them all. I only want to read things I want to read and love. I used to think I had to finish anything I started but now there are so many things i want to read or re-read that I only stay with something I love. So if you see I have read something,you know I loved it.

I read 9 books in January. 2011 is going to be a reading year for me. And a writing year. And an art journaling year. I hope it will also be a quiet year, less tv, but more music. I consider music being quiet. I'm just now getting used to it being the year 2011. I never thought I would live so long.

I'm walking with Dianne. I love walking.

NEW BACKGROUND

How do you like the new background and header? I decided I needed something that was a better fit to my state of mind.

I went to the movie today. I saw The King's Speech. I thought it was a wonderful movie, I could have watched it again.

Today, I also finished reading THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston. It was very good, I'm glad I read it and don't know what I am just now reading it. I guess I needed it for now.

I'm not sure what I want to read now. The house is stacked with books so I have choices. Somebody told me once that they had read all the books in their house. I thought that was the strangest thing. I have a great fear of having a few minutes with nothing to read. It never happens so I don't know why I have that fear. It hasn't happend in years.

The art journal is calling me back to it, after it being neglected for quite some time. But I bringing out the photographs, the paint, the glue strips and my head is spinning with the joy of it. Pages will be posted in the next day or so. Come back.

ART JOURNAL PAGES

EARLY

I've been awake for a long time already this morning. I've eaten bacon and scrambled eggs with diet cherry 7 UP. Mighty tasty. Now if I just had a dark chocolate Hershey bar. 

It's going to snow. I have a pot of soup and the making for cornbread for supper. I have books and a warm house and plenty of quilts. And cats.

I just read LITTLE BEE by Chris Cleave and now can't seem to get into another book. I'm still living int he world of Little Bee.

I don't much like being up early in the morning. This is usually the time I get my best sleep. I might like it better if I was in Times Square.

                   

1.1.11

Numbers that contain 1 are my favorite, expecially if they are the only numbers. 11:11 is my favorite time of day and night. A while back, I began to notice how often I looked at the clock to find that is read 11:11. Mentioning it to my cousin Jane, she was hving the same experience. Then I find there is a whole following for 11:11. I can't wait for 11.11.11 at 11:11 am and pm.

2010 has been a year of highs and lows, as it has been for most everybody. My mother died in March, I went to Wales in June, LMU in June, Florida in July, Hindman in August, Nashville in October, I went to a Christmas party in Berea, I read books, I wrote stuff, I was euphoric, I was in the depths of despair. I survived. I guess that is good. I didn't always want to survive. Yet, I knew I had to. It was not my choice to make.

2010 may have been the year of Wales for me. I learned so many things, saw my dead relatives, spent good times with my alive cousins, and met MIke Davies, the best of all guides. He was a wealth of information. He drove us over mountains overlooking valleys that were breathtaking. The Wye Valley left me in tears by the side of the road. I sat on rocks that were familiar to me, I put my hand on ancient rocks, I saw tombs containing my ancestors. My blood ran Welsh.

I read, not as many books as I have read in a year's time, but I read great books, ones I loved. I'm going to read more, much more, in 2011. I'm going to submit my Clem & Trixie book, the Kristin poems and some other poems. I need to organize and find pages of writing that i have lost somewhere in this house.

I might knit. Well, I want to knit. I might. But probably won't. I want to, though.

I would like to lose 50 pounds without much effort on my part.

I want my granddaughters to be happy. And my children, too.

I want Hubby to be healthier.

I intend to see more movies at the theatre.

I should do things to help people, but probably won't do that much either. But, I'll think about it.

I feel sure I will shoot more pictures.

I want to go to Times Square for New Year's Eve.

This is the sunset on 1.1.11

It made me feel good.