I have finished wrapping gifts!  It's time for a cup of nog.  Happy Holidays everyone!  

I haven't posted in forever, but I've been sick.  Twice.  So over the last eight weeks I've been sick for six weeks.  I just got over being sick the first time and about five days later I was worse than ever.  Geez. Anyway, when my ears finally unclog I will consider it a good day at last.  In the meantime, art wise, I continue to work and am pleased to share that one of my paintings will be in the Mid-Southern Watercolorists 49th Annual Juried Exhibit in the spring.  I love the HAM (Historic Arkansas Museum)!  It is one of my all time favorite venues and when I read that the show would be there again, I entered.  So it was a good day when I found out one of my paintingsI got in the show.  Also, I just (and I mean just) completed my latest painting.  It was a joy from conception to the last stroke of my signature.  I'll tell you more about it later.  Hooray!  

Also, I am about to finish my 50th book for the year 2018.  Except for one, I have enjoyed them all.  Most have been for my pure entertainment.  Of those I would consider books by Christopher Moore to have been my favorites:  A Dirty Job, Secondhand Souls, Lamb, Sacre Bleu, and Island of the Sequined Love Nun.  I have two more waiting for me:  Noir and Fool.  (You have to be in the mood - just saying.) Mysteries, I would have to say are my favorite genre and I completed 25 of those.  I enjoyed two books by Matt Goldman:  Broken Ice and Gone to Dust.    Also there were some pretty dry books about history, medicine and art, interesting to be sure, but entertaining....meh.  Novels: I'm not sure where The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert lands, but I enjoyed it.  A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles were both recommendation worthy.  For fun I reread Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne and Emma by Jane Austen.  James E. Ryan's Wait, What? was notable.  The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman was a whim, and I would recommend it to anyone.  Atlas of a Lost World by Craig Childs was at the top of my list for fascinating reading.  The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly was imaginative and I would recommend it as well.  After reading a few mysteries about art forgers, Breaking Van Gogh by James Ottar Grundvig was a great way to finish that genre.  A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is worth mentioning again, it was terrific.  Anyway, those are the highlights.  So what is 51 you ask?  I have a few waiting for me but I think it's a toss up between:  South of Broad by Pat Conroy, and Soul of An Octopus by Sy Montgomery.  I'll let you know.  Happy Reading everyone and now it's back to my brushes.  


When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.  - Tecumseh