Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

We were in Nashville back in Dec and stayed in a downtown
hotel for a few days. I walked the downtown area and it is
so amazing to see the under reported flooding that occurred
this spring and to see the damage to the places that we
visited like the Opryland Hotel, which was huge, the Grand
Old Opry, downtown at the famous Robert's Bar where we
listened to the local talent, and Opryland Mall. The people
of Nashville were friendly and loved people from Montana,
(we have real cowboys here!) Hope the people of Nashville
recover quickly! Yes Honey, all those guitars are ruined.

"Shades of Spring"

watercolor 7" x 9"

Those who won an award in the 2009
Montana Watercolor Society
were asked to paint a watercolor for the
2010 raffle book using the theme of "It's
Hard to be Green" or "Vision". I chose the
theme "vision" and painted this one of my
youngest daughter who was then in high school
at the time the photo was taken. The youth
see the world differently than us old folks
and she admitted the other day how immature
she and those that age were in high school.
The submitted paintings are made into two books
that will be raffled off to raise money for the
MTWS at the show banquet this fall.

Five Years

The picture above is a photoshoped picture of a
robins nest from the backyard, which I was planning
to paint. This symbolizes my life now that all the
kids are grown and gone, my husband and I are "empty
nesters" as they say.
Crstal Cook tagged me on her blog to answer the five
questions about ourselves. I'm a pretty private person,
but will be a good sport and reveal some things about myself.

What were you doing five years ago?

1-I sprained my ankle in the early spring and am still feeling
the aches and pains of cracked cartilage.
2-My youngest daughter is now a freshman in high school
so I had more time to devote to painting. (I home schooled
the two youngest so I only painted when I had time)
3-I started attending a weekly watercolor class.
4-Helping at church with my compassionate service calling.
I was helping organize ladies to do meals, cleaning, or
moving if a member in need needed it.
5-Traveling, & enjoying the family and friends

Where would you like to be five years from now?

1-Painting with more confidence and selling more artwork
2-Entering watercolor shows and receiving signature status.
(will get it with MTWS if accepted again this year)
3-Being recognized by an art magazine.
4-Enjoying being a grandma and kids with no problems!
5-Enjoying good health and traveling to fun places.

My to do list for the day was:

1-Went to help a lady who needed medical help early in
the morning.
2-Took a nice nap.
3-Sold our old computer desk to a nice kid who needed one.
(Thanks honey for hauling it for him to his place)
4-Potted and watered some flowers for Mother's Day presents.
5-Household chores and rearranging my art room now that I
have more room with the desk gone!

My favorite snacks:

1-All things sweet!
2-Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate
3-But, I am cutting back, it will be nice at the
lake before we know it and I want to get into
my swimsuit!

What would I do if I was a billionaire?

I know money doesn't make you happy and can cause more
problems in the long run if you have no self control.
But....I would pay off the mortgage and my kids' mortgages.
I wouldn't donate to charities (except for disasters)
because I think other people misspend the money too much.
I would donate to our church perpetual education loan
program (students in poor countries are loaned money
interest free for an education and pay it back over time
when they have a job. I would set up my own perpetual loan
program, (people get too lazy when they get something for
nothing); start a lot of new businesses to employ people,
open about 20 watercolor galleries throughout the country
and invite other watercolorists to show their "best" paintings.
I'd buy some awesome paintings for the house.
And last, but not least, I'd have a large house in a warm and
sunny location! (Add in a sweet ride too.) Oh! and the hubby
could buy as many guitars as his heart desires.

These artists are tagged for the challenge to
answer the same questions:

Jane Minter

Jeanette Jobson

Katherine Cartwright

Blog Cartoon

Saw this and had to post it. Tried to describe
blogging to my Mom who is now 81 yrs old and it
was hard for her to comprehend. Today's kids are
almost born with computer skills, amazes me how
fast they learn the computer. Yesterday I sent
my grandkids a link of a web cam of a bald eagle's
nest to watch the development of the eggs and
growth of the eagle chicks. One had already
hatched and the grandkids were squealing about the new
baby chick they could see and later of one of the
parents ripping apart a fish and feeding it to the
chick. So cool for the kids! Amazing technology
that we have today, if only it was used for good
all the time.