Sometimes going out to "Trick or Treat" is ............

......dressing up even though you think you are too old to play dress up


......wearing makeup that lets you hide in the dark


......bravely approaching each house even though it seems twice as far from the street as it is in the daytime

12" x 12" Challenge Reveal - "Chaos"

Monday night my art quilt group, Women Against the Grain, met. It was the reveal of the latest 12 x 12 challenge, response to the word "Chaos". The responses were colorful, for the most part abstract, always lively, interesting works of art portraying "Chaos". From illustrations of the disorder of an artist’s studio, the confusion that can be created with line, the movement of matter to and over that cosmic line where order is created, to 3D illustration of the chaotic thoughts and concerns that feel as if they are popping out of our head, to the personal story of the transformation of chaos to order. They were all wonderful.

This image is my contribution. Not as detailed as some, but it was done on time and allowed me to continue playing with my current focus, the effect of lines on a background. It was great fun to dye the fabric and stitch the lines. 

What image comes to your mind when you hear the word "Chaos"?

I Love Zen Writer 2.0

Yesterday I came across some of my writings from six or seven years ago. I am reminded how far I have veered off the course of establishing a routine writing habit.  The old works, dated and not as exciting to me now, remind me of how much I enjoy the process of writing and editing to get a tight, reasonably well-written little story about some of the things I notice in the world around me. It is a way to share my point of view, humor and some quirkiness. More than once I have firmly resolved to write blog articles routinely with the result that each event has resulted in exactly one and only one article. 

Reflecting on this sorry state of affairs, grasping one more time for a way to get in to that writing chair and write, I happened across a new software product.  Zen Writer 2.0 by Beenokle may be the one for me. It is a simple, low budget, low feature set product that creates a stage for a productive writing session.  As I sit here writing this, a dimmed view of a foggy forest covers my entire screen, soft music is playing in the background, and as I depress the keys a sound reminiscent of the old keyboard noises accompanies the motion.  While all the other applications - Email, Facebook, Toodledo, Evernote, Feedly and whatever else has my attention today - are running in the background, no interruptions of any kind are coming from them. I am totally focused on my writing task.

I can select the music, the background scene, the font and size. I like to set it up to show me the time and sometimes the word and page count at the bottom of the page.  When so inclined, I may minimize the screen and return to the rest of my computer world. Frankly, it seems more compelling to stay here.  

Are there limitations to this product? Of course. This is not a replacement for a full-fledged word processing application. However, once you've written and edited the words, it is just a matter of copy and paste to a more full-featured, but distracting, application. 

September 1st - Another Year Begins

Yes, I know it's not January 1st, but don't you agree that September is more like a new beginning than January? It's the start of a new school year. Summer vacations are over. The break we took from some of our volunteer work is ending. New schedules and events are being added to our calendars.

Since we were small children this time of new beginnings has been imprinted upon us. First, we were the children gathering our supplies to get ready for the new school year. Then we were the parents of school children helping them gather those supplies and readying those schedules. Now many of us are grandparents who, if we are lucky enough to be close enough, are working into our calendar the sports and music events that start up again.

I have never outgrown the need for the excitement of new beginnings, fresh starts, and new things to do. I just love September 1st. How about you?