"There Are No Straight Lines in Nature"

Today in my Japanese brush Painting class we worked on landscapes. It was very difficult (for me), so I just tried to concentrate on painting a tree. During the teacher's demonstration, as he was painting the bridge, water, grass and mountains, he pointed out that we shouldn't look for straight lines. My art history teacher friend, who is also in the class, told me that "there are no straight lines in nature." She added that "when we try to make those straight lines, it is our attempt to take control."

I have never believed in straight lines, but I didn't know why. I think that "straight line thinking" can interfere with our ability to not only see nature as it is, but it also interferes with our ability to see people as they are.

Straight lines blur the lines of diversity. Straight lines limit us and keep us from completely exploring our creative side. Straight lines prevent us from going "out of the box." We should not be defined by "straight line thinking." One of the hardest things for us, as humans, to really know, is that we have no control over anything. Everything is out of our hands. Once we clearly understand that, life becomes much simpler. I was so delighted, once again, to find out how art also reinforces the idea of "no control."

I love my crooked line life, my crooked line friends, my crooked line thoughts and my crooked line ideas. I also love having just a few straight lines every now and then.

"Side to Side or Face to Face"

I was with a group last night and I heard the phrase "Side to Side or Face to Face." It occurred to me that these two postures are what can make or break all kinds of relationships.

Relationships should be built upon communication. Side to Side communication does not involve actually looking at the person or engaging in heart-felt communication. It is a very easy route--just sit side by side and conversation is easy. If you are talking to a spouse, it is real easy to have superficial, meaningless conversation when you are side to side. The very posture somehow takes away the personal element of the encounter.

A friend told me many years ago that when she disciplined her children, she always made sure that they were looking her in the eye (she found out later that they were looking at their reflections in her classes). She felt that if they looked directly at her, she was more likely to get the truth. I hadn't thought about that in a long time, but was reminded of her insight last night.

A "side to side" relationship does not appear to have the same level of sincerity as one which is "face to face." Of course, the trick is that some people can be "side to side" as they are "face to face," but that is another story.

Look at how you relate to others. Are you a "side to sider" or a "face to facer?"

Wine, Olives, Chocolate and Cheese

The ladies of our investment group just spent a long week-end in Napa and the surrounding areas. There were ten of us and we stayed in a house rented through VRBO. We had no idea, even though we had seen the pictures of the house on the website, that it was a 2 million dollars' property. The pictures did not do justice to the house. We found out, through a newspaper article the owner left, that just the windows cost $42,000. The article was a feature done on the house for a local newspaper and I'm glad he left it there, along with other information about the house.

We flew into Sacramento and drove, in our rental cars, (we had three) to the house. The Hertz man gave two of us free GPS systems in our cars (just our lucky day I guess). We stopped in Dixon for Mexican food (owned by a relative of a friend of one of the ladies) and then headed on to Napa. It was a stress free ride (even though I was driving) and when we arrived at the house, the outside gave no indication of what we would behold in the inside. When we opened the door, we could not believe it--we had never seen that much glass (windows) in a house before. We had views of the entire Napa Valley and could see all the way to the San Francisco Bay.

There were decks galore, and views from almost anywhere in the house. There was also a guest house where four in our group stayed. The main house housed seven (although the carpet in one bedroom would have made a comfortable bed for many :-)--oops, forgot this wasn't a family reunion :-).

We were all in charge of preparing breakfast and dinner, and all of the assignments were made before the trip. We shopped and everyone knew exactly what they were responsible for. There were wonderful meals with plenty of left-overs for our last morning there. We celebrated one friend's 70th birthday the first night, including cake and gifts, and another's 65th birthday at lunch in a restaurant on Saturday.

We took pictures and videos, laughed a lot, listened a lot and talked a lot. We were joyful in our independence--each went her own way with her own interests--with three cars, we were not held hostage and were free to go with the group which met our "tourist" needs on any given day. I was able to visit a friend in Sonoma. I had not seen him in many, many years and he has been quite ill. My group dropped me there and picked me up after an hour.

There were grape vines as far as the eyes could see and there was enough wine for a lifetime, even though three of us were not wine drinkers. I learned about grapes and wine from one of our resident "Jill of all Trades" who knows a lot about everything.

Someone to whom I sent a video (thanks to one person's flip video), said we looked "old," but not "in a bad way." I hope that what she meant that we looked like cool old broads who still know how to have a great time! We knew how to enjoy the best that Napa had to offer: wine, olives, chocolate and cheese! But, more than that, we know how to appreciate friendship. We know how to value one another. We know how to be honest with each other. We know how to love. We know how to live. We know the difference between first pressed olive oil and the oil from subsequent presses. We are all examples of the oil pressed from the first batch of olives--the best!

Oops, Forgot to Add the Website

http://freetired.blogspot.com/

Go to this site to see the blogs in another context.

Access to the Blogs

I didn't realize that when I send blogs to the five or six people on my list, you only see the email version. I am giving you the website so that you can see them in the finished format. All of the blogs I have ever done are there (that is the one I edit).
Just click on the link. You will continue getting them via your email, but I wanted you to have the option of reading them in another context.

If you click on comment, you are able to add comments. I usually copy and paste what you send me via email and add them to the comments.

jOy

"Blogeditingclarification"

Just sayin'

When I write a blog, I like for it to just flow from my thoughts at the time so what you read is, in essence, a rough draft of my thoughts. I don't take the time to edit and I read it at the same time you read it. That is when I edit so that, at least, it is correct on the final blog page. However, as soon as I write it and send it to the very few people on my blog list (I think there are only 6 of you), you get the unedited copy. I am not willing to take the additional step and edit before sending it out initially.

"Stronger with each Tear"

I was very impressed when I watched Mary J. Blige yesterday on Oprah. She talked about her life before she became well-known. She visited the project building where she grew up, and even saw a lady there whom she knew when she was younger. She has learned a lot over the years. One statement she made that I loved was that we must learn to "forgive the unforgettable."

I liked her as a singer, but never thought of her as someone with such profundity. I liked what she had to say.

This morning I was watching GMA and they did a story on the man who found the eleven year old girl, who has autism, in a very large swamp in Florida. She had been lost for four days and people were losing hope. He was a member of their church and said that God lead him to her. He said he heard the voice of God tell him to follow the sun--he did and found a very calm girl sitting on a log. He used toilet paper to mark his way, because he knew the difficulty of getting into the swamp and wanted to know his way out. It was very helpful for the helicopter crews when he called 911.

George Stephanopolus said to the man "I see you have your Bible with you." The man replied "Yes, because I know that it was the Holy Spirit that did all of this, I am just an ordinary man." He was just that, an ordinary man--not preachy, not punctuating every statement with a scriptural reference, just an ordinary man telling his story. It was very powerful--he made no excuses for talking about his God directed experience.

I remembered Mary J., who also talked about hearing the voice of God at an amusement park in New York state. Sometimes, people don't take this seriously, and belittle these experiences instead of understanding that God makes us "stronger with each tear."

I am happy for the strength He gives me. I know that that is the source and I am very grateful for that. I too, heard that voice this week, through two magnificent friends, I am grateful for them and grateful that I have learned how to listen!

Sometimes Winning Means Not Losing

Duke won, but Butler did not lose. It was a close game and a very good game. At the end of the game, the announcer said that Duke won, but Butler did not lose.

Sometimes we don't always win, but we don't lose either. Whenever we have done our best or given it our best shot, we have not lost. I know that I never win in my art class, but I don't lose either because I have satisfied myself. I have improved so much from my stick figures, that I appreciate where I am.

We always say that it doesn't matter whether we win or lose--it matters that we can lose, yet still win!

"What is That?"

I was talking to my young friend this morning (she calls me EVERY morning) and she told me a story I liked. One of her friends was visiting her grandma and when she went into the house her grandma said "What is that?" She didn't say "Who is That?"

Now, in my opinion, that is true aging. When my daughter calls us she always tells me her name as if I have forgotten who she is. I will tell her today that when I start saying "What is that" rather than "Who is that," then perhaps she should start worrying.

Oh Aging. It's wonderful!