Biking @ MindSay

So, after taking a few years off I am painting again. Landscapes are my favorites  because I truly suck at people.
I really like to paint old forgotten or haunted buildings. I like a painting with a "story".
My daughter in law Lili and I drive around the country taking pictures of the strange, unusual, and sometimes just plain weird to turn into art.
Yesterday we had a great day over around Southwest City. Lots of old barns and such and a really cool cow!
We meet lots of great people while we're out there and the photo ops seem endless.
Anyway, Lili has started a website for me if you would like to see my paintings. (oldfartartstudios.com)
Right now I'm working a piece I call "Lucas". It is a picture of my friends funny little grandson outside her house (yes, I know, I suck at people) but I keep trying anyway.
As for politics , let's just say for now that Limbaugh, Beck, Dobbs are major league holes and worthy of "stoning". I'll talk more about this later...but for now...It's going to be a sunny, beautiful day and I'm going to go ride my bike and take pictures!
Later boys and girls......

I'm making an early night of it tonight because I'm participating in tomorrow's Eighth Annual Bike The Drive (I'm only doing the 15 miles...I'm not crazy!)  I'm feeling pretty good about it, but there are some butterflies.  It sounds like a lot of biking, but it should be ok.  After that, I'm relaxing at Uncle Fatty's.  Bring it on!

I was hoping for a "fun-filled" weekend in my last post, and that's exactly what I got, despite running into the XTB (that would be the ex-to-be :P) at Target yesterday.  Mountain biking and dinner out on Friday, a Nikon Introduction to Digital SLR Photography class on Saturday (yeah, I know, I shoot Canon, but I still highly recommend the class to anyone thinking about or just getting into DSLR photography), and Iron Man yesterday (good movie!)  I feel infinitely better than I did last week and somewhere in there, I feel like I took another big step in the right direction.

I rather wish that I lived close enough to school to bike there.

I'm halfway considering some sort of arrangement regarding J's house, that involves me driving there, taking my bike out of the back, keeping my car there during the day, biking to class. Just until we start getting decently slushy, or the end of the semester, whichever happens first.

I seem to have far many mental arrangements regarding J's house. Where do I crash when I've gotten home from a gig ridiculously late, and I know I won't be able to drive back to my town? J's house. Where do I want to study when I need someplace quiet and comfortable? J's house.

J's actually quite awesome. She's savvy, musical, has a deep love of literature, and takes no guff from anyone. She's decent about listening, she can point out the flaws in my plans that I can't see (we have very different perspectives), and she really enjoys cooking. My parents see no reason to worry when I'm over there, so that contributes immensely to the value of her being okay with me crashing when I need to.

Unfortunately, she's out of the country right now. I rather miss her.

And I still need a biking arrangement. All my other connections on that side of town are connected to Knuter. Actually, J is too, but it's not so much through Knuter.

I can hear T barking at me. "Suck it up. Your car works fine." Makes me laugh.

We went for a bike ride last night along the Niagara gorge- and I broke my camera... grrrr, it still takes pictures but I have absolutely no idea what they look like until I download them, lol.

Before I broke my camera I took the picture of the chipmunk and the moon, the rest are all lucky shots. What you're seeing is Canada across the water, and that is the largest pagoda/temple that I've ever seen but then I've not been to China. The chipmunks btw are friendly, my son was waiting for us to come down the hill and the chipmunks were running around his feet- at which point he thought they were going to run up his legs- now that would have been a picture!

The cable car runs over the gorge and you couldn't pay me to ride on it... ever since I had the kids I get nervous about certain things- like giant cages of metal suspended on itty bitty cables over rocks and rushing water.... Although one of these days I swear I am going to go sky-diving- but for that you get a trained person jumping with you- and they pull the parachute, lol.

The last picture is of a black squirrel. I don't know what it is but I am fascinated by black squirrels, they're just as cute as the brown kind but there's just something about them that gets me to shout (every time I see one) LOOK! A BLACK SQUIRREL! My mother and the kids just say, uh-huh while I stare at the squirrel until it scampers away.

I have more funny material about my parents coming- stay tuned!