Art

64 No More

/ Tracey / 9 Comments

Fun on the 101

To celebrate enrolling in Medicare and to do something we hadn’t done yet, my husband and I drove the Olympic Loop (Highway 101 around Olympic National Park) in Washington State. It’s about a 9 hour drive, if you don’t stop anywhere, but there are lots of places to stop. We thought we’d make a spontaneous three day, two-nighter trip this past summer.

We didn’t expect the profound popularity of this idea with people who had planned further ahead. Being excellent planners and retired were not “success factors” for this trip. Instead, the single vacancy at the Kalaloch Lodge on the Pacific Coast dictated our itinerary. It turned out to be a great one.

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Permission to Paint

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Artist London Wilde

Artistry comes in many forms; music, interior design, custom wedding cakes, signature cocktails and fantastic paintings. Asian influenced mixed media artist London Wilde excels in all of these. Born creative, London was raised in California’s Santa Cruz Mountains. She had a long career in the Tech Industry plus several years in the music industry as a vocalist and producer. Now retired from these demanding professions, London has finally given herself permission to paint full time.

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A Sign of the Times, Vacationing in Coachella Valley

/ Tracey / 30 Comments

We love spending time visiting Coachella Valley in December, visiting friends and family. Only no one was going in 2020. We had to get out, so we packed up the car and headed west for a two week road trip anyway. In our planning for the trip, we knew some of the things we normally do would not be open. However, our favorite thing to do wherever we vacation, is visit National and State parks. This was still an option.

We stopped in West Texas and Arizona for rest and to visit friends, but our ultimate destination was a vacation rental in Indio central to several parks. Shortly after we arrived, California went on a serious lock-down. We even got an emergency alert on our first hike. That night, we had a nice dinner at one of our favorite outdoor dining spots, then stocked up on groceries. We would spend the rest of our time hiking and picnicking during the day, then cooking meals hunkered down at “home” each night.

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Moving Forward

/ Tracey / 17 Comments

Plans to move to the Pacific Northwest squashed. Travel and socialization on hold. Definitely haven’t felt like writing. Taking a tip from a fellow blogger, I started looking at photos from last year’s travels. Celebrating 60 and finally embracing my status as a retiree, I was excited about the international travel we booked. But I stopped writing half way through the year. Moving forward, it’s time to write again. I took a writing workshop this week called “Mining Memories” through Thurber House to give myself a “jump” start!

A mob of kangaroos crossing the road in Western Australia.
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This One is for You

/ Tracey / 7 Comments

Featuring Fine Art by Kristine Schneider

Smile, this blog is for you! For those of you missing graduation, prom, birthdays, weddings and other celebrations, this piece is for you. Artist Kristine Schneider occasionally preps her canvases in “Burnt Sienna” and works the color back out through her technique. One example of this is the oil on canvas art deco camera called “Lovely Tonight.” It reminds us that even though we are missing some of these events, we can still celebrate them.

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Maggie’s Shire – Creating A Pandemic Fairy Land

/ Tracey / 14 Comments

Do you believe in fairies, love creative re-purposing, or like positive stories about how people spend their time? You might be interested in what my fellow third culture friend Miriam Lusk Berry has been up to during this pandemic. In addition to being a nurse, Miriam is a Mom, a daughter who gets to live with her own Mother (rather than be separated) and has a beautiful Grand Pyrenees mix named Maggie. Maggie deserves some credit, for it is her walks that produce the treasures used in creating her “shire.”

Maggie
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Neighborly Love – Artist Kristine Schneider Has A Message

/ Tracey / 10 Comments

My husband Mark and I have been walking around our neighborhood daily (sometimes twice) to get outside and work off the lasagna and other home made comforts. Look, there’s another one! Who is making these?

Someone in the neighborhood was making something of their own – huge colorful banners for their yard: A strong blue eyed nurse presenting the word “Love” for World Health Day; the word “Victory” rising up out of darkness with the sun shining its rays onto a garden; a collage of happy images surrounding the words “Find Joy in the Little Things.”

That did it. I had to find out who was behind this. The third banner was the first one I’d noticed that had an artist’s name on it. So I began my social media digging.

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Artistic Wonders of Waste

/ Tracey / 15 Comments

Having just completed my second full year of retirement and getting ready to marry/combine households, my latest hobby has been trying to purge items from my home without generating waste. I’ve gotten quite good at selling, donating, regifting, recycling and repurposing. My main hobby, however, is travel and I’ve noticed a trend in the use of abandoned items to serve greater purposes.

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