The Magic, Miracles and Joy of an Artist

Saturday, January 1, 2022

Difficult Decision

Friends,

I have been blogging since 2008 ~ 14 years. It has been a good thing as I made many friends through this platform and many of those friends are still in my life. I love that. However, most of them have turned to Facebook and Instagram and are no longer blogging. I continued blogging, but over the last few years, I see that it is nothing more than duplication of what I post on Facebook. This was not an easy decision and it makes me a little sad.

Time is such an important thing these days, and I am not doing a lot of things that are important to me because I don't have enough "time". So, I have decided to stop blogging for now. I may pick it up again someday. Time will tell. I am not shutting my blog down. I will leave it online to look back at, or to maybe add to in the future.

Thank you for following my blog all these years. I truly appreciate it.

May this New Year be good to you.

With that, I bid adieu.

Audrey 💗

2022

HAPPY NEW YEAR, Friends!!
May God Bless us with Peace and Good Health.
Let’s make KINDNESS the word of the year and practice using it every day!

Truth

"BUTTERFLIES ARE LIKE WOMEN

~ WE MAY LOOK PRETTY AND

DELICATE BUT, BABY, WE CAN

FLY THROUGH A HURRICANE."

~ Betty White

Friday, December 31, 2021

New Year's Eve, 2021

New Year's Eve, Salem, Virginia, 2021 61*

New Year's Eve, 2021

Little Blue Doggie

Friend Donna gave this little blue dog to Jake. It has become very dear to him. He sleeps with it and carries it around everywhere.

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Art Card Group Snake Book

Just found out that my Art Card Group partner for “Beautiful Moment with Partners Journal Event”, Stacy Woolsey, has received the little snake book (2-1/2”x3-1/2”) that I made for her. I didn’t want to post photos till I knew she received it.

It was my first attempt making a snake book and since it was due by the end of December, I made it with a Christmas theme.

Snake book all folded up, tied with ribbon.

Front cover

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Page 4

Page 5

Page 6

Back Cover

Snaked out.

Back side snaked out.

Gift

What a fun surprise, Linda Exstrom. This pillow is perfect!!

Thank you SO much. We love it!

Gift

Just getting around to opening mail that piled up while we were away. Received this precious gift from my dear sweet friend, Tricia Scott. How dear is the little gold crown she embroidered on Jake’s little head? This is a beautiful gift.
Thank you for this precious cyanotype ornament that will hang in my home all year. Love you, Tricia. 💗

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Thoughts

I was sitting at the kitchen table looking out thinking how different the landscape is here compared to where Casey lives. It's a different world. I love both places ~ in the mountains and near the ocean.

Beauty

I took this photo in Casey's front yard on Sunday night. We were packing the car and l looked up. SO beautiful. Look at all the stars!

Pure Joy

This little guy is pure joy to me!! Love him SO much.

Farewell Committee

These little fellows came out to say goodbye when we were leaving Casey's on Monday morning.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

Patient Little Guy

Jake waiting for Casey and Amanda to return from their walk this morning.

Charleston Place

Charleston Place in downtown Charleston today. SO festive!

El Jefe

Casey, Amanda, and I had lunch in downtown Charleston this afternoon at El Jefe Texican Cantina. Fun!

Beautiful Lamps

Loved this shop on King Street in Charleston today. 7 Hills Living. The lamps!!!

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come!

I AM A "SEARCHER"

"I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter. We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves."

~ James Kavanaugh

I am THE LOVERS Tarot Card

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse. THE LOVERS represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made. Originally, this card was just called LOVE. And that's acually more apt than "LOVERS." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that you have or will come across a person, a career, challenge, or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.