Good day dear friends and family! When I began to write this particular blog about "cleaning up" it was September 15. Heaven forbid that I get in an auto accident and the fire rescue people ask me what day it is. Let me go check the calendar…. OK it’s (first find the calendar, then see what’s crossed off and what’s supposed to happen and what hasn’t happened yet and then zero in on TODAY!) Ah! today is Friday September 19, and, as scheduled, after much maintenance work done by our dear neighbor George on the van and the 4 wheeler, Chuck has left the building, and he is off to Georgia to plant corn for unsuspecting deer. Hunting season begins October 18 and it’s off to the races to see what deer are dumb enough to "come to the garden."
Back to the dust bunny/stuff wars! On September 15, I wrote the current score on what was supposed to be my next blog, but which I never got to due to not being able to find the computer in the stuff)… At that time I opined the "score" was Sue 1, Dust Bunnies 452, stuff 357. I gave myself a 1 because well I’m smart and I have a broom and dust pan. As I carried a basket full of holy cards and letters to the dining room table, a dust bunny the size of my hand scuttled out from under my feet and made a break for the TV room. "Gotcha!" I yelled, hitting the bunny with the broom, and Chuck came flying out of his study (which is also a perilous place)… I had to explain, "WOW! Where does the stuff and dust come from?" My neighbor Cindy swears by her swiffer and I guess that would help me too. Any how… I finally emptied ALL the stuff into the dining room, and gave the art room a good sweep which continued around the house, bathroom, TV room… gathering escaping bunnies everywhere. Then Chuck yelped and started to cry. "What?" I yelled, as I ran for the kitchen, "What is that SMELL???" Our friend Mickey who stayed here for about 6 weeks, would probably weep with Chuck. While looking for mustard, a bottle of Cayenne Hot Sauce leaped out of the pantry and fell on the tile floor. Chuck said a dust bunny pushed it out. Yuck – the smell of that cayenne… I think the only person who wouldn’t weep but rejoice with the loss of a bottle of HOT sauce is me. I found some interesting "stuff and dust" as I carefully cleaned up the sauce and glass. Onion peels, apple cores, plastic bag parts litter the spaces hidden by kitchen cabinets. Once the kitchen was clean and sprayed liberally with both Clorox and 409, I removed my talents back to the art room. When we built the room, Chuck built me 2 closets. They are not empty yet; all I did was liberate some blank canvasses with a promise to get back to the stuff… and bunnies. The closets are the last stronghold (I actually can’t get into the second closet, 2 statues of the Blessed Mother needing painting, 2 cans of outdoor house paint (need to paint the house), and a hallowe’en witch, amongst some other to be determined stuff, bar that closet door from being opened. I don’t have the time right now to see what’s in there… (maybe I’m afraid). I don’t think this war can ever be won. Besides I have painting to do!!! I arranged the "shelf" under the window, spread out all the paints I have in Miami (a bunch are still in the Keys), arranged the canvasses by size, got out some greeting cards to paint and set to work! For two days now, I’ve been painting and it is bliss! I’m covered in paint… blue, red, orange, white… I have a big red stripe of paint spread just above my knee where I must have been hugging a canvas. On my facebook page is several photos by Mickey Foster, my 6 week guest. He inspired me with his photo of palm trees that I turned into "Barbara’s Oasis" and now his photo of a beautiful white flower he named "First Love" (right under a photo of a psychedelic crab he put on facebook) inspired me. Lots of things inspire me but these Mickey and Barbara things are special because Barbara is sick and we are praying so intensely for her that she is constantly on my mind… so this morning, fueled by high test coffee, (I made straight caffeine coffee for Chuck this morning (he’s driving to Georgia)… and he left me 1/2 a pot. I mixed it 1/2 and 1/2 with boiling water, milk, and a little chocolate so I’m not flying off the ceiling after drinking the other half pot of high test. But I think I’ll never sleep again). So fueled, I painted First Love and a butterfly on Barbara’s card. I finished the first "Barbara’s Oasis" yesterday and finished the second this morning while waiting for First Love to dry. I’ve offered copies of my paintings of "Barbara’s Oasis" for donation to Barbara’s bills to fight cancer at Boondocks, just south of Big Pine Key) Sept 29. You can see Mickey’s photo of palm trees taken from our dock and my first rendering of those trees (which have become "Barbara’s Oasis") in a paper format that I framed and gave to Barbara. Both are on my facebook page. I tend to paint thick and in layers so I have to wait…. waiting waiting for paint to dry so I can paint over it often leads to painting several paintings at the same time. Need more room…… The dining room table is still covered with stuff from the art room, but I just can’t stop for stuff right now. God bless you and please believe He loves us and keeps us close! Sue