JUST 3 LITTLE THINGS

THESE THREE...

1.) I came across this (copyright-free) photograph while searching for painting fodder. Hats off to the photographer, whomever he/she is...it's truly lovely work. 

2.) I was blessed (and thrilled) to hear Diane Rehm's (NPR) interview with Poet's, Billy Collins and Donald Hall while driving to Miami this morning. If you missed it and want to hear it, go here and scroll down to 11:00 a.m.; you can replay it online. (I found what the lovely Mr. Billy Collins had to say about taking oil painting lessons (himself) particularly interesting.) (Note: Just in case there's one living soul out there that I haven't already told, I was lucky enough to take a week-long Master's workshop out in Taos, NM with Billy Collins while he was our US Poet Laureate! It was a wonderful experience!)

3.) It's so good to be back in my house in town. The change of scenery is refreshing! I'm excited to get back to work in the studio! Hopeful to paint something LOVELY!!

Love and at Least 3 4 U 2, L
 

THREE LITTLE THINGS ON TURNING 50...

 
Little thing number one: It doesn't hurt! :)

Little thing number two: I'm full of plans for "part two" of my life...am so thankful that I'm still healthy and that I have the time and the means to explore, create and serve. 

Little thing number three: I'm 50 and my life is FULL of love! The biggest blessing of all...people to love!

Happy Little Birthday to Me, L

 

A SNOWED-IN LOVELY LITTLE CHRISTMAS (or too many lovelies to count)...

 
Little lovelies were easy to find this Christmas...even though our (best laid) plans were turned completely upside-down by the Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009. This was our year (sister-in-lawstake turns) to host the DeLozier Family Christmas Eve dinner which has gone off without a hitch for 32 consecutive years. Family dinner number 33 was not to be, thanks to ice, snow, wind and very cold temperatures. We were very lucky, however, that our grown children and one grandson had drove in Friday morning before the weather set in. That allowed us to have our own little family Christmas Eve (and Christmas Morn) and not be stranded way out here at the lake by ourselves. Since I'd prepared for 20 people, we ate like kings.

This morning we are still eating...and still snowed in.

Love and Lovely Littles, L

 

CHRISTMAS LITTLES...

 
Little Thing Number One: Little Bitty Christmas Tree. Tee-Hee. This shorty "Sad Sack" tree has been an ongoing source of pleasure, decorated (entirely) by Graham and thus leaning a little to one side. Every time I walk past it I have to smile a little, remembering Graham's darling 3 year-old self and his excitement at putting on the ornaments. Since the tree's so small the family gifts have stacked up higher, dwarfing it even more.

Little Thing Number Two: Getting ready to host Christmas Eve Dinner for the DeLozier side of the family. In the picture it looks like everything is paper and plastic. Maybe that's because everything IS paper and plastic, haha! Can't think of a single reason not to keep things simple. (Also, you might notice the homemade decor...as in, snowflakes. Cutting them out, I remembered the hours and hours my sisters and I used to spend cutting snowflakes for our windows at Christmastimes past.) (I used to be much better at it, I think.)

Little Thing Number Three: Our cheesy plastic nativity scene...Ed put it up...and I instantly fell in love with it, ha! (Note: Boo was supposed to help set up the nativity scene but he got sick the weekend we had it planned so we postponed it until next Tuesday, then saw rain was predicted. Decided maybe we'd better go ahead and do it without him or it might not get done.)

Little Thing Number Four: The old dock's gone. Now we have a long catwalk leading straight out into the lake. I looked out there today and thought, 'hey, if the Christmas pressure gets to be too much...I can just go outside and "walk the plank"', HA! Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!

Love and At Least 3 4 U 2, L

3 of Late

 

Little number one: A photo of Pop, Nonn & Boo that was taken at the Grove Municipal Airport's Christmas Party last year. (A friend of Ed gave him a copy at this year's party. Graham and I were not in attendance, as we'd already partied all morning long at his school.) We look happy. I look VERY happy. :)

Little number two: A photo of Graham at said morning school party. In the photo he's busy passing out his treat sacks to his darling little friends. He was so tickled to do it. I had such a marvelous time there with the kidlets, too. Had the great pleasure of reading story-time. ("If You Take a Mouse to the Movies"). I plan on more story-time reading up there...I was born for it!!

Little number three: Oh, those poor doggies of Ed's. They're just exhausted from all the Christmas hub-bub. Been working like...dogs: mopping, dusting, grocery shopping, assembling toys, cleaning bathtubs, washing sheets, etc., etc., ETC! My heart bleeds peanut butter for them.

Little number four: My Christmas present!: A new Inversion Board! It took Ed so long to put together the 500 parts I was sure that when he finally finished he was gonna hang me upside down and make me stay that way until New Year's Day. (Note: The board feels marvelous! Such a great stretching relief on my vertebrae. I start out at 15 degree angle for 2 minutes 3 times per day...work my way up to increasing the angle and staying on for 10 minutes 3 time per day. Like I said...it feels SO GOOD!)

Love and at Least 3 4 U 2, L

FIND YOUR LOVERLIES WHERE YOU WILL....

 
  
 
Loverly number one, photo number one: One dozen gift/goody bags packed for Boo's Christmas party at school this Friday morning! (I hope he gets to pass them out himself to all his friends!)

Loverly number two, photo number two: The loverly mess I'm making trying to put together a portable art easel for Graham (while Ruby stays in the middle of the action)...where's a good man when you need one?

Loverly number three, photo number three: Part of the big hole that's to be dug out for our new septic tank being installed this afternoon. Hopefully. And, yea!

Loverly number four, photo number four: A picture of where the old (steel and rusted) septic tank caved in. (While my Ed was standing on top of it.) (There's some disagreement around here as to whether Ed falling into the septic tank (and thankfully not getting hurt) was actually FUNNY. (Cale had to fish him out with a broom handle.) The "not funny side" (coincidentally, Ed's group, probably consisting of only himself and his Momma) is a running a little behind in votes. (You see...we thought we'd hold a contest of "funny!" against "not funny!"...just for SHITS AND GIGGLES...hahahaha.

Love and at Least 3 4 U 2, L

LITTLE LOVELIES OF LATE...

1.) The fog looks so pretty rolling in off the lake this morning. The skies are clearing, turning the water a lovely turquoise blue and with purple shadows. (I challenge myself to name the color of the lake each day...it changes across a very wide spectrum depending on the weather.)

2.) All the Christmas gifts, to date, are wrapped! This pleases me, muchly! (By the way, Ed's done it all in the evenings...he wraps while I sort, tag and bow. My most sincere thanks goes out to him.) (Last night we ate supper and worked on wrapping while watching (for the 20th time or so) "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Can't get enough of that Cousin Eddie, ha!)

3.) I feel happy to be on course with Christmas planning...no rushing, no stress so far. I'm doing things "in batches", a little here and a little there, starting early, taking it slow, SAVORING!

LOVE AND AT LEAST 3 4 U 2, L

THREE LITTLE THINGS IN MY MIND THIS MORNING...

 

 
LITTLE THING NUMBER ONE, PHOTO NUMBER ONE: Graham eating the butter straight from the package at Clanton's Cafe. (Remember the joys of eating a pat of butter at a restaurant as a kid?...or sugar straight from the sugar bowl at home?! Hee-Hee!)

LITTLE THING NUMBER TWO, PHOTO NUMBER TWO: Boo with his Pop; Pop with his Boo. They are two peas. (Two pea-brains, even.)

LITTLE THING NUMBER THREE, NO PHOTO: For the past few days we've had a crew at the Lodge digging big holes with a jackhammer, then burying the deadmen, then cementing them under with bags and bags and bags of cement.

(Note: the on-shore iron bracings for the new dock are each called a deadman. (Steel cables run from them to the dock.) I'm trying to figure out how they came up with the term: dead weight, I guess...and each one has arms...or legs...or whatever...ah, well...just fun to say we've been burying dead men out back this week! And, come to think of it...maybe that's how they determined the name...a little something to put some fun into a backbreaking, tedious and--this time of year--freezin' ass cold job!)

Love and Three Littles for Everyone, L

'TIS THE SEASON OF LITTLE LOVELIES...

1.) This photograph reminds us what Boo looked liked on Santa's lap this time last year. Today, Santa will be making another annual visit to our bank (smart Santa, eh?, taking orders at a bank) and we'll have another photo to reflect a little boy's happiness, excitement...and growth over a year's time. We've planned a late afternoon visit with the jolly one (Pop's asking, once more, for a new airplane...he just can't seem to get off the naughty list, I guess) and then we're all having an early family supper out at the local infamous Route 66, Clanton's Cafe. Nothing like a little yummy grease gravy to warm you up after standing in line on a cold day. (It's 17 degrees out there this morning.)

2.) Had an all day and all evening lovely time with Ed yesterday. He pulled himself away from work, Rotary and remodeling the hanger at the airport to spend time being the muscle behind a boatload of projects I had up my sleeve. It might be awhile before he gets excited about a day like that again, but I sure did have LOVELY time!

3.) In the attic of the Lodge we (Ed) discovered a rather (really) cheesy and more than a little worn plastic, lighted Nativity scene. Since Graham's coming to do more decorating (remember, he's done 100% of it is so far), we decided this garish ensemble would be perfect for him to put together outside in the flowerbed. Ed did some minor repair work on the pieces (to get the lights operational) and now ready to go for Boo to arrange and admire. Lovely!

Love and at Least 3 4 U 2, L

LOTSA LITTLES TO CATCH UP ON...

 
Mary Jane's Sneakers, by Lori DeLozier, 24x36, oil on canvas

(*I count my lovelies every day...but, sometimes I forget to post them here!)

1.) I recently started drinking coffee again (since staying at the Lodge), so... already this morning, a lovely hot brew of Folgers Black Silk steaming in the cup!

2.) One morning, a few days back, we woke to a pink fog all across the lake just as the sun was coming up. As the morning temperature rose, so did, little-by-little, the fog--turning into a big pink and white and silver cloud in the sky above the water. It was, indeed, lovely. And it was a peaceful and wonderful experience to watch the natural process.

3.) This lovely is a long story, short: last week I ended up in town (local to the Lodge) with no checkbook, no wallet, no credit cards and NO GAS in my car! (Like I said, long story, short.) Anyway, a delightful stranger (angel) behind an unfamiliar bank counter loaned me 20 bucks out of her purse for gas to get me back to the Lodge and pick up my wallet! Bless her and...Whew! That was really a lovely!

4.) I've been enjoying my Christmas shopping from home at the Lodge...wearing my favorite pink robe, with a nice popping fire burning in the fireplace. It's been leisurely and enjoyable. I feel blessed to not be in traffic and standing in lines.

5.) Last Thursday, I was sitting in the doctor's office (she was running behind schedule) and Christmas music was playing on the piped-in radio and everyone was ENJOYING it. There was lots of discussion of recipes and comparisons of tricky places to hide presents. (Inside the sewing machine cabinet was the hands-down winner!)

6.) I am listening to "The Shack" on my Kindle. This is its own special kind of lovely.

7.) I think it's Lifetime Network that's running Christmas Movies every night until Christmas. We've watched 2-3 delightfully dumb and lovely made for t.v. movies the past few nights. They are sort of "ugh", but I can't get past the jingling bells, the ultra-sentimentality, the HO-HO-HO's and the Christmas music, ha!

8.) My 54 year husband, who's a private pilot, passed his bi-annual physical required for license renewal. He's completely healthy and on NO MEDICATIONS at all. Never has been. This is truly a blessing. Lovely, lovely, loverly.

9.) I have a busy week ahead of me...I'm looking forward to every minute of it with happy anticipation!

Love and at Least 3 4 U 2, L