Saturday, June 04, 2005

Grannygoodpaints Place

Grannygoodpaints Place - Even More

I guess what I'm doing here is putting parts of myself into print. Yes...guess that's what it is. There's no real reason for it and hardly anyone gets to see this or answer it.

In school I was always the tiny timid child. Forced into school at a very early age because mom had to work. All the other children were always two years older than I was. I didn't do very well in school because of this...in fact, it was really a living hell for someone like me. Any way, one day I was out in the schoolyard - which was just packed dirt. I picked up a stick and began doodling. The older kids wanted nothing to do with me so I learned to be alone...to this day, I enjoy being alone. So...I doodled until the bell rang and we all went into class. My teacher picked me up and took me to the window...she said "look what you did." I looked down and saw animals in the dirt...elephants, horses, giraffes, etc. I was dreaming of the circus and that's what I doodled in the dirt. It was then that they discovered my talent for art. A blessing and a curse. Dad encouraged it, mom discouraged it...saying artists go mad and she would have none of it in her house! Art was always my comfort - even though any of my early work that mom found got tossed in the trash. Still, I persisted. I was later to discover that anyone with deep creative urges can really be miserable if they are not allowed to create.

Friday, May 27, 2005

Grannygoodpaints Place: Memories of the Distant Past

Grannygoodpaints Place: Yet Another Memory from the Distant Past


I could remember way way back when I believed in Santa Claus. Don't remember now just how old I was. On that particular Christmas, we all piled into my dad's ancient car and set off for a trip of about 200 miles from the coast of New Jersey to my birthtown which was just outside of Scranton, PA. Of course, the road was snowy and dad had to stop twice with flat tires...he would mumble something about them being baloney skins (I thought they were really made out of that stuff!). He'd get out his little patch kit and sit by the side of the road fixing an inner tube that seemed to be full of the same patches and before long, we'd be on our way again.


By the time we reached my grandparents house, it was dark and snowing. Gram and Gramps came out on the porch and gave us bear hugs and Grandma gave us a wink and said to go down into the celler. Now Grandma's cellar wasn't just any cellar. Its where she kept her fresh baked goods and rows of canned peaches and other things from the garden. We found little cakes made just for us grandkids and we found an opened jar of peaches and some spoons. Oh....what a feast we had. Then back into the house where we were put into bed - 4 to a bed cause other grandkids were there too. In those days, everyone went to the bathroom for the last time of the night before going to bed because Grandpa's "bathroom" was an outhouse at the end of their property. To get up in the middle of a wintery night meant you had to dress warmly and rush out and rush back in. Well, seems that's just what happened to me and shake and jiggle all I could - I still had to get up put on boots and winter coat and tip toe down the back stairs. It was then that I saw mom and dad, my grandparents and some aunts and uncles out in the livingroom, putting toys around the Christmas tree. It was then that I realized they were Santa Claus! I never said a word...just snuck out the back door and back in and up to bed. I never spoiled the fun for the rest of the kids - but the next year I just up and said "aw...I don't believe in Santa Claus anymore." Mom nodded sadly as though "there's she's growing up."

Anyway, that's yet another one of my distant memories...both sad and happy and sweet and one I hope to never forget.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Memories of the Distant Past

A Memory from the Distant Past


I can remember a wedding day - so many years ago that the once vibrant young couple grew old and passed on. My uncle - the youngest one on my mom's side of the family. It was his wedding day. The bride was blonde, small and delicate...the groom tall, thin with dark hair. A handsome couple. In this tiny Pennsylvania town, weddings were mostly home affairs. So, uncle's wedding started off with breakfast for everyone. Then a lot of sitting around and talking waiting for the wedding to begin. It was very exciting for me. One of the first times I was truly amazed at how well people dressed and how happy they could be. As children's memories are sporadic at best, I don't remember the wedding itself. I remember sitting in a large room with so many grownups. Finally one boy about my age came and sat near me. He was very timid - maybe even more so than I was. I could hear a fan droning nearby. To this day I remember the exact hum of that fan and the atmosphere of the room. Eventually, after saying a word or so each - we put aside the fact that he was a strange boy and I was a strange girl and just became two little human beings having a nice chat. Later, the party moved out onto my grandparent's huge side porch - that same porch that became a whole lot smaller when I grew up. Everyone danced with the bride - faster and faster until she fainted from the summer's heat. I don't remember the boy disappearing - apparently, his parents left and took him home. I still remember his face and the friendship we shared when we found ourselves to be the only two children at that wedding. Just wanted to share this for what its worth.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Just Another Day....or is it?

Just Another Day: Or is It?


Every day is something new. I think I learn something every day - if you learned something of interest today....something that you never heard before or never saw before, will you share it with me? I learned I can just put a phone number in Google and it will give me a person's address and I can also get a map to their home. (most of the time). That's useful...at least to me :-)

Links

Some Links of Great Importance (at least to me)

Watercolors by Patricia

Patricia's Miniature Art

MY EBAY SELLER'S PAGE - TAKE A PEEK!

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Hi Everyone!

My first post - kinda exciting. How will you answer...be kind...I would love to hear from anyone out there, especially other artists as that is my main interest. I'm an older american but keep up my health - work out many times a week at a local gym and am definitely young at heart. Let me hear from you :-)