It's Fall!

Kristen and I have decided to train for a Thanksgiving 5k, so we are following six week plan to go from not running to a 5k. Today's workout included a 3-5 mile walk, so we decided to take some photos along the way. About 1/16th of a mile into the journey, I found a mirror in a trash pile. It was a nice mirror and rather large, so I decided to adopt it as my own. Here are a few photos from the day:

Our sidewalk


Sweet gumball


The sidewalk


Isn't my new mirror beautiful?


I couldn't turn this one.

I love fall.

These are a few paintings from the most recent series that I have been working on. The tree silhouettes were inspired by the beautiful old oak tree that is in my grandparents' front yard.

My Bochie (this is what we call our grandmas in our extended family, I believe the word is some toddler's mis pronunciation of the Polish word for grandma) just passed away this past November. Her birthday was Valentine's Day, so these memories are again fresh in my mind. I have never really experienced the death of someone so close to me before, and although grieving has been a painful experience, it has also made me more aware of who I am and who I want to be. My memories of her have also provided me with inspiration for my work, and doing the work is healing in itself.

When I was painting these last semester, I was really busy, and I was double booked, so I didn't actually attend my painting class, so my teacher didn't see my work until the end of the semester, and when I told her about my inspiration, she surprised me by saying that just by looking at them, she could tell that they were about death and the afterlife. I guess tree images do have a lot of symbolism attached to them, but I was surprised to hear her say that. Apparently art can speak about the artist in ways I couldn't have expected.

An update on the lucky penny search: I have more than a dollar, which is pretty exciting.

Also, I'm not a good blog updater because I'm afraid I'll be boring, and I'm not very funny, and I just don't feel like I have any interesting things to write about.

If you are reading this, and have any suggestions, let me know.

Lucky Pennies

My dad always taught me to pick up any money I saw lying on the ground (it is free money). Anyway, I found 24 cents on the sidewalk today (they weren't all pennies), but it made me wonder, if I kept all the change I found on the sidewalk, how much do you think I could save by the end of my life? I might have to find a jar and start collecting . . .