Vicki Lane's Blog, page 48

Josie's Art Show

I love how the trope of sun-in-upper-right-corner endures. But the artist has upped her game with the addition of orange to the traditional yellow. Also, breaking from tradition: blue clouds in a white sky. Does this speak to the topsy-turvy state of our modern world?

The artist's statement. She is in second grade (in another two weeks). She is seven and lives with her mom and dad. At the time of writing, she is at Meema's but will be leaving early to have pizza with her friend Vera and Vera's sister Ilona. The artist likes to draw.

Winged Dragon (monochrome)

Chicken Looking Up (more monochrome)

Three Happy Fish with Coral and Seaweed



                                    Unicorn with Rainbow (also monochrome)

Looking East

Almost fifty years here and we're not yet bored with the view.






 

Josie's Summer Days

This is a picture I made with the Colorforms Sandy sent me. It is a girl and her dog. The dog even has a collar and a leash. There is also a tree and the sun and some clouds.

I started to make a city but I changed my mind

And made a playground with a slide and a ladder and a swing. 


Then I taught kindergarten for the babies and their friends. We worked on counting and the alphabet. Margo thinks she knows everything and goes "A B R G W K H Y Z" and "1 2 7 4  27 11."She is a little hard to teach but I am patient. (Sometimes, though, I have to yell at her.)

I read some easy books to the babies and then I read to myself.


I make sure the babies have a good lunch and that they use their napkins. 
Later, they will go with me to the library and go down the slide.  I will take them home to have a sleepover at my house. When I realize that they don't have their jammies, I will walk ALL THE WAY up the mountain to Meema and Grumpy's house to get their clothes. 
I am a good mother.

                                                                                  

Rabbit Rabbit

 

In Praise of Dragonflies

 

Proud of My County

                                                                        

This was just announced for all students in Madison County, I am delighted! No more stigmatizing kids for their parents' inability to pay. 
Though Madison is pretty much a red county--with, perhaps, a growing number of blue voters, it has still done some good and progressive things. Our wonderful library is one, an amazing Health Department is another, and I'm sure there are others I'm not aware of because they don't directly touch my life.
Free meals at school makes me so happy (even though Josie, the picky eater, insists on a packed lunch.) As John said when I told him about the program, it makes us feel a bit better about our property taxes increasing. 
Are we Woke, or what?

More Butterflies

The patch of Black-Eyed Susans outside our greenhouse door had a host of small butterflies visiting. 

Fritillaries of some sort? I can't be sure.


I sat on the steps with my camera and as I was snapping away, a hummingbird grazed my shoulder, on her way to sip from a nasturtium blooming in the pot beside me.


Alas, I couldn't try for her picture--if I'd moved, she'd have darted away. But it was nice to hear her humming there beside me.












 

It Can't Happen Here--Can It?

                                                                                

 The former guy has made no secret of his admiration for dictators, the likes of Kim Jong Un, Putin, and Viktor Orban. Now, it seems, he's hoping to become one.

In a recent speech to a Christian group, he revealed his dream:

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time," Trump exclaimed to a cheering crowd in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians," he added. 

"I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote," Trump said.

What?

Pay attention to what he's saying. This is scary talk. They'll "fix things" like they fixed the Supreme Court. With nothing to stop him, the Orange One could declare himself President for Life, after he'd pardoned himself and his gang of criminals. And you wouldn't have the burden of voting anymore.

Sounds farfetched? It's happened elsewhere. 

If you don't want the next election to be the last, VOTE! And be careful what you're voting for.

A Giddy Delight

                                                                       

It's been a real pleasure to see more butterflies this year. I can't identify the one in the picture but there was an abundance of yellow swallowtails dodging around my car when I went to the grocery on Wednesday. And yesterday, a Black Swallowtail tried hard to come in the basement when I was doing the laundry.
Butterflies don't appear to have much sense--just giddy with pleasure at their existence, brief though it may be.
Which puts me in mind of some things I read recently: two pundits (male, of course, is there any other kind?) warned Democrats against being 'giddy' over Kamala's candidacy.
I plead guilty. 
After the sad disaster of the Biden/Trump "debate," and after the orgasmic crowds at the RNC, Kamala's new ascendancy and the rapid coalescing of the party around her are a real delight.
I know it's going to be a fight. I know nothing is certain--especially after watching Hillary lose, despite her overwhelming victory in the popular vote.
But so very many people are energized by this fresh start--young people, women, minorities--how can I keep from feeling just a bit giddy?

My Little Porch Gardem