Thursday, January 5, 2017

no, really, I'm good


I'm amazed that so many people seem to be worried about me since the election and I admit that most of my FB posts since have been in-your-face political but really, my blood pressure is fine, I'm not on the verge of stroking out, and I still find joy in my daily life. I am still avoiding all political conversations with people I don't know well because support for Trump is still a deal killer and if any of the people I encounter on a daily basis and enjoy chatting with support him, I just don't want to know. And this is not about my candidate losing. This is about a basic moral foundation or rather the lack of one. Regardless of the lies he promised, if you support a racist bigot who has spent his entire career cheating and ruining anyone who opposes him, an admitted sexual predator who mocked a disabled person and who acts like a third grader, a man who stands by this country's main opponent against his own government, constitution, and citizens whom he called his enemies, then there is something seriously wrong with you. I will continue my in-your-face political posts and blog entries because this is something that should never become normalized and it's looking like it could even get disastrous but I am trying to temper them with more art and beauty.

So, I'm back to work, working on a few new models for the critter show at Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery in Dallas in February, the first of the three shows we have been invited to participate in there this year. I'm trying to get these done by the end of the week. The first is this hibiscus flower with bumblebee.


It's turning cold again after our week of spring-like weather and in fact is going to get really cold this weekend, down in the 20s so I'll be bringing the few plants in again that I trundle out when the weather is good, plus some others that can tolerate low 30s but not 20s. The roses and morning glory bush and confederate rose have really liked the warm weather and responded by sending out all kinds of new growth. I kept telling them it was far too early and now they are about to get a hard lesson.


And this poor sulfur.


The baby spiders are still hanging out in their protective web. Later that same day I saw they had come together in a single round mass. I've been keeping watch and sometimes they are spread out and sometimes clustered together in one or two balls. If you jostle the twigs trying to get a picture of them clustered together though, they will spread out.





That's my wander for today and I need to get started.




12 comments:

  1. Good for you Ellen! The GOP is seriously misguided these days. Nobody should think Donald Trump is okay. You live in a red state and it's important to stand tall. Anyway...you've never avoided speaking your mind, why start now?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amen, amen! I am SO with you in your thinking about the Trump fiasco. The whole situation has really wreaked havoc with my daily life. Husband still reads NYT on his Kindle. Has tried a few times to discuss something re what is going on. "No! I don't want to know! I don't want my mind to even go there! Please." I just cannot get over this wall in my head re this man and his entourage will actually live in the White House. He will actually make important decisions that affect "our" country. I put the "our" in quotes because I really can't claim ownership of this strange environment. I have seen a few things online by accident. His choices for top jobs?? Nearly as bad as the choice of him as President. Thank you for so blatantly expressing what you think! You help me. Four years seems like an eternity, doesn't it????

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish I was Queen. Since half of those near and dear voted Trump (just to keep Hillary from getting in) all I can do is let him bend over and show all who voted for him the havoc he will cause to our country. I love spiders and webs and have never seen the littles do that. The garden spiders usually fly away with the wind on a teeny silken thread.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE your posts! You give him hell in the most forthright way, I respect that.
    As far as art goes, good for you, it distracts and adds something pure. You need that, we all need that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would be worried about you, if you weren't speaking up. Everybody with a brain and a heart needs to say something about that thing that calls himself a president. Like you said, this is not about political parties but about decency. How can anyone be all right with a cheat and a liar and predator who is proud of the horrors he commits (or admits to have committed)?

    You and I have been reading each other's blogs long enough, for you to have notice that I rarely discussed politics. These days, politics always finds its way into my writing. I can't help it. The thought of what the current administration seems to want to do to our nation (to our sick, to our old...) is not something to ignore.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OK ok, the baby spiders are adorable. I admit it. And I love the flower & bee. And in the 20s is TOO COLD for you guys! It's 17 here & pouring snow - but this is Ohio for heaven's sake.

    You & I are of like minds regarding politics, so preach on Texas Sister!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've never seen pictures of any spiders. Fascinating.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wonder if the hard lesson line is used all over this country. I used to tell me August lilies that March was way too early, even if we were tempered by the lake, and how often their leaves lay wilted around them and they had a less than satisfactory summer.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I recently discovered someone I truly respected thinks the president elect will be good for our country and "do a good job". I will never regard him in the same light! The future is staring us all in the face and it is scary!!
    I love the spider pics. I like spiders as long as they stay out of my house.

    ReplyDelete
  10. With what has happened today in the hearings and what will happen tomorrow when information is shared, I have hope that the mad man will not make it a month in office. What he has said recently is treasonous. This is not about party, this is about country.

    I hate the thought of January 20th, but I am looking forward to the 21st when I and, hopefully, 200,000 others will march in Washington in defense of what we hold dear - honor, decency, and the USA. I love your posts and know that I can come here to read what I feel.

    I have never seen spiders like that before. They are very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is -3 here this morning, no critters or blooms. I posted some from a botanical center I went to.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ugh. Trump.

    I wonder why spiders cluster like that? It's not like they're warm-blooded, and you'd think a big clump of babies would be even MORE attractive to predators than a bunch of little ones widely dispersed. Mysterious!

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.