ST. PATRICK AND PENNIES FROM HEAVEN

Greetings to each of you on St. Patrick's Day!

The last time I blogged I forgot to mention that our local art gallery had it's annual Gala and we went.

This year's theme was "With Pennies from Heaven We'll Be Singing in the Rain". It was a fund raiser and they were raising money to repair the roof which was in dire need of repair. Some friends of ours from Dallas were our guests as well as an Arlington couple, so we all met over here so we could go together and take up fewer parking spaces.

It was a lovely event and Frank and I knew most of the people there. They had decorated with umbrellas to keep with the theme and had clouds suspended from the ceiling and also on the table cloths.

Here is a shot that I took from the mezzanine that shows the overall scene for the evening. Fortunately they have an elevator so I was able to go upstairs.

When we first arrived, we were greeted by these girls who were in all white body-stockings and they were twirling around a hoop which was built into their garments. It was as though they were moving in slow motion. They looked very surreal and almost spooky!

Here are some of our dear friends who were there. Betty and Ann were also at one of the Ben E. Keith tables and sat next to us. There were three of these tables thanks to Betty's husband., Dick.

There were also a number of my artist friends there and they had some of their work in the auction. I used to paint with Karen, Nancy and Barbara who were part of the group I belonged to called Canvas by Canvas.

There was dancing before dinner and also live entertainment. Both were exceptional. These dancers even sang and danced to "Singing in the Rain". It was great fun.

There was a silent auction that started when the event began and after dinner there was a live auction. Here is the painting that I had in the silent auction. I hope that they made enough off of both of the auctions to make the necessary repairs to the building with some left over. It was a lovely affair and I'm sure that they did.

Canvas by Canvas had one of their large pieces in the live auction. It was entitled "La Diosa Rosa" and one of our guests bid on it and got it. I worked on this piece with 8 other members of the group. Their's is a very unique way of painting. You can go to their website and see how it'd done. http://canvasbycanvas.com/

I really enjoyed painting with the group and was with them for several years.

The silent auction had the art work hanging at all times, but when the live auction started, they had volunteers who looked like The Village People walk around the museum with each painting so the patrons could get a better look. Here's our Longhorn.

It was a great evening and a good time was had by all.

I mentioned before that our son was in a wreck and totaled his car.

Well, he now has a new car and hopefully there will be no more mishaps! It looks much better than the old one did a couple of weeks ago!

And speaking of cars, our great-grandson celebrated his 16th birthday last month and has just gotten his learner's permit to drive. Please keep him in your prayers! There is so much traffic in our area that I'm concerned for him. As you can see by the look on his face, he's both excited and proud.

I had a minor setback from my treatment last week, so I spent a lot of time watching TV. It's a good thing to do when you can't walk. I happened upon a show that I had never heard of called Amazing Cakes and this is indeed the most amazing cake that I have ever seen.

You can check out these links and see how they made it.

http://happysugarbakingland.typepad.com/happy-sugar-baking-land/2010/11/amazing-wedding-cakes-through-the-looking-glass.html


http://happysugarbakingland.typepad.com/happy-sugar-baking-land/2010/11/amazing-wedding-cakes-through-the-looking-glass-part-2.html

I finally got around to painting again last week. I met with some old friends that I used to paint with and here is the result of my effort. I had a lot of fun and it was a productive day.

One of the girls who was there is doing torn paper collages and here is the one that she worked on that day.



I think it's wonderful and she is considering giving classes on how to do this. If she does, I'll be the first in line to sign up.
Guess I'd better go and get ready since I have another treatment in a few hours. Enjoy St. Patrick's Day and drink a green beer for me! This was my Father's birthday and he would have been 107 today. May God bless him!
XOXO, Pcasso

FREE AT LAST!

It's been a while since I've posted here. There's been a lot going on in our lives and some of it was difficult to report at first.
For the first time in 53 years I did not host our Thanksgiving celebration, so we put on our feathers and headed south ... south Arlington, that is.

Franklin and Beth graciously offered to have our Thanksgiving feast at their house this year since I was having a lot of challenges with my back. We all gathered together to celebrate and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives.

They "brined" the bird overnight before they baked it and it was, without a doubt, one of the best turkeys I've ever eaten.

The rest of the family brought other food items and they were all delicious, especially the pumpkin and pecan pies that my Granddaughter made. Everyone brought something to add to the feast and it was all great.

We all had a great time and of course, the "boys" all went to the Cowboy game afterwards while we girls stayed behind and continued to celebrate as we watched the game on TV and enjoyed a toddy.

Little did I know what was in store for all of us when I declined preparing the Thanksgiving feast.

Three weeks later I developed an infection and after several tests and visits to the doctor I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. I have kept a lot of you informed of what happened along this difficult journey. I had my first surgery in early December.

We had a blessed Christmas in spite of what was going on with me. Beth and Franklin once again offered their home and everyone had a great time.

Harry and I enjoyed eggnog while everyone else was preparing the meal as well as getting ready for the gift exchange.

Nicholas, our eldest grandson, was Santa this year. We take turns with this job and we most always let one of the boys be Santa.

After Christmas, I went back to the Urologist and she performed a cystoscopy and discovered the extent of the cancer. In case you don't know what cancer looks like, it's the "fluffy clouds" in the photograph. You are actually looking inside my bladder here. I'm amazed how cancer can look so lovely and be so destructive.

My first surgery was December 9th, so I had a legitimate excuse to not cook at Christmas! Due to the extent of the cancer which was much worse than they thought it would be at first, my doctor inadvertently nicked the wall of the bladder so she could not complete the procedure. I was scheduled to have a 2nd surgical procedure on the 20th of January. I was told to take it very easy between surgeries and I certainly always want to follow doctor's orders! I might add that Frank is not only a wonderful nurse, he is also learning how to cook , so I was well taken care of!

My friends that I used to paint with in Canvas by Canvas brought me this lovely poinsettia when I was in the hospital the first time. It not only cheered up the hospital room, it looked wonderful at the house. In fact, it was our Christmas tree for most of the season! They are such dear girls and I really appreciate both their talent as well as their friendship. Everyone was exceedingly kind to us during this time. I was under girded with prayers, cards, food (which Frank really appreciated) and visits. Support like this makes things so much easier when you are going through a rough patch.

I had a much easier time after the 2nd surgery and was told that I am now Cancer Free, or at least as much so as can be expected at this point. Those are magical words to my ears!

I am now in the process of treatments which will hopefully prevent the cancer from coming back and I'm half way through ... YEAH! I'll certainly be glad when this is all behind me.

In the meantime, my family has been very busy. We had a family day here last month and I cooked (brought in pizza from a local place ;-)

We played games, celebrated 3 birthdays and had a great time in general as we always do when we get together.

Here I am with 3 handsome young loves of my life.

And these are the birthday people ... Nicholas' wife, Dayna, Rachel and her son, Ethan. He was born on Rachel's birthday and turned sweet 16 this year. I still can't believe that I have a great grandson that old. How is it possible since I'm still so young???

Two of my other loves!

Our youngest grandson, Connor, is competing in a Math/Science program in Dallas and he comes home most Saturdays with medals. He's a really smart and special young man.

While everyone was off to competitions, our son Franklin was going to work in Dallas. He makes this trip every day but this was a very different day. On his way home from work he was in a car crash which totaled his car. By God's grace, he was not hurt. Praise the Lord for air bags! We feel so blessed that this was no worse than it was since this is the second big wreck that he's been involved in. The first one also totaled his car by a driver that was going 80+ mph. It was literally a hit and run as they never found the person that hit him.

Our other young grandson, Ian is quite the musician as well as being a good student. He plays guitar and is very good even if I do say so.

If you go to this You Tube link you'll see why we're so proud of him. You can hear what a young rock band sounds like. This clip was shot at a talent show at their school and they won!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJkJlASc_qQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Tonight is Shrove Tuesday and we'll be on our way to church in a few minutes to eat pancakes and listen to a jazz band.

In New Orleans they call it Fat Tuesday and I'm sure that the pancakes have something to do with it. In the United Kingdom and many other countries, the day is often known as Pancake Day. Making and eating such foods was considered a last feast with ingredients such as sugar, fat and eggs, whose consumption was traditionally restricted during the ritual fasting associated with Lent.
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. My wish for each of you is that this will be a time of prayer and reflection and that you will realize how blessed we all really are. Have a holy Lenten season. I'll get back to you soon.
XOXO, Pcasso