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We made it through the weekend at Belloo's and did have a wonderful time. I got some lovely Christmas gifts from fans and friends. We are headed home in the morning to spend Christmas with mother and daddy. I'm pretty sure this is my last Christmas with Daddy so it's going to be wonderful and sad at the same time. He has fallen twice in the last 3 days and now not hardly eating a thing. I need to get there quick...

My friend and a lovely visit

My friend Sandy came over tonight - it's the only time we could get together over the holidays. We both are always so busy so this was very nice. I made a big pot of Potato Soup (from scratch) HA HA and added asparagus and had crumbled bacon to go in it. Baked some bread (not from scratch but from Kroger) and made a salad. Kenny and Sandy and I had a great time visiting. Marvin (her finiance) is out of town but we do plan to get togther with them soon. she gave me some yarn for Christmas and I've aready started to knit it tonight! I love getting yarn! And Kenny got a Starbucks Card - whoopee - too bad Christy you're not here to go with him! Daddy has one good day then sleeps a lot the next so we are prepared to go at a moments notice now. We probably are going to go up on Monday instead of waiting until wednesday. We think we should spend as much time as possible with Daddy right now. We are going to Columbus to work this weekend and should be a fun "Christmas Show" - you KNOW I"m going to sing Christmas Songs (and cry)! I always cry singing Christmas songs...Even though we don't have a tree this year I have my "Six" Yorkie Christmas paintings hung with the art lights over them and a few decorations out. I took my Grandmother Green's Butter churn that usually sits on the fireplace and put it on a table. I put some pine greenery and red berries, tied a red bow on the handle and put presents around it - not my "usual" tree but hey, it's looks pretty. We're packing everything up tomorrow and going to Columbus to have dinner with Pat and little Brock. That should be fun - Brock decorated our tree in the cottage - Oh, we do have a live tree there - he loves to put Christmas trees in everyone's house! I would take but my camera is broke!!!! Hope everyone is surviving the mad last week rush and just remember to spend time with your loved ones - that's most important of all......

Wonderful Visit

We are home after a 2 day visit in SC with Mother and Daddy. It was a nice one and Daddy sorta seemed stronger but not really. When we got there he was sitting up, dressed in his pants and black shirt and said I want to go to Cracker Barrell! He looked good and talked to me and Kenny a bit. He wore himself out pretty quickly though. Of course, we didn't go to Cracker Barrell - I wish he were strong enough because we would certainly take him. He's in a routine now, eating very little, and sleeping a lot. He stills wants his "Happy Hour" with his 2 glasses of wine - hey, give the 97 year old man anything he damn well wants! We stayed with him and let Mother have some time out by herself which she really needed. She went to the bank and the grocery store for a while (man, she bought a lot of groceries!) but it did her good. This is the first time she's been anywhere since his heart attack on Nov 18th. I did get to surprise my cousin Karen with her painting and of course, we both cried! She was very surprised and I'm so glad to have done this for her. Kenny and I did get out for a bit one evening and did a little Christmas Shopping - mother had given us money to pick out a couple of things so we did get that done which is a relief! It was very very hard to leave again but we'll be going back for Christmas if not sooner. Again, I'm just so grateful for every moment I have with my Daddy and I love him so very much. It's cold and raining in ATL (I love it) and we are going to stay home today and do some cleaning, and wrapping and just enjoying being together with Tatiana and Matilda Mae and each other......

Painting

Photo from around 1950
Sam and Karen
16 x 20 oil on Canvas

I don't think my cousin will read this blog so I'm going to post it. I'm so excited I got to finish this painting last night. My cousin found this photo probably taken around 1950 and said some day I want to get you to paint this. It's my cousin Karen and her father Sam, my Daddy's youngest brother. Like me, Karen was always a "Daddy's Girl" but she did not have her Dad around as long as I have. Sam died in the early 70's. Karen is now 64. This photo was taken in our Great Aunt Rachel's yard in Fries, Va where Daddy and Sam were born. So there are lots of special memories in this painting. I wanted to surprise her at Christmas with this and I feel great that I got to finish it. I wasn't sure I would be able to. She has been so much help with Daddy and Mother and me these last few weeks. Karen is also a 20 year cancer surviver of Bladder cancer. Her son, Stephen is a screen writer in LA and has a movie coming out with Richard Geer - can't wait to see that one and her daughter April lives in Florida. This is the best part of being an artist. To create something that will live on in families lives forever (and hopefully not end up in a flea market!!!). So I don't think anyone knows my cousin but if you do be very very quiet about this painting (Aunt Jane)!!!!- I'm going to give it to her for Christmas!

Been so Long

I know I should have been posting but I've been on such a roller coaster ride and so tired. First of all, Daddy is resting at home but still getting weaker. I came home to go to Columbus and work the gig not knowing if we would have to rush back to SC. Well, we made it and so did Daddy. I'm not sure when I've ever been this tired and on top of it all we did a "double" on friday - a military ball AND Belloo's. Man, I thought I gave up that non-sense in Vegas but we needed the work. I also kept waking up at 8:30 every morning - this is NOT a good thing when you get to bed between 4 and 5 am. I finally did sleep today until noon but it doesn't help that much. We had a great "cold" weekend weather wise. I really enjoyed the chimnea on the deck in Columbus. I just love sitting by the fire and feeling toasty warm. And I put the snuggle ball right in front of it and Matilda loved that too! Tatiana NEVER gets out of the bed until her Daddy does. I've talked to Mother every day and Daddy has not changed much since I left. He does keep asking about when he's going to the doctor and I just don't know if he can do that or what the doctor can actually do for him. The hospice nurse is coming tomorrow and we hope to get some answers there. I wish I could talk to him but he can't hear me well enough on the phone. I've decided to stay home tomorrow and go to my last art class to finish a Christmas present. My Aunt Laura is leaving on Tuesday and Mother said she could use a little time just for her and Daddy. She has had someone in the house all the time. So we are going to talk every day and we'll find a good time to go back up this week. We actually have the weekend off - a scheduleing mess - and Kenny and I sure could use a weekend at home but we also need to be ready to go at a moment's notice. After I "unpack" from Columbus I'll "re-pack" to have ready to go to SC - man, I'm tired of all the living out of a suitcase thing too. As I have said before I'm so grateful for the last two weeks of the having the time to spend with Daddy and taking care of him. I want to be there all the time right now but I also know I may be needed more soon and I should get as much done here as possible. And I would love to just a few "Christmas" decorations around this house because we sure "need a little Christmas". And I've done no shopping at all and I do need to get a little of that done too. And I've got to mail the "Florida" package - oh no, I'm not going to list everything I have to do on this blog - I'd be typing all night! I took a few pictures last week on my phone - my camera has really crapped out (hear that Santa?) and this is one of my favorites. That saturday night Mother, Daddy, Kenny and I all sat down at the kitchen table and had dinner together. That was so very very special because we have spent so much time at that table enjoying meals together. These moments are so precious to me right now. I thank everyone for their prayers and I continue to pray for my Daddy. And for my Mother. Any time I have left with him I'm grateful for now. As I start another week I just hope to have the strength to get everything done that I need to right now. And also, right now I think I'm about to fall asleep!!!