200/375 free draw, mermaids

199/365 free-draw, self portraits

I don't know who it looks like, but not me!

Done with pastel chalks.

This is a little closer.  Gel pen.

*we have started to do ten minute free-draws while trying to think of new subjects to write about. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite and freedraw, at the space between colors.

198/365 free-draw, train depot

197/365 free draw, jewelry

196/365 free draw, churches

195/365 free draw, my hand

*we have started to do ten minute free-draws while trying to think of new subjects to write about. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite and freedraw, at the space between colors.

194/365 free draw, coney island, my 600th post

193/365 free draw, Central Park

192/365 free draw , Tom Waits, Invitation to the Blues

*we have started to do ten minute free-draws while trying to think of new subjects to write about. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite and freedraw, at the space between colors.

191/365 free draw, a scene

These drawings get really pitiful here on in. Haha.

190/365 free draw, cat

189/365 free draw, portrait of a friend

188/365 free draw, doodle

187/365 free draw - out the window

186/365 free draw, still life with chocolates

185/365 free-draw, still life

Because we are running out of subjects to write on, we've decided to do ten minute free-draws now and then.  I am no artist, as you can tell. 

pencil

*we have started to do ten minute free-draws while trying to think of new subjects to write about. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite and freedraw, at the space between colors.

184/365 freewrites

This is the last freewrite for a while, and I won't be writing much here.  We've gone through 183 subjects, and have run out of things to say for the time being.  Since we want to keep up with some type of project we've decided to do free draws from now until we think of more subjects to write on.  I am no artist, and a lot of the stuff I draw will be just plain silly, but it's something to do.  Hope it will keep you amused, if nothing else.

183/365 I wish...

Above all, and beyond any other wish, I wish my mother could walk again.  I wish my father was still around to talk to.  I wish for things that cannot be.
Dan Hill said "If wishes had wings, I'd be flying."
I wish for my family and friends to have good health in body mind, and spirit.
I wish my cats would get along.
I wish good things to come true, and that I am worthy of them.
Sometimes wishes are something we can make come true ourselves.
I wish we could think of more topics for this 365 project.

182/365 fairy tales

"Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart."  Nice notion.  I believe in fairy tales produced by Disney.  But never believed a knight in shining armor would appear in my real life.
I enjoyed fairy tales as a kid.  Cinderella, Snow White, Pinocchio.  They were a delight to watch on the big screen with vivid color.
How few fairy tales are actually about fairies.  I don't know of any stories about them, actually.  Makes me want to write a real fairy tale.

181/365 children

Children are amazing little creatures.  Sponges that pick up everything.  I laugh when I hear Logan using an expression like "Oh, man!" and so many other things he says that he picks up along the way.  That's why you've got to be careful what you say around children, because every moment is a learning moment for them.  Children have always taken well to me.  I think it is my ability to meet them eye to eye.  Being loved by a child is an amazing feeling.  Logan loves me, and is always happy to see me, giving me a hug and a kiss.  Precious.

180/365 wealth

I know little of wealth in terms of money.  I only know about the wealth of love I get from my family and friends.  The wealth of love I have for them in return.  I have a wealth of creativity in my bones.
My wealth you cannot lose in the stock market or over bad investments.
I imagine monetary wealth is a comforting thing, not ever having to worry about where your next meal is coming from.  Well, I am totally at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to that kind of wealth.  One can hope for a miracle.

179/365 college days

I don't have a set number of years I consider to be my college days.  Didn't go to one of those fancy four year colleges.  But acquired my degrees in spurts, spanning from my first college year when I was eighteen, to the last time I was in college at thirty eight.  Twenty years of college days.
Back in Richmond it was me and Evie writing and painting our way through school.  Talking for hours on thursday afternoons in the cafeteria.  Genius just soaring.  Those were among my best college days.
Later, in acupuncture school it was a whole new trip.  Holism all the way.  Study groups meeting at me apartment every month.  Every lesson an intensive.
In my last days of college, studying nursing, it was nothing but school and working, for the most part.

178/365 coney island revisited

(oct 8, 2012 - written and photographed before Hurricaine Sandy)

A chilly and damp day.  The clouds hide the sun.  My friend and I wait outside for a car to take us to Coney Island.  We drive under the el, and soon arrive at our destination --- right by Nathan's Famous Original Frankfurters. 

Took a walk a few blocks over and eyed the cyclone for a while through the camera lens.  The grey look of the photographs reveal the day, if nothing else.

We sat on the boardwalk a while beofre walking down to the water.  I took my shoes off and let the water cover my toes.  Its been such a long time and it felt so good.

Then we made our way towards the Wonder Wheel, snapping pictures, and me trying to convince Evie that it was a good idea to go on it.  She was apprehensive, but went along.  She'd never been on it before.  I have, but not in 35 or 40 years.  We chose one of the stationary cars, not the swinging ones.  That thing sure went high and it stops when you reach the top, making it seem like the cage is just suspended in midair.  And it doesn't stop a one turn around, but does it again.  I tried to get a couple of shots through the gate, don't know how well I did.

me

evie

pics of me taken by Evie Tirado



We ended our coney trip at Nathan's, having gone full circle.  Had a frank and Nathan's fabulous french fries, and an orange drink.  Then a trip to the sweets store to get a cashew covered caramel and marshmallow.

(Photos taken in October, before Hurricane Sandy hit... not sure if everything still looks like that afterwards. especially that merry go round and children's rides section right off the beach.  Heard the Cyclone was damaged as well.)

*A free-write is a type of automatic writing, where you just go with your stream of consciousness non-stop. There's no thought to spelling or grammar, and no editing of words. Supposedly this opens the mind up to greater creativity. They can be 5, 10 or 20 minutes long. Suggestions for freewrites are always welcome. Visit Evie, with whom I freewrite, at the space between colors.

177/365 four more years

I am happy to say that President Obama will lead the country for four more years.  Watched the election results last night and it wasn't as tight a race as expected.  Obama prevailed.  Yay!

176/365 houses

Some friends I used to now, Sue and Sam, owned a great big house on over 200 acres of land, with a pond, and a sauna house built up by the pond.  It was magnificent.  Every year they would have an all weekend Solstice party at the beginning of summer.  Many people sleeping in their house or on the land.  That's how I would love to live if I had my druthers.
I don't consider my apartment to be my house, although I'm sure I've said "come to my house" a time or two.  But a house is different than living in an apartment building.
I would not like all the caretaking involved in having a house, though.  Wouldn't know where to start with that.
I've always loved the idea of building a log cabin.  A fragrant little home to live in.

175/365 fantasy

wax poetically
unicorns and dragons come
here in fantasy

My haiku for the subject.
I ascend to higher states, up near clouds and raindrops you cannot see.  The land of fruit and honey.  Oh my, fruit and honey, doen't that sound good.
Fantasy does not come easy these days, everything is terribly real. 
Sometimes it's good to escape, though.  Into fields of green splendor, cold babbling brooks.  All sorts of friendly wildlife around.

174/365 shoe boxes

When I was a kid, we would turn over the bottom of the shoe box and cut out 3 mouse holes, one smaller than the other, and then try shooting marbles into the holes.  It was a very enjoyable game.  You got 25 points if you got it in the smallest hole.
My mother wasn't big on keeping shoes boxes, except maybe for a storage use for other stuff.  I am not one to keep shoe boxes, either. Except if they're fancy shoes, and I don't have much of that.
Shoe boxes are great for storing old photographs in.

173/365 traveling

I remember traveling cross country on a bus with my sister and niece, who was five at the time.  Some of our best times were when the bus driver would take a break for an hour.  Chicago reminded me of New York, the little I saw of it.  We stayed in Santa Fe, NM, and in Durango, CO.  Never made it to the west coast, although that was my original plan.
I feel good when traveling, like I have my world in my hands, and I like it.
The farthest I've ever traveled was to Lapland, Finland, nearly 5,000 miles away.  Over the pond, and then some.  Too far from home for comfort, at the time.
I'd love to travel some more -- even just to the country to see the leaves turning.  Its been so long.

172/365 traffic

The sound of traffic rises up to my apartment the whole day through.  Less late at night, of course, but you can still hear the rumble of trucks passin by.  I like the sound of trucks driving along the highway in the distance.  Something about that, and if they pull the horn, even better.
I was once in a traffic jam right up the block from me, heading to the Verrazano bridge on a friday at 5o'clock.  Took me half an hour to move one block; made it to the corner, and turned away from my destination.
I like to keep pace with the trucks on the highway, and I know even to flash my lights when it's okay for them to move into my lane.  I always get a honk of thanks in return.

171/365 birds

I once found a Blue Jay that had fllen from its nest.  I offered it some water, and it drank up.  Brought that bird into the house and fed it dog food (as suggested by an Audobon person), and watched him grow pin feathers after a short while.  Me and my sister cared for him.  We called him "Blue".  We gave Blue up to one of these people from the Audobon Society, who was going to rehabilitate him back into the wild. He was banded as ValiantiBlue.  I think it took about 6 weeks. Unfortunately me and my sister didn't get to see him set free -- into Central Park, near Belvedere Castle.  There were fierce thunderstorms for days after his release, and I worried so much for him.
I like birds of all sorts, but have a special place in my heart for the Blue Jays.
I'm quite fond of crows, and love how they're always talking about something or another.
And Hawks are a great totem for me.  When I see hawks I know I'm traveling in the right direction.

Blue