Grassy Driveway, Clouds, Steps, Coffee Pot, Whiplash, and Iris

 Merriest beautiful day to 

you all. 

Temps started to drop last week

here in TN., but best of all

the humidity dropped also.

For those of you that don't

live in an over during the summer

like here in TN, humidity makes

a difference. I have managed in the 

past week to mix up a big sprayer 

full of vinegar, Dawn, and salt to 

spray my  gravel driveway. I have

had my ups and downs with this

mixture. It appeared to work,

then it appeared to not work,

and my thought process on that

is, weeds here and there, small

growths of it, this mix works

good, important spray the roots.

A lot of weeds or grass in a 

gravel driveway, not so much.

However, I read try boiling the 

salt in a pot of water first so that

it is dissolved in the mix, otherwise

it really don't dissolve or do much good.

Seemed to work better that way 

this time, and I had a lot to cover.

The outline section is not my yard, well, not

exactly. It is my yard moving into the driveway.

That is also Bermuda grass so it has

the roots from .....hell.

The thing that gets me is at first

I could not get grass to grow

in the front yard but hey, 

it has no issue growing where

it is not wanted. In my defense for 

this mess. Heat came mid June, heat

sent me in the house, my mood

sank and things were not getting 

done. But, I did tackle this the other

day. A couple days after using the 

vinegar mix, things are dead but I 

have gone out and pulled up the 

dead so it looks better. This spot however,

was big, so it is now covered with 

a tarp to help kill the grass off.

Still outside, I noticed

these clouds. Pretty cool.

Not normally the type

I see around here.

I did take my camera out 

the other day and stayed 

gone for hours. I might

get those loaded today so 

I can share but I took this

with my cell. Things like this

to me, make great pics,

yet are the signs of something

gone and now part of the past.

Sadness,

The steps to nowhere.

Sunday morning, I woke, 

needed coffee, but

I hit my pot on the side

of my cup and bam, 

this happened.

No coffee for me!

Hate when mornings that start

like this. 

I still have been painting,

but it is slowing down some.

A test to see what would

happen if I was not painting so much..

Okay, I see the, "what the hell" is she

talking about look on your face!

haha

I backed off from painting, not

really as a test but it appears

that it showed me something.

You see, through this process

of being inside, and painting, 

I have been really down.

It hit hard and fast and I 

threw in painting to see if

it would help. Yes, it helped

so long as I was sitting there doing

it. But then came neck pain

 that

started at the base of the neck, 

then worked its way to the 

base of the skull and then my

forehead and around eyes. 

Remember whiplash from April,

2020? Yeah, it comes back for a visit

from time to time. It has been horrible

onto of being down. The pain

gets so bad that it is hard to move

my head cause I get

so sick at my stomach. 

With that info handy, I 

noticed three whole days of 

no bad pain, no sick headaches,

and I was not painting.

Today, makes two days of 

neck pain being back, 

so, I think it is me looking down

to paint that is making the issue

so rough. Since I realized that 

last night, I know I have to run

out to the shed and locate

my easel so 

 I can still paint and 

enjoy what I am doing.

Right now, I am typing this

post with an ice pack on the neck. 

Now with that said, here

is another story for you.

When I took paint classes, 

and I decided to paint this,

my teacher informed me that

iris were not easy to 

paint.

However, when I finished it 

she told me that although they 

were not easy, I owned it!

Can't remember exactly when

I painted this but I do know it 

was early on in my classes which

I took for five years. 

Sometime later I decided to paint

this.  Little different from the 

one above but still, I think I 

managed it.

Then close to the end of 

my classes I painted the one

below.

Pic is horrible and colors 

not exactly right but this 

was beautiful.

When I worked in printing,

and the time came around for 

us to print the state budget, 

a photo was used that was on

file in photographic services. 

Once the cover was printed and 

I was walking through 

bindery, I saw the printed

deal. It was amazing and 

I wanted to paint it. 

That is the painting from 

the printed cover.

Now for the story that came

after I painted those iris.

I was unhappy in printing, feeling 

like it was time for me to 

move on to something else. 

I had applied for a job in photo 

services which actually was looped

in with printing. Shortly after 

I finished the painting, 

I got that job. 

I was with photo serv. for 

four yrs. and the whole time I 

was in that office, this painting

stood up on a table across from my

desk leaning up against the wall.

Right after I got the job with the 

TBI, one of my customers came in

and she had always loved that painting, 

but out of the blue she asked would

I sell her the painting. 

I sold it, 

I moved to a new department and 

division after 24 yrs with

printing and media services. 

I have not painted an iris in over

11 yrs. but the other night

I got a wild hair.

11 years past and a different

medium (paint), I think

I still have the knack for iris'.

I have to say, I 

like working with the oils better,

I like the look of it 

when it is done better,

but I still nailed it. 

Do you like any of my iris'

above? How about real ones?