Father's Day Miscellany

Happy Father's Day to all you dads and granddads out there.

I'm sitting here in my kitchen, drinking cappuccino and listening to the birds in the yard. The day is still cool enough to have the doors open, and there is so much music outside. I love listening to this every day.

I've been missing my dad lately. You'd think that with just having lost my mom I'd be missing her, but the last week or so, it's my dad that's been on my mind. He's been gone nearly nine years now. I wish I could tell him that I'm finally studying art. When I was a child, that was what he predicted I'd be. In a strange sort of coincidence, Michael's dad is being very supportive too. Every time we visit them, he wants to see what I'm working on and he tells me to keep doing that art. I love my father-in-law, but I wish it was my own dad saying those things to me.

I have one more week of my nude figure class, and then I'll have two months off. I'm looking forward to having time to do what I want to do in art, instead of doing class exercise after class exercise. I'm starting to feel frustrated by how little I use my art for self-expression. I know I'm in training and I also know that nothing is stopping me from doing my own work on the side . . . nothing, that is, but time. Well, in July and August I should have more time. I've started messing around with watercolors, which I haven't done since I was a kid, and I love playing with color again.

I've actually done some real live writing for this blog. I'm putting up a series of posts this week related to the internal issues that have been simmering since my mom's death. It's all pretty introspective and self-analytical, and not much of it is really new ground (it's one of those issues I have to keep relearning periodically), so I don't know how interesting it will be to any of you, but I'm throwing it out there anyway.

Finally, a friend of mine (former co-worker, current classmate) just started a blog. It's only been going a week, but she has some intriguing posts already. If you're interested in checking it out, it's called Tales from My Side of the Screen.

Tell your dads you love them today.