More Hope

I received an email from my friend Meghan this morning. You might remember her from the WPIG art auction, or from surprising me by buying my art donation named Hope that she then turned into a fundraiser for my medical funds. Anyway, Megs emailed me and asked if I would be interested in donating one of my prints to an art auction that raises funds for uncompensated care at Seattle Children's hospital. How awesome is that! Meghan is so connected, and she always comes up with the best ideas.

HOPE

When I painted and donated to the WPIG auction, I created a variation of one of my favorite original pieces. When it came to naming it, I sat in a chair and stared at the completed canvas. The first word that came to my mind was HOPE. Little did I realize that it signified hope not only for me, but also for those benefiting at Ryther (the organization benefiting from the WPIG auction), and now hopefully - there's that word again - it will benefit some children in need of medical care. I'm honored to get to help, and thank you to Meghan for facilitating that. Hope is such a beautiful word, and to me it signifies such a variety of emotions like perseverance, belief, happiness, and solidarity.

Here's some information if you want to attend the second annual Bids For Kids, silent and live auction. Somehow, I just know it will be a lot of fun!  

Click on the photo to be directed to the website

Macular Degeneration

Sorry the above photo is so grainy, but I didn't want to disturb the sleeping birdies so I zoomed in. If you look closely the female has her eye open and she's watching me, probably deciding if I was a threat. I wish I could swivel my head and tuck my face into my feathery back. It seems very comforting, hiding from the world. I think I would like being a duck at Green Lake. As far as I've been able to tell, it seems like a pretty awesome life. 

That picture was taken on my walk to the retirement home this morning. Tuesdays are my favorite! Today, along with my usual Margaret, I got the chance to paint Lucy's nails. She's 89, and such a sweet and interesting woman. She moved to Seattle in 1946, migrating from her small Minnesota hometown of 2,300 people. She reminded me of two of my favorite people Rich & Andre who moved from Minnesota. Unlike Lucy, they still have their awesome accents, well, at least Rich does :) Lucy moved to Seattle to do bookkeeping for Boeing during the war. I love Lucy and Margaret. I also had the chance to go to Ruth's room and touch up a couple of her nails. Ruth didn't have the energy to walk to our usual meeting place so I knelt down while she relaxed in her rocking lazy chair. She was looking classic in white slacks and an American flag sweater. These women always look so handsome.  

The highlight of my day, though, was when Lucy asked if I was attending high school. I started laughing and told the ladies that I'm 31. They couldn't believe it! They kept going on and on about how young I look, until Lucy finally fessed up and admitted she has macular degeneration. Then we all busted out with uncontrollable laughter. Oh lord, these women are so funny! Seriously. They're such a treat!