Eye of the Beholder

Ladybird Johnson did it right. Wasn’t she the First Lady who started the roadside wildflower program? Not sure if these were intentional or just nature’s gift of beautiful pink weeds, but there are thousands of them blooming along part of my ride home from work. I’ve been meaning to take my camera with me and stop one afternoon to capture them. Easier said than done! First, there is really no place to pull over on this stretch of Heckscher Drive (between the Zoo and the tank farms for those of you in Jacksonville). So I hopped the curb of the center median (in my, you know, four-wheel drive Chevy minivan) and then dashed across the street. Next was the spectacle that probably really slowed traffic. Picture a tall blonde woman in khaki pants, platform sandals and hot pink sweater basically laying down with her camera in the weeds on the side of the road at 5:30pm on a Tuesday. At least I partially blended in with the flowers! I’m guessing that if a police officer had happened by, he probably would have stopped and made me move along. Oh well, makes life a little more interesting, doesn’t it? I was bummed the bright orange ones had starting dying out by the time I was able to stop. Maybe next time!

I've signed on for two projects that are going to keep me very busy in the weeks to come (not that I'm not busy enough as it is...). Next week, I'm part of the Scoutie Girl Great Giveaway, to be unvieled on Tuesday. Jan's giving away lots of great goodies from 24 independent artists and designers like me, so that will hopefully keep me busy on the jewelry front. I'll send you the link when it's up so you can enter! I've also signed on to participate in a Fat Book swap. What the heck is a Fat Book Swap, you ask!?!? I didn't know either until I read about it, and then it just sounded like a fun way to get me into working with collage and mixed media a little more. Over the next five months, nine other women and I will all be contributing two pieces a month to the "book", based around a central theme. In the end, the coordinator will send us all the full 100-page books created by our group efforts. Sounds fun, huh? The first two entries are due June 17, so I'll be getting busy on those. I have to make 10 copies of each piece! Original copies, not xerox! But they are each only 4" x 4" and I plan to incorporate my faux postage ideas so I think it'll be doable. Though I am probably the rookie of the group! I'll post each of my entries here so stay tuned!

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