How Great The Art

Too much time to think and not being motivated enough to write. As I enter 2022 this has been my problem. I think I will write it out, so I get back on track. I still am in shock of how last year ended. I took this picture of what I collect (Victorian die cut scraps) on 1/2/21. This is one of my biggest original scraps. And, I think it is beautiful. Last year I took the first part of my year for myself to grieve and really feel all the feels of losing my mom. This year it is hard to believe it has been two years. The last six months feels like a lifetime with all the changes I have had to face. And, it is hard to write, with all the future I have to face. But, in December I felt the spirit of Christmas in a very devine way. And, like the rest of my life, it was with a consequence. I ended up with covid. This is how my life has always been. It is one step up and two steps back. So, I am taking baby steps to get back into the groove. But, at one point I was ready to take

Every year I feel this time of year is an uphill battle. Trying to deal with the cold, after holiday blues, boredom and just feeling blahhhh! Some years I have had the Light of Day shows to cheer me up. Last year was especially challenging. Because, it was the first year I didn't have a job or my own store to work at. Working really helps me feel like I have a purpose in life. But, thankfully when the inauguration happened we were blessed with the words of Amanda Gorman. I bought the book "The Hill We Climb". So, when I am feeling challenged this year I read those words. I love how she writes for us as a nation. We are all in this battle. And, we are all climbing that hill. And, the bottom line is up to us how we look at it. This year I would like to take this weight of the world off of my shoulders. Doing everything possible to avoid getting covid and then having it was a terrible way to start the year. Also, I have big life changers coming my way. Like,

I am so thankful for the time I had owning the store Greetings from Geralyn in Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ from 2011-2015. I am featuring this picture of a record album by Glen Burtnik. Glen Burtnik and a group of some local musicians could be seen walking the boardwalk many mornings during my stay at Convention Hall. I was happy to get Glen to sign one of the albums I had found in our collection of records. It has also been nice to see Glen Burtnik's appreciation of up and coming talent. One year my son Ian was asked to be in one of Glen's Christmas shows at the State theatre. It was a show full of local talent from Glen Burtnik's rich contribution to music through songwriting and still playing with his own groups (the Weeklings) and the Orchestra (with members of ELO). I want to write about vinyl records and how they had a huge influence in celebrating the good times of my life. Records contributed to an industry and how computers changed the industry. I w

Looking back at 2021 and my first blog post, I can't believe all the changes that were brought to me! It started out as the most time I had to reflect on my life and then in an instant (really six months) it changed big time. But, most of all I look at the picture of when I was a four year old and the picture of my family, now. And, I think I have made that little girl in me really proud and happy. I have SO much to be thankful for, and not much can change that. Well, really my attitude could change that. But, an attitude with gratitude makes life quite simple. I am excited for the year 2022. I have five more months living across the street from the ocean in an apartment in a Victorian House. I am starting my vacation a week early, because I tested positive for Covid. So, I get to start my year out in isolation again. But, this time for just a week. I won tickets to see Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes last night and I am so disappointed I couldn't go. I sho

I am babysitting my grandson this afternoon. And, I decided to take this precious time to write, while he is napping. I have been here since Christmas Eve. Consciencely, trying to enjoy every moment. Trying not to take too many photos or video, and staying away from social media. Taking a sip of my hot chocolate, smelling the pine of the Christmas tree with it snowing slightly outside the window. Listening to the innocence of a two year old and trying to understand every word he utters. He has an amazing vocabulary and is constantly in amazement at every single person, place and thing within his eyesight. I am soaking all of these moments in, as these are the golden moments I crave every year. Every morning he takes me by the finger and says "follow me!" And, he brings me to the beautifully decorated tree. He then sits across from me on the couch. And, then he says everytime. Look at the lights. I look and it is very pretty and decorated perfectly with mostly

Do you have a believing mirror in your life? I follow Julia Cameron who wrote about this today. She wrote The Artist's Way. A book I have not read. But, when I listen to a zoom meeting of hers or her daily quotes, I feel she is really helpful in unlocking the Artist within ALL of us. Yesterday I came home to a fed ex package and I couldn't wait to see who it was from and what was in it. It was the beautiful journal pictured above. A tree dream journal was just a perfect gift and the words in the card were so sincere. I then read the quote from Julia Cameron. And, it all made me want to reread some writing I did around the time my mother had died. I was trying to use the image of tree to give me stregnth and write about loss. But, how I was going to get through it, through new growth, like a tree. Here is what I wrote, and then what I wrote after she had died as how to further use a tree to focus on growth: Can’t you see I am me and not a tree I need love peace-li