Scattered Thoughts . . .

I've been exhausted and in significant pain (relentless bone pain and spinal pain) since arriving back home from our Christmas trip but I have a few projects which have been nagging at me. One such project is to create a rendering of Monticello. Actually, I'd like to complete a series of renderings related to this historic property but I need to start with one piece.  I decided to do some drawing and sketching this morning to put some ideas on paper (in my usual notebook where all my thoughts go) but I also created some digital files of my artwork. Below, is one piece of my ideas for this series... I'm still not sure about how I want to put together a Monticello series but this rendering is a start to this series!

It has been very Spring-like through December this year. We occasionally had some snow flurries but it was so warm during the days each day that we had some flowers blooming in our wildflower gardens as Christmas approached! As of last night, our temperatures have dipped down into the single digits and today promises wind chills below zero. And, we even had a bit of snow yesterday!  I think winter has arrived! My health was not feeling well enough to wander outside last night but I did manage to get a few photos from inside our house through the windows. Before it is time to turn off the Christmas lights, I'll need to get outside with a camera so get more shots...

This is a view which is seen in countless books and photographs but I felt compelled to shoot this angle too. Sheila and I had an opportunity to visit close friends in Virginia for Christmas so we spent the bulk of our Christmas week in and around Monticello. The weather at Monticello was sunny and in the 70's... flowers were in bloom... the grass was green... the weather was typical beautiful springtime weather! I started studying Thomas Jefferson and his architecture decades ago and had always wanted to walk these hallowed grounds. I have to say that this was an inspiring experience to meander through history.  If there ever was a time in history needing a visit from Thomas Jefferson, it is today. I have always based my beliefs on Jefferson's philosophies and this visit reinforced my convictions even more. It truly was a moving and inspiring experience to see and touch all I had studied for decades.   I shot hundreds of photos and I will probably put together an

Our original plan for Christmas was what we do every year... we invite all of Sheila's immediate family including her parents to the house on Christmas morning for presents and a big breakfast. Then, we entertain friends later in the day and into Christmas night. This is something we have been doing since before the grandchildren were born but it has become more of a family tradition since their birth. Now Sheila has her own family of three generations so we tend to do the "family celebrating" here, at our home, for her family... which is pretty typical for most families. A few days ago, an opportunity arose for us to head significantly south to much warmer climates (yes, although hard to believe, much warmer than our wet, balmy temperatures in the 50s) to celebrate Christmas with our Air Force family... I came up with a plan before I even mentioned this opportunity to Sheila... then presented it to Sheila as a surprise... and she enthusiastically jumped on it immedi

While my health is recovering today, I'm taking it easy. I get easily bored whenever I am in recovery mode so I pulled out my camera in an attempt to shoot a few more photos of Lukey's model railroad.  I suspect this little model railroad will take a beating once Lukey starts playing with it... the same holds true for Kenzie's dollhouse. Needless to say, I'd like to have as many photos of these two gifts in their 'new - never been used' state.   Yesterday, I added a bit more shrubbery and weeds to the model railroad. I do believe it is detailed enough to hand over to Lukey now.  In the meantime, here are a few more photos... Train station on one side of the layout right in front of the jacks to connect power. I added some weeds and shrubbery to the foreground here.  Uphill, to the right above the concrete retaining wall, we will eventually build a small country town... The small combination freight depot/train station located on the opposite side o

I've always had this idea for a series of portraits... frameless photos, all mounted on a wall, in sort of a random pattern at different depths. I had this idea in my head for about two decades but never really did anything with it. Recently, I've been using a professional printer who  puts out very high quality products and I couldn't be happier with them. This printer has a wide variety of products, one of which is a p roduct called Mini Mounts.  These Mini Mounts are a product printed on Fuji paper and mounted on wood with a black beveled edge. This product has a very clean look and I am very excited about how great these Mini Mounts look. I ordered a series of 12 prints mounted on Mini Mounts about a month ago and finally mounted them on the wall in our new bedroom this morning (I was waiting to finish the bedroom). As any series of photos should, this series of photos has a theme.... in this case, 'The Lake House'. In order to hang these Mini Mounts

(As I wrote in my previous blog post, I'm experiencing some lousy health tonight. From past experience, I know I will be in and out of the bathroom for a significant amount of time through the night tonight so that gives me some time to write between the waves of nausea, dizziness, lightheadedness, and all the other 'fun' symptoms.) Power feed panel with simple banana jacks. This little layout is sitting on the floor on top of a plastic drop cloth which is what you are seeing covered in all that messy brown paint. I've finished preparing power feeds for Lukey's new train layout (one of his Christmas presents this year). Making the power feeds themselves was a piece of cake. Actually, it was so easy, I'm not sure why I never did this before now! Putting together the power feed jack panel, on the other hand, was a bit of a problem.... In the future, when I make one of these power feed jack panels, I'll be sure to leave more room behind the panel for wi

I've had some fairly stable health for the past week or two. It is always nice when this happens and especially so when it is Christmastime. Today, however, my health hit its limit... This evening, I awoke on the couch... laptop in my lap... still opened, still running, and still showing the model railroading page I was viewing... I was freezing... a bit groggier than usual after a nap...  a nap? "Wait a minute... I didn't lay down for a nap yet!" I looked at the clock... it was showing 4:30pm...  last thing I remembered, it was about 2pm and I was researching some model railroading stuff on the laptop... laptop balancing on my legs... I "awoke" in the same exact position with the computer still sitting on my lap.  What is unusual about this is that because of my spinal issues, I never stay in the same position for more than ten or fifteen minutes because the pain is too uncomfortable. I'm constantly changing positions and rolling over whenever I

When I am certain that all the paint and glue is as dry as possible, then I will remove the plastic dropcloth protecting our carpet. It really is amazing how someone can turn a hunk of pink foam insulation into a miniature world within just a matter of hours.   Other than adding a few more little details and making all the permanent electrical connections, this Christmas present is finished and ready for playing.  Right now I just have some electrical leads temporarily twisted on so I could test the track and trains. All worked just fine so, tonight, I started work on more permanent electrical connections to include a couple of jacks mounted on the edge of the layout and then using banana jacks on each type of power source (depending upon which locomotive is used). This last bit of work should only require another hour or so of easy work.  I played around with various locomotives last night using the appropriate power sources for each locomotive... it worked flawlessly. And,