Tag Archives: video

I Hope You Dance…Again Colored Pencil Drawing/video

I had posted this once before, but am doing so again. I had almost forgotten I had even done the picture. It was done several years ago.

Do you remember this song?  Once you hear this song, you never quite forget it.  The words stay with you.  They did for me.

I had to illustrate what the song was saying to me.

A little girl dancing down the road to her future,  not knowing all that lies before her, but dancing anyway.

I hope you like this.  🙂

I Hope You Dance

Simple Gifts with Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma/Video

Here is a duet done by two great artists, Yo Yo Ma and Alison Krauss.  The lovely music along with the sound of the deep sound of the cello and Alison’s angelic voice make for a beautiful piece here.  I did post a video with this piece early on when I first started this blog, and I feel I just have to post it again.  If you feel stressed out lately, just sit back and enjoy this one.  It seems to bring everything back in perspective.  Nice video, too.  Enjoy!  🙂

The Beauty Of The Hours (Reblog)

This is a quote I illustrated awhile back which I really love.  It’s how I really feel about living and enjoying every minute of every day.  Time goes by so quickly.  My kids are now 17, 19 and 20 years of age.  I was a stay- at- home mom, and I loved it.  I wouldn’t  have changed any of it.

The Beauty Of The Hours

Today, as I was folding clothes on my bed, I put on an old CD I used to play for the kids when they were small and read their books.  It was music from the Beatrix Potter animated series that was on PBS (see below).  I love this CD as it helps me focus and think like a child when I have to be creative, drawing,etc.  When I started listening, I almost wanted to cry.  I could picture the three of them sitting on the couch, curled up reading their books.  Their stuffed animals cuddled under their arms while having a snack.  I remember this as clearly as it happened yesterday.  Times were so laid back then.  No homework, studying for SAT’s, driver’s ed and dating problems.  It was excitement, playfulness and innocence.  Hugs and kisses.  I’d take it all back in a second.

Anyway, before I get too emotional, this is what made me want to illustrate this quote.  This is what I picture when I read the words.  It makes me feel serene looking at the girl on the beach, just enjoying something as simple as listening to a seashell.  Can’t you hear it?  Enjoy!

Cheryl

Days Of Innocence (My Kids Patrick, Caitlin and Kelsey about 12 yrs. ago)

My kids reading their books before bedtime. 😦

Where Are You Christmas???? (Music Video)

I just don’t feel the same about Christmas like I used to.  I don’t know what it is.

Yes, I am 50, but I have always been a kid at heart.  I still feel like a child all over again at Christmas…usually.  I have my tree up, my lights and greenery with my treasured carolers on my mantle, my miniature village with it’s fluff snow on my tabletop, but still, something is missing.  So I play my Christmas cds,  I put my candles in the fireplace and spray the air with every Christmas scent I can find…but still I don’t feel it.  Not like I used to. Not in my heart.

I keep buying various little Christmas trinkets and figures and candles, hoping maybe one more item will do the trick. But it doesn’t.  I even give to the Salvation Army lady with the bell at the local store. Nothing!

I long so much for the Christmases from my past.  Coming home from school, knowing vacation was around the corner, which seemed to last for forever.  The days seemed colder and snowier, but we never complained.  The more snow before Christmas the better.  Christmas cards covered my front door  and even spilled over to my archway.  Carolers would stroll the neighborhoods and people smiled!   There were only a few stores around  then that you could actually shop at, and so, they were extremely crowded, but it was exciting.  My mom would put everything on Lay- away.  No charge!  We  also had the huge freshly, cut tree with the large lights. It was so beautiful, I would just stare at it for hours.

My father would deliver dry cleaning and would get the biggest tips at Christmas.  He would show us his pile of Christmas cards from his customers, and we would open them one by one at the kitchen table  after dinner and count the tips.  I swore we were rich then!  He’d also get bottles of wine and christmas cookies or bread.  Christmas was in the air.  People were friendlier.  And we couldn’t wait until the annual Charlie Brown Christmas and the Grinch shows came on…then you knew it was definitely Christmas!

Even though we didn’t have alot of money, we had tons of presents under that tree.  I loved the christmas pajamas and slippers!  I couldn’t wait to put them on at night, so soft and warm.  AAAHHHH.

I don’t know.  I try and make it the best I can for the kids.  I just can’t put my finger on it.  I  guess part of it is fear.  Fear of what is going on in the world today.  I just can’t put myself at ease anymore.  I feel like I’m always on guard and waiting for something to happen.  I think part of it is the terrorism around the world I think about and how everyone just seems so stressed today.  The money problems and debt. Foreclosures and homelessness.

Another thing that really bothers me is that everyone has a phone and it follows them everywhere.  I hate it!  No one even looks around anymore.  They all look down and stare blankly at these glowing screens like they are hypnotized with the  light  reflecting off  their faces.  As they go by they are talking, and you  turn to respond, because you think they are talking to you.  Talk about feeling stupid!  And If they are not texting, they are playing games or reading e-mails.  It’s all about the phone.  Like the 60’s, I would like a phone to just be mounted on my kitchen wall…and keep it there!

Also, today everything is on a charge card and most of it is used for electronics at Christmas.  Massive flat screen tv’s, standing in mega lines to get the latest fad for our children. That’s not me and it will never be.

As for me, I just want to curl up on my couch in my fluffy robe, turn off all the lights, put my Nat King Cole cd on and stare at my tree, think back and remember.  Remember when it was good.  I ‘m trying , I’m really trying.

Come on, Christmas.  I know you are there. Help us find you again. 🙂

Goodbye Max

Max being cute

Max with my daughter Caitlin

Ready for Fall

Waiting

Loved to be held

Waiting...again. Is it for me?

This is probably the hardest post I will ever write.  My dog Max, our min- pin of 11 years, had to be put down Wednesday from complications from diabetes.  He was a tough guy, and looked like he had 9 lives, always coming back from a set back.  He was tired.

We knew it was time and he let us hug him endlessly before he was put down.  That part was just so hard. I can’t get it out of my mind.  He just lay there on the vet table with his head between his paws as if to say, “I’m ready”…but we weren’t.

Enough of that.  He was a great, smart dog and if I were ever to get another, it would be another min-pin, most definitely.  He was part clown, I’m sure.  They told us when we got him he would not be a lap dog…wrong!  He loved being held. He had energy I would kill for!  And as far as a watch dog…the best!  We will never forget him.  He was my first pet that I ever picked out, and I trained him myself.  He was easy at that too!

Anyway, the part that hits me the most, now, is the quiet.   I can’t get used to it.  I keep expecting him to pounce on me while I lay sleeping on the couch, to tell me to take him out and put him into the basement where his bed was. The quiet is what is killing me the most.  When the postman comes, and the Chem Lawn guy comes, and we come home from jobs and school…the quiet gets you!

His dish is still sitting on the floor, and something is holding me back from putting it away. Am I crazy!  I try telling myself that he’s better off and without pain and in a better place, but I want him with me!  I will try to be less selfish, and I have to go on, but Max..we love you always!  You were the best and you won’t be forgotten, ever.  Until we meet again…<3

Here is a video for “Rainbow Bridge”

Please watch.. and have a tissue ready.:(

The video was disabled…you have to click again on where it says “watch it on you tube”.

Time In A Bottle/Jim Croce Music Video

I found this video and this song, which I love.    i just had to share it. It says so much.

I have been feeling a little down lately, and yes, it has to do with time. I just started this new job and it’s been tough trying to settle in with trying to figure out my schedule and fit everything else in as well. I will get there.  I can’t let my dream go of being an artist, that would kill me. I hope to have a post titled “The Dream” which I am writing, up soon.  It’s almost like a goodbye to the dream I’ve been working on for so long.  But I could never really say goodbye:(.

Anyway,I looked this song up and found this video of Jim Croce with his son and wife, and it’s so sad  that he died so young and left them behind.  He was a great artist.  Enjoy…and really listen to the words.

Landslide By Stevie Nicks (music video)

Here is a song that I think will touch your heart, especially if you are older.  There is just something about this song that gets you right in the heart.  The line in the song that says “children get older, and I’m getting older, too”,  I can picture snapshots of my life and my kids getting older, and the years flying by…and it gets me.  Listen and see if it does something to your heart.  It will definitely move you somehow.  Enjoy. 🙂