don't look back!

Summer is just flying by, which suits me just fine since the summers are so brutal here in southern Nevada.  Looking forward to our vacation in Oregon in the fall.  Autumn is my favorite season, and especially spent in the beautiful state of Oregon.  The colors must rival New England, at least in my mind!  I am always in amazement at the vast amount of colors, textures and fauna that i experience when I am there. From ferns of every kind to the moss.  MOSS, coming from the desert, this is quite appealing to me. The campground hosts and park rangers are always chuckling as I scurry around Valley of the Rogue campground outside Grants Pass, Oregon, picking up acorns by the pound,  filling my bags with beautiful leaves and picking the lonely blackberry stragglers left on the bushes.  Sitting by the mighty Rogue River and daydreaming of living on it feeds my soul.  This year I intend to sit there with my sketchbook.

Yesterday, my husband Lee and I went to Las Vegas to do some shopping and get groceries.  We stopped by the Total Wine and More store to look around.  As we were checking out, the cashier Pamela asked Lee for his I.D. with his credit card.  So me being the smart ass I am, asked Lee who he was. The cashier said to me "i know you just met him in the parking lot and want him to buy you some beer, because you are underage."  I laughed and said "I wish".  She said, not me, she wouldn't go back.  She said marriages and kids and life in general.  She wants to only look ahead and not look back.  Wow!  I thought about it and told her how that really was so true.  She said there is so much to look forward to.  I couldn't stop thinking about that all day.  I tend to revert back to the past, and the what if's, and maybe if I had done this or that differently.  I really want to focus on today and think of all the wonderful things I have going for me and the wonderful people I have in my life NOW.  Thank you Pamela and if you read this and I didn't quote you exactly right, set me straight! 

Last week I got to Skype with my sweet friend Livve in the U.K. and Phyllis in North Carolina.  Phyllis got us on a group chat.  I LOVED Livvie's accent.  We are all excited and busy planning our grand adventure to Artfest in Port Townsend, Wa. next spring.  There is a group of us that met online during Misty Mawn's class.  We formed such a strong bond, that we are all sharing a house up there. Of course I am sharing a room with one of my very bestest friends in the world, Jodi Kincaid!  I can't imagine getting to meet my stretching sisters in real life!  Wishing our friends Michele Redman, Joanne Rose, Kristin Hyde and Jenny Wentworth could join us.  That would make this journey complete!

Guess I will quit babbling and let you enjoy your Tuesday.  What are you planning for the week?
Have a wonderful week and DON'T LOOK BACK!  xoxo  Carlanda

her name is Dottie.  5x5 canvas.