Feel Good Friday: Just Plain Fun!

With several calulated clicks of her highly talented fingers, Daryl of Out and About in New York City created this charming award: the Just Plain Fun to Read Award. Isn't that one of the sweetest, most original blog awards you've seen? I am thrilled to report I am one of Daryl's bestowed-upon. And Daryl made it clear the recipients are encouraged to pass this coveted piece of bling right on to other just plain fun bloggers. So here goes:

I pass the Just Plain Fun to Read award to:

Dar of The Back of My Headboard
Celebratory gestural abstracts, haiku, photography, and here is a woman in Massachusetts who looks kickass in cowboy boots.

Kim of Creating Space
Art-in-progress accompanied by generous sharing of process, recommendations of books to kick-start the creative juices, interviews with artists, deer sightings in the back yard. Kim has created a comfort zone in which artists can kick back and sip a cup of tea.

Babs of OFF THE WALL ART
A lifeful blog replete with well-told stories and celebratory art that mesh beautifully.

Mima of Mima's Doings
Adventures of a beautiful, brave spirit.

Lori of The Skoog Farm Journal
An oasis of calm maintained by a talented artist/curator/farmer. Talk about a Renaissance woman.

Akelamalu of Everything and Nothing.
A Pearl of a blogger who takes a little bit of nothing and builds it into everything. A great wordzzler.

Angel of Life Is a Gift from God
Angel's having a baby!

Maggie May of Nuts in May
Well-told tales of domesticity.

Jeanne of Life or Something Like It
A sunshine-suffused blog. A sunshine-suffused blogger.

Sandy Carlson of Writing in Faith
I believe she already has it, but she is so, so much fun to read (and see).

Laura, of From the Couch
Dreams are just plain fun.

Spark of No More Casual Nonchalance
Writes a post every single day of the year, and every single one of them is entertaining.

Lynette of Original Art by L. Clay
She has a way with trees. And the magical spaces between their limbs.

Daphne of Five Foot Under
A self-described "smallish" woman whose spirit is anything but.

Andrea of Colouring Outside the Lines
Fanciful paintings and photo collages which belie their creator's fascination with amputated feet found scattered around Canada. Shudder.

Suki of paint poems and ponderings
Paint, poems, ponderings, and more: acknowledgment of the rightness and importance of creative endeavor.

Karina of A Painter's Kitchen
Honest writing. Questions asked. Kicking up a fuss like a dust devil. Beautiful paintings, pared down to essentials.

Jameil of Jameil, etc: Exercises in Fabulosity
She says she doesn't "do awards." This should piss her off.

Gone Back South
A 40-something woman returned to the place where her roots are. Blossoming there.

A Tidings of Magpies
Blog of a fan of contemporary poetry with a great eye and ear. The occasional blonde joke.

Paula of self-taught artist
Puzzle heads, industrial clocks, wonder horses, and everything in between, including a not-so-infrequent rant about the unfairness of it all. How I love to read others' rants! Life's unfair and it's high time someone acknowledged it.

Paula of Second Street Studio
Honest discussion of process and frustrations by an artist who is disarmingly honest. She's as refreshing as her art.

Heather of Bad Kitty Art Studio
Wild, original paintings with accompanying thoughts.

Meg of Becoming Whole
Everything you always wanted to know about thriving through the macrobiotic lifestyle but were too timid to ask.

Lee of Chrysalis Dreams
Everything you always wanted to know about being on the cusp of change and about to leap into one's beautiful, powerful destiny but were too timid to ask. And speaking of Lee, my beautiful friend Lee has given me this beautiful friendship award. THANK YOU, Lee.
Now, back to the Just Plain Fun to Read Awards:

Influx Transposer
Everything you always wanted to know about being a lesbian in a committed relationship raising children and feeling led to the Episcopal priesthood but were too timid to ask. Great pictures of home haircuts.

Jafabrit Art
Dazzling paintings and mixed-media work. Name it. This woman can do it.

Jo of Celebration of Life
Everything you always wanted to know about becoming a motorcycle mama in one's fifties but were too timid to ask.

Carol for Peace
Beautiful photographs and musings by a lovely woman who has made peace with herself. What's her secret?

Patty of Lost in Solitude
She puts together beautiful video montages that are personal and political, always wrought with love.

Debi of Emma Tree
A blog that is as intriguing and lyrical as its title.

Sandi of Holding Patterns
Everything you always wanted to know about the life of a retired female cop/columnist who's taking time to smell her own roses. BREAKING NEWS: As I was awarding Sandi, she was awarding me this:


Awards that pass in the night. That is just beautiful, Sandi. Thank you! Anyone listed in this post is welcome to take this lovely award, since it's intended for all bloggers who make a difference for me. That means YOU! Even if I forgot to mention you, that means YOU! Also check out the blogger who created this award, Memoirs of a Mommy.

Now, back to the Just Plain Fun to Read Awards:


Michelle of House of Lime
Juggling creativity and motherhood. Doing it with STYLE.

Katie Jane of Kate's Corner
Mixed-media celebrations of being alive. Reminders to be at peace. And speaking of lovely Katie Jane, she recently received this award and then offered it to all who read her blog. Thank you, Katie Jane! I will do the same. Anyone who would like this winsome award may grab it and run. Just comment on your way out.
Now, back to the Just Plain Fun to Read Awards:

Raven of Views from Raven's Nest
Everything you always wanted to know about creating a rich, imagination-informed life while being confined to home but were too timid to ask.

A.Bananna
Gorgeous photos of the Arizona sky and Anna's dazzling offspring.

A Creek Runs Through It
Gorgeous photos of Montana. Ellie and her husband, who take to the wilderness at the drop of a hat, have been on the cover of Natural Geographic. Or something. You don't believe me? Well, have a look.

Rubye Jean of Somewhere over the Rainbow
Sister to Jo and Ellie. Mother to Anna. Awesome family ties and Wizard of Oz collection.

Blue Sky Dreaming
The blog whose very title is Just Plain Fun to Read. And the blog is every bit as beautiful.

Crazy Cath's Reflections
Don't let the title of this blog mislead you. Cath is one not-so-crazed, down-to-earth, determined and honest woman. She exudes warmth.

Whim of The Babblings of a Whimsical Brainpan
Everything you always wanted to know about re-embracing life after personal disaster.

Crumbs from the Corner
Adventures in woolgathering and beyond.

Dilly's Castle
Adventures of a green dragon in the UK. A princessy green dragon with a sense of glamor.

Anna of My Only Photo
Not one but many, many photos. Most recently of Anna's highly photogenic son, two-month old Matthew!!!

Doris of Poetic License
I know. I know. Daryl already gave you the award. So use mine and and hers as bookends. Or put mine on your second blog.

There are others who already have the award I believe, others I'd have bestowed it on--Hilary, Lavinia, Rhea, Jennifer H, to name a few. Anyone whose blog I frequent or who frequents mine, whom I forgot to mention, please snap up the award anyway. You are all treasures!

I didn't name one single guy in this list of award recipients. It's just not a particularly macho image in my opinion. But hey, any guy who covets this award is welcome to make a comment and claim it. Step up to the plate, guys. Don't be afraid to show us your sensitive side. Jeff, Indi, Nick, Paschal, John-Michael, David, Peter, Meanie, Moody, Bob T. Bear, Bruno, all of you. You know who you are. You are Just Plain Fun. And you deserve this award too.

When There's a Will, There's a Wall

"Oh my God! That ees JUST what I have been looking for!" Monique was standing in front of my painting "Spirit of Light." Each languorous syllable rolled from her French tongue, entered my ears, leaped from one little bone to the next, did a little dance on my eardrum, then proceeded directly to my heart, which skipped a beat.

"JUST what I have been looking for." Music to my jaded ears.

Then this: "Oh, I am so peesed off. I may be without a home in thirty days."

My heart returned to its usual, humdrum beat.

"You're being foreclosed?"

"It ees my marriage (she said it in three peesed-off syllables--mare-e-ajh) that is being foreclosed. It ees I who ees foreclosing the son of a beech. I am very peesed off. And I may not get the house."

"Oh, I see. Then you may not have a wall for the painting."

"Of course I will have a wall for the painting. It ees exactly what I have been looking for. There ees always a wall for what one has been looking for. Do you take Visa?"

My painting "Spirit of Light" appeared to have found the proper (broken) home. Monique proceeded to describe to me how she would pay for the painting. She would put down a deposit of 20%. In 45 days I would charge her Visa account the balance. Since she might be in the market for a home, as the "son of a beech" might get hers, she wanted to keep all of her credit card balances as low as possible so as to maximize her credit score. I agreed to this. It made sense. Monique was a distinguished economist after all. And I adored her accent.

I know. I know. This is where I'm supposed to explain how Monique waffled on the offer 45 days later, how she called me and with those persuasive nasalized vowels, cajoled me to refund s'il vous plait her deposit. That's what I would be expecting to read anyway. I already told you. These ears have heard it all. They are jaded ears.

Only thing is that's not what happened. The rest of the story is:

1. I charged the balance on Monique's account 45 days later.
   
2. I shipped Monique "Spirit of Light."
   
3. I shipped the painting to the same address that Monique had had 45 days earlier.
   
4. The son of a beech didn't get her house.
5. There was a wall for the painting.
6. Had the address changed, there would have been a wall for the painting.
   

The moral of the story:

When there's a will, there's a wall. The hard part is recognizing what you've always been looking for. It helps to have your eyes open. Even in the darkest times.