A New Dawn, A New Day

I hope I didn't bum too many people out with my tribute to my friend, Ginna, but she was a dear friend, whom I will miss for the rest of my days. That said, she was also the queen of "The Show Must Go On", and so it will.

I painted this bowl (I call it my version of "the Rose Bowl) and am donating it to an auction for the local animal shelter.

It's raining!!!! This is wonderful!!!! We have had a terrible drought!!...I have to believe this is yet another of my dear Ginna's signs. (okay, so I'm nuts).

For My Ginna

Tomorrow is Sept. 11...a terrible day in history for our Country...so many mourning their losses.
I lost a friend on Sept. 11, but it was four years ago that day, that my dear friend, Ginna, lost her battle with cancer.

I first met Ginna when I lived in Boston so many years ago. I was an Art Consultant and Interior Designer, and she was my client...she had an insurance company, and bought a great deal of art from me. Then, I helped her with her house...We bonded immediately....

This woman had a heart of gold, and a wicked, wicked sense of humor...we could laugh at the most inappropriate stuff..
I moved to North Carolina, and I was so lonesome there...one day, the phone rang, and it was Ginna: "Jessica, go to the airport, pick up your ticket, and get on a plane for Boston"....She had a ticket waiting for me...picked me up in a limo, and we went to the Rolling Stone's "Steel Wheels" concert...front row...I could have spit on Mick Jagger (but, why would I?)...Next day, I went back to my Cinderella world.

I moved to Wisconsin, and we didn't see each other for years...we talked on the phone constantly...laughed alot, and sometimes, cried together.

Then, I got the call: "Jessica, it's not good...it's cancer"...She said, and I could hear her take a drag on her cigarette, and knew she was drinking her tenth Diet Pepsi of the day...."Please come see me while I still know who you are."

I went...She picked me up at the airport, sporting a beautiful, auburn wig..."I went to the transvestite wig store," she said in her wonderful, South Boston accent..."They have the best ones"

I spent a few weeks with her, and we talked, laughed, cried...held our breath, waiting for calls from the doctors...I had to go home...

Three months later, I went back...she called, and asked me to come and spend some of her last days with her...This time, I took a cab to the hospital, and was shocked when I saw her...Her hair had grown back white, but she was still beautiful...I told her she looked like Vanessa Redgrave...

She wanted out of the hospital in the worst way.."Nurse Rachet won't let me have my cigarettes or my Diet Pepsi", she complained....Her family was angry that she was still smoking, but being a smoker myself (I quit after she died), I understood what an addiction it was.

I and her siblings went to her house, and we emptied the living room, got a hospital bed, and tried to make it as comfortable as possible for her..She was devestated..she wanted her beautiful living room back..but, at least, her wonderful, funny dogs, (who all lived in kennels in the kitchen), were able to come and tell her "welcome home". I teased her about her tan...Ginna worked hard on her tan...it was a matter of fact thing...always tan, always beautiful; perfect hair, nails, makeup...right up to the end.

"Send me a sign," I asked her, when I finally had to go home..."I will," she said, and I kissed her goodbye on that tan cheek...

I left via the kitchen, and Stanley was in his little doggie/doll bed...he seemed to know....

Ginna passed on September 11th, four years ago - I think of her every day.

One day, not long after, I was taking a walk along a wooded path in Wisconsin...It was a crisp, lovely, Autumn day, and as I approached a bridge, a shower of golden leaves cascaded down on me...it was a Ginko tree, and they shed their leaves all at once..."Nice sign, Ginna", I whispered...

Labor Day is Over Blues

Time to put away the white sandals (wait, I don't own white sandals..my feet are large enough without white sandals)...and get ready for Autumn...(wait, this is Texas, and it's still very hot...will be for quite some time). In fact, I read a friend's post on Facebook (she lives in Wisconsin), pleading for two more months of warm weather. I told her to "come on down"....

It hardly seems possible, but next Monday is the first day of my Christmas tree decorating gig for Macy's. I am trying to prepare myself both mentally and physically...which means going to the doctor, and getting a Cortizone shot in my wrist...too many years of pouncing glaze onto endless expanses of walls (to say nothing of too many other wrist injuries - fell in Ft. Worth..don't wear stilletto heels when walking on uneven brick sidewalks)...

Speaking of glazing expanses of walls...here are some before and after photos...I did this house as a Parade of Homes house several years ago. When the client bought it, they decided they wanted white walls. After living there a few years..remember, this is Wisconsin, where it is grey, snowy, and cold so many months out of the year...she, being from South America (Chile), and loving bold, warm colors, pleaded with me to glaze her walls before I moved to Texas...

I always recommend making sample boards...get foam core, cut it into fairly large, rectangular pieces, and paint the board the base color...I didn't want to repaint the entire space before glazing, so I painted the board the existing wall color. Then, divide the board into three sections. I used McClosky Glazes...and I did the three sections (this glaze was a burnt sienna)...in three different proportions of colored glaze to transparent glaze...ie, 1 to 1 - 1 part colored glaze to transparent, 1 to 2 - 1 part colored glaze - 2 parts transparent, and 1 to 3..you get the idea?). We went to the 3 to one...also...it depends on how heavily one applies the glaze, and how much one can "pounce it out".
I applied the glaze heavily, but used a large, flat-bristle brush (available at hardware stores...don't be fooled into paying $40 for a Ralph Lauren pouncing brush, as the bristles (at least for me) break down too quickly. I use a painter's cleaning brush..it's about 8 inches long, and 3 inches wide..fits well into my hand. (you remember, the hand I have to have the Cortizone shot in)..... Here is the "after"....I did the fireplace breast almost a solid color of glaze in order to make it more "defined"...The sofas used to be a moss green, but I had them slip covered in white linen, and changed the artwork on the mantle. My client's sister is an accomplished artist, and I loved this painting (double-click on the image for a close up- it's her rendition of Heaven). I also found some wonderful lamps, but other than than, I just rearranged her wonderful accessories.

I startetd glazing my foyer over a year ago...then, injured my wrist...it's half finished...perhaps I can have it finished by the time I do my house for Christmas? As they say, "the cobbler's children have no shoes" (white?)...