Conquering the Winter Blah’s & a Quote

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Cynthia

For me one way to tackle the winter blahs involves a short 2 hour drive East from our home in Issaquah Washington. The drive over the pass is well worth the opportunities to bask under the blue skies, to see the oranges of the desert surrounded by the snow capped mountains and of course the giant wind mills of Wild Horse Renewable Energy Center are breath taking. The center is located near Ellensburg, Washington and is home to over 200 plant species. Some say April and May are the best times to visit because you can see the brilliant wildflower displays but I love this place no matter what time of year!

Take a snack and your camera!

Today’s Quote

“Pain is a part of being alive, and we need to learn that. Pain does not last forever, nor is it necessarily unbeatable, and we need to be taught that.”

– Harold Kushner
About Harold Kushner
American rabbi Harold Kushner has written several inspirational tomes, including the international best seller, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, selected by the Book of the Month Club as one of the ten most influential books of recent years. He was born in Brooklyn but moved to the Boston area, where he is Rabbi Laureate of a local congregation. He writes about the importance of personal acceptance and what it means to be human.

a hook and a quote and feeling successful.

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Cynthia

Creating things is something I have an inner need to do. Knowing that what I have created is appreciated or admired gives me a warm fuzzy happy feeling! I just received this lovely note and some photos from Lake Oswego Oregon.

Hi Cynthia, Shawn is just finishing up our new basement bathroom and I wanted to let you know we tailored everything around your lovely hook. Thanks so much!

Today’s Quote
“Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it.…Success is shy — it won’t come out while you’re watching.”
– Tennessee Williams
About Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams was the pen name of Thomas Lanier Williams, the multiple-award-winning Southern Gothic playwright best known for his plays A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. He was born in 1911 in Mississippi, where he had a difficult childhood with an abusive father, a smothering mother, and a schizophrenic sister. His emotionally honest plays often feature sensitive souls who don’t fit into a confining culture. He spent most of his adult life in New York City. He died in 1983.

Painted Horse & a Quote

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Cynthia

A few days ago I painted a horse, took a photo of it and posted the photo online. Seconds later I decided I was not liking the way it turned out so I created a new painting on top of the horse. For some strange reason the painted horse got more likes than any other paintings I have done. I feel a bit sad that I only let it live for a minute.

Tonight I decided to try again so here are three new painted horses.

12 x 12 Acrylic on Canvas $30 each.

Today’s Quote
“Luck is the by-product of busting your fanny.”
– Don Sutton
About Don Sutton
American Major League baseball player Don Sutton, never a flashy player, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame after an amazingly consistent winning career as a pitcher. He was born in Alabama in 1945, and broke into the big leagues at age 21. By the time he retired in 1988, he had won 324 games, recorded more than 3,500 strikeouts, racked up a record 21 consecutive 100-plus strikeout seasons, and never missed his turn in the pitching rotation. He is now a TV announcer for the Washington Nationals.

Clean Slate & A Quote

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Cynthia

Over the past few months I have been struggling with the loss of a friendship. Tomorrow starts a new chapter of my life. I start a new job at a place I worked a few years ago. I shall miss the 4 legged customers, co- workers and friends I made over the past year at the Wash Spot. My heart feels a bit foggy today.

“We arrive at the truth, not by the reason only, but also by the heart.”
– Blaise Pascal
About Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal was not only a mathematician and philosopher, he was also an inventor, having created the hydraulic press and the syringe. He was born in France in 1623. He showed a gift for math early: At age 12, he started rediscovering Euclid’s theorems on his own. Later, spurred by a friend who liked gambling, he developed the theory of probabilities. After a life-threatening accident in 1654 he had a religious conversion, which led him to write about religious ethics and belief. He died in 1662.

Remnants of War & A Quote

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Cynthia

Thanks to Jim and Anette for commissioning me to make a light for their home.

Made from a 1945 howitzer missile storage container and random car parts.
Photo by Anette Lusher-Cree

Before:

Today’s Quote

“There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.”
– Freya Stark
About Freya Stark
French-Anglo travel writer Freya Stark was one of the first Western women to see the deserts of the Middle East. She was born in 1893 in Paris and spent her childhood split between her father’s family home in England and her mother’s in Italy. Her first book, Valley of the Assassins, brought her grants to continue her travels. She focused on remote areas of Turkey and the Middle East, seeking cultures that the modern world had not yet altered. She died in 1993 at age 100.

I like to paint & a quote

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Cynthia

I like to paint
I like to paint fast
When I paint I relax
When I relax I sleep well
When I sleep well I am nice to be around.
I paint a lot so others are happy!

Today’s Quote
“We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn.” – Mary Catherine Bateson
About Mary Catherine Bateson
American anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson is probably best known for her best seller Composing a Life, which examines five women’s lives and what it means to “live life as an improvisational art form.” She was born in New York in 1939. She studied linguistics and the Middle East before shifting to cultural anthropology like her famous parents, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson.She splits her time between Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. She has one daughter.

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Cynthia

I had not painted in awhile and I was inspired last night by the sunset and low moving fog.
Dusk, 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas Holiday Special $40

“A good painting to me has always been like a friend. It keeps me company, comforts and inspires.”
-Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian and American film actress and inventor. After an early and brief film career in Germany, which included a controversial love-making scene in the film Ecstasy, she fled her husband and secretly moved to Paris.

At the beginning of World War II, keen to aid the Allied war effort, Lamarr identified jamming of Allied radio communications by the Axis as a particular problem, and with composer George Antheil, developed spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat it. Though the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of her work are now incorporated into modern Wi-Fi, CDMA and Bluetooth technology, and this work led to her being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

Today’s Quote!

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Cynthia

So after work today I decided to have a little mini celebration since our Seattle Seahawks beat the Dallas Cowboys 13-12~ I got out some fabric scrapes and made some 12 man gear for Piper and me.

“Most people are so busy knocking themselves out trying to do everything they think they should do, they never get around to do what they want to do.”
– Kathleen Winsor
About Kathleen Winsor
American author Kathleen Winsor is best known for the racy historical novel, Forever Amber, which made a huge splash when it was first published in 1944, selling 100,000 copies the first week. It was banned in 14 states for its sexual content. The ensuing debate contributed to the loosening of restrictions that allowed works by D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller to be published in the US. Winsor wrote a number of other novels, none as successful. She was born in 1919 and died in 2003.

Due to technical issues caused by Hurricane Sandy, last week’s newsletters were not mailed out as planned. We apologize and wanted to let you know that we are back on track to deliver this newsletter to you daily. Thank you!

10-21-2015

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Cynthia

Special thanks to the folks at Issaquah City Hall for helping us celebrate our offspring Birthday!
Happy Birthday Griffin!

“Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.”
– George S. Patton
About George S. Patton
George S. Patton, the American Army general who fought in both World Wars, received numerous awards during his 46 years of service, including the Purple Heart and the French Legion of Honor. He was born in 1885 in California and was descended from a long line of soldiers. He was an early advocate of armored warfare and led the U.S. Tank Corps in World War I. The 1970 movie Patton cemented his reputation as “Old Blood and Guts.” He died in 1945 of injuries sustained in a car accident.

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Cynthia

“What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.”
– Matina Horner
About Matina Horner
American psychologist Matina Horner is best known for her groundbreaking research in the late 1960’s on smart women’s fear of success, which became known as the Horner Effect. She was born in 1939 in Massachusetts. During her 17-year tenure as president of Radcliffe College, she helped integrate the women’s college into a mainstream presence for women on the Harvard University campus. She has received several awards and serves on the boards of many institutions.

For the holiday season I am working on a couple more light installations: $1800 each.

Cynthia Freese

Time Traveler & Conductor of Sunrises

Author Archives: Cynthia