Hello, 2010. What brings thou here for us?

Wow. What a great intro to a new year indeed. We have our first snowfall of the winter season - about an inch or so of softly-packed powder has blanketed the area. Up here in the hills, we got hit a little harder than the lowlanders down in the city, but that's okay because I have a very warm and happy home to live in and don't need to leave the house for anything right now.

Most of yesterday, as the snow fell in furiously flurrying swirls all around, I spent at the window capturing photos of the birds that came in to gobble up the seeds I put out. From the bright red cardinals to a pack of boisterous blue jays to a red-headed woodpecker, the action never stopped. I even had to bundle up and trudge outside to add more seeds to the feeders to make sure every one of my feathered friends was well-fed. This photo on the right is the same view as the one from my previous post (Shiny, Bright and New) if you want to see the drastic seasonal comparison.

The opportunistic blue jays swooped in abundance to grab all the free food they could. I loved the juxtaposition of birds on a cat here! The cement cat statue was bought at Ronnie Lee Twist's awesome statuary shop in nearby Kingston Springs. If you live in the area or in Nashville in general, go visit him and his beautiful wife Nikki, they are the nicest people ever! The statuary they have for sale is amazing, but their art gallery is exquisite, full of handmade art by local artists. 

Our "StumpHenge" area by the old apple tree was frosted with a pristine coating of sparkly white snow. The lovely ornate cement bench in the center was also bought at Ronnie Lee Twist's statuary.A few of my photos were even used on our local TV channel's website (including the cardinal and house sparrow in the snowstorm here). How cool is that! 

(And another round of thanks to dear Mark Poopy Hubby for the awesome new camera he bought me. You see, babe, I am putting it to very good use!)

So much has already happened... where to start? Well let's see. I succumbed to a rotten chest cold that left me extremely hoarse. Sounding like Harvey Firestein has been a very interesting experience for me, to say the least. "I just wanna be loved. Is that so wrooooong?"
Ha ha. My head and chest were quite congested and the last thing I felt like doing was sitting at my computer, attempting to type an intelligent sentence as I continuously blasted snot into a never ending bunch of Kleenex... thus, my absence from the Internet. 

New Year's Eve was a very special occasion, as Mark and I spent it with a group of great friends over in east Nashville, at our friend Troy's home. It was a potluck dinner with lots of delicious food and drink. I was the designated driver, and let my dear Poopy have his turn to imbibe a few beers. Thank the heavens for these wonderful people! An artistic, eccentric and intelligent bunch of kooks with much kindness abounding.

We've come to love them dearly (thank you, Linda, Ethan, John, Gwen, Troy, Amanda, Carl, and the rest - y'all know who you are!) and are so thankful for all the niceness they've shown us. Isn't that what life is all about? Being good and kind to others is simple and should come easily. Why does drama and bullshit have to happen with some people? My theory is, they're addicted to it and can't function without it. 


I'm glad I don't have any of that in my existence. I've learned to embrace joy instead of clinging to strife, and have long espoused the elements of "the laws of attraction" which have worked marvelously for me over the years. Once you rid yourself of the negative baggage you drag around, magical things happen, and that's a fact.

Have you seen AVATAR yet? Your thoughts?

I truly enjoyed it. We saw the 3-D version and were blown away. Visually, it was stunning, and James Cameron's technical CGI wizardry will likely be rewarded come Academy Awards time. The story itself is basic (greedy humans trying to steal away from a native race who live as one with the land) and, sadly and embarrassingly, holds close to many parallels of the white European settlers coming to the US and taking away the land and lives of the native Americans. 

Okay - a mini rant here. I promise to make it short and as sweet as possible. Why do humans have to be selfish and greedy? Why do they trample over things that are sacred all for the sake of acquisition (often in the name of their particular god)? My Hubby, in his infinite wisdom, calls it "the bug in the human software," meaning, they are flawed and have that horribly misplaced sense of entitlement and just take, take, take. Greed is an awful thing, and when you add unlimited, uncontrolled power in to that, you have a truly poisonous mixture that removes all traces of the good and pure human element. 

But back to AVATAR. My typical morning ritual consists of reading a particular website (Crystalinks.com, a really cool and informative science/metaphysical one I've been reading for over ten years, and have learned a lot from) whilst gulping down my vat of coffee as I aim to get my brain kicked in gear. This morning, I noticed an image on her site from the movie that sparked something in me. The main character, and overall theme of the movie, bore a lot of similarities to a painting I had done way back in 1995 when I was still living in Hollywood. I put the images side by side to compare and was more than a little struck by those similarities. From the background imagery of the high-reaching world tree and connective web, to the character's overall look with ear piercings, dreadlocked hair and bejeweled decor, I venture my humble opinion: Very, very interesting indeed! Cameron must've tapped into the same general well of Universal consciousness as I. 

Heh heh.

I present here for your scrutinization. 

   

This is the painting in its entirety. 

Below is the image from AVATAR alongside a close-up of my painting. You can click on them to enlarge in a new window.

***UPDATE!***


I sent an email in to Ellie Crystal at Crystalinks.com and told her about my painting above. She was impressed enough that she used it on her site! Seems I indeed must have tapped into the same well, aka "The Grid" (what I earlier termed "The Universal Consciousness") as Cameron. Below is a screen capture taken from the pages of today's Crystalinks site (click on it to enlarge in a new window). http://www.crystalinks.com/avatar2010.html/

***UPDATE - 1/11/10***


There was another update there in regard to my painting/In The Grid posting - this one tying in the ancient Egyptian goddess, Hathor.