Gerome

Last time we were in California, we went to the JP Getty Museum in LA.  If you ever have the chance to go, it is well worth it.  Their permanent collection is fantastic.  The onsite restaurant was elegant and had an awesome view. 

We were lucky to catch a temporary display of Jean Leon Gerome, an artist from the 1800s.   His themes are often sensual and sometimes violent...depicting scenes from the commonplace to mythological.  Looking at these pics don't do it justice.  Better to see the canvases in person, but I have provided a link below.  If you are an art lover like me, take a look!  There are about 300 slides to view.  Enjoy!


http://www.jeanleongerome.org/

Amazing Online Gallery

Suzay Lamb is a blogger extrodinaire!  Instead of posting the written word like most of us, she maintains a gallery of American art.  Check it out!  So so so much!

http://americangallery.wordpress.com/

Pictures of Soap and Alaska!

Back on one of my very early blogs, Lynda requested pics of the island I live on (Ketchikan, Alaska) and of the soap I make.  She referred to soap pictures as "soap porn"  HA! 

So, here are a few pics for those of you who are interested.

For Christmas this last year, we sent soap to our loved ones.  We also made the little bags shown here.  Our soap really isn't very fancy at this point.  I have only been making it for a year or so and have just gotten up to the point of adding essential oils for scents and colorings/swirls.  Not all that successfully, I have to note.  But, here it is:

For those of your unfamiliar with Ketchikan, it is a small community of about 13,000 (16,000 if you include the small villages on surrounding islands).  The actual City of Ketchikan has a population of about 8,000 and the nearest significantly larger city is Juneau which is 300 miles away.  There are no roads to Ketchikan.  We must travel by boat or plane to visit any other town.  The temp averages @ 58 in the summer and @ 33 in the winter.  It is a temperate rainforest and we receive an average of 13 feet (yes 13, not a typo!) of precipitation a year.  A very interesting place to live!

In the summer, our small town atmosphere is changed into a crazy circus as the cruise ships descend on us disembarking up to 12,000 tourists a day!  Quite an impact.  Before the cruise ships begin arriving, about 2,000 summer people show up to open up tourist attractions and shops.  Once the cruise ships arrive, walking through our downtown area feels like a stroll across Disneyland.

Anyway, here are some pics of our lovely island:


                                  Our log home that we built ourselves.

Me out back of our house leaning on grandfather stump.  My husband kept finding things while excavating our lot (teddy bear, toy car, marbles, etc.) and he put them all on or in this stump, which we dubbed grandfather stump as it must have been a pretty impressive sized tree at one time.  The sapling you see by my left elbow growing on top of grandfather is now about 3' tall.  :)

This is historic Creek Street in downtown Ketchikan.  I walk through here often in the summer to carry interoffice envelopes from the City offices to the Civic Center where I work.  It's a kick when I have to wend my way through the tourist crowds of people from all over the world.

This is the Black Bear Inn here on the island.  We stayed here on our 25th anniversary in December last year.  No one else used the hot tub, so we spent most of our time watching the channel from the warm water.  It was truly lovely. 

This is on the Rainbird Trail.  I can hike to here and back to the Civic Center on my lunch hour.  It is an incredible view and I often see bald eagles soaring below.

Here are some humpbacks feeding near Knudsen Cove which is walking distance from our house.  Unfortunately, I missed it the day that they were feeding there.  I actually heard them from my house, but didn't realize what I was hearing or I would have run right down there to see this great sight.  Oh well.  Someday it will be my turn to see them feed. 

Dance of Joy

The other day I felt in the mood for something joyful.  I found this great painting in a google search for "dance with joy".  I kinda liked it so saved it as my desktop background at work. 

Every time I see it I am further pulled in by this woman....Her grace, her joy, her peace, her mirth. 

I emailed the artist for permission to post it here.  This is "Dance of Joy" by Ruth Councell.  http://www.councell.net/index.html

I hope this brings you the warmth it did me.   :)