Ferry Ride

I'm going to finish the blogging on the vacation to Williamsburg just so I can say I finished it and get on with the mundane. The longer I wait the more the entry is more pictures than words. Side note it's no wonder God hasn't opened doors to more graphic design freelance with my penchant (I used this word in my last entry, I may try using it in every entry but probably not) for not finishing things.  

Friday in Williamsburg ... It's a day of no real plans, the last day to see things that didn't make the cut earlier in the week. It's the day we turn in tokens we got at the cigar store when we just so happened to show up on token day  - spend so much and get tokens. It's the day I've been waiting to go through the big gift shop at the welcome center to get our souvenirs like a Christmas ornament, a magnet for the fridge, perhaps some Christmas gifts to let the ones we love know we were thinking of them. But just because we didn't get you something don't think we don't love you. It's just I didn't find anything that I liked to get you. I swear I did look.

But first a FREE ride (provided by the Department of Transportation) on a ferry near Jamestown. In fact we'll get a similar view as those that first traveled to this land. History is awesome I don't care what you say. You can't convince me otherwise!

On the trip from Jamestown to the other side we met up with a Purdue grad! He's a retired pharmacist living in Californ I A. And he was in a fraternity so other than attending Purdue we had nothing in common. He asked when I graduated and instead of feeling the need to excuse why I never actually graduated from Purdue ... I lied. JJL of course called me on it later and I explained it's not like he needs to know the truth and the lie is more uhm whats the word ... lazy.

On the other side John Smith built an alternative "fort". You know just in case. At any rate it was not open so we turned around. While we waited JJL took some photos. When it was about time to drive onto the ferry we got asked if our vehicle could be searched, we were randomly picked (the only out of state vehicle and JJL was out taking pictures while we waited, but what EV) and if we chose to decline we would have to find an alternate route. If you wondering we were clean. I waved at the guys at we drove on to the ferry and the one with the gun didn't return the gesture but the one with the dog did. Which just goes to prove people with animals are more friendly than those with guns. Just sayin'.

Well, that was the ferry ride ... Maybe I should have broken all the days up like this because I don't like to read long blogs so what am I doing writing them?
Next up ... The Printer

Forty

I turned Forty. There I said it. It's not as scary as I once thought. It's not even close to how I felt at ... (thirty).

Thirty was an all day cryfestival. I was told it wasn't as bad as being newly divorced rocking a baby to sleep. My response, "At least you've been asked {to be married}."  And then 40 - is only ten years away!

But what a ten years it's been ... I moved back to Indiana, bought a house, got engaged, and somewhere in there started to fix my relationship with God ... that took all of a year or so.

In the next 9 or so ... I got married, regretted buying the house, glad I bought the house, maybe I shouldn't have bought the house, the God relationship always a work in progress.

Definitely feel better about myself and I think that's still a work in progress but also just in time to start loosing it! I had a MAJOR meltdown ... It wasn't pretty ... in fact it was enough to scare JJL to call his mother because he was at work and couldn't snap me out of it. I cried my soul out. It was a cry that felt so good because everything that built up to that cry was being released out in a great rush of tears. I wasn't sure what was going on. It is/was like wires are stripped and not making a full connection. Some would ask how's that different from any other day. It's different in that it's not a facade to hide my brilliance from being used for evil.

Some positives ...  I don't particularly have to color my hair. I have grey/gray but it's not out of control.

Speaking of grey/gray ... how do you spell it? To me grey should be used for evil or depressing things and gray is a happy spelling. Then there is of course warm grey and cool grays ... I know the package has them spelled the same (maybe you can't read that - it's there all the same) but to me that's how I would do it.

and 2 there's still a lot people that didn't realize I was over 30.

I'm not sure if the shock ... seriously they were shocked by my age is due to how I act or if I look the way I do because of how I act. Acting young is not a bad thing I guess as long as it doesn't go into the pathetic ... where people know how old I am and whisper, "that's just wrong".

I remember when my mother turned forty ... 3 kids with the oldest saying "hey, this will be the only time I will be half your age." I have penchant for math.

I would like to go somewhere, where a passport is essential and I'm not talking into Canada cause Canada has never counted as going international especially if you can pick up a radio station.

I read somewhere ... 40 is like the old decade of being young and 50 is the young of the old. I can live with that image.

My birthday was on a Thursday and it turned into an all weekend extravaganza! My movie ticket for One for the Money was a birthday present but it came out on the 26th so JJL argues the birthday actually lasted all month ... whatEV!

The whole month I have been out of sorts and once told by 2 different people that I could be under spiritual attack it's been better. It was just getting my figurative hands on the thing that kept shorting out my thoughts. The enemy only has the power for which you give him and he ain't got no power here.

Interesting thing happened on the way into work one morning ... I was cautioned that the parking lot was slippery by a guy running around in ONLY his boxer briefs ... Forty the year I was semi-streaked.

 Indiana trivia: Indiana's shoreline with Lake Michigan is only 40 miles long, but Indiana is still considered a Great Lakes State.

Crawfordsville is the home of the only known working rotary jail in the United States. The jail with its rotating cellblock was built in 1882 and served as the Montgomery County jail until 1972. It is now a museum. 

Indiana University's greatest swimmer was Mark Spitz, who won 7 gold medals in the 1972 Olympic games. No other athlete has won so many gold medals in a single year. Well, until Michael Phelps came along ...

 

Thursday in VA

Today was an exciting day. 

       (So, exciting it's taken over several months to write!)

Today was the day to have a conversation with Thomas Jefferson. Now, JJL was told when he got reserved tickets for Washington that you can only get them on the day of the "conversation". So we were off bright and early to get in line and while in line are told they were sold out! JJL literally looked like someone took his computer and shot it. I pushed us to go to the ticket booth where JJL was told the misinformation. Now you have to understand JJL has been studying James Leland and his contribution to ratifying the constitution, which includes correspondence with TJ. Before we the left the condo JJL studied!! And prepared his questions. He wanted the audience to be aware that TJ meant that the Church should be a separation OF the state but not FROM the state.

From that ticket office we went up the ranks. I was going to get us standing in the back if we had to but we were going to see Jefferson! Well, in the end we got tickets secured. Once that was done we were off to the palace! 

While we waited for the next tour we visited the kitchen.

Then we entered ... one intimidating room!

The VERY bright saturated colors is what impressed me - aquas, pinks, greens ... theses pictures do not convey how bright these colors were! I asked how that process was done and was told the Weaver is the place to go so that was put on our list of places to visit! 

We started to do the hedge maze in the palace gardens and realized this might take longer than we were willing to give considering we wanted to make sure we arrived early to get our tickets for TJ. Plus I'm pretty sure I was getting bit by bugs.

How different T.J. is to G.W.  - He is so much more open and wordy than G.W.

JJL Got to ask his question  - And the question involved knowing personal correspondence between T.J. and Leland. The actor played the part that JJL must be personal friends of Leland to know the subject matter of such personal correspondence.

And like with G.W. I took a quick sketch of T.J. and JJL together.

Now I had planned to go back to the condo for lunch but sometimes time warrants other plans. JJL really didn't like the deli from a couple of days ago and we also didn't want to go crazy expensive, so we broke our rule and had pizza. And well it was worth it! In the process we meandered through the candy store and browsed other little shops that I hear are all lit up for Christmas.

And our afternoon wasn't planned but there were certain things we wanted to see such as the Weaver! I took lots of photos that you can see on Facebook.

The weaver was fantastic! To make red they use bugs and is the hardest color to make. Blue is only colored on the outside of the fibers. That's why a person can wear away the color and it turns white.

The patterns and how to string the loom it takes a master - this particular weaver had to put on gloves to look at the book where an 18th century weaver had written for lack of a better word his "recipes". The tradesmen are so informative and so personable! This may turn into my retirement plan.

 

We now are off to church! This is cool because this church is still having service and has been since 1715. JJL didn't get to stand in the pulpit at this church. They have a statue as a podium and she is standing on a globe with one foot on America and the other on England. They also have pews with the names George Washington on them and of course near the front with cushions. In the back no names - no cushions.

 

 

We are now off to hear again the talk of Rebellion and the Declaration of Independence.

We talked to one of the "characters" and got the impression it was no big deal. That he had already heard of other - districts or states - I forget what he said - and I probably forgot if I would have written this that night - that had declared their independence already. Once again I'm struck how well history is known and the perspective that we get in school books but almost first hand accounts.

Well that must be all that happened that was exciting due to no more pictures to trigger what happened. There is still one more day that we walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg!

Thought Train

One day I swear you'll hear about the rest of the Williamsburg trip. 

But today I was doing my usual praying and thinking in the shower. See if you can follow this train ...

I was praying to God (I know your relieved can't fool me).

      Then Jesus .... The birth ... Christmas in 2 days! ... Back to Christmas eve ... the drama I'm not looking forward to ... the Sing-Ma-Jigs I got for the mini-cousins and signed From The Lockes ... My cousin Amber Jo ... She's now married ... the wedding gift I made with their names ... How Locke is 5 letters and so is Jason and Staci ... And this is what I came up with today that started with praying. Not a bad way to start the day.

 

And then I thought this might be nice.

 

 

And then I remembered I did some graphics after getting the following story in an email. It's gone around I'm sure you will know it.

From the heart of an unknown author— When I meditated on the word Guidance, I kept seeing “dance” at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing.When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with the music, and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky. When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead, both bodies begin to flow with the music. One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back or by pressing lightly in one direction or another. It’s as if two become one body, moving beautifully. The dance takes surrender, willingness, and attentiveness from one person and gentle guidance and skill from the other.My eyes drew back to the word Guidance. When I saw “G: I thought of God, followed by “u” and “i”. “God, “u” and “i” dance.” God, you, and I dance. As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust that I would get guidance about my life. Once again, I became willing to let God lead.My prayer for you today is that God’s blessings and mercies be upon you on this day and everyday. May you abide in God as God abides in you. Dance together with God, trusting God to lead and to guide you through each season of your life.And I Hope You Dance!!!!!!!!

Thoughts

Sorry for the poor quality

Here's a thought ... JJL and I are not outside light people. We try most every year and I can't remember a year where it was a success. Could it be we are just not smart enough to figure out how to lay out extension chords to get everything lit up and plugged into the one source on the porch. Could it be laziness in not wanting to layout the amount of extension chords? Do we perhaps have an extension chord limit? We strung the one strand and it nearly and it completely wore us out. I was then confounded after a couple of days why I never saw the lights out. ...

                         Me: Did you set a timer on the lights

                         JJL: Yes, It's set on dusk till dawn

                In my head: I work dusk till dawn? How depressing. I need sunshine. That's probably why I'm feeling gloomy. I should REALLY remember to take my vitamin. That has vitamin D in it. ... (I really could go on)

That black hole with a little bit of yellow dead center is Darth Vader

I have heard there are those that don't put baby Jesus in the nativity set until Christmas Eve/Day. Because you know, He wasn't born yet. So do these people have all the other characters setting round an empty trough? And really if these people are going to get all snotty ... 1. Not all nativity sets is the "baby" separate from the trough. 2. Do they only set up the wise men every 3 years? 3. And they should really not set up any of the people until Christmas Eve 4. There should not be a barn or wood structure either, it should look more like a cave.
So take that!! You crazy Nativity set "authority" person. Stop sucking the life out of how other people set up a nativity set and just be glad they are.

I seem to think there was something else I was going to type up. I really need to write this stuff down or speak a voice message. If it was important I would remember but lets be frank or bill or tom haha I couldn't resist ... I digress. I'm not sure I even remember the important stuff anymore let alone the stuff I would write about here.

Holy Mackerel - Get it? It cracks me up every year.

Years ago I bought a 4 foot tree. I decorated it mostly with nautical type ornaments. I would try to go the Hallmark store the day after Christmas to get half off on the Lighthouse series ornaments. To my dismay they have ended that series. I get married and unknowingly accept his Hallmark ornaments. His far out number mine. So we have some nautical, and quite a bit of trains and a whole lot of Star Wars. It's a by sea, by land, by space theme tree.

Speaking of nativity sets we got one that was JJL's deceased father and mother's. It was missing a wise man. Go ahead and snicker, it only gets better. I stop at a store I thought used to carry nativity pieces and don't anymore. But on the way out I was asked if I found everything 1. I'm walking out empty handed. what do you think? any way what I answered was "Nope, I was looking for a wise man." You should have seen the wide eyed look I got. I then answered, "You know for a nativity set". That was received with a OOHHH answer.
Ha ha - can't find a wise man - I crack myself up.

Notice the new one - His grass base is a little more brighter than the others.

On a sober note -  Christmas music is allowed to be played at work the week and if we are lucky two weeks before Christmas. The lines of "Christmas music can get fuzzy. Personally I think all Christian music is Christmas music. I heard a song that had a verse about Noah hearing the screams of men and women dying. I don't know about you but that makes my heart break.

Let me try to connect the dots.

Unsaved - screaming - while I am saved.

How many times have I heard the Noah story? How many times have I heard about spreading the word and evangelism? How many? More than enough.

If I don't get around to blogging again this month I wish the 5 of you a very Merry Christmas all through the year and next :)

Work Stuff

Since the beginning of the year I have been designing ads for Carl Black Chevrolet out of Nashville, TN for our publication of Tennessee Wheels and Deals. I started out using Chevrolet pre-made ads and fitting them into the space for the cover. It is sometimes like, well you know like fitting a size 14 body into a size 8 dress. Or have none of you ever experienced that ... wink, wink I know you have. Well after awhile the pre-made slicks ran out and I started picking out pictures and coming up slogans for the covers and thought I would share a few.

July 14, 2011

Check out the photoshop work of looping the sign around the tree.

August 11, 2011

August 25, 2011

It was fair week down in Nashville so I decided to acknowledge that.

September 8, 2011

The vehicle started out with no view just a solid gray and so it was an easy "paste into" of Tennessee mountains. And just so that you know it was not my intention to rhyme just a quirky happenstance.

October 6, 2011

For this one I wanted to choose a font that is not normally used for the publication. There are only slim number of fonts that are "printable". So, to make this work I had to make the font for lack of a better term a graphic.

I had this one all designed. But the dealer wanted something to do with football so I came up with the following ...

October 20, 2011

Check out the model names in "football" style.

November 3, 2011

This took some photoshop skill. I don't like the passenger side mirror hanging out all by itself.

November 17, 2011

I'm not completely happy with the font for "Not Much!" All the image work was down in Adobe InDesign.

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

Indiana Trivia: The birthplace of the automobile, the pneumatic rubber tire, the aluminum casting process, stainless steel and the first push-button car radio was in Kokomo, Indiana.

sing Love, SING!

Just some ideas for an awesome band.

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