A Birthday Card for boyfriend Scott - Gifts for the folks at our Daytime Meeting

I brought in 15 boxes of tea I bought at Nature's Harvest. They always have sales near Xmas.

I'm drinking the PEACH PASSION now, which is strong and delicious. Problem with with teas I buy is they're weak.

Decaf, of course.

Scott's b'day is tomro.

The two of us went - at separate times - to the Willow Grove Barnes and Noble to buy gifts. It would benefit our Upper Moreland Library.

Bought a Parcheesi game for Grace, who's 3. I was playing a board game with her the last time I saw her and I got disgusted.

She cheats.

Also got her the great poetry book Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein. He died of a heart attack in 1999 at age 68. Oh-oh, I'm gonna be 68 this month.

Hurry, Ruthie, Hurry. Finish your oeuvre.

Took me 20 minutes to set up my studio where I would paint and paste a card for Scott.

Set-up and clean-up are always the worst.

I was scared to death to do it. I had no idea what I'd do.

Idea! Paint a train.

Printed one from the Internet and drew it with pencil onto the canvas.

Then I leafed thru some New Yorkers and cut out beautiful strips of color.

I'd also saved a notice from my landscapers - Erik and Rich Keyser - wrin in bright orange. I cut out some orange strips and also their autumn leaves.

See the red wheels on the train above? This godsend - Hello God! - fit the train perfectly.

I was influenced by the work of collage-artist Claudia McGill. One of her paintings is right behind me.

I studied it before I went to work. This is the Elkins Park train station.

The more I got into the artwork, the calmer I felt. I was really nervous about making something acceptable.

I'm very happy with it. It took about 3 hours to do. My back was killing me during and after. When I got up from the floor, where I was working, I walked at half-mast.

Claudia McGill sent me an encouraging email which I printed out:

Here's my advice. Remember, you can always just start over! You don't have to keep the artwork you are working on if it just isn't what you want. Throw it away! Start over! Life is too short. I do this all the time. And so often failed artworks can be cut up and put into a new piece. So nothing ever goes to waste!

Ain't she the greatest! Let give her a standing ovation.