Hello! I’m so happy you decided to join me.  Rain’s art prompt is tragedies or melodramas.  I decided to sketch a well known scene from the 1990 film Ghost starring the late Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.   Ghost isn’t a melodrama but it is a drama surrounding a tragedy.  Please ignore the fact that my characters do not resemble the stars in the least in my latest Procreate illustration.

There’s so much I see that’s wrong with my drawing but then isn’t that the way it is with any of us when viewing one’s work?  I’m not bothered by my imperfections.  I happily continue practicing and stretching  my skill set.  I know what I need to do is make more time for a particular area to hon it in but I’m having too much fun dabbling.  Maybe, one day I will settle down to tackle something specific until perfected.  This won’t be complete with out the Righteous Brothers’ Unchained Melody, don’t  you agree?  Have you seen this movie?

This week’s Thankful Thursday, I’m very thankful that we’re in the last week of February.  It’s been such a cold month.  Colder than what we’re used to in the Tennessee Valley.  I’m thankful for the return of the sun this week.  The highs have been in the upper 50s and low 60s.  That’s spring-like weather folks!   I’m thankful DH set up an upcoming dental appointment to have an old amalgam filling removed as well as some preventive repairs on the teeth with cracks and thinning in the enamel.   These teeth will be capped.  Dental work is expensive and while this doesn’t need to be done now, we hope this will keep from worse damage being done at a later time.  He’s had horrible issues with damaging his teeth over the last 10-15 years.  I’m first thankful for DH’s employment and second, his dental insurance which helps to off-set some of the cost.  Finally, I’m thankful we have the funds in place to pay for these sorts of services.  It’s makes the ole piggy bank squill but at least we can work to rebuild the lost savings unlike when we were raising a family and had too much debt.  Through life’s tough lessons, God has helped us to become wiser for which I’m extremely thankful for Every Good Thing (The Afters), He has given us.  

You’re the reason for every good thing, every heartbeat
Every day we get to breathe
You’re the reason for anything that lasts, every second chance
Every laugh, life is so sweet
You’re the reason for every good thing, every good thing
Every good thing, every good thing…

Last week Eugi’s word prompt was “Champion“.   I don’t get to play frequently enough.  Mainly, I’m either short on time or flat out blank out.   As you might have guessed I was totally out of time this time.  Shoot, I thought this was this week’s prompt when I was pulling this post together.  Just goes to show you were my mind is or in this case isn’t.  Anyway poetry isn’t my forte but I’d like for it to be more, so when inspiration clicks then I run with it and that’s what I’m doing today.  Here’s my little ditty.

Champions
©2021 Cathy Kennedy

Coffee at dawn
Stays in hand
A daily marathon
Go. Go. Go.
Work long hours
Takes its toll
Winners? Losers?
Cross the line
Dock their time
Declaration called…
Within us all
A champion strides
Through the grind
To make ends meet or
Save for a retreat
Or something sweet

I’m sorry for the late entry but if you enjoyed my poetic attempt then you may want to hop over to visit Eugi’s weekly gig for creative writers, especially those who dabble in poetry.  Click the button below to visit Eugenia for the word prompt and if inspired don’t forget to share a link back on her site in comments to your place.  She’s an awesome friend!

Because there’s a champion in us all, I dedicate , The Winner Takes It All,  to you!

I’m winding things up today with Kat’s Writing Workshop. 

Reading this week’s prompts, I nearly went with ‘”Write about one of your favorite songs as a kid.  Is it still a favorite?”  But I mentioned in 2012 and 2013 blog entries my favorite childhood song.  I never addressed why it was my favorite, though.   Instead, today I will write about a memorable date, not as in a specific calendar day but an actual date from our courting days.  The year was 1978.  It could’ve been anywhere from late spring to early fall but I kind of think it was in the summer.   Looking into my rear view mirror 43 years ago these sort of details escape my memory.   Anyway,  DH and I sat a picnic date to go to the Breaks Interstate Park.   I had never been but he had.  There isn’t a lot to do where we grew up and to do anything new required a car to get to.   There was a couple of parks closer to home but this one is more than an hour drive from my parents’ home.   I got up early on the morning of our picnic date to make my first big meal.  I learned to cook mostly by watching.  By the time Saturday rolled around, my mother was too worn out to do anything extra but she offered instructions when needed.  I made skillet-fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and angel biscuits (yeast rolls).  I think I made dessert but I can’t remember what it was now.  Something easy, I’m sure.  Soon after DH arrived at my house, we loaded the food into his cooler,  and we mentioned to my folks it’ll be a late day.    I fell asleep over to the park.  That happened to me nearly every time I went for a long car drive anywhere.  The things I remember… it was a lovely but hot day,  we had a nice picnic with more than we could possibly eat, and our explorations in finding a different, faster route home turned out to be anything but fast getting me home later than expected.   My parents’ were pretty upset and rightfully so.  They weren’t having a melt down but I’m fairly certain I saw smoke coming out of their ears at one point.  I brushed it off, told DH good night, and that was that.  The next morning all was well.  There’s something about youthful ignorance and no worries over all the fuss.  It’s not until I had kids that I got my parents’ anxieties.  I often wonder how they survived those years without all the technology we have today because when ours were home if I didn’t hear from them within a particular time frame then I got a bit frantic.   Our spirit of adventure continues to this day, we often leave before the sunrise and back way into the night, sometimes in the wee hours of the following day.  There’s no getting lost with GPS in our car and on our phones.  The fun and excitement still remains apart of us.  Hopefully, we’ll have many more  years to enjoy such simple outings.  Take me home, Country Roads!

Is it easy for you to escape city living to explore rural back roads or do you have plan such trips around a vacation?

I’m heading over to Rain’s Garden to browse through the collection of artists participating in the challenge. You’re welcome to come with. Tomorrow is DH’s off Friday but I will have an edition of Friday Sillies with nothing but giggles set to published first thing in the morning. XX, Cathy