The Magic, Miracles and Joy of an Artist: Back From Ohio

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Back From Ohio

Hello.

*****I've returned from my trip to Ohio where I visited with family and friends and I enjoyed some much needed R & R. I would like to share just a couple of things from that trip.

*****Notice the clouds in the Ohio Welcome Sign picture. The average number of sunny days in Ohio is somewhere in the 66 range. That leaves 299 overcast and cloudy days. In spite of that, there are many beautiful areas in Ohio ~ open spaces with trees, fields, cows, horses, lakes, etc. I was born and raised in Canton, Ohio - home of William McKinley. The McKinley Monument is at one end of Monument Park and something to see. There is a great barn that you pass while traveling on I-77 ~ you always remember the Ohio bicentennial celebration each time you pass by it. There is another wonderful barn in Dalton, Ohio, showcasing a tobacco advertisement. Canton is the home of Sancta Clara Monastery where the Poor Clare Nuns live. The monastery sets on a large, beautiful piece of land. I like stopping by there on my trips back home. The lush, green hills with many, many rolls of hay is something you see often while traveling I-77 and the back roads. While I was driving on one of those back roads, I needed to make a U-turn and suddenly Mr. Cow was there looking at me with those big eyes. I'm not sure why he was in a cage. Every trip back home takes me to the Donald Drumm Studios and Gallery in Akron, Ohio. (Right next to the University of Akron). This is one of my favorite places to relax, get filled with inspiration, and purchase a wonderful piece of art. When you walk through the door, you enter a magical place that allows you to shut out the world and enjoy the true beauty of art. Don Drumm opened the studios and gallery in 1971. It is one of the earliest galleries of contemporary craft opened in the United States. Don Drumm is world-renowned for his use of cast aluminum as an artistic medium. His work is represented on five world continents. (I proudly own one of his many sun sculptures - I will post a picture of it later this week). There are three courtyards filled with outdoor art and windchimes.... 5,000 square feet filled with the finest jewelry, glass, sculpture, ceramics, metal and graphics created by the most talented designer-craftsmen in North America. There is also a Secret Garden which houses large garden sculptures and windchimes. I am usually in the studios for several hours when I visit there. If you are ever in the Akron, Ohio, area, it would be well worth your time to stop there.

*****My sister has a pot of unusual flowers on her patio - white with purple polka dots - had to share that. And my dear friend has a beautiful hydrangea bush in her yard with large blue flowers.

*****These are just a few of the things I saw while in Ohio. It gives you only a taste of what is there to see.

*****I had a wonderful visit but it is always comforting to be back home................

1 comment:

gallagherassoc said...: Love to see the pictures. Refreshing and interresting.; July 14, 2009 at 5:05 PM

For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come!

I AM A "SEARCHER"

"I am one of the searchers. There are, I believe, millions of us. We are not unhappy, but neither are we really content. We continue to explore life, hoping to uncover its ultimate secret. We continue to explore ourselves, hoping to understand. We like to walk along the beach, we are drawn by the ocean, taken by its power, its unceasing motion, its mystery and unspeakable beauty. We like forests and mountains, deserts and hidden rivers, and the lonely cities as well. Our sadness is as much a part of our lives as is our laughter. To share our sadness with one we love is perhaps as great a joy as we can know - unless it be to share our laughter. We searchers are ambitious only for life itself, for everything beautiful it can provide. Most of all we love and want to be loved. We want to live in a relationship that will not impede our wandering, nor prevent our search, nor lock us in prison walls; that will take us for what little we have to give. We do not want to prove ourselves to another or compete for love.

For wanderers, dreamers, and lovers, for lonely men and women who dare to ask of life everything good and beautiful. It is for those who are too gentle to live among wolves."

~ James Kavanaugh

I am THE LOVERS Tarot Card

Motive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse. THE LOVERS represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made. Originally, this card was just called LOVE. And that's acually more apt than "LOVERS." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor, who is about control, it is a radical change in perspective. LOVE is a force that makes you choose and decide for reasons you often can't understand; it makes you surrender control to a higher power. And that is what this card is all about. Finding something or someone who is so much a part of yourself, so perfectly attuned to you and you to them, that you cannot, dare not resist. This card indicates that you have or will come across a person, a career, challenge, or thing that you will fall in love with. You will know instinctively that you must have this, even if it means diverging from your chosen path. No matter the difficulties, without it you will never be complete.