Indian Summer in my small community....

Friday I was proud to attend the Citizen of the Month luncheon for Newark City Schools for October 2010...and our Maya Rose was chosen to represent her Cherry Valley Elementary. Tina Marie was student of the month..well it seems like yesterday. Now her first born was sitting at table 5 with her Mother and her principal and her principal from last year plus members from our community bank Park National and State Farm Insurance. She walked into the room wearing a new outfit with tiny sparkles and purple and black designs. My eyes teared up when I realized how beautiful she is inside and out and how quickly she is growing up. We had a pizza and salad buffet with fresh chocolate chip cookies! The Newark high school "Swing Band" performed with show tunes and dance routines...Maya Rose was mesmerized and would someday enjoy being on stage in high school. In 90 minutes the lunch was ended but I felt a sense of pride to see Tina and Maya enter their car to return to a normal schedule. God bless you Maya Rose for blessing my life.

I rushed back to the Studio to meet dear friends Jimmy Acord and Susie Shie's newest family member Miss Libby Rose...an eight week old... double doodle...I am not sure what this means in the new breed that is quickly becoming a family favorite pet. She was asleep on Susie's lap in the courtyard and looked like a living teddy bear...cuddled with her new mommy. She was already missing her brothers and sisters but would soon realize she was in good hands and her life would be full of puppy joys. I can hardly wait to them all again. God bless this new family!

Dalale Hall came in to photograph her paintings and had concerns about the two paintings that seemed to shift with truck or firetruck vibrations. I advised her that she should shorten the wire on the back and that I would type up the labels and mount them on black card stock for a professional and unified appearance. Priscilla Rink brought in the Paper Moon Poster which I will frame next Monday and display outside the studio gate for further marketing communications.

Today I was to have a student in for a private lesson in drawing and make some plans for further possibilities ..but she did not make it. It may have been a good thing because when I opened the door I was knocked over by an strong egg smell and thought we had a gas leak. I called over to the the main desk and Tyler our maintenance man informed me that he had cleaned the steps up to the COTC classrooms with a highly toxic cleaner that was meant to be used only in the open area...muric acid. Tyler worn a ventilator and a Haz mat suit to protect him but his shoes/boots that had been splashed were now burning holes in the leather. Where is the EPA when you need them??? Michelle and her daughter arrived to help me move outdoors under the shade of the trees on a beautiful afternoon to make painting pages for further projects. We worked for a couple hours but when I entered the gallery hall to use the bathroom I was greeted by the burning in my eyes and throat...eventually I had a full blown headache. We walked down to Wendy's for lunch and came back to have a "Quick" lesson for how I can learn to use a laptop donated by her husband. Well to make a long story short ...I am not very quick about anything to do with the computer world! In the end we made a few steps forward and I will have access to the Internet and email with this much needed tool. God bless you all for bringing me into a more cohesive approach to making this studio more accessible. Yahoo!

I now have the Paper Moon postcards in the studio to share with the community...thank you Priscilla. She was heading home to make her third skeleton costume for Alex and his two best buds! Two weeks to the big Harvest Day of Fun! I hope you all have had a wonderful relaxing weekend in the sunshine! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart