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Floral arrangement in Oil by Ashely Cecil

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of being contacted by a talented artist. Her website is located at AshleyCecil.com. She’d just finished a stunning floral arrangement oil painting and had posted a photo of it on her website and thought that I, and my readers, might be interested in viewing her work.

Here’s a copy of the floral painting:

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Isn’t that just gorgeous? If you’d like to take a better look at the painting and watch a time lapse video of it’s creation please feel free to visit her site “The Painting Journalist”.

She created this painting after attending a gala celebrating 20 years of “Service and Survival” for The Center for Women and Families. Approximately 1000 guests attended the gala and the ballroom was filled with lovely white floral arrangements. It was the floral arrangements which inspired her to create the lovely oil painting.

Ashley sells her paintings to raise money for non-profit organizations. The painting that I’ve shown you today is for sale, and a portion of the sale price will be donated to the Center for Women and Families.

The Center for Women and Families has been serving the Louisville area since 1912. Originally a YWCA, The Center is now a private non-profit agency serving fourteen counties in Kentucky and Indiana. Last year, The Center served over 30,000 people through three main programs: the Domestic Violence Program, the Rape Crisis Program, and the Family and Community Support Programs.

Purchasing this painting will support a great cause and assist in helping women in need of assistance get back on their feet again.

Ashley describes herself and her work:

Welcome to the marriage of painting and social activism. I’ve been creating art ever since discovering that my mom’s Chanel lipstick made a great oil pastel. Through formal art education and years of professional experience, the adult version of this vocation has evolved into my own job title, “painting journalist.” I’m addressing philanthropic issues utilizing painting as my medium of communication. Much like a photojournalist, I travel to locations/events of cultural interest and capture them, only with my brush.

Please do visit Ashley’s site. She’s a very talented artist and her paintings cover a wide range of “Life and Living” related genres.






Have you ever looked up a lost love?

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I didn’t realize this, but apparently around this time of year, probably due to Valentines day and people wondering about lost loves, sites such as PeopleFinders.com get a huge upsurge in people searching on their site.

I suppose that it’s true that the holidays, particularly romantic holidays such as Valentines Day make people think of what could have been. I must admit that I am one of those people that occasionally think of old loves around this time of year. I haven’t done any searches for them in recent years, but I do think of them.

There’s one old love that I remember that I think about from time to time. Even though I’m married now, I must say he was the most romantic of all the men I’ve ever dated. On one of our first dates he picked me up from my home to take me downtown for a nice dinner. We had an enjoyable meal and got to know each other better while at the restaurant.

Unfortunately, as he was driving me home at the end of the evening one of the back tires on his car went flat and we ended pulling over under a deserted overpass of the highway.

It was raining out- but it was that soft, warm rain that makes you want to go out for a walk with someone you love kind of rain. You know what I mean? Well, he’d run over to a pay phone and called for a tow truck since he didn’t have a usable spare tire, and while we waited, instead of sitting in the car, we stood outside the car in each others arms dancing to some romantic music that was playing on his tape deck.

All in all, despite the flat tire and the rain it was one of the most romantic evenings I can ever remember having with any of my dates. I suppose that’s why I think about him from time to time.

Now I happen to know that he still lives in this city, but I don’t know much about what’s been happening in his life over the last few years. I wonder, if I were to do a search for him at PeopleFinders.com if I’d find him, and what I’d write to him if I did find him. It makes me a bit anxious just thinking about it. I’m happily married so I certainly wouldn’t be looking to reconnect with him on a romantic level.

I guess that if I did find him I’d just write a simple “Hey great to find you on Peoplefinders. I hope that you’re doing well these days. Please write back if you’d like to keep in touch again.”. Then if he replied I’d tell him that I’m married but that it would be nice for us to get together for dinner or an event.

Have you ever used PeopleFinders.com or another people search site to find an old lover or an old friend that you’ve lost touch with? What were the results? Did you manage to get together once you started talking?

Did the groundhog see his shadow?

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Alright readers, give me your report. Did the local groundhog in your area see his shadow today or not?

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Confused about ground hog day? Well, it’s said that Groundhog day grew mainly out of a German superstition that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February second, the Christian holiday of Candlemas, that winter will last for another six weeks. However, if no shadow is seen it’s said that spring will come early.

We have a few groundhogs here in Ontario that we keep an eye on, on Feb. 2nd. Wiarton Willie is probably Canada’s most famous Groundhog.

For the record. I’m writing this post at 2:15 a.m. February 2nd. Obviously it’s dark out right now. My weathernetwork icon on my desktop says that tomorrow morning will be -9 c (15.8 F) and that it will be partial cloudy with a 30% chance of precipitation.

My prediction based on our warm winter up until mid- January, and the weather conditions for this morning is that our groundhog will NOT see his shadow.

Lets see if I’m right or not.

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