AN AUTUMN DAY

 What a good day it turned out to be.......I had a visit with my new neighbor and her Mom......Angie and Myrna.  It was eye-opening to find out so many more interesting things about the new community I find myself in.  Lots in common with these ladies.  I found out there is at least one Course In Miracles group......one over in Sutherlin that sounds very promising.  That group has diminished in size over the years and so they might welcome some new-blood.  (maybe not so new anymore, huh?).   There is a Unity Church in downtown Roseburg that might have one also....or be interested in starting another.  We'll see.
Both Myrna and Angie are very active in various types of volunteer works.  I'm getting internal 'nudges' to begin becoming involved outside of our new home.  This entire area is a non-stop highway to so many more kinds of involvements than you could possibly imagine.  I just have to be careful of not trying to wear too many different hats.
This month there is going to be a children's carnival at the local elementary school.  I'll be there wearing my very own 'photographer's name tag'.   Fun......When I photographed the Kid's Saturday Art Day in Port Orford on Saturdays........I really enjoyed it.  The kids are all so natural (and funny).....the various moods or instant happenings are right there on their faces or in the scene.  These photos will be a little more posed but I'm thinking that they'll be just as much fun.  I'll edit them and them send them over to WalMart for printing.  Each child's family will get a photo of their kid in his/her favorite super-hero/heroine's costume.  The photos are free to each child which is a lovely thought.

Another area where I might offer my photography is a local medical or hospital program for those parents who have had a still-life birth.  So many people, meaning well, will shy away from the subject or any talk with the parents in reference to the dead baby.  The parents will WANT to remember...NEED to grieve......this was their child no matter how long he/she lived and deserves to be remembered as any deceased should be.  The baby was a vitally important person in many lives, in spite of never having taken a breath.....or lived very long.  There are a few people who will offer to take photos of the baby with or without their parents, as requested by the parents.  I would very much consider it a gift for me to do this if there is a need.  Then there is the Mercy Foundation.......which I assume is part of Mercy Hospital.......they have so many areas where one can help out......from disadvantaged children to the dying and everything in between, that it makes my head spin as to where I think I might fit.  I thought that I just might go and talk to someone in the Foundation and tell my background areas and let them decide.
I think my original plans of just holding up in my studio and doing art, art and more art, are getting shuffled aside.  But I'm looking forward to seeing just which doors open for me.

Both Norm and I have had dental appointments the last couple of weeks.  I have two crowns coming....just in time for the present bruises on my face to disappear before I get more.....And Norm had some dental problems of his own which had him eating 'gingerly' for a day or two.  All is well now.  And I'm finally getting rid of a nasty cold.......and hoping to do the same with this miserable phone system we now have.  It HAS to go!  No one can hear well at either end.  One sister referred to it sounding like we each had a tin can with a string in between.  Another thought it sounded like I was calling from Russia.  Found out this week that this phone system will never work right since our internet and TV is satellite.  I'm just waiting for the phone representative to come and dismantle the thing and I'll go and find a regular landline phone.  Problem is that all the companies are pushing their bundles.  I'm really so tired of working with this phone issue.  I can't count the hours that have been spent over it.  Hopefully, soon I'll have something that will work.
I'm hoping to go photo shooting tomorrow.........and in another week or so, Myrna has all kinds of places she's going to show me where there are photo ops galore!!  Yahoo!
On the not so neat side of things is the rain.  Remember how Norm and I were snickering at how the newspapers over here thought how the rains were so heavy?  And the winds so fierce?  Compared to Port Orford, it was funny to us.  Well, they'll all have the last laugh since that 3/4" rain had washed out part of our back lawn.......a regular little gully that washed somewhere on down the hill behind us.  The fence is now tilting and I'd be surprised if it lasted the winter.  Norm got 3 sacks of soil at Lowe's and packed it into the gully.  Of course, he thought he wouldn't need his post hold digger...or his shovels......Guess what Santa will be bringing this Christmas??
Well, that's enough about me.........Hope all of you are enjoying the beautiful autumn.  My favorite time of year!!!
Have a great rest of the week!!!