Works From the Attic by Linda

The following post was written by Cameron Von St James. His blog address is  Cameron Von St. James   I can relate to what he has written as my father passed away from cancer and my mother has had several occurrences of cancer. It changes your life; you make sacrifices and gather strength wherever you can. I wish I could say that those were the only people I knew affected by this disease but sadly it isn't. I hope you take the time to read what Cameron has written and look at his blog and hear his story. It is of comfort to those who are newly diagnosed or family thereof. My thoughts and prayers are with Cameron, Heather and Lily. I ask that you remember his family, my family and the many friends I have who are dealing with cancer. Facing Cancer with my Family My wife has told me more than once that she doesn’t really know how I felt and what I went through when she was diagnosed with cancer. I hope I can explain it to her a little more clearly with my...

We all grow older, a simple fact of life. This January was Phil's 60th birthday. He has changed a bit over the years but I still love him as much as I did when I first met him. He still makes me laugh, we still enjoy spending time together and we still know how important it is to let each other have some time to do the things we each enjoy as well. He still loves to fish, I am still an artist specializing in painted items and jewelry. We both enjoy boating. I suppose the fact that we have a fishing boat, three kayaks and a canoe are a testament to that. We gave up the larger boat when the kids graduated and moved out. We celebrated with dinner at Red Lobster and a concert by Get The Led Out http://www.gtlorocks.com/ (The American Led Zeppelin) at the Palace Theatre. It was a great show! We love vacations along the beach, visiting wineries and just being true to our hearts and treasuring the time we have together. Who could ask for more? Happy 60th birthday to my ...

I follow quite a few blogs, friends, co-workers, internet friends and family. Today I was sent to a blog and it took everything in me to read it. It contains information that most people think would never happen to them. I hope you take the time to read it as I am including the link. Take the time to share the link, take the time to talk to people you know. This could be anyone, your friend, your family...anyone. My heart and prayers go out to her family. Hopefully Meghan's story will forever help other children and families from dealing with this tragedy. http://lovelightlaughterandchocolate.blogspot.ca/2012/12/be-with-me-just-for-today.html My blessings to all of you for a safe and Happy New Year. May you never know the emptiness and sadness of losing a child. ~Linda

Sometimes inspiration for my work comes from the most interesting places. This piece is special to me in many ways. It was inspired by the brilliant colors of the Dr. Suess movie "The Lorax". It is made with custom beads designed by Laura Lee with some ruby red velvet crystals for the extra sparkle. It is wire wrapped by hand with Tibetan silver. I can't thank Laura Lee enough for helping me bring my vision to life! Thank you for looking and I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season! ~Linda

  It is always nice to get away for a while. We took a little journey in September to our favorite wine country. There is a great B&B that we stay at each year. Of course, the most important part of the journey is to reconnect with the water. We miss living along the shore and watching the sunset over the water in the evening.   This past year has been one of many changes in our lives. We have learned to treasure those we love and not take one moment for granted.  

You Know You Have A Large Cat When... Cricket is one of our cats. She and her brother Shadow are spoiled as any good cat lover would spoil their "babies". Shadow is short haired and smaller than his sister. Cricket has long hair, very long hairy "toes" with the temperament of a rag doll cat. She never thinks anything is too small for her to venture into. Being a Pica kitty she loves boxes. She will try her best to cram her long body into the smallest of boxes but we have found that DirecTV boxes are perfectly sized for her. We put little cuts in the corners and bend the edges down for chin rests.  If she isn't on her favorite chair, she is in the DirecTV box. Hubby is making Cricket a custom cat tree that will give her multiple levels to climb on while allowing the levels to be large enough to accommodate her length. We looked at everything at the pet stores and nothing works for her so a custom tree is the way to go. She has her perches in front of ...

This is my grandson's birdhouse. He won a blue ribbon on it last year at the fair because it was the only "truly functional" birdhouse entered. This is the fourth family of birds born in this birdhouse since last year. If they ever stop using it we will take it down and clean it. As you can see (just barely) from the photo, Mother bird is feeding her baby. I am so proud of my grandson every time I look at this birdhouse in my garden. It was the first thing he built and even though it would have looked spectacular with paint on it, it would no longer be considered a functional birdhouse according to the Wildlife Conservation rules which we followed. He put a lot of work into this and already has another one built to enter this year. I'm hoping for another blue ribbon for him! My garden had been a bit neglected this year due to all my tests, appointments and surgeries. The post-concussion syndrome and all the anesthesia certainly isn't helping mat...