Bloggers and Painters: Making the World a More Beautiful Place

I started off this morning procrastinating, reading a few new posts by other bloggers I enjoy instead of getting to work on a post of my own.  I read this post by Grace over at Camp Patton, which is always a hoot.  That girl is the funniest.  Then I read this post by Jenny over at Mama Needs Coffee, which is equal parts hilarious and profound, depending on the day.  And then I read this post by Kendra over at Catholic All Year, where every new installment is so interesting and well-written...and then I thought I might be in the wrong business here, because I just don't think I've got the blogging chops those gals have.  And maybe, I decided, I wouldn't blog today after all.

But I'm not going to let you off that easy.  Sorry.  (I do this for my husband, if for no one else.  He's on his way back from the Emerald Isle right now, and at some point in his travels today--after he lands in NYC, perhaps, or when he's on the NY-to-Boston shuttle, or before he gets in the car to drive the rest of the way home--he's going to check in and see if I've got a new post up, and I don't want a repeat of this, however sweet it was.)

So I considered linking up for 7 Quick Takes Friday over at Conversion Diary, because that's always fun.  But after reading the 7QTF posts by the super-bloggers (above), I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I don't know if I have one interesting thing to pass along, let alone seven!

But I do have some exciting travels to look forward to.  In two days, my husband and I are flying out west to spend almost a week with our oldest son and his family.  I can hardly wait to see my three itty-bitty granddaughters again--it's been two months since our last visit, and I'm beginning to have withdrawal symptoms.  They're growing up on us: the twins are over two already, and Little Gal is crawling now!

Being a mother has been the joy of my life.  But I don't know if I can put into words the way I feel when the twins say "Grammy."  It comes out "Grah-mee," with the emphasis on the second syllable, and it's the most beautiful name I can imagine hearing.  When we were Skype-ing the other day, they said my name several times and I was on a cloud.  (And hey--when you're on Skype, you actually are in "The Cloud," right?  Whatever that is--some sort of Big Brother-style, all-seeing entity, I fear!)

For a grandmother who doesn't live near her precious little ones, Skype has been a true godsend (make that Godsend).  Papa and I get to not only see the girls, but to interact with them.  "Go get the big purple and pink balls," we'll say to the twins, and they'll run off to find them.  "Where's Pooh?" we'll ask, and one of them will go off-screen for a moment and return to proudly show us their tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. "Can you jump?" we'll say, because nothing is funnier than watching a two-year-old trying to jump as high as she can.  Skype is the next best thing to being there and playing with them in person, and I don't know what we'd do without it.

In my Internet travels recently, I came across some lovely vintage artwork by a favorite artist of mine, Jesse Willcox Smith (who has been the subject of several of my blog posts in the past).  They reminded me so much of my little sweeties that it made me more anxious than ever to get on that plane on Sunday (and wow, those are words I never ever ever thought I'd hear myself say, after so many years of avoiding air travel like the plague).

For instance, the little reader in this painting could be one of my twin granddaughters...if only her hair was much, much thinner and shaped a little more like a mullet.  Grammy's girls love love love looking at books.

Here's another sweet image that absolutely spoke to me, of a pair of enthusiastic little bookworms.  I hope someday my granddaughters have a window seat reading nook like this one (I wouldn't mind one of my own!)



And here's one more sweet lass with her nose in a book (and there's that same cozy little nook again!), and this one's hair-do looks a little more familiar.

Jesse Willcox Smith's endearing portraits of children showed them doing a variety of activities, not just reading.  Here's another beautiful painting, of a bonny bonneted little babe stopping to smell the flowers.  She so reminds me of my granddaughters, if only because of the rosy roundness of her cheeks.

Looking at all of this endearing artwork makes me want to get out my neglected art supplies, to try to capture even a fraction of the incredible beauty in my granddaughters' little faces.  But then I see the amazing talent showcased in these paintings by Jesse Willcox Smith...and I stand in awe of her, the same way that I stand in awe of the talented writers whose blogs I read every day.  And just as I procrastinate sometimes when it comes to blogging, I do the same when it comes to painting.  I may eventually dust off my paints and brushes and get to work; but in the meantime, I'll simply appreciate beauty wherever I find it.

Have a beautiful weekend, filled with fun-to-read blogs, or husbands who miss you when you're not there, or interesting travels, or adorable little children, or engrossing books read in cozy nooks, or sweet-smelling flowers...or whatever else makes you happy!