Melissa D. Tereck, papier-mache extraordinaire

Holidays....

what is any Holiday really about?....is it stuff?...shiny new I can't live without it stuff?....not to me!...never has been...it was and still is all about Family!...time to gather together to share a day....not just a meal but the day!...

the one thing you learn or should learn as you go along is what really matters...what will have the greatest "value" as time and people slip away....

so don't look for me at the door of some big box store waiting to buy the latest must have on thursday or friday..or any day really...while our family is not as large as it was I will still choose time with the people I care about over anything!....

Photo: two of the kindest people I have been so lucky to know and grow up under the tutelage of....the day of their engagement!...

from the land of "paper houses"....

just for the heck of it I thought I would post photos of some of the houses I have made...hope you enjoy...

tree house made using real bark for part of it...front

inside of tree house....

tree stump house with a real leaf for it's roof....

little "hammie" trailer...

inside of the "sweetheart house".....

front of "sweet-heart" house....

little "sweet-heart" tea shop...

this one is perhaps the most "special" now as it has is going to live with a very special person done by the kindness of someone with the heart of a giant!....

as I look at these I realize how many I have made...these shown here are but a very few...so many more in the works and so many already in Happy Homes...
for now the last one...a toadstool house...that's it for now...when I have more done I will post more for my little "real estate" world...

living in an upsidedown world...

is it too early for Christmas?...well maybe just a bit..but here we are heading into one of the first really warm days of this year and not only am I working on all things Pumpkin I am also working on plans for Christmas pieces...it's sort of like back in the garment days when by now the fabrics to use for winter would already be on hand and winter samples would have been made and ready for showing...I wonder what a "normal" life would be like?....

with that in mind here are a couple of my guys from my "blast from the past" collection...both now living with I hope happy collectors...

Good Friday...

sometimes I do believe that all days should be "good" days...eache day we are able to open our eyes and raise ourselves up and begin again..it's a good day!...last year I saw so many people just hanging on...the sad moments before those last moments are gone...I guess the thing to do each day is count the blessings we are given..to make each day a "good day"...to know the value of our friends and the blessing of time...
 I wonder how long it takes us to learn the true value of this gift?...

Good Friday all!....

Fresh Veggies...

Hetzabell won't share the sceret for growing her fresh veggies...she does tell us she only picks them after midnight!...they are even better if there is a full moon!...She is willing to share that they are really great in soup...most of the time they don't swim against the tide!...

Out for a little "family" drive we have Thorton Turnip...his friendly tomatoe and a few fresh green onions...

I'm thinking of a salad!....

and as they ride off I will share a hint about them...I have special plans for the whole group!...if it works out I will share the news later...just hold a good thought!...and enjoy the sunshine...it's time to plant the garden!...

Road trips....

road trip a while back to Daffodil Hill...Popz worked in and around the area so in the long ago he would load up the family carrier and take us on a trip to Volcano, Daffodil Hill and the Indian Grinding Stone Park...aside from all the rocks we would collect the thing I most remember about one of our trips up there was the dead coyote that some rancher had hanging on the fence...all that beautiful country and you have to know what a kid would notice and file away!...and I still have one of the frist rocks I collected outside of Volcano...it's one very well traveled rock!...

we did what I like to call "PG&E" touring...Lake Britton, Popz taught me how to skip stones on the lake there!, Burney Falls, Mcloud, Lindsey, Strewberry, Nevada City, Hayfork...if PG&E was there so were we!...about the only place Popz never took us on a tour of was Fresno!...thank you Popz!...and back in the day the truck and the wagon had a little tag on them so he could ramble down some back road into PG&E land..and he would!..Momz and I were out with him on a trip up in the Feather River area..and of course he wanted to take us up the gravel road?..just wide enough for the truck to squeeze through!...to see the view!..Momz won that time..we walked part of the ways up!...but then there was the "logging road" trip...nothing more fun than a pick-up and camper on a road with logging trucks out in the back country...now I can smile..but then..SCARY!...that Popz!...miss him everyday!...and count my blessing for the times we had...and it's funny because I have met people who think you have to spend money by the buckets to have fun...but we never did and I think I have been one very lucky person!...with a bunch of rocks to show for it!...

more random thoughts...

so here is a question for you and it's really something everyone will sooner or later have to consider...how old is old?..there are a huge number of "older" people living in the world now..they are the "baby boomers"..they were born between 1946 and 1964...millions of them!..I am one of them...there were so many of us that new schools had to be built or hey they even invented the "portable" classroom for us...we are a generation that TV learned it's selling skills on...at one time if your were over 30 you were so out of it...we knew it all..get off my cloud...why don't you all just fade away?....

the reason I pose this question is that everyone feels they are "forever young"...but what is young?...yes I know a baby a small child...they are the truly young...but to someone 30 19 is young..and 40 sees 20 as young..and 50 and 60 and 70..and 80..there is always someone young behind you the baby born right now will be "old" to the baby born in a year or two...

all of this comes to mind because I have been dealing with what happened to Momz recently...and today as I was explaining to someone about all that has happened their words to me were "she is old"...yes Momz is older..but does this mean that she is no longer relevant?...do we value people so little as they age?...well I have a surprise for one and all of us..if you don't get hit by a truck or do something really stupid you too will one day be "OLD"...does this mean it is OK to do harm and walk away..no harm no foul? because someone is "old"?...myself I do not believe so..I think you have the right to have your life in all it's conditions til the day you are called home...it is not some number you reach and then tag that's it...

and again I know that most of the time this blog is about my art...that's what I do..I'm an Artist!...but recently I acquired a new "job"...I give care...but deep down inside I am now and have always been a fighter and now as part of the care I give I will also fight for what I believe is the right reason this time..and I won't back down!...one idiot does not have the right to just end another's freedom because that person is older...maybe that is the "art" of my life right now...

good and bad...???

it's been a very long time between posts here...and it's time to come back to blog-land...my only question in writing this time is do you write about what has happened and all the bad or do you move forward and write about all the good that has happened along the way mixed in with the bad?...

I go back and fourth on this...for the most part I am a very private person and really don't like to say too much about what goes on in mine or my families "private" life...so what to post here???..what to say about the past couple of months??...

Perhaps it will suffice to say that one Doctor's arrogance almost killed my beloved sweet Momz...I can not begin to get over this...we have spent weeks fighting for her recovery...and after one doctors stupidity we found care and understanding in another...that good tends to uplift all the bad...the good and kindness of some very fine nurses and hospital staff helps you begin to believe again that there are people in the medical profession who really do care about older patents..who don't just "decide"! someone has had their time...

I am trying very hard to take that lesson and go forward..but I can not find it in my heart to forgive the person who did so much wrong to my Mother..and to tell the truth I don't think I ever will...my only hope is that one day this man gets the very same "care" he gave my Mother...and that's just about all I really want to say about any of this...I guess I just wanted to explain to those who have been asking "what happened to the blog?" a little of what did happen...and now I hope to be able to go back to my Art and post photos of new pieces as I finish them...for all of you who have contacted me and wondered where the heck I have been I truly thank you for caring about this artist and her art..you have  been more than kind... and for those who had ordered pieces from me and have ended up waiting so patently I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your understanding...it's part of that good that I saw along the way in this most unwanted journey....

March 1st....

today is St. David's Day...the daffodil is the national symbol of the holiday in Wales...here in the U.S. it is not as well know a holiday as St. Patrick's day...there are no parades..no mayor of any city will lead a parade...no one will announce that today we are all Welsh...but there is a lot of American history that was impacted by the Welsh..for instance the Declaration of Independence...and so much more...but this is not a history lesson..this is just to wish one and all a Happy St. Davids Day..in Wales today there will be much singing and time spent in Church...and if you are lucky Welsh Cakes made like Momz makes them...

the national costume of Wales...I have always thought this was a partial inspiration for Mother Goose's image..to say nothing of the typical Halloween Witch...and my Grandmother may have been the inspiration for that...no just kidding...the Halloween Witch was around long before her..and she never did dress in nation costume...

so Happy St. Davids everyone..even if you don't know that is what today is...now for those Welsh Cakes..which if I do say so myself I can make a mean batch of too...YUM!...bring on the currents!...oh and in case you care about any of this the Welsh have never been that crazy about the English giving them a "Prince of Wales"...and the dud they have right now is typical of what the Welsh have had from the English for centuries...but then the English are so good at giving..just ask the Irish...or the Scott's...on that thought I leave....

more WIP...

yes it's me again...and yes I've been busy...and here they are the very latest W.I.P....

Toadstool houses..yes I'm still on a house kick!....could not make up my mind to the size of the house so ended up making 2...that's me all over!...

this one it the taller of the 2....and the door it still rough but it will be open a bit...

and this one is shorter and wider...not saying a thing here!...it's just the way they work out...and again door is rough and will be open a bit...

a little peek into the back side of the houses...andboy they really do have a long way to go before they are done....

and what the heck you may ask is this???

ah now that's a very good question???...and in the coming weeks you will see...and that's all I'm going to say for now...that and I'm going to have to finish all of these up and list them for sale...our house is running out of room for more houses..and yet I still have so many ideas...the curse of Art...although maybe in my next life I'll make things that can lay flat for storage!...a new medium.."flat art" for those with little space..or too many ideas!...enjoy...