Pollyanna Lives!

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It’s been so long since I’ve been able to post. So much going on in my head. So much going on in my life. While my body continues to fail me, my efforts to beat the clock have succeeded beyond what I ever dared to hope for, and I’ve somehow managed to continue to grow while dying. (Is that a Dylan song in the making, or what?)

Optimism is an odd but powerful creature and my religion of choice. I’ve been labelled a “Pollyanna” by those who intended it as a derision, but I have always worn that as a badge of honor. To me, the label means that nothing is impossible. Improbable, yeah. But not impossible. Even when I’m overwhelmed, have good reason for feeling sorrowful and afraid, a voice inside nags at me to “just hang on, as this, too, shall pass.“ Without that voice, I would have succumbed long ago. Without that voice, I would not even want to survive. But with that voice, I will always look forward to tomorrow and whatever it may bring.

While I have never really made specific plans for the future, I learned early on the importance of being open to whatever came knocking on my door. It’s taken me in so many directions – wonderful directions – which were well beyond my ability to conceive of beforehand, and led to a rich and enjoyable life filled with interesting and wonderful friends and associates. The only downside (besides my health) has been in trying to keep up with all the plates I’ve got spinning. I have tried to give 100% to everyone and every cause. I know that in my heart, the commitment is there, but have yet to be able to consistently show it. Never enough hours, never enough energy. But as I truly believe that nothing is impossible, I’ll keep on trying and hopefully my friends will continue to understand and put up with my sporadic bursts of activity and periods of quiet.

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day: ”Brass Balz” Series, Part 1

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Brass Balz_Address Book

Brass Balz _ DayPlanner

Brass Balz _ Generic FolderBrass Balz _ Downloads

Brass Balz _ Notes

WHAT’S NEW ON ZAZZLE

Easter Tiger Lily (card) card
Creepy Friends (3-ring binder)
Easter Bunny in Pink (card) card

Black Friday Alert!

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Before anything else, I want to give a tip of the hat to my good friend, Michelle a.k.a. Dogkisses. I met her through a comment she wrote to my blog almost a year ago. She’s an incredibly brave, strong, and loving woman who’s got a lot on her shoulders yet still finds the time to help keep my spirits up. She’s also a very moving authoress who’s words paint pictures and move your heart. If you haven’t discovered her blog DOGKISSES yet, I highly recommend it. While you’re there, in addition to her regular posts, check out the other tabs where she hides some of her very best stuff.

I’ve been extra busy the past few weeks, creating a bunch of new designs for greeting cards, postage, postcards, stamps, and gift labels so they’d be ready for the holidays. With Black Friday coming in a couple of days, you might want to make a note to check out my online shop – as well as other artist’s Zazzle Shops – as we’re all going to be running some really great sales which will change every hour. So you’ll want to check there often. Depending on when you get there (online) you’ll find savings as much as 75% on all kinds of great gifts, clothing, cards, and more. Share the news with your friends and if you all use this link you’ll get a coupon with your purchase worth at least 10% off of your next purchase from ANY Zazzle store! How cool is that?

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WHAT’S NEW ON ZAZZLE

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What The Dormouse Said (The Art of Epilepsy)

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Recent events in my own life reminded me of a blog post titled, “What About Lewis Carroll” by Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, that I’d found a few years ago concerning the role temporal lobe epilepsy played in the delightful imagination of The Rev. Charles Dodgson (author of such beloved classics as “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” that was published in 1865 under his more familiar nom de plume, Lewis Carroll). Finding out I had something in common with one of my literary heroes, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (also referred to as ‘Complex Partial Seizures’ or ‘Psychomotor Epilepsy’), peaked my interest in finding out more about Dodgson personally and also about other famous authors, artists, and composers who have lived with this diagnosis, and whether medical science has been able to find a cause-and-effect between TLE and the vivid imaginations, mystical experiences, and profuse output of creative works of such persons. While I have not come across a research study that definitively proves or disproves a biological etiology for such traits, I did find an enormous interest among experts in the field of cognitive neuroscience and a plethora of research that appears well on the way to not only proving such a connection but also being able to map it out in the brain.

Is that cool, or what?

In any case, if you’re either a fan of Lewis Carroll, have an interest in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in general or in learning more about the recent discoveries in Cognitive Neuroscience identifying the exact location(s) in the brain and the environmental and biological triggers that produce highly attenuated senses (visual, auditory, taste, smell and/or touch), out-of-body feelings, paranormal experiences, hyper-religiosity, déjà vu (a feeling of familiarity), jamais vu (a feeling of unfamiliarity), hypergraphia, altered states of consciousness such as euphoria and samadhi, and more, I’ve put together a selection of links that I think you’ll enjoy. At the top of the list you’ll find links to Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti’s blog where she has a number of scholarly articles about Lewis Carroll and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. I recommend these as a good place to start.

Suitably apropos, this morning’s serving of artwork is built around my interpretation of one of Lewis Carroll’s hand-sketched illustrations that was included in the 1865 first publication of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. (Special Note: While the images linked below are low-resolution (72 ppi), I’ll be sending off to the printer’s the 600 ppi original file later this week and making the image available through my Zazzle store in poster-size as well as a Greeting Card.)

Enjoy!

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives – Share Alike- 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Alice 600

Alice, Not Feeling Quite Herself (600 x 720px)

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