Pollyanna Lives!

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 2 Comments

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Thur. March 24, 2011 8:00 PM

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)

WHAT’S NEW ON ZAZZLE

a.k.a. “Rip Van Winkle”

Posted on January 7, 2011 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 1 Comment

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Fri. January 7, 2011 4:37 AM

Geezus Frog! Is it 2011 already? I seem to have overslept a bit… 🙂

For those of you wondering where the heck I’ve been for the last month or so, or those who were worrying whether I had gotten too big for my britches and abandoned this blog in favor of fame and fortune in the world of commerce: I thank y’all for caring so much, for the many private e-mails, for your patience and forgiveness, and assure you that my feet are still squarely planted on the ground (or at least metaphorically as they are actually at a right angle to the ground and hiding beneath several layers of quilts and blankets).

As the subtitle of this blog declares, the theme here is “The Art of Survival”, and that is what I’ve been doing: Just trying to survive. If you’ve ever been pregnant or observed it from afar, there is an odd phenomenon where a few days before the babe makes his grand entrance, Mom2Be gets a splurge of energy and accomplishes incredible feats of creative and physical effort. It could be anything from chopping enough firewood to keep the kid warm through kindergarten, wallpapering the entire house as well as the neighbor’s, or stripping and finishing an ancient grand piano. Well, my body, for some weird reason, adopts that routine whenever I’m just about to suffer a relapse, and that’s just what happened this time after enjoying a flurry of creative activity from Sept.-Nov. I’m still having a hard time of it and really have no way to predict how often I’ll be able to post but I’m hoping to get back here at least once a week for as long as I can.

In any case, while I’ve been “away”, if I hadn’t known before, I was reminded once again of the riches I’ve been blessed with in friends. Janie, Mi’chele, Art & Enid, Steve & Sue, Barry & Sharon, and Michelle B. too, are each the jewels I shall always cherish. In goodtimes or bad, in silence or song, these are friends who linger long, whether close or far away. What I’ve done to deserve you I have no idea but pray I can live up to your example.

“But friendship is the breathing rose, with sweets in every fold.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

”There is nothing worth the wear of winning, but laughter and the love of friends.” Hillaire Belloc

”Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.“ C. S. Lewis

”If you think that the world means nothing, think again. You might mean the world to someone else.“ Unknown (fun link but I doubt this quote was his)

“One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives.” Euripides (408 B.C.)

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)

I FELT that!

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Leslie Sigal Javorek | 1 Comment

Posted by: Leslie Sigal Javorek • Date: Tues. Mar. 30, 2010 4:00 am

First, too all of my readers of the Jewish faith, I wish you all a Happy Passover. May you always be blessed with freedom – May you always cherish that freedom – and – May you always do whatever you are able to do to help liberate any and all of those people around the world that remain in bondage so that they to may enjoy the same freedom we regard as an “inherent right” of ALL people – everywhere – regardless of their race, creed, religion, gender, sexual preference, or political persuasion.

Second, I once again find myself apologizing for the skimpiness of content tonight as far as having anything particularly interesting, enlightening, funny, or simply thoughtful to contribute along with tonight’s offering of free icons/clip art that I have created just for you. I think I have a fairly good excuse though (or at least a different excuse than my “normal” reason for a minimum of research and essay (which usually is related to my health). What has distracted me from using the time I normally set aside for researching and writing my posts is that I came across a Blog I had previously been unaware of and found myself engaged in a really interesting conversation with that Blog’s two hosts on a wide range of topics that were essentially spokes in a wheel where the central hub is the cross-roads between the recent Health Care Bill (a.k.a. “Obama-Care”) and morality. I have promised to educate myself much more about these two hosts who are both obviously very intelligent and caring while at the same often hold different opinions from each other in their intellectual, philosophical and theological debates. I am intrigued and personally like to know more about them and read some of their earlier posts as I’ve the feeling there is much to be learned from them. If you’re looking to widen your own horizons or have an opinion on such topics that you’d like to share, I highly recommend a visit to their Blog titled “Russell and Duenes“. The particular post which I’ve referred to can be found at this link.

Tonight’s selection of free artwork is a continuation of my series “Felted”. Enjoy!

Free 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)