Here, in our apartment, we are so very lucky.  News reports of victims of Hurricane Sandy are on every station.  Flickering lights and no water are nothing compared to losing one’s family, one’s home….

TV and radio are asking us to send donations to the Red Cross, and showing us heroic neighbors and friends who helped to rescue others.

Happy Halloween!

The lights flicker, the water is out, the elevators are out.  Cell phone calls are spotty, but I am able to text with some art journaling (and life) friends.  The family and I are (knock on wood) doing fine – but not venturing out.

Intermittently, I have been working on a journal spread about indecision.  I’ll upload some photos when the power is more reliable.

Be safe!

For the past few days, all local media has been warning us New Yorkers of an impending “Frankenstorm,” the meet-up of a winter storm from the west and Hurricane Sandy crossing the Atlantic.  It’s all people are talking about, although those who voice an opinion merely scoff.

Scoff or not, we’re all on grocery lines gathering food and bottled water.  We’re all snarfing up batteries from local hardware stores, Duane Reade, Rite Aid, and CVS.  I happen to own a wind-up flashlight, so I’m feeling pretty smug.

Until I take a walk two blocks east.

To the river.

The storm isn’t actually here yet, but the highway that runs along the east coast of Manhattan, the highway that abuts the East River (the mighty Hudson is on the west side) is in shocking shape.

What used to be the uptown lanes of a highway in a major metropolis has become a kayaking course.

While some are displaying a pre-Halloween, “I ain’t afraid of no storm,” behavior, splashing in shallower water on an elevated portion of the road, I can see that we will probably be indoors for a few days.

We have food, water, batteries, flashlights, candles – must make sure we have art supplies.  To be continued…

This is a grunge journal that I made in a class offered by The Ink Pad and taught by Dina Wakley.

By now, in 2012, blogging is no longer new.  The buzz has moved on to publishing on Kindle, or appealing to various demographics by searching for hot “key words.”  Still, I check “my blogs” for news of friends, news of ways of living and making art, and even news of news.  Blogs, like classes, bring us together.  Here, I hope to explore art journaling, making other art, looking at life through an art filter, and sharing all of the above with friends.

A blog is a way to offer a bit of oneself, and welcome and build one’s community.  At least that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.

Those in the know will recognize that I am a technological rookie.  I’m on a learning curve.  Welcome aboard!