it is my goal to begin blogging again.

An art friend, Andrew, recently made a post, daring people to blog again. Yeah, why did I stop blogging? Maybe because I thought people had stopped reading, which yeah, they had. My last blog post was in 2015.  Facebook makes it convenient to catch up with people with little effort except to scroll. Except facebook is more of those minute by minute sort of thoughts running through our heads and then, THE POLITICS. Don't get me started on all that bull crap. The fighting, the anger, ugh. I pretty much only posted and tried not to get caught up in it. Who needs all that sort of ugliness?
So it's been running through my head again to start blogging again. So here I am.

I thought I'd dedicate my first post to a good friend of mine, Maija Lepore, who passed away last week. It was shocking news and news spread quite quickly. She had been ill, but they weren't sure what was going on. Right before she died, they finally realized that she had pancreatic cancer. (And my info is coming second hand, so if I find I am mistaken, I will correct the info). We hadn't been in touch as much in the last few years, as things go, but once in awhile, she'd text me or I'd text her or she'd send me a box of my most favorite toffee, from Enstrom's (made in Colorado, where she lived)

Mostly I knew Maija from art retreats. She loved them as much as I did. Originally, I think we met via blogging and then one year we both went to Artnest in Utah, and it  ended up that we were roommates. She was the very friendly type and made quick friends with everyone. She was so well loved. A few years ago, when I was driving cross country, I stayed with her and Al for a few days. We had the best time. She had all these funs things planned for us to do and really made me feel quite welcome. It was a wonderful visit and I'm grateful I got that one on one time with her. They took me out for a lovely dinner the night before I left.

Maija was not fond of funerals, so there will be no funeral. Instead there will be a celebration of life on November 18. I will be flying out there to attend. I absolutely must go and toast to a wonderful lady, who will be terribly missed.