Good Evening my Friends,

There is so much to tell you about. So much to confess! Namely that I have indulged an obsession and seen a movie 5 times at the theatre for the first time in my entire 48 years! Only a life-changing experience could've ever induced me to do that.

It all started when my cousin Dawn came to see me. I found myself eating treats in a movie with my daughters watching Amy Adams eat sausage and talk at the same time. "Fascinating!" I thought, "that they'd stoop to such an obvious trick. Sure they'll do that. It's a food movie!" Soon I stopped thinking about the making of the movie and began to live in the story. Meryl was Julia....wasn't she? Or was she? No that's Julia. And Amy...I mean Julie... haven't I met her before??

As we left movieland that day, I intended to come back on a date night with my dear Husband who would, I was sure, relate to some jokes and situations of Julie and Julia. As it goes, he did. This time I found myself tearing up. Somehow I was gripped.. I found myself in both characters. I saw it again, and again, and then again. (I'm not quite sure it's out of my system but I'll be Ok if it leaves the theatres at this point)

So who am I? I am Julia, the older woman who doesn't know "what to doo." I am she who began hat-making lessons and was smerked at by husband, and she who tried playing cards. I am she who loved something which was spoken of in the world in another language.(Cooking) (However I am not she who loved to eat!)

I am also Julie who is comfortable in her beloved and-not so- city. My loved and hated city in Joliet Illinois which I miss terribly. It's microscopic compared to Chicago. No Buckingham Fountain; no museums to speak of; no Navy Pier or Grant Park statues leftover from any Columbian Exposition. No, but my Joliet has plenty of hidden history. And people with beauty on the inside live there. I love it and I love them! Some great memories linger, too, of Chicago as little girl. Matina's Candy Store. Pink paint on the back porch of our upstairs apartment. I love painted woodwork and little nook and cranny apartment shelves. I love the lack of pressure to make an apartment anything but small. I love weather too. Chicago and Joliet have it. It rains and snows and sleets and fogs and ... well overcasts. In fact, sunshine is never to be taken for granted! Julie had weather. (Our area of California has two seasons -sun and fog)

Julie was Mia in a deeper way. She wanted to write.( I wrote half her script. Did you know that?) Watching Julie was like watching myself talk. A city girl at heart who wants to write about something that brings comfort to her world. For her it was food. For me it is beauty... Art. Color. Pictures. Good grief! Why didn't I think of it before??

OK. I won't try to put any serious time on this or anything. But here's my thing. I will take art... anything I feel is interesting...
(trying not to hang with the same artist for too long) and describe, highlight, mention the aspects of the piece that stand out to me. You will, I'm sure, notice different things.

My real dream (maybe just a daydream) would be to describe art to blind people. They wouldn't need to hear about color.
Only things, sizes, textures, placements, descriptions of faces.... to be their eyes, purely, without interpreting... which I most certainly will do here with you. Interpret. And you do the same! Please.

It isn't for sure how long I will can this. Maybe a week. Maybe a month. I tend to ... not stay with things too long. (I saw that!) So, if you're interested in joining me for some art looks... come back. Talk to me. Mention what you see. Tell me your reactions to the art. No book has the "righter" answer. They can only tell us culturally what the artist lived in and facts about his life... responses to art are left solely to the viewer.

Come to my great love.
Come look with me!
And let us feast!