I'm revitalizing the Drawspace Cafe that we used to have last year. If it is used, wonderful, if not, we will rethink its purpose again.

This is the place to talk about everyday life, issues, animals, work, life in general. Anything that isn't art related.

Tell us about Halloween, show us your decorations, your kids, your pumpkins, your pets.

Get to know other members informally, not just through the eyes of art.

I'll start off with a little information about me for those who don't know. I live in a small (tiny) town just outside of St. John's, Newfoundland. Its very rural and my house sits on 16 acres of land with no neighbours, yet I'm only a 15 minute drive from a major town. I am a herbalist, practicing artist, grow organic veggies and animals. I have chickens, geese, ducks and pigs on the farm currently. I used to have two horses, but due to lack of time I had to sell them.

I work full time as executive director for a national non profit organization. I teach art privately and through workshops, make and sell jewellery and enjoy running. I have two grown daughters and an 18 month old grand daughter.

Right now my work load is huge and it prevents me from doing all that I would like but I keep trying.

wow...jeanette, you dont look old enough to have two grown children and a grandchild. must be all that organic living

thanks for sharing

Hi Jeanette

I live in a small town in Kentucky, USA. I work full time for the State Department at this time, and I love my job although I find it stressful. I use art to relieve the stress and I also play with my parrot Max. He is a Severe or Chestnut Headed Macaw, a Mini Macaw about 16 inches long from head to the tip of his tail. I hope to draw him one day.

I am a mother of three adult children, grandmother of three and great grandmother of one. I turned 62 today and sometimes I feel every year of it. Most of the time tho, I am very young at heart.

My main interests are my home, my job, and my art. All of my family live hundreds of miles away but they are the main interest of my life in general.

It has been nice meeting you and I look forward to getting to know you better.

Nikki

HAPPY B-DAY

Thank you very much.

Great to get to know you both a little more. Its good to have a connection to the people behind the art and posts.

I think I just have the good genes in my family oliverandjazz. I can thank my father for that. He didn't look a day over 50 when he died at 70, not even grey hair!

Nikki, I'm with you in that my family live far away too, both my girls are out west, one in Alberta, the other in Saskatchewan so I only get to see them about once a year. The baby must think Grandma lives in a box on the computer! That parrot sounds interesting. Yes, you should draw him or post a photo in the inspirational gallery so others can draw him. I used to have birds years ago when I lived in the UK...parrots, finches, cockatiels, you name it.

Happy Birthday too.....pass the cake please

Thank you Jeanette, have some cake and ice cream too.

I developed my love of parrots when I owned a pet store for a couple of years. The birds became my passion and now I can't imagine life without at least one. I sold mostly exotic birds but it was hard to see them go. I always made sure that they were going to good homes or else I couldn't have sold them.

I will post a picture of Max in the Inspirational Gallery. I didn't even know it existed. Is it there for everyone to use?

Have a good evening.

Nikki

Hi from Ireland - I found Drawspace a few weeks ago while surfing the net - my main occupation at the moment as I am nursing a shattered right elbow, now held together with the aid of Titanium lol. I have drawn and painted for a long time now but am very inconsistent, sometimes years have gone by without me doing anything.

I am relieved to find I can still draw although it can get pretty painful after an hour or so!

I work in the IT industry, for a large US insurance company as a team manager but when at school wanted to be a Graphic Designer or an Architect - where did I go wrong lol?

Hello colmnago, nice to meet you. You live in a place I have always hoped to visit as most of my ancestors are from Ireland.
I hope your arm doesn't become too painful for you to do your art, and I look forward to seeing some of your work. I am just a beginner and I really enjoy seeing what others do.

If you are still interested in Graphic Design, it is never too late to learn. I took up making web graphics and web sites about nine years ago and I am mostly self taught. All of the good programs like Photo Shop, Paint Shop Pro and others have good tutorials online to make learning a lot easier. I don't know about Photo Shop, but Paint Shop Pro has a 30 day free trial download of the full program. You could try that to see if you still have the interest.

Nikki aka The StarKeeper

This is nice to have a cafe to chat a little

first of all...HAPPY BIRTHDAY starkeeper wish you all the best!!

Nice knowing you a little more now

I live in Portugal in a small village on the litoral, very close to the beach, 30 minute walk for whoever can walk
I am 41 years old, happily married for almost 25 years , and I have a 24 year old lovely son.
I am retired due to an acidant I had when I was 19 years old that put my life up side down!! after 14 years fighting not to use cruches I managed i still limp but I think it gives me some style
At that time I decided to go back to school wich I had left uncomplete and finished hight school with night classes.
I still wish to go to university, I have art university in my town but don't have the money that it takes...

I have to lovely kittens that follow me around, where ever I go
I love art, drawing, painting, arts and crafts, theater....
I also like to have a good conversation.

Hey Nikki, thanks for saying 'hi'. My name is John btw, Colnago is a make of bicycle (my other passion in life lol) - these are also works of art if you ask my opinion :-)

I have normal movement in my right hand but still very limited range of movement in my elbow which makes shading a bit tricky sometimes - I only had surgery 4 weeks ago. I have quite a few things posted in my gallery - the Manga-style drawing was done a few days ago just to see if I could still draw OK - this is the first piece from my Titanium period lol.

Thank you Kaly.

It is nice to get to know you too. Thanks to Jeanette for getting this thread going.

I finished high school ten years after leaving in my junior year. I would have liked to go to University too, but raised a family instead. Now it is too expensive and I feel a little too old to start that challenge with the time constraints I have. Lucky for us there are good teachers and lessons right here on DS.

Nikki

I am from the deep south..new orleans lousiana..i now reside in maine..and its nearing hiberanting time for me..never can get used to these cold winters..brrrr..i have one grown 24 year old son, one grandson 2, (one step granddaughter , two stepchildren) all grown up.

i daycare for a young fella 8 mos old now that is as much my grandson as any during the week,and keep him on some overniters. he keeps us smiling.

i have a yorkie and a standard poodle..oliver and jazz and am in the serious thinking mode about getting a pair of kittens.

in the summer i love my flowers and garden and play in them alot, and my dogs are like my children and we play alot outdoors..not one for sitting in front of the tv all day. in the fall i cook, i prepare winter meals in advance..much like a squirrel for storage. winter, i settle in and draw and read and come up with every excuse in the book as to why i cant go somewhere or do something..
you practically have to drag me outdoors kicking and screaming

i am a newshound though..i love cnn headline news, lou dobbs, glenn beck, nancy grace, bill maher and things like that..
i love historical novels, both fiction and non..and i guess the same for movies..i prefer a good documentary to a movie per say

i have always been interested in crafts..as a child my dad built a sewing box for me..it was a floor model; lots of lil shelves inside for pretty colored thread, and the whole thing itself for old clothes i was allowed to cut up. so i would sit and sew pillows..seams on the wrong side..i had a room full of pillows like that..cause they gave me this great gift, and i had the desire to learn, but i had no teacher..i never learned how to sew a pillow with the seam on the right side till i got old enough to take home economics at school..i guess maybe what 13..do they even have home ec anymore? anyway..after that i was off and running, i sewed everything...blankets, doll clothes, etc..then i just had to learn crochet...i would watch my grandmother crochet and knit for hours but she never taught me..i learned that on my own via books when i got pregnant for my own child and desperately wanted a crocheted blanket for him..and that turned to knitting, he had lots of hand knit sweaters and i had lots of winter on my hands to do it..lol

then i seen a friend doing some tole painting and i fell in love with that..and tole painted or rather decorative painting for years...until i just became frustrated at not being able to draw my own pictures and decided i just had to learn to draw..that was all there was to it..so i set out to the fancy community college, shelled out some big bucks for books and sign up..got home all excited about it and was told to bring them all back..talk about heartbreaking. so i did.l brought everything back, dropped out before the ink was even dry..but took some of the money and went to my local bookstore and bought lots of books..and here i am at drawspace now about 5 or 6 yrs later..wanting to really learn how to draw..and i am..thanks ms brenda for giving us drawspace
and thanks jeanette for a place to ramble..

hmmmm...girl i can talk now..you may regret this thread

John your gallery is great. I see a lot of talent there. Considering the broken arm, the Manga is great too. Looking forward to seeing what you do when the arm is healed.

I like what you did with the Eye Lesson. If you would like to see what I have done with the eyes you can see them here:
http://life-as-art.110mb.com/html/eye-study.htm

This is a website I have been working on to display my art. Right now, my biggest problem is time to do the web site and the drawings too.

Take care
Nikki

Well, where should I start? I live in a small town also, with friendly people but sometimes they want to know too much. It's name is Linden, and it's in middle Tennessee.

I’m a retired sign painter. I still spend much of my time educating my self. I have an insatiable hunger for learning and I’m interested in almost everything. I’m trying to become a writer. My perfect dream would be a photojournalist and travel the world.

I’m also interested at the moment in motivational, and self-help type topic.

Speaking of sign painting, I just got a phone call today from an NBA player wanting me to do some hand painted lettering on a trophy. I had to nicely say no. I have had people get mad and wouldn’t speak to me because I stopped painting signs. I had many reasons but mostly because of back trouble.

I have depression but I’m finding that educating is better than just medicating. But I realize that some people need the help of medicines.

I’m approaching 64 fast, (27th), and I’ve been married 44 years to the same woman. I have four children, two sons and two daughters. I have six grandsons and two grand daughters. I only have one great grandson so far.

I guess that’s enough for now.

Bobby.

Hey John, welcome aboard. What part of Ireland are you in? I lived there for about a year aaaaaaaaaages ago - in Cork, but travelled all over the rest. The elbow sounds painful, hope it heals soon.

Ramble away Oliver....that's what this place is all about.

Hi Kaly, good to see you here. Its interesting to hear a little about people's lives and interests. Heaven knows what we'll all reveal in here yet!

Art school is both good and bad. You learn the basic techniques but also the bad habits or likes of particular instructors too. You tend to learn more when you leave and go out into the real world. Practice, that's what its all about.

Hi Bobby, we must have posted at the same time.

I forgot to tell everyone my age in my original post. 54....good lord how does time fly by so fast. However, I quite like my age and wouldn't go back - well not most days anyway...

Hi, thanks for the welcome. I live outside Armagh, in the north and work in Belfast, so am almost as far away from Cork as you can get lol.

J

Jonh welcome aboard...I hope that elbow heals fast, i know how it is to feel bone pain

starkeeper, yes lucky us to have found drawspace

Kay, isn't it great to chat

Bobby...great grand father wow who would say....I was a mom just after turning 16, so that could happen to me very early too, but my son says he is very confortable living with he's parents, and doesn't want to get married or have children soon...but who knows!!???

Jeanette, i sometimes also think if it would be such a good idea to go to art school...it is a five year comprimise, very expensive and as you said the bad habits are also learnt there...what about workshops??, they can also be expensive and not always available here where I live.
I have heard of this English painter that teaches painting, and she lives in my village, but I don't know how much she charges...and right now anything would be expensive to me. So I am very lucky to have drawspace.

jeanette that is incredible..you look younger than i do ..and you are 12 yrs older..congratulations to you my dear..

Hi, thanks! It is not nice and will be a slow road back to normal, or as close to normal as it will get. I guess one blessing of having it screwed together is that I do not require a plaster cast! I also got off light I guess, as I was hit by a bus while cycling in Belfast city center - it could have been a LOT worse!

As I am off work for another month at minimum, I can say this site has been a wonderful find. It is great to see everyone's work, find inspiration and some contact with like-minded people

J

John, I got everywhere except the far north. NI was a bit of a no go zone when I was there.

Clara, workshops are useful if you're interested in a specific technique or subject that someone specializes in. I know they're expensive to take, finding cash is always a challenge. Hopefully we'll be able to fill some of the 'gaps' here in the near future. Is there a local art association or club nearby that you could join? Or start one!

Thanks Oliver.....like I said, its the luck of the draw and genetic more than most other things. I think lifestyle and exercise help a bit too. My kids think I'm nuts to go running but I find its such a good destresser and my job sure provides a lot of stress these days! At this age, I do need to watch what I eat and it a hard slog trying to keep in shape. I try to save treats for special times only. My weakness is salty things so I try not to keep them in the house because I lose all control then and keep eating them.

lol I know what you mean. Thankfully things are a lot different these days.

J

Hit by a bus?? Yes that could be much worse!!! Anyway how worse it is if you look to your side you will still see worse and think, man I was lucky so keep your spirits hight that helps alot

I am definitely counting my blessings on this one lol. Luckily I have interests like art to keep my mind occupied and give me goals to work for as part of my recovery. The sooner I can get back on two wheels also the better but unfortunately do not see that happening this year. Even after that I will need to be careful for a while and try to build my fitness back up again.

J

This is a nice thread ....I am Kim one of the Mods here at DS I am 45 and have been self taught in art .. my father and his brother were wonderful artist so I guess I got a bit of the talent from them .
I am married to a wonderful man and have two daughters 15 and 17 ..I love my three cats ...I really LOVE my three cats .. we have a space for them to play with levels and levels of fun lol I have a dog that I love as well he is spoiled .

DS reminds me of a big quilt ..very colorful and so many different stories and opinions lol I am so glad I found this place .

If you haven't met me yet, I'm a 45-year-old cranky old man in with a delightful wife and two small kids. I've been drawing seriously for about two years, and so far it's still just a hobby. I make my living herding cats (i.e., technical management.) My daughter is a budding artist herself, and we spend whatever time we can spare drawing together.

Hi Jeanette,
It's very nice to have the opportunity to introduce oneself and to know you and other members.
Next sunday I will be 30 years old, I was born in Rome, my mother's town. When she fell in love with my father they moved to Taranto, in southern Italy, the town where I spent most of my life. I now live in Bari with my partner, and since we don't like the urban chaos we are going to move to our new apartment in a small country near Bari. We are both very enthusiast about this imminent change!
Actually I am following a course to obtain the title to teach in high school, and this will be my future job. I have a degree in oriental cultures and languages, and my love for orient, especially Japan, led me to visit it twice in the past. My longest journey lasted for one year and was unforgettable.
I breed gouldian finches, colourful australian birdies. Looking at them coming out from their eggs, and looking at the heart beating from inside the egg itself is a moving experience that I would recommend to anyone!
My hobbies are drawing, painting, origami and embroidery.
As for origami, it is an internationally recognised form of art, and there exist several associations in the world that orgaize annual conventions.
I have been to some of those conventions and had the opportunity to make acquaintance with beautiful, original and sensitive people.

I would have liked to attend the art academy, but job perspectives led me to come back to reality and aim at something more practical. No need to mention this was not the right choice. My choices allowed me to travel and make beautiful experiences, studying abroad, learning japanese, but I have changed my priorities in the meantime (after all that's life!) and I could have obtained the same objectives I am aiming at before, with less effort and following my passions.
Now I am thirty but I am happy and satisfied. While I am waiting for a permanent job I am cultivating my hobbies, I have spent my life studying and now I will try to look at new ways to express myself. I am so lucky I can live this moment in a relaxed way, and I am grateful to God for this.

Another hobby is cooking, I like experimenting and tasting new dishes. Both italian and international cooking offer several possibilities, so it's only a matter of ingredients and fantasy!
I prefer appetizers, first and second courses, only occasionally do I bake cakes.
I am mad about...chestnuts, matcha green tea, strawberries, mushrooms, fish, potatoes, and the more popular pizza.

I like the sea and spend whole summers swimming...I also love mountains because I love tranquillity, nature and countryside.

I am particularly attracted by the colours and fruits of fall. Autumn colours are my favourite, and I cannot resist to buy a pumpkin when I see it. I think I should collect pumpkins, they hypnotize me.

Hi all. I am Jeanne. 59 years old and married to my high school sweetheart for 37 yrs (38th anniversary on Oct 31st this year). Yes Halloween.

We have 3 dogs (red golden retriever named Friday, yellow lab named Penny, and miniature schnauzer named Ditto), a parakeet named Freebie, and a cockatiel named Bozo but fondly called Bobo. We had no children and love our animals and treat them as family. Most of them live long lives as we take better care of them than we do ourselves. In fact right now I am nursing back to health the schnauzer who should be in the vet with IVs. Can't afford that.

Clara I too walk with a limp. 14 years ago I had a motorcycle accident and broke both bones in my lower left leg. Had a cast on for 6 1/2 months, a brace for 11 months, and in a hospital bed in my house for 3 1/2 months. Went thru all the trials and tribulations of a wheelchair, crutches, walker, arthroscopic surgeries ( 1 on the knee and about 5 on the ankle). Have a plate and screws in the bone above the ankle and last year had complete knee replacement. Ankle mobility is almost gone and very painful when I walk too much.

Love art. I love graphite and colored pencil. I belong to the local art association and go out every Wednesday with their plein air group for a morning of art. Different destinations each week. Drawing from life has been a very important part of my art improvement.

wow..i love this thread..i get to know my friends a lil better..

clara and jean please take care..hugs to you both.

newcomers welcome to drawspace..

mr hill. ermmm..ernest...surely you are not so grumpy and i love the way you share the special drawing time with your daughter with us..i truly think that is special and i admire that very much

Hi Folks
This is a great idea. I sometimes have been wondering about all these names, which I can now see backgrounds to.
So far, I'm the old lady among you. I was 70 in June - I can't believe it I still don't know what I want to be when I'm grown up! I live alone now as my husband died three years ago so now there's just me and the dog 'Dusty' - a border collie who keeps me in order and keeps me going out walks,- rain, hail,wind, sun. I have three grown up children, who live scattered around - England, Scotland and California- and six grandchildren aged from 5 weeks to 24 years old - 4 girls and 2 boys.
Colnago - the name is familiar, great frame - I used to cycle a lot and my daughter is still a fanatic. I was a timekeeper for over 10 years until we moved to a more rural part of Scotland You will be looking forward to getting on the bike again. My cycling is limited to about a 10 mile toddle these days, but I still enjoy it.
I have drawn and painted off and on forever, but I have more time now than ever before. When the weather is bad, which is quite often around here, I can keep trying to get better.
Cheers, Norma

norma do you mean you bicycle around 10 miles.? that is so awesome..

i havent even been on a bicycle in yrs..

Hi Kay
You should try it again - it's a great feeling and if you are on your own, you just need to go as slow as you want. I'm afraid I used to be one of the fit types who would do well over 100 miles a day, but not any more!

wow norma that is truly impressive ..i have considered myself to be adventuresome..but when i go 100 miles on a bike..it has a motor in it

good for you..

Hi Hannya, great that you could drop in. Pull up a chair, get comfy and have some coffee
Italy.....I have a love affair with that country... I have friends living in Tuscany, lucky them.

Norma, way to go on the biking! I run and I think it really helps me keep fit and remain flexible. Mind you I wouldn't win any races with my running but I love it. I refuse to grow old gracefully! My motto is if you don't use it, you lose it.

Hey Kim and Ernest, glad you popped by.

Hi Jeanne, great to see you here.

I"m sneaking this in at work..shhhhhhh don't tell.... Now I have to get back to more report writing, but I'll be back later.

The whole purpose of this thread is to get people to know each other a little more. To discuss issues, politics, art, business, personal etc etc etc. I'm sure it will all come together over time and we'll have a great time!

hi everyone...coffee please

Jeanette, I don't know of any art association or club around here, maybe there is one I'l try to find out, starting one would be rather dificult, we always need a space and the people that would be interested in it. besides I'm in a very limited position now, cause we only have one car and my husband and son need it for work, and public transports are dificult for me for where I live I'd have to walk for about 1km to catch a bus, and that is a problem for me. I live in a small village and there is nothing here besides cafes and houses, and one mini market! the nearest town is just about 8 Km away, but I would need a transport of my own to come and go when I needed to. So I guess there is not much I can do about it at the moment.

Ernest, 45-year-old cranky old man???!!! LOL don't make me laught I don't beleive a word you said....I mean about beeing cranky or old!!! cause if you are old then most of us are too, and I just have to refuse that

Hannya, nice meeting you, hope to see you around many times.

Norma, wow 10 miles a day on a bike ...that is awsome!!! keep up that energy!!

Kay, get on a bike mam, listen to Norma!!! LOL

I think Jeanne and I will pass that bike thing , right jeanne??!! we will just sit here and wait for you guys

Kim, bring your cats and sit with us for a cup of coffee, I'm bring my cats along too

have to go now, just came to say Hi and am on my way to the inspiracional gallery to get a photo to work from...sssshhhhh its a surprise for someone

who's paying for my coffee today?? LOL
bye bye

Hi all, this is a great thread, its good to be able to get to know a bit about the people behind the names. I feel I already know some of you but I guess thats the great thing about DS you soon feel like you are among friends.
I come from a place called Havant which is a small(ish) town in the south of England. I am 48 and live with my long time partner Mags(Margaret). Mags is the love of my life and my biggest fan. My main job is taking care of Mags because unfortunately she is disabled and I am her full time carer. I also earn a small living though doing commissioned drawings for people which can be very rewarding. I have no children of my own but Mags has five grown up children and countless grandchildren and two great-grandchildren who we both dote on.
I can not remember a time when I did not draw it has always been there for me like an old friend who has grown over the years with me. I was lucky in the fact that my father was and is a keen photographer who did wedding photography at the weekends. And it was from him that I learnt about art and composition.
I mainly do portrait work because I like people on the whole and I always find the process of bring the likeness of someone to life on paper I find magical.
I hope I will have time pop in to this cafe now and then if only to say Hi
A big Happy Birthday to Nikki, save some birthday cake for me and Mags
Ok I'll pay for your coffee today Clara but its your turn tomorrow
Kev

no problem Kev bring Mags along too I'll be happy to pay you both a cup of coffee
stay well

Hi Norma, good to see some other cycling enthusiasts on here too! My main road bike is a Colnago aluminium frame that I then built around. Maybe I will post a photo of it as a drawing challenge! - or of me on it, wouldn't that be a laugh!!

You are right, I can't wait to get back on the road, I usually do 100 and 200km cyclosportifs like the Wicklow 200 and did the Etape du Tour in 2005 in the Pyrenees, something I want to do again should I get the money gathered up but with two sons at University it is not looking likely lol!

John

Jeanette I am proof you don't lose it, it just gets fatter and fatter. Yes Clara I will pass on the bike. I don't even ride a fast chair now. I'm not about to go thru again what I have with the leg. But I almost lost the leg and am happy to just have what I do. I never was a fitness person, but after the accident, everything came to a halt and everything went South.

Hello everyone. Wow Norma. I hope to just be walking by 70. Congratulations to you.

Hello Everyone!! For most of you LTNS...( LONG TIME NO SEE )..LOL. My name is Venus for those of you who are new, and I am a 32 year old mother of 4, married for almost 11 years, ohh and I will be 33 in a few more weeks (a day before Bobby aka BRB). I have been drawing since I was little but doing it seriously for a couple of years now. I am also one of the lovely moderators here at Drawspace.

Sorry I haven't been around as I miss everyone terribly, just been really busy with kids, their schooling and art. I am a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America as wells as a member of the Detroit CPSA Chapter and have been busy with out current Art Show that is being held in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. There isn't enough people at the gallery so I have volunteered to keep it open so people can come in and view the BEAUTIFUL art work on display. (And no I didn't win any placements in the show... but I do still have it on display with a few admirers...LOL).

I think I can honestly say I am back now, and will be around a lot more. So I am looking forward to meeting the new faces here on Drawspace.

Hi John
How about you and the bike? My bike is an old Holdsworth Brevet - fitted with 'grannie gears' cause I'm a Grannie. My daughter keeps a Trek ATB here too, but I don't like the feel of it on the road and I think it would be a bit daft going off road on my own. She did a triathlon up at Aviemore last weekend - canoeing, cycling and running - and did quite well - second ladies team, beating quite a lot of men's teams.
Jeanette - I admire you runnimg - I can't run for toffee - at least I can sit down on the bike and it's much easier!

thats pretty awesome norma..

that is pretty awesome that you guys do that..

Hello fellow drawspacers

I have been taken by the little storm created these days on the site but it's good that brings us together since drawspace is from March this year my second home. I usully don't indulge in chatrooms or blogs for the sake of conversation and I know by now most of you already know more than enough about me, I introduced myself in the first day of membership on this site.
I was born in the capital of Romania, Bucharest or little Paris how was it called in the 19c.,I lived there for 38 years, during communist times;in 1991 I met my husband in Madrid where i was with a research fellowship from the Ministery of education in Spain and decided to marry him after one day. Well he lived and taught at a university in California so here i am, an American citizen willy nilly.
My great passion since childhood are foreign languages and I started to learn Spanish on my own at 12. It became such a passion then later I passed my entrance examination at the university only by studying with books, Spanish radio, excersizes. I used to work 10 hours everyday for improving my pronunciation and grammar skills so I was admitted on the 15 places from a pool of 500 students most of them coming from a special school that taught Spanish 12 years all subjects.I fulfilled my childhod dream and became both a teacher of languages and an educator. In Romania I worked in pedagogy, research in educational sciences, also giving private English, French and Spanish classes for children and adults at the Spanish embassy.
I translated some poems into Catalan and published in Barcelona in 1984, wrote and published some literary criticism, pedagogy, philosophy.Teaching is my life and in California I worked in afterschool foreign language programs and Montessori education.
I now do a lot of leasure activities, travel, draw, cook, take Chinese language classes online, things you do after 50.
I am an avid learner and any new day in my life I want to have something new, an experience, something enriching and inspiring to learn and thrive on.
I am lucky to have met this wonderful community of people on drawspace but please don't mind if I don't get too often into small talk.I like to dedicate time to art more than to chat. But nice to meet everyone.
PS> My avatar drawing (if you woder) it's me seen by my younger sister who drew me when she was 13; I was 28 at the time, now I am 54 and still learning.

wow elena..that is an impressive paragraph or two..thanks for sharing

Hi Elena, Thanks for sharing,
just hop in now and then to say hi

Thats a heck of an effort - all kudos to your daughter! My fitness (what there was of it) is slowly eroding and I can feel the pounds creeping back on again lol, not that I am whippet-thin anyhow!

I know what you mean about the ATB, I have a Carerra ATB just as a run-about but is a hard-tail frame which is not so bad - full suspension on a hard surface is just annoying lol. I am thinking of building a new rear wheel for it with a single gear, to cut down on the maintenance. Other than that I have a Claud Butler road bike as my winter trainer, which I was riding when hit by the bus but it's OK - and of course my 'main squeeze' the Colnago. It has a granny ring also - a triple chainset since at 45 I'm not out for heroics lol.

John

Hi Kev and thank you for the Happy Birthday. There is plenty of cake and icream to go around but get some for both of you before it is all gone.

Nikki

Just checking in to see how everyone's doing. Its a chilly morning here but lovely and sunny. I'm not a winter person and hate the cold - living in the wrong place for that I guess The leaves are changing colour now too which is pretty, though landscapes aren't usually what I draw or paint, but I sometimes do to give myself a change of scene.

I have some business meetings in Toronto next week so I'm in prep mode for those. Four days of fun....not. People think its great to travel all over, but in fact its a pain. You end up stuck in hotel boardrooms for days, nights in unfamiliar beds and eating out all the time. At the end of my trips, I am craving real food - like fresh fruit and veg, and time to myself!

I'll have my laptop with me when I travel, so provided I get any time to myself, I'll check in when I can. I'm not as keen on flying as I once was either. Its ok once I'm up in the air, but the takeoff and landing always give me a little anxious moment at times. Must be old age...

good morning

Jeanette
I'm not a winter persond myself, but its still warm here, well during daytime at least, at night its starting to cool down a bit.
I used to love flying when I was a child, did 5 trips from South Africa to Portugal and vice versa, 11 hours flyght.
last one when we came to live in Portugal I was only ten, and after that I never got into a plane untill about 4 years ago, on a vacation trip to Brazil, the plane was terrible and I had second thoughts about how much I used to enjoy flying. I guess it does have to do with age.

hope you have a nice trip.