Ryan's Christmas Tricycle

Ryan on his first real bike. He was put to bed shortly after the bike presentation by Tommy, his father, my youngest brother. Tom said, "your presence is requested by Ryan.", So, I went up to see him and he asked me for the blue pillow. I got it, rubbed his back, chatted accordingly and thought he was almost asleep when Colin started making noise. Ryan woke up abruptly, and said, 'Colin wants to go downstairs, I want to go downstairs. I want to ride my bike.' He finally found a comfortable sleeping position on top of the blue pillow and Colin's (claimed by Ryan) huge stuffed tiger. I just absolutely adore him. Plus he looks like my baby pictures.

What A Wonderful World

That's a prelude to another photo opportunity. Here's the current star of the show, Ryan Samuel Sheehan on Novemeber 12th 2005, his second birthday. It is said about Scorpios, that they have intense eyes. He is brilliant, of course.

Chrissie

..... is 'Mine Best', which is how she described me one time as toddler and, of course, I never forgot it. She was a great baby. Here she is with Seth, the baby son of her best 'sistah friend', Tasha in January 2003. Babies bring out a motherly glow don't they? She's his "Auntie Chris." There's gonna be a little sister for Seth this fall and Chrissie, like I did, will get the extreme benefit of enjoying babies without actually having them. It's GREAT!

Having Children

How, not easy, shall I say, is raising children? 'nuff said. Luckily, I've been blessed with children I never knew I would have when I decided to opt out of motherhood. I'm the eldest of 6 in an Irish family. All of my younger sisters and brothers except for Anna Marie, my Irish twin who is 13 months behind me, were like my own babies. Then Anna Marie had her own daughter, Christine Marie aka Chrissie, and our family's first grandchild, at 17. She named her after the two of us. She's Anna Marie and I'm Mary Christine. I'm also her godmother. She really was my baby, and my sister still refers to her as "ours". Three years ago I became a mother in earnest (that's when they actually live with you) to a three and a half year old grandson. This event cooincided with menopause and to say it was life changing is an understatement. Much of it was not even fun but I did fall in love with the kid. Here's the little boy, Andrue (on right) with my friend rdl's son Luke. Once again, like the sisters, raising the kids together :D

Some Thoughts on Christmas Eve

Blogging is so much fun yet I am barely able to get to it. My last post was 11 days ago and rdl has come by to look and nada. So....... Merry Christmas......Happy Chunakah....and all good wishes for the season of hope, isn't it supposed to be? This is the time of year where if you are reasonably happy and have suffered no horrible tragedy you need to count your blessings. So many people suffer so much. The rampant comsumerism is a turn off, although, I do contribute my share to the local economy and enjoy a low key gift giving policy. I think it is impossible to make such a big splash every Christmas. It's ridiculous to try. Nice little meaningful gifts are better. Here's a picture of my mother's Christmas tree which I decorated on Wednesday. My favorite part of Christmas is the lights.

A Million Photos

On my trip to Stonington, Maine, this past August, I poked my head inside a fisherman's shack in my endless quest for incredible painting subjects. Is this guy great or what? It looks like room size still life set up just for me :D This painting/photographing quest tends to result in thousands of photos (thank heaven we aren't printing every one anymore) of which some are of reasonably good quality. How to use them? A good enough reason to blog don'tcha think?

Bloggin' Like the Doodah Man

Oh Brother! I had a eloquent post going about the painting life and when I went to preview it it disappeared. Anyway........ the point was.............. Why do we go to Maine to paint when we live here on the South Shore? Working harbors abound and the scenery is classic. You can see pretty much everything New England/Cape Cod locally, several times over. Well, it's all about the trip. Painting's not the same if you have to go home and cook supper. Most of the time, when I go 'home', someone else is cooking and we're all having some wine. A couple of times a year I escape to Maine. Some small island or island chain connected by bridges. Downeast, midcoast, I love it all. This photo is of Cohasset harbor with Minot's light in the distance. It's about 15 miles from my house on a very scenic drive. http://marysheehanwinn.com

The Perfect Winter Day

A perfect winter storm happened this morning. Enough snow to look really pretty, no wind, over in a few short hours and then some sun. So, after painting class instead of running to Lowe's to exchange the wrong can of stain for the right one, I took a drive over to Cohasset to see a display of paintings in the local liquor store, in the mind of showing some of my own there. Great idea, wine stores and art together. It's in a funky old mansard roof building. There is a glass artist there too. Being the day that it was I took the 'abbreviated' Cohasset Tour of the village and the harbor. Here's a picture of the church on Cohasset Common. For those of you who remember the, "Witches of Eastwick", the opening scene with the leaves madly blowing around on a blustery autumn day, was filmed here. It was a BIG DEAL. Cher was sighted at local places. Need I say more? I mean CHER! :D

Winter

I love winter. I can afford to say that because I'm spending it in Naples, FL. But I miss the snow. Glad to see this early dusting and looking forward to a supposed N'oreaster Mon nite/TuesAM. Lotsa snow. Lotsa snow paintings.

The Flying Guy

I met this guy, Pete, who flies over Rexhame Beach with an engine propelled glider chute. Amazing! He says it helps him keep his sanity