Courage of People with Disabilities

I go to a fitness center that is provided by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. It is for former patients who need to continue working on strengthening and endurance as well as for anyone who is prescribed to go there for exercises therapy because of physical disabilities.

My problem is the result of the loss of strength and muscle use because of back surgery. There are many individuals who use this facility who have disabilities ranging from blindness to, amputees, to stroke victims, and others who suffer from the deterioration caused by illness such as MS and Parkinson's Disease.

I am so impressed with the way in which the people who use this facility are determined to work hard at helping themselves. Various individuals use the equipment, including weights, as a daily routine. I see them progress through the different kinds of equipment and they stick to a program prescribed for them in order to get stronger and gain better mobility. And, as time passes, many individuals really do improve. The progress is in very slow steps, but it is there and it is noticeable. I am inspired by the way everyone tries hard to achieve what may not appear to be a lot of change. It makes me try hard, too.

Mother’s Day Every year at the beginning of May I begin to worry about Mother’s Day. I am a mother and my daughters are mothers. My mother died a number of years ago, but this is the time of year when my thoughts turn to memories of her, too. I am sad that I can’t celebrate Mother’s Day honoring her and I think about my own experience being a mother. I have fond memories of taking my mom out to lunch and buying her a flower corsage each year. After I got married my husband and I took both mothers out to lunch each year. Everyone gave flowers to their mothers and the candy shops were always very busy at that time of year. I worry because I don’t want anyone to make a fuss about me on Mother’s Day, but if there isn’t any fuss, my feelings are hurt. My daughters, because they are mothers, want to be fussed about by their families, but they also have to pay attention to me and to their mothers-in-law. It just seems that it is just one big commercial event and it makes me feel like hiding somewhere. Yet, it isn’t that either. Mother’s Day has been celebrated as long as I have been around but I didn’t realize that it had such a long and extensive history. Now, because I have web sites that sell my art images on products, I have begun to think of Mother’s Day as an opportunity to sell cards. I’ve joined the commercialization band wagon, too. All of this has made me wonder about the origin of this holiday. I discovered that a celebration honoring mothers has been around since the time of ancient Greece. The holiday was celebrated in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. Mothering Sunday was celebrated as a religious holiday in Great Britain beginning in the 17th century on the fourth Sunday in Lent as an opportunity for working people to return to their homes in order to visit their mothers. If they could do so, they brought gifts of fruit and cakes. In the United States, Julia Ward Howe, who wrote “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace as a response to the sadness and grief suffered by mothers during the Civil War. Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870 “Julia Ward Howe...called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood with the following poem: Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, Whether your baptism be that of water or of tears Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage, For caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. "We women of one country Will be too tender of those of another country To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs." From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with Our own. It says, "Disarm, Disarm!" The sword of murder is not the balance of justice! Blood does not wipe out dishonor Nor violence indicate possession. As men have of ten forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war. Let women now leave all that may be left of home For a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means Whereby the great human family can live in peace, Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, But of God. In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask That a general congress of women without limit of nationality May be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient And at the earliest period consistent with its objects To promote the alliance of the different nationalities, The amicable settlement of international questions. The great and general interests of peace.“ Anna Reeves Jarvis organized a West Virginia woman’s group who began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday and called it Mother’s Friendship Day. After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day. In 1908, young Anna was responsible for a movement that honored her mother, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance.“ Andrew's Methodist Church is the site of the International Mother’s Day Shrine in that was dedicated 1962. According to www.mothersdaycentral.com/ “the United States congress approved Mother’s Day in 1914, they designated it for the second Sunday in May, and required that the President proclaim the Holiday every year shortly prior to its commencement.“ With this history as a background it now becomes clear where the impetus for this annual celebration comes from. It isn’t a creation of the candy and restaurant industry, although it is known to be one of the busiest restaurant days during the year. It isn’t necessary to cite statistics on this subject because it is evident that florists probably see their highest volume of sales at this time and the candy and gift industry is also operating at peak volume during May. I am certain that sales of Mother’s Day cards and gifts are also very brisk. All of these commercial activities centered around Mother’s Day help the economy and at the same time everyone gets an opportunity to express love and appreciation in honor of all mothers, everywhere. I think it is time to stop worrying about it and just enjoy it. First published on Qassia

Florida Flowers

I’ve just returned from a visit to Florida. This was a needed vacation from Chicago’s awful weather. I also needed to see some flowers, green plants and, best of all, the ocean. I managed to work on only one drawing while I was there but that is better than nothing.

My usual strategy is to photograph lots of green stuff, leaves and pods in order to take the images home with me for further study. I don’t draw from nature but I use nature to reflect upon the structure and many possible combinations available in nature. The impressionists went into the field to study nature directly. I have never taken my paints and paper out side to work on site, but I do use the photographs together and in combination to create the compositions that become my flower drawings and paintings.