"Hat"

Our thoughts affect our health.  This is so obvious, I wonder why anyone still studies it as if it's an open question.  Becky died -> I moped about her and the early deaths of my other childhood friends -> I'm sick on the couch watching daytime tv and wondering who the hell watches this stuff if they aren't moping on the couch with winter germs.

The warmest hat ever, a gift from Angel
and made from llama wool

I watched "The View" the morning after the Democratic presidential debate and the first thing one of the women said was that Hillary Clinton's jacket was "very fabulous!".  OMG is it any wonder US women are still fighting for equality?  Love Hillary or hate her, but please don't do it based on her wardrobe.

Winter hat lovingly knitted by Josie
with a matching scarf

Before I got sick, I had lunch with a friend.  I was telling her about another conversation I'd had recently and my friend told me to quit talking about it since my face was cherry red and she didn't want me dropping dead from a heart attack.  I told myself to calm down, think puppies and summer days, but I guess I didn't talk myself down enough since I got sick.  Cause = effect.  Obviously I didn't think enough about puppies.

Last week I pestered a another friend about singing.  He has an excellent voice but doesn't sing anymore.  I dusted his guitar last time I saw him, and I think it's just collected more dust since.  I got him to sing a little.  He didn't do it with his full ability or gusto, but he did sing.  I smiled.  After I hung up the phone I did some singing myself.  This is what people can do for each other.  It doesn't have to be remarkable -- or maybe it is remarkable that he could make me smile and sing when I felt so down.

As long as I stay in the place of being grateful for having had good people in my life, how selfish is it for me that I didn't get enough time with them?  I got as much as I needed.  I got enough time with them to take some of them for granted, and that might be more than some people ever get.  I count myself lucky and know that the current blizzard will pass and the flowers will bloom again.

Blue heron, blue jay, sea gull feathers

Hats?  Back in the olden days when I was a child, women wore hats.  I loved them.  Feathers bobbing in the slight breath of church prayers were a pleasant thing.  I keep my hats on an antler hat rack.  I found the antler in the woods.  West Virginians can't see why I think that's funny.  What else would you do with an antler?  They admire how many points my antler has, but lose interest when I admit I didn't kill and eat the deer.

See, no matter how much we might be sick and brood, there's always something else in our brains that we can pull us up.  Our luck, joy, love, success, and every other good thing is the result of choosing which we'd like most to think about.

The magazine art director gave me more illustrations to do.  I'm choosing to get off the couch, play with paint, and meet the deadline.  Life is good.  Okay, it will be significantly more good once I feel better, but I'm choosing to feel better too.  We are what we think.

This art is from a tin I did for 1800Flowers.  BTW, I've been watching TED Talks on youtube.  This one seems created for this week's prompt.