Illustration Friday: Skyline

I rarely paint anymore, as my family frequently disrupts my work time, so I am forced to stick with drawing these days. However, I enjoyed painting, and thought I'd pull out an old one for this week's Illustration Friday. It is a rooftop view of part of Pittsburgh, during the winter. I painted from a photo I took on a typically bleak day in January. Thankfully, those days are behind me now as I pack for the desert, which is stark, but never bleak. At least I hope. * http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890

Home Improvement Hell

Somewhere along in April we decided the thing to do was to sell our house and move to the desert before the next hurricane takes it all away. It was a deceptively easy plan, just fix up the house and list it. How hard could that be? Since that time, with the exception of some sick leave, I have lived in Home Improvement Hell. What were we thinking? Just to get the house ready for the market required a serious look, and suddenly all those things I'd meant to do someday reared their slimey little heads and hollered, "We'll make your life miserable to the end!" They are doing a fine job of it, I must say. Of course, I expect to triumph in the end, which is nowhere in sight, or did I mention that? But I must say that the purge of excess stuff has been exceptionally gratifying, albeit a bit frightful at first. I can envision myself basking in the warmth of the Phoenix sun, sipping from a tall, fruity drink with a parasol in it, by a crystal blue pool. After I get it all unpacked again. http://www.cafepress.com/ottoblotto?pid=8246890