In the bottom area is my beauty shop/theater/photo area/spa. I will be putting people in the spa area to loosen them up, then give them a hairdo, snap a pic of them, and of course, entertain them with theater while they get their hair done at the same time. A theatrical hair salon! And a restaurant on top! Of course, at the seaside for the environment. I have to relocate to the beachside. I was thinking of Cape Cod or Southern California. Dreams. I love dreams.

She could design the lighthouse as she is also an architect and has designed many of the houses she and my father built throughout the years of their marriage. Dad built probably 100 houses in my lifetime.

Getting back to the artists, I have an older brother that has done oil paintings when he was a student at the University of Oregon. I thought he did pretty good. I remember him sitting up in the attic room at the barn house in his first year of college reading, practicing his nude paintings, and still art. He gave me one of his paintings when I got married and I considered it an honor to have it. I hung it in the front room and I looked at it every day. I lost it one year.

I have asked him about his artistic qualities at a family get-together and he didn’t comment on it. He had just gotten married, so I guess his mind was on that at the time, but I did remind him of his past talents. He didn’t say anything. Sometimes people need to be reminded, you know. Then they think about it later and go back and explore and find themselves doing something they loved in the past. I’m happy for him and his new wife. She’s the absolute best thing that could have ever have happened to him. But he loves art also.

My older brother has always been an inspiration to me. He’s mysterious like dad always was to me. He never says much to me. He’s always pretty quiet. He never knows what to say to me, I guess. Maybe he’s challenging me to conversation. Maybe he’s waiting for me to come to him to start the conversation, knowing how hard it is for me to be the first one to say something. Maybe he knows about the old saying, “don’t open Pandora’s box.”

Yes, it’s probably the truth. I do talk a lot whenever a conversation gets going. I can’t help focusing on myself because that is all I know about, my own problems. I am not very good at asking questions. Therapy is getting me to open up and to find out about others, however. I am coming out of my private lagoon and noticing how important it is to not focus on myself so much and not to talk about my own things. Other people need to vent too.

I love both of my brothers. They’re both different, creative people and both have much to offer the world. I’m proud of my creative family.