TX Dragon Texas, Dragons [Video Games], Electronics & More

It was raining here earlier - at the moment the storm seems to have quieted down and perhaps moved on towards Houston. When it rains like this … I do not have to water the sod I had put in at the end of the patio to keep from having a giant mud puddle for the puppy to play in and make a mess of herself, me and the house whenever it rains. I was sitting here trying to answer emails and the phone rang - I expected it to be my daughter. It wasn’t. It was a Hillary Clinton supporter asking for contributions.

I’ve voted ever since I was old enough to vote. Until Hillary started running for President, I had NEVER donated a penny to Presidential campaigns though - deliberately, on purpose I had never donated to any of them.

I’ve now made several small donations to Hillary’s campaign to become our next President. I am going to vote for her (if she wins the primaries and I truly hope she does - she is the only one out there with the chutzpah and the experience to get us out of the mess our country is in right now thanks to Dumbya!) and I am talking to people about voting for her … and I am not normally a political activist type … but we need experienced leadership that is respected by the rest of the world right now - we are in a terrible disarray with the Mideast at the very least.

Architecture … what does that have to do with politics? Well … the White House is old and it is lovely when seen in magazines and on picture post cards. And Hillary was in Iowa recently … and I am from Iowa even though I now live in Texas and have for several years.

I was thinking about buildings and architecture when the phone rang and planning on doing some research - well … seeing that Hillary had been to Iowa and me thinking buildings … well … when I lived in Des Moines, I used to attend Mass at St Ambrose Cathedral lots of the time. The building is gorgeous! It is one of my favorite pieces of architecture in Des Moines. I used to love looking at the stained glass windows … and the statues … and the ceiling … the ceiling is fabulous - I could easily just sit there for hours contemplating the ceiling and feeling the …. peace and serenity … that permeates the entire building … the outside is quite interesting to me … I think it looks rather gothic on the outside - I do not know the name of the type of architecture .. I just know it is fascinating to look at it and think about how much work went into creating it. I am not particularly religious … but I do love the art and craftsmanship that went into old churches … and many are very peaceful and serene when they are not bustling with activity.

I discovered a man at ImageKind who paints lovely architecture - Brian Elwell - he lives in England somewhere … now we all know that England has gorgeous old churches and though I have never seen them in person, I can see them in his gorgeous paintings … my favorite is his “bath abbey window.6″ Some day I would like to travel to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to see the country … to see the churches … to see the coast … and hear the people talk. I know there are a lot of old buildings - I am not wanting to stay in a castle but I do want to see one up close - most are supposed to be haunted and I am not into ghosts in the middle of the night or the middle of the day for that matter.

I found some interesting links here - Site of the Ecclesiological Society - for those who love churches - {careful of the pop-up windows [argh!] AND even worse - it is in FRAMES that they do not know how to let people out of their frames!} but I managed to muddle through closing the popup windows and I know how to get out of their frames.

RIGHT CLICK ON THEIR LINKS AND OPEN A NEW WINDOW

Irish Round Towers - it says 52 of them … I didn’t know they had any let alone 52 … Ireland is one of the places I most want to see before I die .. it must be my Irish ancestry calling to me from across the sea!

Another interesting link was to Mani: {Greece} A Guide and History by John Chapman

If you like history - take a read and wander the pages - I doubt I’ll ever get to go to Greece … though one never really knows for sure … but it is lovely to see the pictures and read about Byzantines and assorted other historic words!

The Sistine Chapel … even I have heard of this one … I didn’t know that Botticelli had painted there also though - I only knew that Michelangelo had painted there.

What one learns when one goes from one thought to the next and follows them with a little bit of research.

Posted under Texas

I love dragons. I live in Texas.

This has been my professional web design, graphic design, web site photography portfolio web site for many years.

I’m not doing much professional web design these days and have not for a few years now … life changes, expands and moves forward … this web site is now doing the very same thing - it is changing, growing and expanding it’s horizons into todays technology / Web 2.0 Internet Style and my current lifestyle, interests and business projects. It is still a portfolio showcasing my various talents though mainly writing, designing and painting are the primary direction of my efforts now in 2007 when I am not working at my day job or sitting in traffic in the Houston area.

Barbara Burns - www.barbaraburns.com

As well as web site design, graphic design and photography, I also paint - oil and watercolors and computer painting - using Corel Painter IX - now also X and Nature Painter paint software. Some of my oil and watercolor paintings are for sale locally through my studio. I keep a very active personal journal blog there. I write / publish articles / stories on my personal web site.

Bobbi Mattern - www.homesthatmattern.com
- Katy Texas: Realtor 2005 - Loan Officer 2007

This is my daughter. I’m the registered owner of her websites only because I know about domains, web sites and web hosting. She has two domains - the other is: www.bobbimattern.com - both have the same information right now about her Realtor business.

She passed the Realtor test the very first time which is a major accomplishment - it is a very difficult test that many have to re-take several times to pass and get their Realtor license.

Yes I am very proud of her and all of her accomplishments. She is also the best friend I have in the world and the mother of my only grandchild - my grandson is the light of my world as well as the number one joy of it.

Professional Writer

I am a Technical Writer (software manuals and graphics) at my day job. I have two web design articles published at Wise Women - www.wise-women.org. It is a great community of web designers. I’m not a member any more only due to the fact that I am not really doing web design and I have so little time to do anything that I have to spend it doing what is current in my life. Fabulous people who are nice, fun and very intelligent. Great artists, designers and programmers!

Educating the Clueless: How To Be Gods, Goddesses & Gurus Worshipped in the Intranet Work Place
and
Learn Your Design Process

Both are somewhat out-dated now a few years later … yet both are still timely in the fact that it is very important to treat co-workers with respect and dignity when educating them about technology and knowing yourself and how you do things can only help you in any business project.

Art for Sale and Affiliate Marketing

As an artist and graphic designer, I used to sell t-shirts with my paintings, graphic designs and dragonflies at a POD (print on demand) website that I no longer sell them through - I now have my t-shirts with my tribal dragonflies and other art dragonfly designs at my Art Dragonflies by Barbara Burns shop. I have my paintings at my various ImageKind Galleries - the oil paintings, the watercolors, the dragonflies - they sell framed (you can buy them unframed if you want but it is very convenient to buy them already framed in my opinion - I’ve done framing - it is hard work) Fine Art Prints and Posters - they are all linked together so you can travel from the watercolor paintings to the sealife to the spirit to …. all of them very easily. You can see small thumbnail images below of several but not all … go see mine - I hope you like and enjoy enough to buy .. if not … get yourself some wall art from one of the other artists with galleries there - there is artwork for everyone … gothic … flowers … animals … people … fractals … buildings … and a vast array of much more to choose from and the papers used for your print are your choice as well as the framing - yes they do also have canvas for the prints!

I am a member of Share A Sale doing affiliate marketing - that means if you click on my link to my Imagekind Galleries above and then buy some of my Fine Art Prints or buy someone else’s Fine Art Prints - there is a lot of unique gorgeous art available there as well as prints of museum artworks available too - I receive a small commission for you buying from them. I’m making the lemonade and I’m also getting the word out to the neighbors! If you are a merchant and need people to get the word out to the neighbors - contact Share A Sale today to find out how they can help you increase traffic to your online business website full of inventory and you only pay when shoppers purchase your inventory.

My Technorati Profile

Posted under Texas