The DPAP Vineyard mural class ended Friday; we had a challenging, creative and fulfilling experience as teacher and students together.

We all appreciated the parishioners who quietly came in after morning mass to the ambulatory where we were set up each day.. Some came in every morning to see the mural as it developed; by the third day, as they could see more of the composition filled in, they were all excited (as we were too) to see how much we had gotten done the day before.

Circumventing inconveniences leads to invention; also the time pressure kept us focussed on the dual goals of learning and executing new techniques. This class, on location at St.Cornelius Catholic Church, provided actual jobsite experience, of accommodating the needs of the church activity; how to *get it done* despite distraction, and stay organized and on schedule.

Our last day Friday, was a shortened time frame, because there was a wedding scheduled for 4pm; so we needed to stop painting by 1pm to let the paint dry enough to roll the canvas to take over to the Parish Hall to unroll and let it rest overnight. Then pack all our gear and paints and leave the ambulatory pristine.

So the bunches of grapes need to be worked on further; we all agreed to meet in a few weeks at another location where we can do the final grapes colors and any other last details, as a team.

Thanks to my students, who brought their talent and focus and enthusiasm, they are all pros, and we taught each other.

Each person brings their own uniqueness and talent as a gift, every *hand* is different, and combining these, and taking advantage of each *hand* in a team effort was my challenge.

There also was the wonderful aspect of expansion and tranquility of working amongst a spiritual community of people; we were of various faiths, and were welcomed wholeheartedly; it added another dimension to our work to hear the children’s communion rehearsal nearby, with the sweet singing of the Sister in the church, and the celebration of mass nearby in the chapel.

Here’s a special link for 2 free books from the Creative Painting Book Club! Learn all there is about decorative painting, mural painting, landscape painting, and more.

This week, MPS Facilities came and removed the wood chips in the jungle gym area and replaced them with rubber chunks. They swept the blacktop and next weekend, they will come and resurface the blacktop. That means, we should start painting on May 7th!
Diamond Vogel has generously donated 50 gallons of paint and Valspar came through with another 40 gallons. Any extra supplies that we need will be taken care of by the MPS paint dept. The kids are very excited as am I! 

Here’s a special link for 2 free books from the Creative Painting Book Club! Learn all there is about decorative painting, mural painting, landscape painting, and more.

I signed up for a three month membership through e-Harmony. I was sent
initially several matches. Surprisingly of the ones i was slightly interested in none responded to requests for communication. Of the few that i did make initial contact with it was terribly obvious during our first date that we had no chemistry and our personalities were oil and water!

Here comes the good part. I let my subscription expire…I didn’t cancel it. I still get matches in my email even though my account is not active! Which of course makes me think..hmmm….of all the supposed matches they sent me I wonder just how many did not have an active account????

I made a very nasty phone call to e-Harmony who coughed up a free three month extension. I have gotten total squat for matches. Again the same
scenario…no communication, matches that are totally out of line. I am sure that when these three months expire then I will suddenly get a few matches worth looking at in the hopes that I will renew my membership.

I plan to call and ask “What percentage of your members report a successful long term relationship after being matched by your system?” and “What percentage of us report that your service is garbage and a waste of our money”??? I would also like to know if the commercial engagements and marriages are actors or actual matches through e-Harmony?

Regardless…it is sad and unfortunate that e-Harmony is commercializing on the fact of life that we all need and want someone special to love and cherish. What’s sad is I’ve had much better results with a free service, Date.com. Save your time/money, avoid e-Harmony.