“If we stay where we are, where we’re stuck, where we’re comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you already know, you’re dying. You’re saying: Leave me alone; I don’t mind this little rathole. It’s…
Author: jackikellum
The Empty Lot of My Childhood – Mow It – Make A Path – Weed to Find the Way – Joy Comes in the Morning
On one scorching hot summer morning, I heard the ratcheting sound of lawn mowers firing up. I hoped the sound was coming from my yard. For days, feather-tufted spikes of Johnson Grass had been waving jubilantly in the wind. I rushed to the door to be sure that my ears were not deceiving me, and…
My Summer of Zinnias
Purple Zinnia – Jacki Kellum Watercolor Painting June 13, 2025 The summer of 2025 is my summer of painting zinnias. I love zinnias, and they are relatively easy to draw. I decided painting zinnias would be the least painful way for me to teach myself to paint again. Therefore, I am trying to paint zinnias…
Contour Drawing Helps Me to Better See What I Want to Paint – Frederick Franck on Zen Drawing
Zinnia Jacki Kellum Contour Drawing June 20, 2025 Contour Drawing is a type of meditation that strips away all the illusions of what I think are there and allows me to see what is actually there. I start every painting session with the act of contour drawing. I consider it a great fortune that I…
Goldfinches in My Garden – They Love Eating the Sunflower Seeds from the Live Plants
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)gun I have begun my third year of gardening in my current Mississippi garden, and I am thrilled the American Goldfinches have finally found me. What a difference two years of gardening have made. The first year I was here, I saw very few birds. But for years before that time, my…
A List of Jewelry Pliers and How to Use Each Tool
Newacalcox Set of Jewelry Pliers in Wooden Pallet Sold on Amazon Essential Pliers: Round Nose Pliers: These have tapered, rounded jaws, ideal for creating loops, curves, and spirals in wire, especially helpful for making jump rings, eye pins, and wire wrapping Google ai Chain Nose Pliers (also called Snipe Nose or Needle Nose): These have…
What Is a Cottage Garden? What Is a Chaos Garden? Reasons to Garden Chaotically
Jacki Kellum Garden “The cottage-style garden is all about whimsy, soft lines, and classic blooms—like pansies, daisies, snapdragons, peonies, foxgloves, and delphinium—that might have been found in grandma’s garden.” Better Homes and Gardens Is a cottage garden the same as an English garden? “While both English and cottage gardens are known to include architectural elements…
Thoughts on Bull Fighters, Bull, and Waving Red Flags – How & Why Trump Starts the Protests Against Him
Which Came First — The illegally conducted ICE Raids, the Protests, or the Military Occupation–and Why? Illustration from Hans Christian Anderson The Emperor’s New Clothes No Kings Day June 14, 2025 Trump wants to be a King–a dictator. Our constitution prohibits that. Therefore, to try to circumvent the constitution, Trump throws the nasty first punches…
See No Evil! Hear No Evil – Words about the People Who Elect to Disregard Cruelty — The Maga Politics of Cruelty
Words from the Diary of Anne Frank in 1943 History has repeated itself, but this time the horrific is not happening on foreign soils. The horrible is in the USA.. I’ll never understand why so very many people in this country elect not to see–to not care. But behind that, I have no feelings but…
Praying to End The Crippling Grip of Fear – Hopefully, We Shall Overcome Someday
I recently had the privilege of hearing the Acapello Choir of the University of Mississippi sing. As they opened with a riveting version of ‘We Shall Overcome,’ I wept, but I wept about several things. First, I wept about the fact that this choir of mixed-race youth were singing at an institution that not too…