Rain's TADD, Nicole's FFO, and Annie's Friday Smiles join forces as I am back online

 

Before we begin, I want to take a moment of silence to honor and respect International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  It is an opportunity to remind the world of the horrors of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, especially since my own country is now being torn apart due to antisemitism and racism.  PLEASE take this moment to reflect and remember.

Rain's prompt for this week is scarf.  Since both of these have a face, I'm also joining Nicole and her Friday Face Off. 

For Rain's TADD, all I have to offer are these

mandarin oranges that I have peeled. These are really delicious and I will share how I used them soon.  Right now, all I have are the oranges. 

It's now time to join Friday Smiles, hosted by Annie (at A Stitch in Time). Let's visit Annie and the other wonderful ladies who also share their smiles each Friday.  Since I have very little to smile about this week, I will give you some funnies and this time I hope they are actually funny. These are all about photo bombing.

 

 

 

 

 

And the one I think is the funniest:

Thanks for visiting.  I will be by to join Rain, Nicole, and Annie, as well as all their participants, after I visit the rest of my T Tuesday group I didn't get a chance to visit this week.

Raini's Art and Dinner Date: Collage and Tuna

 

It's been a LONG time since I joined Rain for her art and dinner date. or as many call it, Rain's TADD.  However, the prompt this week is Collage, which is right up my alley and down my street!

  Maybe you thought I would choose Food Fodder as a collage of choice.

  Or this one called Tools. 

Nope.  I'm going back to my early collages that are SO different from the ones I make today.  I created the following collages and many more (I filled an entire book, in fact) between March and December, 2008.

  Locked:  Pigment ink,  scrapbook paper, paper scraps, embellishments, magazine image.  This collage also has a face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

  Designed by Architects: scrapbook paper, hand painted paper, magazine images, mica powder added to silverware handles.

    Cry Baby: images from various magazines, computer generated text, and matching background design.  Another face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

  The Universe: textured handmade, hand painted background paper, cardboard mats spray painted green and gold, trimmed in gold ink, words and central image from a science book.

  Word: textured background paper, hand painted and stamped (by me) frame, focal image was part of a swap exchange, words are from a magazine. A third face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

  Christmas Kitsch: adorable images fussy cut from a magazine, hearts cut from painted book pages, three tickets, shaving cream paper background. Really adorable faces for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

  The Ringmaster: fussy cut magazine image, fussy cut botanical book image, ticket. Yet another face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

  Behind the Eight Ball: Images taken from four different magazines.  Rowboat and eight ball were fussy cut.  Possibly my favorite collage of all.

And finally I give you

The Collage Artist's Tool Box:  Scrapbook paper turned into a collage box, various supplies one would need to create a collage.  Just add glue and scissors. And of course, there has to be a face in the Collage Artist's Tool Box that qualifies for Nicole's Friday Face Off.

Now I've brought back all those collages, it's time to fix a meal. 

Let's make a tuna salad sandwich that I will actually eat.

I normally buy albacore tuna, but all I could find at the store this week was solid white tuna.  I don't buy the tuna flakes in water because there is too much waste and the solid tuna tastes so much better.  Not as good as albacore, but good!

I like this oat nut whole grain bread, too.

Pure gold.  I paid $5.25/dozen (USD) for these eggs.  I have two cooking right now so they will be ready for the salad when I assemble it.

Because I cannot eat mayonnaise OR the imitation stuff, either, I add black olives and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing instead of pickles, celery, and onions, like other people add to theirs.  I didn't buy lettuce this week because it looked nasty, but adding a rib of lettuce would have made it a perfect tuna salad sandwich for me.

Thanks for joining Bleubeard and me.  We are thrilled you chose to spend time with us as we join Rain's TADD and Nicole's Friday Face-Off.

 

Rain' Thursday Art and Dinner Date: Looking for the perfect tuna salad recipe and Art Journal Journey

 

It's Wednesday and I am here to join Rain for her art and dinner date.   But first, I want to get a bit political.  Several people reminded me it's my blog and my opinions and I should be proud of my beliefs.  I'll begin with a message primarily for my readers in the states.

First, I have a message for all Wyoming Republicans.  Grow a backbone.  Liz Cheney has.  When you go to the polls on Tuesday, don't throw her under the bus, but make sure she wins her primary.  Some say she's no longer a conservative, but a member of "the fascist liberal left."  Cheney doesn't have a liberal bone in her body, or even in a fingernail or eyelash.  Check her voting record.  What Cheney DID do was, after being chosen by Nancy Pelosi to serve on the committee, put her country ahead of her political career by serving as co-chair of the January 6 Committee.  Now it's time for all you Republicans to do the same.

For those who don't know, House Republicans voted to remove Cheney from leadership in May, 2021.  Now she is fighting to keep her seat in the House.  She didn't ask for the job, but was called to serve, which is what any loyal God-fearing American would do.

Second, I will be by on Wednesday to visit those who link to Rain's TADD that day.  Then instead of visiting every day like I did two weeks ago, I will check the links again the following Monday and visit all those who link later in the week.

Today I'm also joining Chris at Pearshapedcrafting with her When We Were Young theme at Art Journal Journey. 

 

And because there are faces in the journal page, I am also joining Nicole's Friday Face-Off.  I will be by Friday for Nicole's party and again on Monday in case there are those who link later.

"Visiting Santa

 

was always the highlight of my Christmas holiday."

 

 

I started by spritzing 110 lb. cardstock with my handmade shimmering mists.  I cut the image from a monthly magazine, then laid it over the top of Christmas tartan.  I computer generated the sentiment and added it above and below the focal image.

  The definition of tuna salad is "tuna and mayo."  According to Wikipedia "Tuna salad starts with a blend of two main ingredients: tuna and mayonnaise." I can't eat mayo.  It makes me violently ill.  I have been substituting Ranch dressing for mayo, but I would love to hear any alternatives you foodies might have to offer.  Any and all vegetarian suggestions will be considered.  Above image found here.

Bleubeard and I are thrilled you chose to spend time with us today.  We hope to see you at Art Journal Journey with your own take on When We Were Young, Rain's TADD, and Nicole's Friday Face-Off.

 

Today is Thursday and time for Rain's Thursday Art Date, or TAD. I'm going to talk about a subject near and dear to me today: voting.  On Tuesday (June 7), seven states held primary elections.  They were California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.  Voting has never been more important than in this current climate.

Let’s begin with voting rights. In 1776 and before, only men who owned property, who were mainly white, Christian, and over 21, had the right to vote.   The new country decided voting rights, which were similar to those in England.  

These laws stipulated that only "free holding" men, or those who owned property and paid taxes, could vote.

Fast forward to 1856, where all white men, whether they owned property or not, were given the right to vote.   

Let’s forge ahead to 1870, and  the 15th amendment.  “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”  This was followed closely after the 13th amendment that abolished slavery and the 14th amendment that guaranteed citizenship to African Americans had been signed into law.  However, poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, along with threats against black men kept them away from the polls.  Poll taxes in federal elections were abolished in 1964 by the 24th Amendment. Then came the Voting Rights Act of 1965, where all African Americans, even black women were finally allowed to vote.

White or Caucasian women, on the other hand, have had the right to vote since 1918, when the 19th amendment was passed.  There were some stipulations, though.  If a white woman was over 30, she was allowed vote.  Then in 1928, all white women over the age of 21 were allowed to vote.

The 19th amendment prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex, but it did not address other kinds of discrimination that many American women faced: women who were excluded on the basis of race.  Native American, Asian American, Latinos, and African American women had to fight long after the 19th Amendment was ratified.

Native American and Asian-American women were often denied citizenship by the federal government, meaning they could not vote because they were not recognized as citizens.

In 1924, American-born Native American women gained citizenship. But until as late as 1962, individual states still prevented them from voting on contrived grounds, such as literacy tests, poll taxes, and claims that residence on a reservation meant one wasn’t also a resident of that state.  They also were faced with fees and "competency tests.”

Native-born Asian Americans already had U.S. citizenship in 1920, but first generation Asian Americans did not. Asian American immigrant women were therefore excluded from voting until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 allowed them to gain citizenship more than three decades after the 19th Amendment. Despite being barred from citizenship and from voting, they joined Native American women in their quest to vote.  

Latino women contributed to the success of the movement at both the state and federal levels.  Literacy tests remained an effective means of keeping some Hispanic and other women of color from voting long after the federal amendment was passed. It took a 1975 extension of the Voting Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination against women who rely heavily on languages other than English.  Now, non-English-speaking voters must be provided with instructions or assistance in registering and voting. Voters with limited English must be given access to translators and ballots in multiple languages.

In July, 1971, the 26th amendment lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
       
Some African-American women in the north were able, with help of the 19th Amendment, to realize the rewards of their activism, but throughout much of the country the same voter suppression tactics that kept black men from the polls kept black women from voting, too. Literacy tests, poll taxes, voter ID requirements, intimidation and threats, and acts of violence were all obstacles. The struggle continued until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In 1984, the Voting Rights Act was expanded to include voting accessibility for the elderly and the handicapped.

Sadly, it doesn’t stop there.  In 2013, a section of the Voting Rights Act was declared unconstitutional, leading to a massive wave of state laws establishing voter ID requirements, closed polling stations, restrictions on vote by mail, and limited voting hours.  These included  polling place closures, voter ID laws, limited early voting, and limits to pre-registration.  

That is the case in Kansas.  We were one of, or possibly the first state to require a valid voter ID card (driver's license, or state issued ID card).  I read that one state now requires anyone over the age of 65, whether they have voted for the past (for example) 40 years or not, now must register with their city or county election office in order to vote in the upcoming election.

After the 19th Amendment, the work to secure the vote for all women has continued. It will continue until every woman in America who can legally vote has the right to do so.

Here are 25 places where and when women were given the right to vote:
New Zealand, 1893; Finland, 1906; Denmark, 1915; Iceland, 1915; Canada, 1916 (white females only); Russia, 1917; Germany, 1918; United Kingdom, 1918; United State, 1920; Brazil, 1932; Turkey, 1934; France, 1944; Japan, 1945; India, 1947; Greece, 1952; China, 1953; Mexico, 1953; Honduras, 1955; Egypt, 1956; Canada: First Nation women won the right to vote in 1960; Australia: Indigenous Australians won the right to vote in 1962; The Bahamas, 1962; Switzerland, 1971; Iraq, 1980; Oman, 1994; and Saudi Arabia, 2015.

Thanks for listening to my diatribe.  I hope you vote in your primary and the general election this November.  If ever there was a reason to exert your voice by voting, it is now!!  That includes whatever country from which you are visiting today.

Now let's join Rain and her Thursday Art Date to see what others are sharing this week.

 

Friday in my world

 

This is a photo from last year when my friend Joseph brought his sons to Wichita for a visit.

  This might seem like a cop out to Friday Face Off, but my friend Joseph (on the left) is visiting Wichita without his sons this week.  I have very little time for much else and because I only see him while he is in Wichita (he lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles, CA), I am spending every second I can with him.  Friday Face Off, or FFO is hosted by Nicole aka DVArtist.

  An earlier view of my dill shows how much I love it.  I have at least four pots of dill.  Three are for me and one is for the swallowtails whose caterpillars munch through it like it is candy.  I realize I'm a couple days late, but I'm joining Kathy our host for Food Wednesday and Rain for Thursday Art Date.  

Dill is my all time favorite herb.  You name it, I've used it on or in.  Soups, eggs, omelets, baked or fried potatoes, fish, pasta, quinoa, and veggies of all types.  I've made dill butter and slathered it on breads, toast, and sandwiches.  It's incredibly easy to grow and easily reseeds itself, too.  I hope you will try dill on your next savory meal or dish.  

It's now time to join Friday Smiles which is hosted by Annie (at A Stitch in Time) and the lovely ladies who join her each Friday.  

We've had rain for four days straight and this is the first day the sun has finally come out late in the day (Thursday afternoon).

I'm not sure why my text under my photos won't left adjust all of a sudden, but, after trying three different ways to get around the problem, I'm saying sorry, but I don't have time to mess with it.

The pots are sitting on black plastic and pooled water.  So far, I am having decent luck.

A squirrel or a bunny got into my broccoli and it is now gone.

I'm quite pleased with my lavender which normally doesn't like wet soil.

Some bunny or squirrel dug up all my sunflowers.  Now I must plant more.

I love the reflections in the water, but they are really breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which are bad this year. 

 

Thanks for visiting and spending a bit of time with Bleubeard and me this Friday.  Now PLEASE visit Annie, Nicole, Kathy, and Rain and don't forget to start your weekend with a smile.