Relay For Life

April is one of THE most important months in my year. The other months are the months each of my sons were birthed. But APRIL is the month, that great challenges and changes seem to occur throughout my life.

It was the month , TEN years ago, that I finally made my life-long-dream move to beautiful Kaua'i. Achieving this move to the heart of the Pacific Ocean changed my location and fulfilled a dream. Moving here increased the nature of my health and my well being, as well became an incredible inspiration for my artwork.

April 1986 was the month and year I had first been diagnosed with cervical cancer. I was only 36 years old and in the midst of a cumbersome divorce from my love of my life!

So every April since my move to this welcoming island I RELAY !

RELAY here on Kaua'i is a celebration of life for 12 consecutive hours. We begin at 6pm and relaying all through the night, until 6am. There are great festivities with music, great local food , education , and support. The Luminaria ceremony is very moving and emotional.

If you click on the link RELAY for LIFE 2010 you may make a donation for my support or to purchase a Luminaria in memory or support for a loved one in your family who has been touched with the battle of cancer.

♥Mahalo nui loa for all the prayers, HOPE, donations and the fantastic support and love for Relay 2010 and for all the years past!

Finding My Past

Don't you just love to go through boxes and storage containers? I do when I finally motivate myself (I'd rather be painting) to tackle the task at hand of filtering through all the stuff I tend to collect. There is so much paper but heya that can be an entire other post, no?

The other day, during one of my seasonal sweeps, I discovered some long lost photos of lil' me. Here I am at the age of eighteen months. This is outside our apartment next to my Grandparents home.

In those days my fathers family occupied the entire block with a community garden centrally located. This was in Santa Clara, California. I returned last month to see if my grandparents home was still standing. Although their home and apartments where remodeled, they were still there. All the garden was gone though and the apartments in the back were gone. The house behind the vehicle in the above photo was still there.

I couldn't believe it when I discovered photos of my best gal pal in the world and my childhood friend, Jeanine. Oh I wished I had found these last month before my visit back home. We had just reunited during our High School Reunion last month. Our friendship spanning over 44 years.

jeanine and schar at 14 years old in 1964