I Don't Think Most Americans Could Pass The Test!

 

   I went with a close friend yesterday for his interview to become a United States citizen. His journey began when he came to America from China on a student visa. The schooling didn't work out and he eventually had many jobs. He married an American but that marriage soon dissolved. He later met and married his husband in 2012 and they moved to Palm Springs. 

    However, that story didn't end happily. His husband retired in June of 2023 and was shortly after diagnosed with lung cancer. After removing a lung in October it was discovered it had spread to his liver and he passed away in January 2024. He was with my partner and I going to help him and his husband, away for just a few minutes. When we returned he had died.

    This year we were both surprised when he received a letter from The Naturalization Dept. shortly after Trump became president, asking him if he wanted to become a citizen. Since he knew he would never return to China to live again and was a very successful salesman at a store in the Cabazon Outlets, I urged him to apply. I helped him through the entire process and as a citizen myself, realized just what the process was like. Despite having a German father, I was born in Ohio, a citizen by place of birth.

    We filled the application online. Be prepared to spend a few hours. Question after question, something being born here you never see or hear about. We sent in his application form and a credit card payment of $725.00 then sat back and waited for an appointment date.

    Next, we went to Amazon to find the BEST book explaining how to become a citizen that included the background and the questions with answers you would likely be asked about our history and current political affairs.

    When he got the book and began studying, I quickly realized a great many Americans probably couldn't answer these questions. How do I know that? All you have to do is watch questions people are asked on the street and the fact their answers are mostly incorrect. A sizable number of Americans actually don't know where Canada or Mexico are. I listen to friends spout incorrect statements and have learned to never correct them because these are the truths they believe despite what the truth is. Listen to RFK, Jr. and you'll know exactly what I mean.

    We went over the 10 test pages of 100 questions over and over again. I must admit, despite all I've read and know about the U.S. government and our history I missed a few questions. In effect we both learned something about the United States. Like, who wrote the Constitution and in what year? Do you know? I wasn't sure though I knew Madison played a role in it and wrote many of the Federalist Papers using a pseudonym. It was written in 1787 by later president James Madison.

    Saturday, June 14th we got up early and headed out finally leaving around 5:30 am for his 7:15 am appointment (on a Saturday no less). Going through the book one last time I came across clothing instructions. No shorts that he was wearing. After all this IS Palm Springs and it was 109º yesterday so everyone wears shorts! We turned around so he could change and once headed west began asking questions one last time. As he still stumbled I gave him pointers on how to remember the answers. 

    We arrived early, he studied his notes and we finally, after an TSA like check at the door went to the waiting room. Other than officials, I was the only white person there. There were Chinese, East Indians, Latins and a smattering of other groups I couldn't identify. They were all there, on an early Saturday morning wanting and willing to swear allegiance to the United States. It made me feel proud, that despite all the current turmoil. the now frequent ICE raids in California, they were willing to risk all to stay here. Every American citizen needs to experience this and realize they are not to be feared but embraced to our shared destiny.

    He was called about 30 minutes late as it was a busy day already. I was reading IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE by Sinclair Lewis, realizing it COULD happen here and I was living it, when there was a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and there was my friend, back 20 minutes later. I asked, "Do we need to come back?" He smiled and gave me a paper that in a middle box, that was checked, said he was a United States Citizen. We hugged and were told to check in downstairs. They took his paper, giving him another with a small American flag and told to sit down. Everyone else held a paper and flag too.

   

Finally a man came up front and introduced himself, maybe from West African (I was in Peace Corps Liberia), who explained the ceremony and asked them to rise and pledge their allegiance to the United States. He then explained they were getting an official document that said they were now citizens. Sign with blue or black ink and NEVER laminate the sheet or lose it. It would cost them dearly in time and money to get a new one.

    We were done. Everyone lined up to take photos next to an American flag holding up their citizenship certificates.  It was a heartfelt moment for all. We hugged and went to the car. 

    On the way home he pointed out that June 14th, today, was Trump's 79th birthday. I noted what an irony. Today a Chinese citizen, a group he despises, became a citizen of color (along with many others) on his birthday! To me, in this political climate I call them heroes!!!

    The United States has a poor record on how it's treated its immigrants. We need to consider this. How many of our greatest or innovative naturalized citizens have shaped us and made us at some point leaders in the world?

    There is of course Elon Musk. Erratic as he is, he has changed our use of solar energy and use of  EV cars such as we will never go back. Steve Jobs, though adopted, had a Syrian father. Then there's Tesla (Serbia), Einstein (Germany), Sergey Brin (Russia) of Google, Andrew Grove ( Hungary) Intel, von Braun (Germany) NASA, Andrew Carnegie (Scotland) US Steel, Fei-Fei Li (China) AI, Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant (England), Yo-Yo Ma (Chinese born in France), Mark Rothko (Latvia) painter, and the list goes on and on. Rather than deporting people (granted with a very few exceptions), we should be welcoming people with open arms. When you say we need to make America "Great" again, oftentimes it was immigrants that made that happen! Americans should NEVER forget that. Remember, unless you are a native American who migrated here 18,000 years ago, you and your family came from somewhere else!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

Why Is Science Fiction So, Well, Violent?

I love to read. I was late to the party but have since caught up. You see by the third grade, despite good grades, my mother discovered I couldn't read. Oregon public schools in the 1950's taught us to read by sight! Despite being a visual learner letters arranged in patterns taught me nothing. 

So my parents bought phonics cards and night after night in what seemed like forever I learned the sound of each letter and pairs such as th, sh, wh and such. They then took me to the library and I can vividly remember spending the summer between third and fourth grades devouring every book I could get. Years later I did the same thing with my students as a Peace Corps teacher in Liberia. It pleases me that AFTER all these years LA Public schools are finally changing to phonics! Reading scores will jump at long last.

Because I loved comics, Superman, Batman and quite a few sci-fi comics I graduated to Bradbury, Heinlein, Clark, Asimov's Foundation series that stretched to 12 or so books and many, many more.

One book was quite upsetting: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES. I could never get past the chapter where humans land on Mars, are greeted by Martians, wined and dined then killed in their sleep. I abhor violence and that upset me greatly. I finally, on my third try, just skipped that chapter and read on. Bradbury remains one of my favorites today.

However, that didn't stop me from seeing THE BLOB or THE FLY, MONSTER FROM THE BLACK LAGOON even PSYCHO that I couldn't watch again for 60 years. It seemed at least some of those books offered possibilities for a better future even if the movies couldn't.

I've seen 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY at least 40 times, even the anniversary edition a few years ago. As everyone agrees, Kubrick changed the face of sci-fi forever. No more Buck
Rogers with wispy smoke coming out of his rocket and a cheesy control deck. Every time I hear The Beautiful Blue Danube I conjure up the Pan Am shuttle rotating with the space station as it docks and/or the moon rocket landing on the moon! There was ultimately hope and a warning of the AI we are grappling with today. Remember the HAL 9000? "Open the pod bay doors HAL" as it kills all the slumbering crew.

Before we finally launched a satellite after Russia's Sputnik, we would stay up all night waiting for NASA's Vanguard rocket to launch only to see it blow up time and again. Finally a military Redstone rocket got us into space. And the race was on!

Those were both tense yet heady years.

HAL 9000

STAR WARS, Episode 4, first of a nine part series came out in September 1977. We went to see it in Westwood near UCLA when that was the place to go. Clearly it built on Kubrick's 2001 creating a world as real as ours. However, it was replaced by the drama and strife we see on earth magnified by a thousand different planets and species. The barroom scene in many ways says it all. And this strife was carried on in just about every sci-fi series from then on.

I picked up one of the myriad STAR TREK series at the Palm Springs Library, a series  that seems never-ending. STAR TREK: DISCOVERY started almost out the gate with that old adversary, the Klingons attacking a Star Fleet starship of the Federation. And that's when I asked myself the question, will space

STAR WARS Bar scene

exploration always be violent? Should we meet an alien and will they be our enemy? In Asimov's FOUNDATIONS END humans meet Daniel, the only surviving robot from our era and ask, "Is this the end of space? He answers yes. He has protected the human race the best he could asking, "Didn't you ever wonder why you never saw an alien race? We picked the dimension that was safest for you." They had nothing to say.

A few months ago I saw MICKEY 17, a sci-fi creation of the Korean director who created and directed, the grim movie PARASITE. Since the killer was holed up in the basement of the man he's murdered home, everyone was expecting a sequel. It wasn't.

MICKEY 17 was a name for an "expendable," a man who felt he was of little worth and agreed to have his DNA copied as well as his memories and was given jobs everyone knew would kill him. We meet Mickey in his 17th iteration as he's about to freeze to death in a crevice on a planet his and many others have gone to with a Jim Jones like leader who couldn't get his way on earth. As they wish him well and will see him as Mickey 18 he is resigned to his death. However, he didn't die. 

Creatures on this barren planet no one knew about save him by dragging him to the surface. He makes it back to the base and meets Mickey 18, something that is forbidden to happen. There are issues and violence leading to the leader and his McBethian wife dying and they then face a standoff of the native creatures who arrive to the base by the thousands. The two Mickey's go out to face them and in a twist I haven't seen, in like forever, they agree to live side by side and the colony can move on. Wouldn't that have been nice here in 1620?

Boon Joon Ho took an almost warn out genre giving us hope that "contact" doesn't necessarily have to be violent. Jodie Foster's CONTACT spread a similar message as aliens asked for help that would be repaid.

One of the sweetest sci-fi films I seen in a long time is JULES starring Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris. Milton (Kingsley) has an alien space craft crash in his back yard. Soon an alien emerges and he takes him in and feeds him. For some reason the alien keeps drawing stick figure cats. The three try to help and keep him from the government that wants alien and machine. Geared for seniors it's a wonderful family movie and again no real violence with a touching, NON-violent ending. 

Do we really know what would happen? It would be nice to consider what the future could bring us benficially without the violence we see around us as each and every day. We hardly need our entertainment making it worse. And yet it does. 

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

OWN or GIFT an original work of art this year!

Picking Up The Pieces

    I've been making my own Christmas cards since 1962, the year my father died and I was almost 17. To this day I never understood the reason why. My father died the day before my sister's 8th birthday and I was staying with an aunt and uncle when he passed. We were all still stunned as it ended up being a tramatic year. Death, the Cuban Missle Crisis, Portland completely without power on Columbus day at the same time. I think being high school yearbook editor helped me through those traumatic days.

The Blanks

    By Christmas our small family had no spirit left. So paper and paints in hand I created those first cards, a tradition I maintain today, 62 years later. 

     Coming up with an image each year is never easy. In Africa, during my Peace Corps years I hand made 30 "Wishing You A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" in the letters of JOY. They took forever. 

Creative work on Santa's
beard made me
reconsider the possibilities

    The first year my son was born I took a beautiful photo of him sleeping, something he rarely did. Lots of comments on that. When first my son and then son and daughter were able, we would struggle to get a printable, decent card (I don't know what it was but bring out a camera and they would begin to fight) I had them printing postcards of the "best" Christmas shot. I would expose the paper, my son would develop the print, my daughter would fix then put into the water bath. We started her a bit after age 1. 

     Her knowledge served her well when she was an exchange student in High school. Her Swiss class traveled to France where the teachers gave them cameras and for some reason use of a darkroom. No one knew what to do so she quickly organized them, put the film on reels to develop, lined them up to develop the prints she made. She surprised everyone, and I think even herself. You just never know what your kids will remember!

   Recently I was looking at all the after Christmas bargains I had bought at Michael's and JoAnn's that are years old. They were thin wooden ornaments some blank, others with a printed image to paint. I suddenly realized I could paint them and could attach them to a card, taken off and then hung on a tree. AND, not just hung this year but depending, maybe for many years a memory of dad, father, uncle, cousin, friend. 

Cute but not memorable.

    

    So I got to work, first on the one sided designs but soon realized when I got to the 5 Santa's, they would be nothing remarkable. So fresh off a frenzy of 3D Zentangles bee and birdhouses (in 3D form I call them Doodling) I experimented with Santa's hat and beard. I liked the look then played with snowflakes, Angel's and stockings. Before I knew it (well after two full day sessions that exhausted me) I had 20+ ornaments, each one building on the lessons learned from the one before.

Great diversity of even same style blanks.

    It was not easy after straying from the printed design. These are cute but not memorable no matter how hard I tried. There comes a time I learned that you truly must think beyond the box or in this case the ornament. 

Same blank, different designs!

    Sitting on my cluttered 

workbench was the Mason Beehive. Its sides were decorated with bees and Zentangle flowers and designs. Eyeing the blank forms that clearly showed by their shape what they were made me feel it was an open invitation to experiment! So what was i to do? I doodled. As you can see, like them or not, they ARE memorable. 

    What especially makes the blank shapes so wonderful is the same shape can be decorated in unlimited ways. Things can be added, wooden hearts, jewels, shiny hearts and patterns that make them so different from each other. You can even modify printed designs (the two snowflakes above.) One blue, one yellow where each arm has a different design.

    To the above here you see a stocking blank and two variations, one with a thin painted wooden heart and another with a Christmas tree with jeweled ornaments...both sides. I will drill them for hanging thread so they (hopefully) decorate a tree for many years.

    We are creatures of habit and sometimes need to think out of the box. What items have you had for years and never used? Dig them out and see how else you could use them  It's been great fun and got the creative juices flowing again!!!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

    

What JoAnn's Might Have Been: A Lesson For Craft Stores

Many years ago after my son had finished the 4th grade where he learned California history, we decided to take our summer vacation touring California and Nevada following many trails of the 1849 Gold Rush before and after. We went to Lake Tahoe, saw where they filmed the popular TV show Bonanza, Sacramento and even Sutter's Mill where the first gold was found. Nothing beat our experiences with the kids than climbing Donner Pass into Yosemite on a road that had just reopened with huge cliffs of snow still hovering over the highway. 

When my wife, also a teacher, casually mentioned we were on Donner Pass my son's eyes got as big as saucers and he was glued to the window. Luridly describing the Donner Party disaster to his little sister it took all our strength not to laugh out loud. "You expecting to see eaten bodies," we asked?

So many patterns and fabrics and
so little time!

This trip was also my first time visiting a JoAnn's store somewhere in one of many little towns we visited in the Sierra Nevadas. My wife, a quilter, made us stop. She was sure in small towns like this sewing and crafts  were popular and filled to the brim with goodies.

Was she right. The store was bright yet cheerful, squeaky clean with full shelves, lots of customers and many events going on. Sewing classes, a group of knitters and a bulletin board covered with regular and upcoming classes open to all. This was before I became a crafter but my wife spent several hundred on notions and fabric, items she had not seen before. To me then and even more today AS A CRAFTER, I've always thought this was what JoAnn's or any hobby store should be.

Anyone can be an artist! Grandma Moses didn't
start until she was 78 and painted until 
over 100! Never too late to Start!

A craft store should be a destination where you learn how to do things, learn new things and techniques
that open up your horizon's. If anyone looks at my ETSY Store you will find I don't offer just one style but many. Look at your surroundings and be inspired. However, the question remains, where do you get them?

It seems the national chain craft stores have gone from spending money to make money to saving money and going bankrupt.

Any JoAnn's shopper has watched the stores painful demise. The store in Palm Desert, CA looked blasted after Christmas this year. Many shelves were empty or half full with piles of unopened boxes just sitting there. There appeared to be, at best, 3 people working the entire store. The line was painfully long.

Crafting can lead to unique gifts.

If you haven't, and this applies to any person at any age you should consider a hobby. Even if your an outdoors hobbiest there are times even you don't want to face the elements. Indoor hobbies are a wonderful way to relax and relieve stress. Many an artist, knitter, seamstress has said while they're immersed in their project they are in another world. And after a session feel renewed and ready to tackle whatever they escaped from. 

When a project is finished they feel great satisfaction finishing it. There is something tangible that they completed. If you're new to this start simple! Set yourself up for success NOT failure. But to be honest I have always learned more from my failures. Don't be defeated, do it again and learn from your mistakes!!!

This could be the start of something great!

An even greater benefit, especially for seniors is that crafting promotes mental agility. Use it or lose it! Study after study proves being creative AND active keeps our minds sharp and bodies agile. For kids it can be the start of a lifelong hobby.

When we were kids school and parents encouraged us to express ourselves. Most of us lost this spontaneity on the road to growing up. If you're a senior you are freed from a routine and can create another time to express yourself. Try it you may well like it!

I didn't really get my start until I painted my first birdhouse in my early 60's. I started getting serious health problems around 55 any by 62 I was told to retire. I also signed up for oil painting classes so was "crafting" and oil painting at the same time. At 79 I am still going strong and trying new

Trying something new. Here's
a Zentangle beehive.

things. Here I've tried taking Zentangle patterns that are 2D and putting them on a 3D surface. I think this wood and bamboo beehive was pretty successful. Make something old new again.

We all will mourn the loss of JoAnn's but as many other businesses have learned in order to stay viable you have to change with the times. Not only do you find ways to get customers you also need to find ways to KEEP customers. As any successful restaurant owner will tell you, cheapen the food or service and customers just silently disappear. JoAnn's by the end had pretty much fit the bill.

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

THE CROWN: Designing A Monarchy

At 79 I grew up through the entirety of Queen Elizabeth II's reign.  I can remember seeing her coronation on News Of The World when we went to the movies and watching it on TV.  We had one of the first TV's in our neighborhood and all the kids came over on Saturday mornings to watch, The Lone Ranger, Lassie, Sky King, Hoppalong Cassidy, Zorro and the Cisco Kid. The Cornation was on the evening news for days.

My parents loved movies and we went frequently. In those days there was always a double feature, news reels AND a cartoon! The Saturday matinee was a nickel.

Despite my mother's family, my grandfather being a direct descendent of the White family on the Mayflower, I never had much interest in British history. I rooted for Robin Hood and during history classes always disliked Britain and agreed America needed to break away from British rule. As an adult I became more aware of Britain's ruling of her empire and liked it even less.

I missed the first broadcasts of THE CROWN on Netflix. Recently friends talked about it but since I no longer have Netflix I went to our library. The Palm Springs Library has 1,000's of DVD's, just about every BBC series that I have watched and love. So, through them I have learned much about English thought and customs.There I found Season 1 of THE CROWN.

Prepared to dislike it I was captivated by the first show. I was not prepared to see first the glamor but the darker undertones beneath the glamor. I especially felt it was out of place first in the 20th Century let alone the 21st! It was BRIDGERTON in the 2000's. The world had moved on, the monarchy hasn't.

DOWNTON ABBEY did a wonderful job showing how life changed for the great family's after WW I. The monarchy however, did not. Did a person need maid's to wake you, bring you tea, open curtains, dress you? And not just one person but 100's? I was amazed at how many people were in the "royal" family and what their upkeep must have cost Britain.

Just a smattering of the Royal family.

Starting with King George VI with frequent appearances of his brother, Edward VIII who abdicated because a king could not marry a divorced women in the Anglican church, as a king or queen are the supreme leader's of said church, you soon understood how marriages were "designed" to optimize the crowns power even though kings or queens have no power today other than by persuasion. It's an archaic holdover from the past that, to me, has no place in today's world.

I was surprised to learn the queen raced horses for money and sired animals for profits that were her's. The most shocking lesson was to find Czar Nickolas II asked the King George V, in 1917, to save them from the Russian revolution by sending them a ship. Nickolas was the British kings first cousin and his wife was Queen Victoria's granddaughter as Kaiser Wilhelm was Victoria's grandson. The request was denied by Queen Mary and the entire family was soon assassinated.

For those that didn't know it Britain entered WW I as the House of Saxe-Coburg-Getha, the German House of Hanover. King George V changed the name to The House of Windsor to deflect hatred of Germans and the monarchy during the war.

We all know the saga of Prince, now King Charles III, and his affair with Camilla. What many may not know is that when Charles was dating Diana but remained close to Camilla a family pow wow made the decision for Charles to marry Diana and Camilla to marry Parker-Bowles. The Spencers ranked higher than the Shand's. Charles had no say in the matter and you watch as their marriages deteriorates. Part of the problem was Charles resented Diana's popularity over him. This family decision doomed both marriages.

I was also surprised to learn that William's marriage was in a sense arranged by Katherine's mother Carole Middleton. They are in fact distantly related. Kate is William's 15th cousin, once removed. This show paints a picture of duty, with disfunction that mirrors the lives of their subject's. The Queen's "stiff upper lip" in all crises and an unwillingness to bend. Prince Philip himself even more.

One of the more disturbing issues with the show was having lived through and seen these people repeatedly all these years. Most of the characters rarely looked like who they really were. The third actress portraying the Queen came close but not so much the other's. 

Fact checking many of the key moments the creators took some license. private conversations are mostly invented  or quoted from letters and diaries. Romantic and sexual affairs were exaggerated, motivations exaggerated for dramatic effect with politics of mixed accuracy. After all this is dramatized versions of real events NOT a documentary.

The photography and detail to locations is splendid, costumes beautiful, residences accurate. It is both a show with a softer more dramatic history lesson whose failures we can all learn from.

Thank you for reading my blog! Please be sure to visit on a regular basis or contact me at KrugsStudio@gmail.com. New blogs are added all the time. In conjunction  with my store I feel that “design” is an important part of our lives. Everything we use or live by was designed by someone. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates design about my blog.

Please be sure to visit my store, KrugsStudio.etsy.com on a regular basis. New birdhouses, craft items, photography and canvas paintings are added all the time. Please tell your friends, artists or anyone who appreciates local handcrafted items about my store.

Getting Inspiration From Your Surroundings

     I've gone through a rather stagnant period lately. A series of medical set-backs has made me anything but creative. At the same time though,  I noticed I became more and more irritable and it just wasn't being ill either. The pity party began when my partner left in early January, then one body system after another failed and my time, a quarter of each day, I realized, was spent on the phone with medical issues (that's a topic for another day).

     The studio, my second bedroom, became filled with stuff as I brought in more new birdhouses from my storeroom. We looked at each other and I closed the door. The desert air sucked water from my brush basins and more dust accumulated.

KLM Delft Freebie collection

     One day my daughter sent me a photo of someone's KLM's Dutch delft collection. Once upon a time flying was MUCH classier than today. No brawls, drunks slept and meals were served with china and silverware. Today that sounds like a fantasy in huge crowded flights to anywhere. You were often given kitschy mementos of your flight.

     When I left for Peace Corps Liberia in 1967 our PanAm flight from NYC to Amsterdam had only about 20 of us on a Boeing 707. The stewardesses served us first class food with bottles of champayne. My last flight to China the only seats open were in the restroom and not often at that!

     I looked at that photo on my phone as I walked into the studio. Sitting there were one, three and four hole birdhouses. And you know what? I could see how easily you could recreate Delft and Amsterdam houses on an actual birdhouse. It was time consuming and the single birdhouse became a running disaster as all the ink ran when I tried to set the ink with too much spray. I cried but rather than throwing it away put it down and left the room for another day.

    The next day, I stared at the running mess and wondered if I could save it. Carefully using blue and white Sharpie pens I was able to recreate the birdhouse so that it mirrored many small Delft pieces I had seen at tourist traps in Amsterdam over the years.

It started with a shirt!

     I tried a four-holed Delft version but looking at pictures of actual street scenes I realized the many canal houses were far more interesting and colorful. This led to three-hole and four holed versions.

     They were fun but very time consuming. More importantly, I noticed my mood was better and things I'd put off for months were getting done.

      My journey wasn't over however. Palm Springs is probably the Mid-Century Architectural capital of the world. The Annual Mid-Century Modern week, held here every year brings thousands from around the world. Besides many famous movie stars from the past coming here, Palm Springs was the place to go from the 1930's through the 60's. $10,000 to say $20,000 winter cabins built then sell for millions today and are everywhere  A fantastic gas station has become a tourist info attraction and many hotels keep themselves looking as new as when they were built.

     Going to a party recently I wore a 50's themed shirt everyone commented on. Looking through my unfinished birdhouses I discovered one that looked mid-century enough and another adventure began.

     I am also finally watching MAD MEN and the era it portrays was a great time for breaking old rules and creating new ones. Rather than bland designs and bland color, LOTS of color was used everywhere. What fun!

     I began to realize how important the things you see around you influence you whether it's something to paint, an event you write about if you're observant enough, how music is inspired by the sounds of nature.

     But another adventure awaited me as again at a party I saw a paper napkin that intrigued me. Years ago, I became intrigued with a new kind of art called Zentangle that was created with intricate lines using black ink pens of various thicknesses. These designs were fantastic. It seemed new patterns and designs were being created every day. At first it was 2D art and the occasional coaster and pin was created. I was involved with birdhouses and never really got into it much.

A paper 2D napkin.

    However, the napkin this time made me wonder, could you use it 3D? I couldn't see a reason why not. Since I paint all sides of my birdhouse, all sides plus tops and bottoms, carrying a pattern could be a real challenge.

     The challenge was first tested on a small mini $1.00 birdhouse. I painted the sides teal, the roof and base black and used a black Sharpie of several thicknesses to fill the design on the sides. The design was then picked up on the roof with white ink. I was surprised at how attractive it was. Surely there weren't any other products

First attempt!

like this. I was amazed. As small as it was it took a great deal of time. You couldn't watch TV for sure so I went through about half of an audio book instead. It's a great way to catch up on your reading, surely!

     I did another in rust and black then tried a small box. When I felt I had learned to deal with paint and pens, I painted a much larger birdhouse white, leaving the roof black and sketched the pattern with pencil on the white sides and white pencil for the roof. I added a perch and painted it red for contrast.

     Once the design is on all sides, including top, botton and back the inking is done. I am learning the wood needs to be sanded to a paper like surface. Shading is harder but that's a challenge I will address. Setting the ink before a varnish is extremely

The first large completed piece!

important before you can varnish the piece. Several light coats one side at a time are crucial or all your work and time risks a big heartbreaking run destroying all your time and effort. Finished correctly though brings great satisfaction!

     My recommendation for those starting a project like this is to start small and simple. Learn from mistakes before going large. The reward is a beautiful and unique object!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

WHEN Did Car Cars Get So Boring?

For awhile now, I've noticed that cars today in general are boring, inside AND out. I mean look inside a Tesla EV and there is little more to look at than a Model T. You pick an interior of stark white or black that are quite firm. Sure, I'll be told that the center mounted tablet controls the car. It can do all kinds of wiz bang things so appearances aren't everything. I prefer buttons not numerous screens to make it move.

BYD Seal Sedan, one of their best sellers

Clearly after riding in about 12 Chinese EV's last year in China, YOU can have it both ways ... a center
mounted tablet that is truly amazing and information shown in front of you as cars have done for a 100 years. Their insides are roomier, quieter with every accessory you would ever need front and back. The Tesla we rode it truly felt like a Model T in comparison. Only Buick makes a nice EV station wagon they don't sell here. There's a reason we ban Chinese EV's, they would wipe out the American car industry!

1934 Auburn

I've gone to several McCormick Auctions held in Palm Springs in February and November since moving here. A three day event, people bring their old and recent cars to be auctioned. Fridays are free to the public while Saturday and Sunday are reserved for auctioning. There's something for everyone, believe me. I relive growing up in the 50's amidst cars, sedans, convertibles grandma drove that were  bigger than my 2003 GMC extended cab pickup. I stand in awe looking at cars family and friends drove while looking at British and Italian cars sold at the same time. They'd fit in the bed of the truck.

The bigger surprise is color, inside and out! Yellow, turquoise, pink and blue and white Buicks, Chevy's, Fords, Mercury's and even Cadillacs in pink! Or pink, white and black Dodge Coronets. Who can ever forget Vermillion and white Oldsmobile's with matching interiors?

1959 Ford Thunderbird

Today all you see are white, silver, battleship grey ( I guess that's the compromise between black and white) and black. In fact the most popular car colors of 2024 were: 1. White; 2. Black, 3. Grey, 4. Silver with equally boring black, grey or beige interiors.

There are arguments that Gray, Silver and Tan/Beige hide dust and dirt. I can agree with that. I could go a long time before needing to wash my tan 1971 BMW 1600. It came with a saddle interior that contrasted nicely. But when my forest green pickup with a dead grey flesh color fabric was stolen shortly after moving to Palm Springs I bought a Soul Red Mazda CX-5 that glitters in the sun. However, that doesn't seem to deter seniors from trying to hit me. It has a black interior that hid the black hair of my Lab when she was alive. I really wanted the dove gray, the only other option but I had to be reasonable.

Corvette Interior. Maybe not as safe but
what color and function!

Ironically the colors that show dirt the most are black, charcoal gray dark blue, burgundy, dark green and WHITE. Since this is the desert white is by far the favorite color. But, gray is catching up with a plethora of grays that range from pleasant to ugly. If I didn't love Mazda's reds, tans would be best here. Windy just about all the time, tan hides the ever present dust.

From the Mid-Century capital of the world however, these colors are a cop out. I'm finally in the 7th season of MAD MEN and am constantly amazed at how colorful we once were. They depict Palm Springs, Los Angeles and NYC from the late 50's to mid 70's and it
was certainly a lot more colorful than it is now. So, the question remains, "when did we become so boring about color?"

A plethoraof white, black and grey

Anyone familiar with my ETSY store knows I am not shy about color!!!

 Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed!    

Be sure to visit my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

Getting Old Is Not For Sissies: But You'll Get OLD Faster With HealthNet!

 If there was ever a designed road to hell, look no farther than dealing with Wellcare by HealthNet and probably any other healthcare insurers.

Today, after the fourth refusal, I spent over two hours trying to get a medication prescribed by my doctor. This time my urologist. If you don't think this stalling isn't designed to frustrate us think again. All I wanted was, if they were refusing one medicine, to find out what WAS covered?

I know we've all been there. Profit takes precedence over health.  

On March 7th I saw my urologist after a urinary track infection {UTI} gripped me and wouldn't let go. This has been a recurrent problem since 2014 when my cancerous prostrate was removed. It returned 18 months later and was treated with 8 weeks of radiation. I later found out this can kill nerves to the bladder in between five to ten years. It did seven years later and after a hellish year of self catheterizing I had a Superpubic catheter tube and external bag placed in and on me. The bladder nerves had died and after 13 UTI's in a row this new procedure ended some worries. Because you have an object coming out of your abdomen you are still subject to UTI's.

Now my urologist felt additional surgery was counter-productive and prescribed medicine for pain management. I didn't care as long as it worked. It did but only for 10 days. I was only given 15 pills and was running out.

The infamous "formulary."

I received a letter from HealthNet on March 20, 2025 dated March 10, 2025 (I guess sent by Pony Express) denying coverage of this medicine. They would only give me 15 pills until I found a substitute. Me, I should find a substitute? Isn't that their job? I'm no pharmacist. So I called the number to find out what WAS covered. This started the seven levels of hell.

The "formulary" is a list of medications Wellcare covers.  Unless you know the name there is no cross reference to help you.  There certainly is no cross-reference to find similar alternatives. I did find the name, listing of available milligrams, the pricing tier they charge for and under requirements, you need a PA. This I discovered meant prior authorization but no explanation what it meant or done by whom. I had never dealt with this before and you would think a doctors prescription was enough. Apparently not.

I talked to 6 people for over 2 hours and still was not able to get my medication. I was put on hold trying to talk to people whose English was clearly not their first language, who kept shifting me from one department to another. I hung up after 2 hours and 20 minutes when I was told I now had to go to the Commercial Department and were going to put me on hold yet again. I just couldn't bare the thought. I hung up.

I then called my urologist and, as usual could only leave a message. Seriously, I don't know why we have phones anymore. NO ONE ever answers or returns a call unless it's a bill collector.

So, here I sit with no medicine, yet again, on the threshold of excruciating pain that I can't get medicine for. When I go to Immediate Care, yet again, it will cost them far more to pay for that visit than authorizing my prescription.

Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, tried in 1904 to give Americans universal healthcare, like Europe. We're still waiting 121 years later. And Congress, Medicare is NOT an entitlement, we've paid into it our whole working careers! So, let's find a solution, everyone would appreciate it!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to visit my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!

A California Scam Designed For You!

 If you live in California, or for the matter ANY state that's passed a Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act, like California's SB 350, BEWARE!

A week ago I got a call from a company that was offering seniors free quotes on remodeling areas of your home, in my case changing a bath tub to a walk in shower, for a "free" estimate with final costs rebated partially by our Senate Bill 350 that I found out was passed in 2015.

At 79 and never able to use a bath tub again I had been thinking of doing this anyway and agreed to have someone come by and give me a quote. 

A young man indeed came on the selected date, quite late and after a discussion and viewing my bath tub area quoted me a remodel price of $30,000.00. This was just to remove tub and tiles and put in a walk-in shower. No measurements were taken, just a quote he made at the time. He didn't even ask what I wanted ... doors, tile, a seat. Nothing.

As a point of reference, I had water damage from a pin hole in the copper pipe that brought water into my condo. This was in my walk-in closet wall and may have been going on for a long time. Insurance covered $25,000.00 of the damage which was extensive. Dry wall in the left side of the bathroom had to be totally removed and all the built-in cabinets which we discovered had black mold. Dry wall 4 ft. up was removed in the walk-in closet, the hallway and half of the living room behind the kitchen and the entire floor of the master bedroom and walk-in closet.  All of this had black mold and I was forced to live in a few hundred feet of my condo for eleven l o o o n g weeks. I made some extra changes since it was ripped up anyway. I figured I paid an additional $5, 000 on top of insurance to get at least half of the bathroom I wanted.

Talking to friends and a retired contractor, they all agreed this was way too costly. The contractor said he'd do it for $30,000 smiling and licking his lips. So the more I thought about it I cancelled my appointment. For that I had hell to pay!

The new appointment, after several calls encouraging me for another "try," was for Wednesday, January 22, 2025. On the follow-up call, the day before, I told the caller I was cancelling. Asked why, I explained I was put off my the first visit and wasn't't ready for any work to be done. 

Within 30 minutes I received four phone calls from differing numbers Reminding me of the visit the next day. I told each of them I was cancelling.

As you can see, they all came from La Puente from three different numbers. I spoke to a Julie at California Upgrades, a John again at the same place. There was even a 310-713-8819 call from the Rebate program twice. I thought I was done.  Then at 7:30 while at dinner with friends, yet another call I ignored. 

Then, this morning it started all over again:

Five more times from La Puente, CA; five times from four different numbers. After I blocked them, I got three more calls at 9:48, 9:56 and 11:43 from Blocked I.D. numbers.

I told the last caller I would report them to the State of California and he hung up on me. In fact nearly everyone hung on me when I said I didn't want them to call me. Reporting them on my blog is a better way I think. It won't be lost in the state bureaucracy.

Here is short rendering of SB 350 which is 36 pages long:

It is very convoluted, as most bills are, and it takes a stretch to figure out how I or any senior would benefit from this program. It is essentially about increasing energy efficiency, think solar panels, not walk-in showers.

Here is the potential victim. The space measures 4'9" W x 7' H x 29" D.
Not a big project and the plumbing is already there.

I think the tub is original to the space. Tile work was added when the bath was remodeled with new cabinets that had to be torn out due to black mold and wet dry wall on the other side which is completely new and 21st century modern.

Do I know what a new walk-in shower will cost? No, but surely it can't cost as much as the estimate I was given. He had no business card or references, he left doodling on a sheet of paper and nothing that qualified him or me for this benefit program. The rebate "might" happen after I paid the full amount. With the terrible fires a county away and new ones today south of us, I can't imagine any construction will be timely or reasonably priced. I have decided to just wait.

This afternoon I received more calls I ignored. I guess their game is to wear me down. I'm half German and Teutonic will is something I learned early on. After this is published I'm hoping further calls will cease. DON'T let this happen to you!!!

Thank you for reading my blog. I invite you to take the time to read earlier blogs where my emphasis is to explore the ways art and design affects our daily lives ... and always has. I share with you what inspires me with the hope that it will inspire you as well. Comments are always welcomed! 

Be sure to check my ETSY store ... KrugsStudio.etsy.com. I am adding many new and exciting, collectible birdhouses and craft items. Many of the items talked about here will be for sale there!