Monthly Archives: April 2020

The Artist’s Touch

Posted on by under Creative Energy, Lifestyle

We Need It More Than Ever

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

There’s a lot of news about the economic effect the coronavirus is having on businesses, which have limited their activities or even closed their doors. The virus has affected restaurants, retailers, shopping malls, manufacturers, farmers, and just about every type of business.

One group that’s feeling the pain, but doesn’t get any media attention, is artists. Making a living as an artist is difficult in the best of times. Now, it’s harder than ever with studios and galleries closed and everyone at home.

SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel know how important art is in enhancing our lives and lifting our spirits. Throughout history artists have used their brushes and pens to create beauty out of chaos and despair.

 

Now, at a time when not only mankind, but the environment, is under assault…

beach and surf artists are capturing the joy of the ocean and the thrill of surfing in memorable images that enable us to transcend the confines of our stay-at-home days.

 

SurfWriter Girls love Robb Havassy’s glorious sunsets and Colleen Gnos’s mermaids.

Ron Croci’s bold paint strokes celebrate the surfer’s strength and Nathan Gibbs’ mystical paintings remind us of the fragility of the ocean ecosystem.

Dave Reynolds’ minimalist surf art has maximum impact and Heather Brown’s whimsical island scenes put a smile on your face,

while Drew Brophy takes you to a fantasy world…

and Kim Hamrock expresses the excitement of surfing as only a champion surfer can.

To get us through the rough times and help us to make sense of the world, more than ever we need the artist’s touch. Brophy’s wife Maria Brophy has started an online writing group to help people find inner peace and tap their creativity.

Bridging the gaps in a new age of social distancing, art gives us a sense of community and reminds us of the wonders around us…if we take the time to look.

Even though the art galleries are closed, the works of all these artists are available on the Internet. Just click on their names. When you’re online shopping for “essentials,” why not add art to your list?

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

SurfWriter Girls

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

 

 

One Day At A Time

Posted on by under Lifestyle

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Faced with empty food shelves in supermarkets or the difficulty in going shopping – especially for seniors – we’re all thinking about food…and toilet paper, too.

SurfWriter Girl Patti woke up this morning thinking about the 1962 book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. How’s that for a strange thought to start the day?

Like many of you, she read the book in high school and remembers the deprivations that Denisovich goes through trying to survive in a Russian gulag (prison work camp) in the freezing Siberian cold with minimal food to eat. He ate every morsel of the meager fish portion he got and then boiled the bones for broth and sucked the marrow out.

Things haven’t gotten that bad yet. And, thankfully, members of our communities are stepping in to help neighbors in need.

Around the country mini food pantries the size of kids’ lemonade stands – like this one SurfWriter Girls friends Cindy and David Kirby in Anaheim, CA, put up – are popping up on lawns and driveways to help get food and necessities to neighbors.

If you need a can of soup or a fresh tomato, just take it. Or even a book to read. And, if you can drop off something for someone else, just leave it. The motto is: “Take what you need. If you have something to spare, please share.”

At SurfWriter Girl Patti and Greg’s house they put this big teddy bear in the window so the kids can see it when they walk by with their parents. Ted puts a smile on everyone’s face…something we all need now.

With good will and charity to others like this, we’ll find a way to get through the coronavirus situation. Just remember Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He survived eight years in a gulag.

We will survive, too…one day at a time.

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

SurfWriter Girls

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Tea Time Treasure

Posted on by under Food, Lifestyle

Incredible Journeys by the Cuppa

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel 

With all of us staying at home and having to make do with limited food supplies, SurfWriter Girl Sunny Magdaug made a great discovery in her cupboard – a treasure trove of teas to choose from.

“I didn’t realize I had so many,” she says. “A tea chest, half-filled boxes and tins of teas gathered over several years. From everyday Lipton to upscale Earl Grey, organic to exotic.”

SurfWriter Girl Patti Kishel looked in her cupboard and was pleasantly surprised to find a stash of teas, as well. “Not only are they delicious and soothing,” says Patti, “but, in these home-bound times, they take us on journeys to faraway places that are just a cup away.”

Patti’s sister Eileen Ferris, who lives in Newington, CT, found some interesting teas, too, including a Bigelow green tea with pomegranate.

Some of SurfWriter Girls’ teas were gifts from our friend Lesley Meredith, who lives in Sammamish, Washington. Of Scottish descent, Lesley is always ready to share a “cuppa” with friends.

And, after a visit to the Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, with her husband Steve, Lesley sent us a box of tea from the world-renowned hotel.

This past summer Lesley also sent us teas from the exclusive tea purveyor Harney and Sons, including one called Murder on the Orient Express – that really takes us on a journey!

Whether it’s tea, coffee, spices, wine, or some other special find in your pantry, there may be a treasure waiting to cheer your day…

and spirit you away on an adventure – while staying safe at home.

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

SurfWriter Girls

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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.