From My Apt With Goodwill Wishes & peace for all nations

This is my oil panting I painted in yr 2008 when I was living in zip code 80203. I moved to Missouri in Oct 2009; and this year I put up a Christmas tree to cheer myself up. I know it has nothing to do with the real meaning of Christmas, which is the joyous occasion of celebrating an event that happened 2,011 yrs ago, [approximately; exact date of JESUS birth is unknown] . "gloria0817" is pseudonym for "Gloria Poole" and or "gloriapoole; all the same woman =me!

Enjoy life, "live well, laugh often, love much" is a motto on a cup of mine and it is certainly a way of living.
Merry Christmas to all.

Gloria Poole; @my apt in Missouri; 2:41pm;19-Dec-2011 PS I had to make a cantilever on this tree. It was so lop-sided it pitched forward and nearly landed on me. So I put a cantilever at the back of it to hold it upright. I am glad you the viewer can't see that. Oh yes, I know a 'designer" Christmas tree would not have all the lights ' wiring showing. Believe me, getting that tree up in any fashion was a monumental task for me, and therefore I am showing it to you, in spite of fact, it is not the "best" Christmas tree anywhere.
 Update @ 2:51pm: I logged back in to add this: someone told me long ago that "it is better to do something imperfectly, than to do nothing perfectly". That advice has helped me have the courage to do many projects and tasks in my life and to keep on keeping on until I acquired some skill in any particular area.  Also, to remind you, I am a white woman who paints as artist often, in oils, acrylics, watercolors, goauche,tempera, pen/inks, etc. Read more about me on another blog of mine at http://gloriapoole.blogspot.com, and see my photo there on entry for yesterday/today.

Sketch Indian "Chief" to show support Cherokee Indians

This sketch in watercolors, and charcoals is one of my original sketches that the public has never seen before, because I just finished it yesterday. The purpose of adding it here is two-fold. To show that I Gloria Poole am the same woman who writes her name as gloria0817 on the web [as well as gloriapoole, and other variations of my name]; and who has websites with it written that way; and to show support for the Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma who are in today's news on yahoo.com news section as saying they won't be dictated to by the US gov't Bureau of Indian Affairs about who is a Cherokee Indian.  I am not saying this sketch is a Cherokee Indian, but merely an Indian. 

 However I did meet a couple of real indians by birth who lived on a reservation when I resided in Colorado for years Oct 2002-Oct 2009.And I heard their life stories. There is an inherent tragedy for them that no one can deny. They were forced to march from northern Georgia on what is called the 'trail of tears' to what was then largely undeveloped land in Oklahoma, as part of a treaty. They are considered a sovereign nation by that treaty, able to make their own rules and elect their own leaders, but must stay on reservations. Now, it seems that the US gov't is trying to make them declare those not Indian as Indian for the sake of tribal privilege of voting rights, benefits, etc. This is an issue certainly the Jews [and any ethnic group]  could relate too, as jewishness is defined by the jewish law [Talmud?? Torah???] and not by the US government. Yet the government is trying to force the Cherokee to allow blacks not born Cherokee to be declared Cherokee in some situations. I am a white woman not an Indian, not a black woman; but I understand that the Cherokee want to keep their bloodlines pure and I understand why; and why they are trying to define themselves instead of allowing the US federal gov't agency to do that for them.

 Cherokee, this entry is to show my support of your cause in this matter. 

Gloria Poole of Missouri; 14-Sept-2011;11:21am;