Although I do appreciate art, I do not profess to be an artist. I learned craft at an early age: how to knot, how to sew, how to crochet, how to make clothes and useful items out of anything handy. Craft is the art of survival.

I learned a lot about art from my offspring. Art was the stuff they had to do for homework when they wanted to get out of chores. My kids were real crafty about that. Art came along later when there was enough money for necessities. My second son blessed me with a camera, a Canon FT. As the old saying goes, it did everything but sing for its supper. Paper was expensive and developing was expensive. But had I taken a course in photography that would have been even more expensive.

Now that the kids are grown and gone and new generations make new demands, the second son once again, advised and assisted. At his insistence I changed from the conventional way of creating pictures, to the new, more expedient way of digital photography. This time I discovered art, as in pleasing to the eye. I am certain that Meller's Photo had one more reason for going out of business when I no longer required their service.

That little Sony Mavica takes pictures on a floppy. Three years ago I knew very little about floppies. Now I have been told that the humble floppy started out as a little floppy disk and it was just that, floppy. If I don't like what I photograph, I delete it and start all over again. Art begins when the floppy goes to the computer. A little graphics program easily downloaded from the web and actually free, will allow me to take the picture and change its color. Although I have Adobe 7 and I am learning to create "art" with it, I love going to I-View, clicking on Image and change a few colors and come away with a picture any artist would have been proud to produce. I don't have to worry about plagiarism. It's all mine for the moment. And if someone else likes it, it's a gift freely given. If I grow tired of it I'll just make another one.

If I am annoyed by the shortcomings of a politician or a lawyer, within seconds I can turn that one in to a purple grape. I can make my own greeting cards. Of course, as it was with photography, there is a price. That has always been the artist's dilemma; to eat or to buy paint. So I buy ink. I'll just have to refrain from going out to eat. I refrain from a lot of things. My clothes are inexpensive and I wash my own hair. But the ink is less expensive than taking courses at a university. And I'm learning. My brain says THANK YOU FOR THE CANDY.

Dementia doesn't darken my doorway yet. My kids may not have any kind of inheritance to brag about. I may use up every penny I'm worth buying ink. Of course I still knit and do all the other things, but I love it when I can sit in front of that computer and push a few buttons and create a thing of beauty something that gladdens the eye and brings joy and laughter to the heart of a friend.