The (first) ice storm of 2026

 ...and I hope it's the last. 

Wow, it was, and remains an impressive, visually stunning evidence of Nature's anger. I know, that's anthropomorphism at its worst, but there ya go.

Gonna post my images so far here, if for no other reason than that I haven't blogged in a minute. 

It was, and remains, a challenge for many fellow humans. In the great scheme of things, with my dearest human recuperating from major (~5 hours long) intestinal repair surgery January 8, the storm hit us 6 days ago with a couple inches of snow, which in Nashville is plenty 'nuff to cripple the city for a bit, followed by a major ice storm with "freezing rain" and an ice build-up that was the 2 punch in the old 1-2 knockout. Power was lost to hundreds of thousands just in our Metro area, and somehow we were spared that, here in our little one decade old tall and skinny home in The Nations, just west of downtown and filling up over the past decade with people and more overpriced homes. Not that I'm complaining--you know, equity.

Yes, I'm the king of the run-on sentence. Hello.

Early on, we did our little community bit by my venturing out into the icy streets to bring a young friend back to power and warmth, along with her spunky, a little freaked-out kitty, Luigi. Lee Ann was about in shape to go back to work anyway, starting part-time and now working up to almost full, though her business, Tinwings, took the income hit with virtually every other small business, cancelling the week's pickup orders and deliveries and limiting hours for walk-in market customers. She's back at work now, and our extended family member, an employee of that food gem as well as a dear friend, is joining her to cook for the market so people who can get out can choose delicious, made from scratch, original food, cooked with love and the highest possible standards of cuisine. 

I'm back painting, playing some mandolin, walking the dog, keeping house, playing Legacy of Thieves, and, well, blogging. I have had some fun sailing my 22 foot Loonetta boat in Second Life, and I'm continuing to make sure the neighborhood has access to information from the Card Campaign for Democracy, papering the occasional utility pole with the current or favorite card of my printing, and leaving them in public spaces for citizens. This is a small thing, but it's better than an old man doing nothing. Consider it for your own extra hobby. You too can be a pamphleteer--if it's good enough for Thomas Paine...

I will be offline Friday to support the General Strike in support of Milwaukee Americans and against the vicious despotism of the Trump Clown Circus. Yes, it's gotten deadly. His masked thugs are executing  people in the streets, and if you don't think it will come to your town eventually if unchecked, you are literally dead wrong.

Click to view my developing photo and video album:

Lots of Work on scottmerrick.me

 Hi, It's 2026 and I gave up on Wix's decision to eliminate pop-up tool-tips on images, a former accessibility feature they eliminated without prior notice, as far as a quick search yields somewhere this past Fall. I just stumbled upon it one day, while innocently adding a new painting to my https://scottmerrickart.wixsite.com/myart website. WTF?

Wix is an Israeli site offering free or low-cost html5 tools for website creation, and no, I don't care that it is sometimes considered "unprofessional" to utilize it for its purpose. I, without shame, do not consider my passion for making art "professional." The tool-tip feature was reportedly eliminated when the EU dropped a previously required html design requirement. There ya go.

I originally designed the site over a year ago to share my graphic art, mostly acrylic paintings, with others, mainly because my artwork is not a "professional" endeavor. It's a pursuit of interpreting the mundane in light of its sublimity. 

That said, I spent the better part of a day last week labeling all of my images on the "Paintings" page of my site with text boxes indicating title and information. I think it works, and maybe even better than using that previously auto-displayed, upon mouse float, information pop-up. I do miss the info displaying on the larger image that pops up when an image on the page is clicked, but, well, beggars can't, you know.

So there. That's what I have today. And I think it serves my purpose for it.

All that said, I am considering an effort to clear paintings that currently live in a rack out of my home studio at Chez Merrique in The Nations neighborhood of Nashville by promoting a "sweepstakes" that will get some paintings into homes and businesses. You can see some of them at my wife's superstar catering business, Tinwings, in our neighborhood, but if you visit the art site by clicking the link up top or by simply typing "scottmerrick.me" in your web browser, and you identify a painting you like that is noted as "available" in the painting's description, use the same site's "Contact" feature to let me know if you want to make an offer or just come pick it up gratis. I'm not planning to ship at this time to the free folks, but otherwise I will either get it to you, if local, or you can drop by and it'll be on our front porch. That clear out effort has not yet begun and readers of me bloggy can get a jump on the throngs that will participate. Heh.

Just sayin'.

Seeeeee ya... Keep your head down and hold on to your hope. I still have a little faith we can avoid our once truly great nation's complete descent into authoritarianism. See Cards for Democracy Project's site for how you can do a little to help without placing yourself in harms way, at least for now.