At least this time I warned everyone that I would be missing for a while.

Doing a 40 page news magazine might take a staff of several in the civilian sector, but for the Auxiliary, it is just me. Our district is divided into three areas and an assistant is assigned to each. They do preliminary editing and forward the members' articles, but the job of laying out the news magazine is mine alone. I gave Randy (solitaire) a copy of the winter 2008 issue. The variety of articles pretty much tells who we are and how much we do for the Coast Guard. Anyway, when I work on the Breeze, it typically means 14 to 16 hour days, which is why I go M.I.A. from MyBloggers until it is done- or close to done as is the case right now.

I don't really have time to paint either, but this time I kept a sheet of pastel paper on the easel and puttered away at this (5 days of puttering)whenever I went out for a smoke. That is it up above, titled, "Girl's Day Out".

Oh, my gosh! I almost forgot the most important thing of all! Last week I received an award from my USCG Auxiliary division. I was named "Auxiliarist of the Year"! Totally unexpected, and I was so moved that I nearly cried.