In Absentia....

I've been away a while, but life moves forward. Beautiful sunrises grace the morning skies during coffee on the porch....

 

....Pink-gold sunlight reflects in the abundant magnolia leaves, turning the tree into something magical and luminous.

After an overwhelming drought and spate of heat, rain brought forth a second round of blossoms on the wisteria, sweeter and pinker than those that braved the chill of Spring....

 

 

....Bloom where you are planted takes on a whole new meaning....yes, I will....

 

 

....Phlox, unable to be killed by anything short of nuclear  winter, reappears with vigor and soft scent....

 

 

....Happy faces turned to the sun. These have prospered and everywhere I look there are bouquets of delicious, happy yellow!

 

....Say goodnight Mr. Sol, after a beautiful day....

Greetings all~~tho I have not been to visit blogs, I am still out here in blogland, taking life easy and healing.

This post-op round of chemo has mostly left me quite fatigued and I have given in to good books and pajama days. 

It seems my social calender is filled with running up and down the road to the Oncology Center; there are days I wonder if they do one more blood draw on me that I might shrivel up and blow away! (hahaha~~I have too much ballast in the nether regions for that! *wink*)

I grow impatient for this course to be over and done, get back to life in the studio, and having more energy.

Still, the quite time has been good and helped me make some hard decisions about my path after this is finished.

Time to think; time to weigh. Time to clear out the old and open space for the new.

In everything there is good if you look for it~~my life seems to have an abundance of GOOD.

Good friends, good husband, good food, good EVERYTHING.

Just having to learn patience.....which has never been my forte!

So till next time I pop in; hoping you have sunflower days and twinkling star nights and of course, love in great quantities.

Pax....

Small Pleasures

The sum of my Spring blossoms, brought in to be saved from rain and wind.

Yesterday had me working harder than I have in a long time; moving dirt, shoveling, etc. My power line was buried, the lot is large, and there was an amazing amount of soil that needed flattening, distributing and otherwise getting from point *A* to point *B*.
Thankfully I had not taken the snowblade off the John Deere before I put it away last. I'm sure in a previous life I was  skilled in the large earth moving equipment!  ;-)  Truly, it worked better than I could have hoped, and of course, this all had to be done in a race with rain that had been predicted all day. I had time~~we didn't get any weather until late in the evening, when I was comatose in the chair.
I have a body extremely unhappy with me this morning and I know (yes, KNOW) this is a no-studio-on-the-couch day.
This all got me thinking, as I so often do when I'm out on the tractor, that I love the small pleasures of life. I may not be enjoying the tractor work, but the mind wanders and has a marvelous time! The little things that make life so rich:

-That first cup of coffee in the morning.
-Seeing the sun rise.
-A leisurely welcome to the day.
-Quiet time with nature.
-The first Spring flowers.
-Talking with my birds.
-Sitting snug in the comfort of my studio.
-Knowing enough is indeed *ENOUGH*~~as in, not feeling want.
-Savoring small quiet moments where DH and I may not speak, but all is said.
-A bubble bath.
-Soft slippers and a cozy chair.
-The smell of a freshly starched pillowcase and the comfort of fluffy covers in bed.


And somehow this brought me to thinking about how the current world is so bent on doing huge things---from weddings to vacations to ridiculous homes, and everyone wonders why they are unhappy.
Because their life is ruled by the constant one-upmanship of someone else. And the only person who loses in that is the one trying to outdo everyone else.
No joy in daily activities, no pleasure in quiet conversations, missing everything that is around us that makes life good. It is the constant and gnawing NEED for something MORE. And that MORE cannot be bought; it is filling the SOUL.
My something more is here; in my blog, in my life, in the quiet and soft light of morning, in meditations for friends, in the little moments.
Here's to small pleasures. May you see yours. May you know you have many. May you be thankful every day.




Pax....

I Totally Blew Off.......

(Belated Birthday Roses for the Blog!!!)

...... December 21st,  the One Year Anniversary of this blog.
I have been semi-successfully blithering, ranting and occasionally dropping words of wisdom and pictures that range from the completely boring to the inane to exceptionally interesting for over 365 days. Art, life, speedbumps, the happy, the sad.....it all has deposited itself here for over a year.
There was this dull grinding of rusty wheels the other morning, a great creaking sound to say the least, the brain-gears attempting to think and that was when I checked the archives for the first post I put up. (I assure you, it is NOT---ABSOLUTELY NOT-- worth taking the time to find...save yourselves gentle readers, don't go there...)
Holy Moly....over a year. This is something for me because my attention span, as I have discussed here before, is short to say the least. Occasionally nonexistant is a much better description.
And yet, here we are. What is it about this thing called a blog that draws one in? That holds the attention, and committment to posts is not a requirement but a pleasurable experience?
And tinkering with the little doo-dads on the sidebars.....and trying to make things a bit better.....move this here, that there. You know, it is sooo much easier than rearranging furniture! ;-) Plus you can delete what you don't like, as opposed to the rest of our lives! HA!
I discovered the hard way that some widgets conflict with others, Blogger---just like us---has bad days, items at the bottom of the page make it load faster. I probably will never try to change back to two column Minima due to almost having a massive panic attack messing with the HTML code to transfer it to three column! LOL! Geek, I am not. I wish I was.....
Mostly I've discovered a lot of other people with wonderful blogs and interesting words, beautiful artistic expressions and delightful sharing of life experiences. Maybe that's what keeps this blog-engine within me running. Maybe it is another form of creative outlet that has grown and developed a life of it's own. Maybe it is a nice substitute in moments like these when I still cannot access my art or fiber art supplies nor feel like using them. (fatigue is still a major factor, but I am ambulating!)
As to the new year of the blog, the thought of redoing some of the page is intriguing; cleaning things up, paring down so I can load it up again with blog-stuff. LOL! Like my house, like my studio......the temptation of one silly item more! One bit of digital fluff, cram one more photo on the page....oy. I never learn.
I love sitting in the morning connecting with friends, thinking what tidbit of inane amusement might make others laugh. I occasionally like making us all think (or try to). I love sharing the process of work. Perhaps, when all is said and done, this is just an extension of me, put out there to connect with others who share and chat and enjoy what they do at the keyboard. It becomes our connecting place, our creative space, our place where the artistic marks we make are letters and a foreshadowing of what we will do in real life.
It is a very rewarding place to be, now, isn't it?
To you all, I bid you......

Pax.

 

The remains of the day.........

 (yes, there is a Grinch ornament in the tree........!)

.....a lovely day spent with DH and the quiet of the country; no snow but pretty red lights on our table-top tree that was plenty and a delight to do! (would you expect anything else but red from me??? Really???)

Exchanging gifts, recalling holidays past, good times, lounging, napping......I can't remember a Christmas that was this low key and lovely! Delivered treats to the Budgie Boyz from *Santa-Budgie* which was pretty much like taking ten pounds of sugar and giving it to a couple of kids and encouraging them to eat it straight! Oh my...we laughed at their antics and squawks all day! Seriously, all day......they were pretty happy and wired! And LOUD......

We noshed on tidbits I had tucked away in the pantry and fridge, a day of no cooking! Watched movies---"A Christmas Story" being one of my favorites because it reminds me for some reason of my early days and it is just too funny, especially the bunny suit. (remember, I own and wear bunny slippers...) Plus, Darrin McGavin is perfect as *The Old Man*.......reminds me somewhat of my Dad, the facial expressions!

Closed the evening with a drive around in town to look at Christmas lights and enjoy the nightfall out in the car. Then back for some more time snuggled in the warm house with the red tree aglow until finally I had to call it a night. Still need a bit more stamina and getting up at 5:30 every morning is not helping! LOL! I would say I'm too old for these early hours but I'll blame it on the surgery instead.  ;-)

This was a great Christmas for all the reasons we never see promoted---small, simple, time for sharing talk, a drive, being with someone you love, having enough which is plenty, no pressure. Could you ask for a better day?

I couldn't.

Being home.....on my couch, with DH......the best Christmas ever!!!

I wish the same warm feelings for all of you. Sometimes we have to slow down to see what we really need, or want, or are thankful for.

Pax.

Slow Saturday

I'm running behind and I just got up. It wasn't like I was up late last evening---I think after this past week my body just demanded more rest so here I am, 8:11 a.m. and trying to drink coffee, think, and post to the blog. I am not sure this is a good combination........
While feeling like yesterday was a total blow-off in the studio, it really wasn't. I got the first few coats of varnish on the Madonna piece and then spent much too much time on line looking for tidbits for the church banners. In fact, I had done it long enough that I got a headache from eye strain. So I gave it a rest for a while and tried to get a working sketch done, and then figure numbers for yardage, layout, etc. That's a pain in a much lower, nether region of the body. The headache was beginning to feel not so bad.
As I have bemoaned here before, it is becoming harder and harder to find moderately priced fabrics and trims that allows myself and the church I'm working for to be in a win-win situation. There was one piece of background fabric I thought would work for the Easter banners (remember---I'm stealing their fabric for the Christmas banners to speed things up.....I think!) and I will have to visit the page again today and see how it looks with clear eyes.
Plus I've been waking with low grade headaches each morning and it must be that the time of year has finally arrived for my heavy-duty allergies to set in. These are the ones that leave me sounding like Darth Vader on a GOOD day.......buy stock in the tissue companies now. This will last till about the beginning of October! HA!
I am always surprised when this hits---but it is the thing I have about ignoring the passing of time. I am so content to hole up in the studio or run out to take photos that I lose track of dates. What day, what month......what do you MEAN I'll be 50 in December????? Time passes and I am clueless. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. I still shop in the junior department. (if I had kids, it would be a BAD thing.....I would mortify them!) I still listen to old school Punk and timeless Jazz. Love the Ramones and the Misfits; Dizzy and Louis Armstrong. Now there is a combination!!!
I have a theory that artists age differently, or at least LOOK at age differently. We cleave to what inspires us, enjoy what we enjoy whether it is the present mode du jour or not and occasionally have to surface for air to find out what year it is. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it makes us what we are and adds to the deepness of our work. I think it is something to be treasured. And I think it keeps us young at heart, if not physically young. Artists don't care about the age of other artists, we really don't care about whether they dress in designer clothes (basically, we could care less if they're dressed at all--that's up to them and the law!), we don't care about their income bracket---as long as we know our friends have enough. And when they don't we gently step in and try to help.
I really LIKE being an artist! I like the people I meet, the churches that are brightened by my liturgical work, the Pastors wearing a stole I made (that one makes my heart swell, as that stole represents the yoke of Christ upon their shoulders----I can't describe this any better, but it trumps the banners!), the little works I give away, the wonderful people I meet.
This is a good life, and so what if I am a bit late and a little slow from the leg today. I get to meet with my friends here in the Bloggosphere, and all is good!
Have a wonderful day---enjoy every second of it......and go make art!

Pax.