Busyness

Journal - I am constantly teased about my inability to just DO nothing - and as much as I try to just be STILL, I seem to need to be productive in order to feel like myself. Another reason why I like winter and snow, especially on super cold days or those rare days we are snowed in, on THOSE days, I can allow myself to sit still, watch the snow fall -- and just BE. But if the sun is shining -- it seems to PULL me into activity. So for me -- bring on the snow! I need a bit more hibernation!!! LOL

A Bit of Journaling

Journal -- Still enjoy the bits of snow that remain ...

Poppies

Journal - Poppies - A bit of color and thoughts of spring as our temps rise to 60F!

"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."  William Arthur Ward

Snowy Property

Painting -- A piece of my property in the snow.

After the Snow

Journal - After the Snow --

Weeds in the Snow

Journal - I just love how the winter weeds, leftover garden stalks and seeds look poking through the snow. They remind me to be grateful for this often challenging season of winter.

White Flowers

Journal "White Flowers in Winter give Snow a bit of Competition" (L. Frye)

Frosty Morning

Journal - Frosty Morning - "There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy." Ralph H. Blutt

The Pond and Cattails

My sincere thanks to my incredibly talented friend, Rita Rojas who has graciously allowed me to use her photo as the inspiration for this painting.
 To see the original and more 'jaw-dropping' work - please see Rita's flickr page:
 www.flickr.com/photos/nandu2/
 
 www.flickr.com/photos/nandu2/23428124004/in/dateposted/
 Sincere thanks Rita -- not only for your permission to use your photo, but for your incredible that always inspires me!

Primroses - Flowers of Gratitude

Journal 

"Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul" Harry Ward Beecher

Flowers are so symbolic to me with their cheery faces and are often found in the most unexpected places.  They remind me that beauty is found everywhere if we only take the time to stop, look, and SEE!  And in the seeing give thanks, and pass on that joy so that blossoms will bloom in ever more places.

Stillness

Journal - Stillness - With more devotion to writing in my journal and inspired by the music, words and poetry of Carrie Newcomer, prompts by Lisa Sonora, I've found myself in a more quiet place, one filled with a richer gratitude for ordinary things, encouraging the making of time to PAUSE, for stillness, reflection.

And so, to honor the stillness, a quick still life, sketched while waiting for my car to be serviced.

Sunrise

Journal - The sun has finally broken through the grey of our week of mist and rain.  Color floods the sky - sunlight makes sparkles on every raindrop remaining on tree limbs and grasses turning each into a rainbows of glorious color.

Grateful for sunshine and light and color and the gift of sight.

Happy Birthday Mom - Missing You

Journal - Happy Birthday Mom - Missing You

January 11, 1923-September 15, 2015

"Let it go -- my love my truest,

Let it sail on silver wings

Life's a twinkling that's for certain,

But it's such a fine thing.

There's a gathering of spirits

There's a festival of friends

And we'll take up where we left off

When we all meet again."

                           Carrie Newcomer

Grateful for Rural Living

Journal - In my email this morning - www.gratituderevealed.com - a wonderful collection of words, film and images ...I watch the short film by Louis Schwartzberg on gratitude and am inspired.   

This day I am grateful for rural living - the quiet that breeds contemplation, the green spaces that fill me with peace.  The trees that shelter and serve as symbols of strength and courage, the air that seems sweeter, and the grace of days among those living closer to the land.

Sunflowers and Hawthorne

In an email post yesterday morning  Shari Blaukopf quoted from a book by Hawthorne ... I LOVED the quote and went on line to find out more.  In so doing, I found this:

"Beauty in art is the delicious notes of color one against the other....Real sentiment in art comes as it does in music from the way one tone comes against another independently of the literary quality of the subject --the way spots of color come together produces painting.

A great composer could find inspiration for a symphony in a subject as simple as the tinkle of water in a dish pan.  So can we find beauty in ordinary places and subjects.  The untrained eye does not see beauty in all things -- it's our profession to train ourselves to see it and transmit it to the less fortunate."

So in 20F degree weather and seeking anything that spoke of warmth, I splashed "spots of color" and created sunflowers.

A Light in the Window

Journal - "Light in the Window" - Inspired by my introduction to singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer, I was deeply touched by her song "Light In the Window"  - the beginning of the year - the return to cold weather, my wish for snow, gratitude, and 30 day journal prompts --

"Now the old has already passed away

But the new is too new to be born today

So I'm throwing out seeds on the winter snow

As the cold wind begins to blow

Standing here on a new threshold ...

I can see a warm dim light in the window ...

And the world is a little light

And it's moving very fast ..

And there's a light, there's a light, in the window."

Cardinal and Frosty Morning

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

From Ralph Waldo Emerson:

For each new morning with its light

For rest and shelter of the night

For health and food for love and friends

For everything Thy goodness brings ...

Gratitude.