GOODBYE 2008

I want to put 2008 to rest. We're already into the new year, but I haven't really, officially said goodbye, or is it good riddance to 2008. Last year on January 6, the feast of the Epiphany, I received my paper "ring" at church with the word "laughter" written in it....At the time, I thought....what a great word to have selected! I journaled about it. But....I never really found the "laughter" in 2008....far from it. So, this year on Epiphany Sunday, I chose my "ring" and my word is...."surrender". That word has so many meanings. What am I surrendering to exactly? It gives me pause for thought.

I really like the movie "You've Got Mail" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan...I've seen it many times and watched it over the long holiday. And there is a song, sung by Harry Nilsson in the movie that lingers with me. It's from the scene where Meg Ryan is worried about her book shop closing and wishing her mother were around to ask "what to do".... and the book store has to close. The song is called "Remember" and that's what Christmas 2008 was about for me.

"REMEMBER"
Long ago, far away
Life was clear, close your eyes
Remember is a place from long ago
Remember filled with everything you know
Remember when you're sad and feelin' down
Remember turn around
Remember life is just a memory
Remember close your eyes and you can see
Remember think of all that life can be
Remember--
Dream, love is only in a dream, remember-
Remember life is never as it seems. Dream
Long ago, far away
Life was clear, close your eyes

Dianne's Talent

Christmas is a few days past, and I've already "de-trimmed" my house and put everything away. I can only look at it so long and now I can "start anew"....We consummed a lot of food...Dianne was the master of the Christmas dinner....and the Christmas Eve soup...and pretty much kept things running smoothly in the meal preparations! But I have to share what she's been up to with her beading, because her creations are amazing! This is a cuff bracelet...took many hours to complete. Her first attempt at bead embroidery. The local bead store owners were "ga ga" (is that how you spell that??) over it. I keep telling her to get a blog started to show her stuff...she's the techie, after all!

"Christmas Fair"

It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas

The kitchen is the heart of the home and it's where I start the Christmas decorating. It's where the wonderful aroma of cookies baking in the oven comes from and the scent of evergreens placed here and there. As you get older & reflect on Christmases past...it's the time spent with family and friends, the fun decorating cookies and the meals that were shared that you think about. Although, I will never forget the Christmas that my sister, Dianne and I, got our English Racers. Her bicycle was black and mine was red. That was the best!

I remember wearing dresses with "itchy" petticoats. I remember seeing the presents wrapped in my parents bedroom...the ones that weren't from Santa...and reading the tags to see which ones were for me... I remember Mom setting up the kitchen table with bowls of frosting and sprinkles for the cookies ...which were not only on the table, but on the floor as well. I remember Dad taking us to purchase the tree.

Christmas is all about the memories. I still think Christmas Eve is the best night of the year...it doesn't matter how old you are. Merry Christmas to my family....this one's for you.

Silent Night, Holy Night

Thanksgiving Day

What is Thanksgiving Day without Macy's Parade...the official start of the holiday season!

New Journal Pages

My latest journal
pages, inspired by an interview
I read about a book written by Daniel Pink called AWhole New Mind: Why Right Brainers will Rule the Future. Mr. Pink is a business & technology writer! Being a "right brain thinker, I loved what he had to say.....

Night Birds

This fabric art by Chris Roberts-Antieau is so wonderful! It's full of life and color and just plain fun. I've recently started a new art journal about birds, trees and birdhouses....this "painting" is a real inspiration.

Pumpkins Galore

Letting Go.....

"The Parable of the Trapeze" by Danaan Parry

Sometimes I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I'm either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in my life, I'm hurtling across space in between trapeze bars.

Most of the time, I spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. It carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing and I have the feeling that I'm in control of my life.

I know most of the right questions and even some of the answers.

But every once in a while as I'm merrily (or even not-so-merrily) swinging along, I look out ahead of me into the distance and what do I see? I see another trapeze bar swinging toward me. It's empty and I know that this new trapeze bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart of hearts I know that, for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well-known bar and move to the new one.

Each time it happens to me I hope (no, I pray) that I won't have to let go of my old bar completely before I grab the new one. But I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar and, for some moment in time, I must hurtle across space before I can grab onto the new bar.

Each time, I am filled with terror. It doesn't matter that in all of my previous hurtles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. I am each time afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between bars. I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policy, but you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives.

Transforming my need to grab that new bar, any bar, is allowing myself to dwell in the only place where change really happens. It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening in the true sense of the word. Hurtling through the void, I just may learn how to fly.

Melancholy Autumn

Mother Nature

This is the bark on a Birch tree trunk....
fabulous in it's casual design and color.
Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder...
thanks to Mother Nature.

Autumn

O suns and skies
and clouds of June,
And flowers of June together,
Ye cannot rival for one hour,
October's bright blue weather.

Inspired

These are difficult times and I am comforted by this piece that I painted this summer.... the Holy Spirit "Dancing" ....
it makes me smile! The inspiration is from a Celtic blessing...."In the sunlight, watch the Holy Spirit dance....

Rabbit Rabbit, Tibbar Tibbar

Saying rabbit rabbit, tibbar tibbar as the first words you say, on the first day of each month....is supposed to bring you good luck for the rest of the month!

GOOD LUCK!

A Work of Art

God's 'green earth'
appears very blue
and very beautiful!

August

This scene won't look like this for very much longer....but when I am here....I know I am home.

Summer Wind

The summer wind, came blowin in - from across the sea
It lingered there, so warm and fair - to walk with me
All summer long, we sang a song - and strolled on golden sand
Two sweethearts, and the summer wind

Like painted kites, those days and nights - went flyin by
The world was new, beneath a blue - umbrella sky
Then softer than, a piper man - one day it called to you
And I lost you, to the summer wind

The autumn wind, and the winter wind - have come and gone
And still the days, those lonely days - go on and on
And guess who sighs his lullabies - through nights that never end
My fickle friend, the summer wind

I Wear My Art

Proud To Be An American

BACK TO COLLEGE!

Tom left for his junior year at Norwich this morning....his car was packed to the limit! He left his bedroom a disaster. Now....it's all picked up and clean. I will miss you, Tom...but not your mess!!
Good luck, Staff Sergeant Honey!

Dog Days of Summer

Sometimes on a hot summer day in August....memories of the previous winter's snow look pretty inviting....it won't be long....but that's why we like living in Connecticut...isn't it?
This is a view down our driveway toward the road. Beautiful.

HOME SWEET HOME

This is our home....I've had a lot of fun working on this painting.

The Catch

Does it get any better than this? A guy and his fish....who has the bigger mouth...the one smiling or the one who got caught!

JUST PLAIN FUN

I love the art of Barbara Olsen....whimsical & fun. And I agree with her sentiment on this one!

EBB TIDE

First the tide rushes in
Plants a kiss on the shore
Then rolls out to sea
And the sea is very still once more.

Happy 4th of July

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Norwich Strong

Create Art with these Colors!

Americana...

It's always ourselves we find in the sea

May came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea.
~ e.e. cummings

Wouldn't it be great to feel and touch sea glass such as this...

Photo: pixdaus.com

Touched by the Sun

If you want to be brave
And reach for the top of the sky
And the farthest point on the horizon
Do you know who you'll meet there
Great soldiers and seafarers
Artists and dreamers
Who need to be close, close to the light
They need to be in danger of burning by fire
And I, I want to get there
I, I want to be one
One who is touched by the sun
One who is touched by the sun

Often I want to walk
The safe side of the street
And lull myself to sleep
And dull my pain

But deep down inside I know
I've got to learn from the greats
Earn my right to be living
Let my wings of desire
Soar over the nightI need to let them say
"She must have been mad"
And I, I want to get there
I, I want to be one
One who is touched by the sun
One who is touched by the sun

I've got to learn from the greats
Earn my right to be living
With every breath that I take
Every heartbeat
And I, I want to get there
I, I want to be one
One who is touched by the sun
One who is touched by the sun

Music and Lyrics by Carly Simon
Photos: pixdaus.com

Happy Father's Day!

Come Out and Play!

Come Out and Play is the theme for a program I am doing with a group to introduce them to Art Journaling. So, I took simple luggage tags and painted and collaged them and I wrote the top reasons for journaling. I want to share the reasons why I "journal":
To elaborate on an inspiration
To remember a quote/song
To hold on to a special moment
To solve a problem
To record my dreams & wishes
To remember how blessed I am
To connect with my spirit
To play!
To leave a little bit of myself behind for my family.

A Sea of Sunflowers

Keep your face to the sun and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do.
---Helen Keller