and breathing is wishing and wishing is having-
but keeping is downward and doubting and never
-it's april(yes,april;my darling)it's spring!
yes the pretty birds frolic as spry as can be
(yes the mountains are dancing together)
when every leaf opens without any sound
and wishing is having and having is giving-
but keeping is doting and nothing and nonsense
-alive;we're alive,dear:it's(kiss me now)spring!
now the pretty birds hover so she and so he
now the little fish quiver so you and so i
(now the mountains are dancing,the mountains)
when more than was lost has been found has been found
and having is giving and giving is living-
but keeping is darkness and winter and cringing
-it's spring(all our night becomes day)o,it's spring!
all the pretty birds dive to the heart of the sky
all the little fish climb through the mind of the sea
(all the mountains are dancing;are dancing)
e.e.cummings
That, my dears, is one of my favorite poems that usher us into spring... and it is finally on it's sweet, bright way to us. The winter was long, and helped us to remember that all life that dies away will be rebirthed in another way. Life is an amazing cycle. It's time to celebrate!!
It seems that however we'd like to ignore it, winter is definitely coming. The evidence is out there... the leaves are gone from the trees, the temperatures are dropping, and the squirrels are fattening up!
All I can think of when I get dressed for work (and the walk there) is, "Will this be warm enough?" Cute is no longer part of the equation! I've also noticed that I eat a lot more, and tend to make more soups and baked goods. Remember last year? I baked up a storm! Yesterday I baked some banana nut muffins, some of which got chocolate chips in them. They turned out pretty good, too!
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| Along the Monocacy River |
K and I are still getting out for walks, though we bundle up a bit more now. The trees have a much more austere look to them. They are down to their bare bones... their foliage having long since fallen away. I think they're beautiful.
The skies look colder now, too. Even when there are clouds, they are icy looking. It's enough to make me shiver looking at them!
This is the time when we burrow into ourselves. We need to dig deeper to find the whimsy and joy that summer or spring bring out of us naturally. It's a time when animals hibernate or at least, hunker down for most of the day. People don't have that luxury most of the time. What do you do to push away the Winter Blues?
I am determined to push my levels of creativity over this winter... I think that will help a lot. And to brave the cold to go outside more... though that's easy to say now when it's still just in the 30's and 40's.
People have their home fires burning... the air has that woody scent. It's this time of year that makes me wish I had a fireplace! That definitely makes you feel cozier, doesn't it?
So I'm mentally preparing for the long winter ahead of us. It's going to be cold. It may be difficult, but it's the perfect time to dig deep and find the strength inside of each one of us to discover how to smile and laugh when the world outside is slumbering in it's death-like season. We must remember that there is always a rebirth, and that change is inevitable in all things in Life. And like winter, the dark times we might find ourselves in shall pass.
Blessings to you all. xox
As some of you may have guessed, I am taking this blogging course online with about 400 other bloggers! (The button was probably a dead giveaway!) Holly from decor8 and Leslie from A Creative Mint are the instructors. So far, I have had SO MUCH to think about and it has had my mind spinning!
People were so prepared for this class. It's amazing. I even found myself getting into it, and made this book to take notes and record this journey...
I know that this class will help me to define my blog in a better and more profound way. I had created this blog without any real purpose, and so it has drifted in that purposeless way. But now that I'm putting thought into it, and intention, I know it'll be better!
As I make changes, I hope that you'll give me feedback. It always means a lot to me! Also, I may not post as much, since the course work is actually pretty thought-provoking and time-consuming... I'm putting a lot of my energy into it! I want to get the most out of this class! The instructors put so much of their time & energy into it for us, the students... and I want to do them justice by really digging in.
I hope you all have an amazing week! Over here in Bethlehem, it's sunny today and bright, and temps are supposed to soar to the mid-40's! I'm so excited! So besides working on my class work, I'm going to find some time to take a walk and do some grocery shopping!
Blessings to you. xoxo
For those of you who know me, you know that I left a career in construction this past January. I worked for a great company that supported my desires to try different things and learn different disciplines. I was there for 12-1/2 years! It was a wonderful, stressful, and fun place to work... I miss my coworker/friends there, and I miss other things as well. Like having a regular income, ha ha. The place really was like my second home, after all.
I have been searching, since leaving there, for my Self. I've wanted to reinvent myself. I need to risk things, and to push my self-drawn boundaries. I decided back in January, that if I were to leave construction, and all the money that came with my job, I wasn't going to go out and get the same thing again, though I could. I had already decided that what I wanted was to live in a much more creative and exciting world of artists, writers, Bohemians, Beatniks, and most of all, Happy People. I had already worked with the intelligent, hard-working, stressed out group of jocks and heavy-drinkers. I really wanted to try something different.
I moved from California (land that I love) to Pennsylvania (land that I'm starting to love,) to be with my boyfriend/soul-mate, and I set out to search for what would work for me.... as a continuation of my productive life. I started out by making art journals. I even sold some in LA, though I haven't sold many since. I made jewelry and ornaments, and sold some of that, from my etsy shop. I have had some freedom to try to sell the things that I enjoy making, and to soul-search for "what next?" I think I found my answer, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. But without risking something of yourself, you can not expect to gain anything fantastic, and so, I step out of my comfort zone, and I begin something new. A story book.
I have always loved children's books, as well as adult books.... I ALWAYS have my nose in a book, as a matter of fact, if not two or three at once. I've never directed myself to write anything, though. Well, that's a lie. I actually started several stories when I was young, but they were terribly dramatic stories steeped in the world of fantasy, as that's what I was reading at the time. My best friend and I would work on our stories, and share the pages, and it was wonderful, hilarious, and embarrassing! I think our lack of general life experiences made the stories a bit flat and juvenile. Ha ha. Though, I still believe there was something there. I don't think we were devoid of talent. We just never really took ourselves too seriously, is all.
So.... I've started several stories, as well as an article or two. I am making this my next big effort, along with my other creative outlets. It's hard for me to stop all completely, so I won't bother. I need to have my hand in many different things at any given time, or I get antsy. I think that this is the training I received at my last job as a project manager for our Small Projects Department! I was always running many projects at once, and had to know what the stages and issues were for each of my projects at any given time. It is a learned skill that I use in my daily life. It seems that I actually need to have several things going on... I feel good that way!
I will still be blogging, though possibly not as often. I don't know yet. Being at the computer keyboard too much tends to wreak havoc on my tendonitis. (Which is why I've cut back a bit of late.) But I will post updates, and photos of things around me that inspire. I will possibly put more recipes on my blog, also. I've been cooking & baking like crazy in this cold weather! I'll be asking for advice from all of you in the blogging community, as well as my readers.... so please stay tuned! Wish me luck on my next escapade!! I'm hoping that I can nurse into existence a new career as an author of many stories and books. I would so love a profession where I dictate my schedule and have loads of money coming in so I can shower my family & friends with gifts and travel with my boyfriend, and really excel at being a human being. I will be journaling, as well, and will try to post the best pages here.
Peace and good will to all.... I'll be back! (Probably sooner than I think because it's hard to stay away. I NEED human connections!)
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Wow.... things have changed for me in the past few months. I don't even really know what I'm doing, exactly. But there's this feeling in me that I need to DO SOMETHING which is outside of my normal behavior. So..... I left the company that I worked for for the past 12+ years, and I took two of my cats and I moved from Northern California to Southern California, bringing the bare minimum of my things with me.... it's been a real life-twister.I don't have everything figured out yet, but I am being more true to myself now than I think I've ever been. Which is pretty wild. I don't know if I did the "right" thing or not. Part of me is really freaked out that I went and left a stable, if somewhat subdued, life behind for a life of unstableness & uncertainty. My friends had described my "last life" as being somewhat gray. So I guess my new life is to be more colorful... and so far that's true! I live in a purple room in a pink condominium complex!!My plans are: make books, teach classes on book-binding & paper marbling, and find that I've made the right decision in nurturing the artist in me.More to come....
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