Almost time to go home

Well, I leave San Francisco on Monday.  While I'm looking forward to going home (I miss my husband) I'm really going to miss California.  But I will definitely be back.  I finally got to the dahlia garden in Golden Gate Park - it's a bit late in the season so a lot of them were starting to die back, but they were still beautiful.  Some of them, remind me of sea anemones - I'm not sure if it's the colors or the way their petals sort of curl around to look almost tubular - but I can picture them underwater swaying in the current with a cute little clown fish darting in and out of their petals.  This could be a new adventure for Nemo!  I love those Pixar movies.

My sister would love the dahlia garden, well actually the entire park with all the beautiful gardens.  I love it to, but from a different perspective; she as a gardener, me as one who has trouble keeping a silk plant alive!  I think it would be fabulous to have gardens like these, but it just isn't realistic for me.  As much as I hate to admit that, it's true.  So for now I will have to be content getting my flowers from the flower shop rather than my personal cutting garden.

How would you like to have a conservatory like this - great huh?  Well it's time for me to go to sleep.  Hope you enjoyed the dahlias as much as I did.  I have two more days to work in a ride on the carousel - let's see if I make it.  I was looking through the glass today, it wasn't open yet, maybe instead of a horse I should ride a giraffe!  How cool would that be?

Karnamrita Dasi

Tonight's satsang was excellent - Karnamrita Dasi gave a concert, but rather than just singing for us, she spent most of the evening leading kirtan (call & response chanting.)  It was really wonderful.  She not only has a captivating voice, but she is extremely warm, open and gracious, just a very beautiful soul.  It was mesmerizing to say the least.  It was the perfect culmination to my day.  I finished the book I was reading "29 Gifts - how a month of giving can change your life" it was so inspiring, I can't wait to begin the 29 day giving challenge!  I encourage all of you to consider joining as well.  It isn't about giving big or expensive gifts, it's about focusing on others rather than ourselves.  This seems to be a recurring theme recently, in fact, Karnamrita made reference to it this evening, saying when we are being of service to others we are no longer focused on ourselves.  This has an extremely positive effect on all of us.  It seems the universe is sending me a very persistent message - so I'm going to listen, rather than just ignore it!  I'll keep you posted.  Good night, I hope you all sleep well.

Isn't it amazing how quickly things can change?

It's almost unbelievable how much can change in just a few short days.  When I arrived in San Francisco I had a dark cloud hovering over me - it wasn't always in the forefront, often it simply lurked in the dark crevices of my mind.  Generally if I was out, around other people, it would remain at bay, waiting for the dark stillness of night to pounce.  It was during these times I would succumb to my bouts of self pity, why did I have to get cancer, it isn't fair!  Even worse was the incessant thought that plagued me; both of my parents died thirteen months after being diagnosed with cancer, my life was nearing its end.  On an intellectual level I knew this was ridiculous thinking, it had nothing to do with me.  I wasn't stage four when I was diagnosed.  I was also well aware that the mere presence of that thought could prevent me from regaining my health.  No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't escape from it.  So I decided to stay in San Francisco; perhaps the spiritual environment coupled with a lot of physical exercise and a strong vegetarian atmosphere would be the catalyst I needed to change my thought patterns.  Things seemed to be moving along in a positive way and as long as I stayed busy that thought didn't plague me, but if I let up for even a minute, it would rear its ugly head.  My return home was quickly approaching and I was beginning to get concerned.  What would I do when I got home, I'd be back in exactly the same spot I had left.  The suddenly it happened, something shifted almost overnight, I no longer feel like the grim reaper is at my heels.  I know I'll die one day, we all will, but that doesn't mean its going to be soon!  Swami Padma laid out a "mind watchers" program for me and someone else suggested some great visualization techniques.  I think just talking about it sort of put things in perspective, I was able to see how ridiculous some of my thinking really was.  I don't feel sick and I refuse to succumb to a label I've been given.  I will thrive, its not enough to simply survive.  I realize life isn't going to be a bed of roses, but it wasn't a bed of roses before I was diagnosed with cancer, so why should I expect that now?  I also realize that I have a husband who loves me and is willing and able to help me move on with my life, as well as wonderful friends and family.  I'm far more fortunate than so many people in the world and as long as I stay focused on that and live each day to the fullest I can't ask for anything more!  Besides worrying about what might happen tomorrow has never actually had any effect other than ruining my today.  I can honestly say I'm ready to go home, I feel like I finally have what I stayed for and it's a good feeling.  I wish the same for all of you.  I've just started reading a great book "29 Gifts how a month of giving can change your life" I expect it will have a profound effect on my life.  Have a great evening!       

World Veg Festival in San Francisco

The World Veg Festival was held this weekend in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.  The San Francisco Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center had a booth, so I spent most of the weekend working the booth.  We had a great time.  The festival was sponsored by the San Francisco Vegetarian Society, and they did a fantastic job.  There were amazing speakers, my favorite, was John Robbins, fantastic food and a lot of really good people.  What more can you ask for?

It was really an awesome weekend.  I think we did a pretty good job on our booth - see what you think.

All in all the festival seemed to be quite a success.  It provided a platform for some very important messages and it allowed people to have a great time while hearing those messages.  Hopefully we'll see some events like this in South Florida in the near future.  Well, gotta run.  Ciao!

Farewell to Red

I found out last evening that Red died.  It makes me sad, yet I'm glad he doesn't have to suffer.  I think death is always worse on those left behind than the ones who die.  I guess I won't really know that for sure until my time comes, but somehow it's a comforting thought.

Red was a really special cat.  He was a stray that had been hanging around the neighborhood for years.  In fact, he use to try to intimidate our other cats, so we would chase him off when we saw him.  A couple of years ago he seemed to have mellowed a bit; or perhaps life was just becoming more difficult.  He stopped intimidating the others, so we gradually began feeding him.  He was hungry and we can't say no to an animal in need.  Eventually, we were even able to pet him while he ate, other than that you couldn't get close to him.  Last September we went to Greece for ten days, when we returned, somehow Red seemed a little less anxious around us.  He was more receptive to being petted and when we opened the door and invited him in, not only did he accept, he didn't leave.  That was all it took, Red moved in and immediately became part of the family.  He wasn't well, but we wanted to give him the best possible life until his time came.  He stayed inside most of the time or on the patio.  Red was in some ways more like a dog than a cat, he would follow me around the house, just like a dog.  Many evenings he would greet us at the door when we came home.  There is really no way to adequately describe the way he would look at me (and Bharata), but to say it was with eyes filled with unconditional love.  When you would lean over to kiss him, he would tip his forehead and bring it up to your face, just waiting to have a kiss bestowed upon him.  He gradually became thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker, it was painful to watch but he didn't appear to be in pain.  He started staying closer and closer to Bharata in his final days and died sleeping with him.  We will truly miss you Red, but you're in a better place now.  Remember that we both love you.  I'm sorry I wasn't there with you, but you'll always live in my heart, I carry you with me.  Goodbye sweet pea, mommy loves you!

Still in San Francisco

I'm still alive and well, however I can't always say the same about my internet connection.  Makes updating my blog a bit difficult, especially since I have to work it in between meditation, asana class, karma yoga, meals and walking to the health food store for wheatgrass juice.  Why is it that it always seems to go on the blink when I have time to blog?  Actually maybe it's on the blink other times as well and I just don't know it. I guess that would be like the tree falling in the forest, would it make a sound if no one was there to hear it?  Today was the end of the Navaratri celebration; it culminated with victory day - we had a beautiful puja at satsang this morning.  The rituals are quite inspiring.  Rituals seem to be something the Protestants never really grabbed a hold of for some reason.  It seems like the Eastern Orthodox and the Catholics have more ritualistic qualities to their services,  I guess the Protestants are more puritanical.  Well, if you ask me some incense and flower petals never hurt anybody!  Ah, but no one asked me.

The weather here changes at least as much as it does at home. Everyone is always joking about Florida, if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes it will change.  It's about like that here, yesterday it was warm & sunny (in the 70s) today it's sunny but rather chilly.  Go figure!  I just make sure I always have a sweatshirt with me and whether it's warm or chilly determines which side of the street I walk on (the sunny or shady.)  Hey, we may not know how to use a voting machine in Palm Beach County (hanging chads and all that) but we do know how to stay warm.

The San Francisco Vegetarian Society is having a "World Veg Festival Weekend" here in Golden Gate Park this Saturday & Sunday - so I'm looking forward to that.  I just found a link from their site, well several times removed, which took me to a site for the Palm Beach County Vegetarian Society.  I'll have to check that out when I get home and see what it's all about.  Who knew...

Well, I've got to run, time to go get wheatgrass juice.  Oh, just in case I post at what appears to be an odd time (like the middle of the night) I haven't changed the clock on my computer - it's my link with home!  So it's only 3:30 in the afternoon here.  Well, have a great rest of the day - I'm certainly going to.  In fact I might even spend some time this afternoon trying to figure out facebook - I haven't got the hang of it yet and I'm supposed to be showing someone else how to use it - talk about the blind leading the blind.  So I have to try to do a crash course first.  Ciao!

Sunrise in Golden Gate Park

I decided to stay in San Francisco for awhile, rather than return home on my scheduled flight.  It is wonderful out here.  I'm taking a Bhagavad Gita course at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center.  I'm finding my experience staying at the Center both uplifting and grounding at the same time.  The added bonus is, I'm in a city made for vegetarians & raw foodists.

This morning we did a silent walking meditation in Golden Gate Park.  It was amazing.  First, I have to say I was very proud of myself to be able to keep up with the other three people (all of whom are much younger, in better physical condition and use to the terrain) we covered a lot of territory - probably about one third of the park.  We started at 6 am and walked to Stow Lake, where we meditated at Huntington Falls and then walked back.  There were only a few joggers and bicyclists out at that hour so it was wonderfully quiet and peaceful.  The only sounds were the crunch of the gravel under our feet, the waterfall and the mallard ducks on the lake - now I will have to admit, they are rather vocal!  The brisk morning fog felt like a mist of rain on my face, it was like a kiss from God.  The air is so clean and fresh from all the trees I just wanted to drink in as much of it as I could.  Walking to the lake it was dark, and as we passed the Academy of Science building, the hanging sculpture of a flock of hawks seemed to come alive in the soft glow of the lights.  Behind the glass facade they were soaring, circling, watching for their next prey.  They were magnificent, especially since I knew  they weren't going to catch any unsuspecting small animal!  Walking back, the sun had come up so I was able to take everything in, since we weren't talking or otherwise distracted.  Walking past trees so large I couldn't begin to reach even halfway around them was awe inspiring.  The ground is covered with nasturtiums with leaves as large as saucers.  Of course the squirrels had my attention, I just love watching them run and play without a care in the world.  Taking the time to remove the distractions and really let ourselves experience the wealth of natural beauty that surrounds us is just overwhelming.  It is so gratifying to stop and realize just how fortunate we really are if we simply choose to recognize it.  Well, that certainly started my day off wonderfully, I hope yours is the same.  Remember you can have a fabulous day if you choose to.

Dinner at "Alive"

OK, I wouldn't have thought this was possible, but we had dinner at a restaurant that had even better food than Cafe Gratitude.  Now that is hard to believe, because Cafe Gratitude was excellent, but "Alive" was sublime!  It was small and very tastefully done with a beautifully landscape outdoor dining area in the back (the weather precluded our eating out there tonight.)  The presentation of the food was that of a five star restaurant - see for yourself.

Swami Padma & Bharata had soup (which we forgot to photograph) then we all decided on the sunflower seed burger with avocado as our entree and for dessert it was a strawberry coconut chocolate torte & a banana coconut chocolate torte - everything was absolutely delicious.  I can't think of a better job than to be a food critic in this town!  It would be like you died and went to heaven.  The chef trained at Living Light Culinary Arts - so if this is any indication of the quality of their graduates, that's where I would go to learn how to be a raw chef!  We all thoroughly enjoyed our evening.  We took the bus to the restaurant which was also great.  It was a scenic route, we saw Haight-Ashbury, the Presidio and several other beautiful areas of the city; we met some very nice & interesting people, plus we kept our carbon footprint relatively small.  What more can you ask for.  If I were going to move from South Florida, San Francisco would certainly top my list of possible places to move - it is a dynamite place.  Monday we're going to check out the sea lions (or seals) at Pier 39 - the guidebook said they arrive in January so we didn't think we would see them; but several of the local people we met on the bus told us they are there now - so I'll let you know Monday if that's correct.  Well that's all for tonight.  It's time for me to go to sleep!  Have a great night.   

Rainy Day

We were blessed with four glorious days of sunshine, so it's only fair that it rain today.  It's rather foggy, which makes it look like a winter day in the northeast, just before it snows.   This is good, makes me appreciate being inside as I sit by the window typing and watching all the people walk by in the rain.  No one seems to be too disturbed by it, there are even people sitting in the top of the double-decker bus (it has stopped raining, so they aren't crazy.)  We went back to Cafe Gratitude yesterday, that place is incredible!  It's a shame they don't have one in Palm Beach County.  That would be fantastic!  We're having a great time.  I even got a little work done on the swamp walk photos.

 

Welcome to San Francisco

We're here and as always, California is GREAT!  I have always had a soft spot for California since my first time here 20+ years ago.  I almost missed my connection in Dallas; by schedule I had 40 minutes between flights and of course, the arrival gate was just about the furthest point you could get from the departure gate, but that would have been OK.  In fact, we touched down 20 minutes early, so I was elated that I would now have plenty of time; except, there was another plane in our gate, so we were going to have to wait 5-10 minutes, still ahead of schedule, no problem.  The 5-10 minutes turned into about 35 minutes, now we were really cutting it close, then when we get to the gate the skywalk (or whatever they call it) isn't functioning properly so we have to wait for them to fix it before the door could be opened (for safety reasons).  When that door opened, I ran to the train, missed he first one, then ran down the escalator and to the gate, if I had been 5 seconds later, the gate agent said they would have closed the door to the plane and I would have missed the flight - talk about luck!  Amazingly I arrived early in San Francisco, found Swami Padma and we chatted while waiting for Bharata's flight to arrive; his was early, as well, so we were off on our adventure!  The Sivananda Yoga Center (where we are staying) is across from Golden Gate Park.

We went for a walk through the park later Tuesday afternoon, it's very beautiful, there is even an old fashioned carousel.  I have to go back earlier in the day to see it working.  Hey, maybe I can go for a ride on it, do they let grownups do that or do you have to be a kid?

   

It feels a lot colder than I was expecting, I had forgotten about the wind and somehow the humidity makes it sort of damp, so combined with the wind it cuts right through you.  Since I wanted to pack light, I brought one (what I previously thought was very warm) hoodie!  Guess I learned.  But all is well, I was able to borrow a sweatshirt and some sweat pants, life is good!  All in all, we've been extremely fortunate.  The weather is actually exceptional for out here, very sunny and clear.  It's cold compared to Florida, but everything is relative.  Now that I have warm clothes, I'm enjoying the change.  Wednesday, we ran a few errands with Swami Padma and then we all went to Cafe Gratitude for lunch.  The food is incredible, I thought I had eaten some fantastic raw food in the past, but nothing even comes close to this.  Lunch by itself was worth flying out here for!  I've died and gone to heaven.

So far we are having a fantastic time, can't wait to see what today holds.  Oh, one more boon for California,  it makes getting up for meditation so easy, because on east coast time it's 9 AM - I could handle that, no problem!  Gotta run, time to eat.  Oh, they also have the best avocados and I'm pigging out on them, with every meal - I love it!  Until later, have a stupendous day, I certainly plan to. 

Swamp Walk

This was a catch-up week for me.  The re-upholstery project is complete.  It didn't come out bad, especially when you figure I knew nothing about upholstering when it began.  That's not to say I know that much now.  The professional upholsterers of South Florida certainly don't need to worry about losing their business to me!

I'm so glad that's finished.  Today was great, we went down to Clyde Butcher's Big Cypress Gallery for his annual Labor Day Swamp Walk.  It was beautiful!  This year it was smaller; minus the bands and food booths, so it was incredible!  Unfortunately I only have time to post a couple of photographs; we are leaving tomorrow morning for San Francisco.  I will try to get some more up while I'm out there.  This will give you some idea of how beautiful the swamp is.

Have a fantastic rest of the holiday!  I'll be in touch from San Francisco!  Ciao!

Lazy Sunday

I think I could stay in bed all day, unfortunately that is not an option.  I have cats to feed, kitty boxes to scoop, cushions to make, errands to run and a myriad of other things to fill my day!  Now the cats on the other hand, sleep all day.  I think in my next life I will come back as a pampered house cat.  What a life!

We are making progress on the upholstery project, I can almost see the end in sight.  I will be so happy when this project is complete; there's too much repetition for me.  I have been working on some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) just to break the tedium - it's been fun.  It also keeps my creative juices flowing in anticipation of getting back to work after this project is finished!  This is going to have to be a very short post, I've got to quickly make some juice before it is time to pick-up Mutt to work on the cushions.  I am learning a lot, so that's a positive thing.

Bharata returns from Canada tonight, so that's exciting.  He's been at a yoga staff reunion since Wednesday.  I'm glad he was able to go and he's having a great time, but I miss him, so I'm glad he'll be back tonight.  The cat's miss him to; I'm much stricter than he is!

Well, have a spectacular day, I'm going to!

Awesome Afternoon

Success! Oh how sweet it is. I can't tell you how happy I am this cushion is now behind me. It was beginning to feel like the movie "Groundhog Day," it seemed all I did was remake this cushion. It isn't perfect, but perfection is highly overrated. I cannot believe those words just came out of my mouth! Well, in the words of Julia Child, "never apologize and never make excuses." I think it looks pretty good.

I desperately needed a diversion to keep the cushion for the ottoman from totally making me crazy, so I started playing around with making a throw pillow and I rather like the way it turned out. Very yogic, don't you think?

I told you this morning I was going to treat myself to a movie if I finished the cushion and I did just that. I went to see Julie and Julia. It was divine! Meryl Streep was incredible, as usual and Amy Adams gave a great performance. I had no idea Julia Child had such Joie de Vivre and it was contagious, it made me want to take up French cooking! Ha, that won't work, I think it's against the law or something to say "French cooking" and "raw vegan" in the same sentence. Well, I can at least let her teach me to live my life with complete abandon. Might as well shoot for the moon, right? Hey, I can always settle for a star if I don't make it, but if I don't even try where will I be?

I forgot to post the picture of I took of Red napping in the sun this morning. He looked so peaceful. Well, I'm going to leave you with that. I have to get myself to bed or I will never make it up for meditation at 6 AM. Ciao!

A Fresh Start

The base upholstery is completed, all that's left is the cushions & pillows, which I thought would be the easy part. Wrong! They are proving to be quite a challenge, at least the ottoman is, which is where I started. I completely made it once and ripped it apart, partially did it a second time and ripped it apart again, third time's charm - keep your fingers crossed. After I work out the kinks on this one, the others should go quickly. The base upholstery came out looking great. It totally changes the room, it's bright and cheery!

I needed a break from the cushions, so I spent yesterday cleaning & doing laundry. It cleared (cleaned) my head, as well as the house. Today I begin with a fresh start and I feel certain the cushion will work out this time. How's that for optimism? I'm also thinking of giving myself a little treat and going to see the movie "Julie and Julia" this afternoon; assuming of course I work out the kinks with the cushion! That adds a little more incentive to get it right this time. I'm experimenting with some throw pillow ideas, so that provides a little fun between seam ripping. I finished the portrait of a friend I was working on. This cleans up some more loose ends, I can start fresh on several fronts, which is a good feeling.

I would like to get through with the cushions in the next few days and get back to my art before I leave for San Francisco. I'll have to wait and see if the Universe is in agreement with that plan or if there's more I need to learn from seam ripping. So far it seems (no pun intended) that the lessons are patience and perseverance, but there could be more or I may need to advance a bit further on one or both of those. I hope not, but we'll see. Have a fantabulous day!

Rainy Wednesday

Today is starting out rather wet & dreary, the remnants of tropical storm Ana are passing through as they make their way into the Gulf. I'm not complaining, the plants love the rain and I'm quite happy the storm dissipated. I have my fingers crossed we will escape yet another hurricane season with no storms! This makes for a great day to finish up little projects. I have a lot of those lying around, the upholstering is playing havoc with my time to work on my art. It shouldn't be too much longer and I can get back to my normal routine. I can't wait! I did finish two more pieces and a third is almost complete so that's progress. I can live with that. Well, I won't get anything finished if I don't begin, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'll leave you with these two new pieces and I'm off! Have a great day.

We Did Good!

Well, I've impressed myself, I had concerns about how we were going to do on our reupholstery project, but so far we're doing great. The breakfast set (chairs) look better than they did when they were new. Better fabric choice :-)

Before

After

I have the "before pictures for the sofa & chair going in the living room, but I forgot to take them until I had removed all the cushion covers, sorry! But you still get the general idea - ugly! I can't wait to see how these come out, I have a very interesting plan for them - which I think is going to be great, so we will see! Here are the before shots.

Let's face it, these do not scream "HAPPY" but you just wait until Mutt & I get through with them, they'll have everybody smiling! Well, I have to keep this short, time to get started upholstering, this is actually turning out to be a lot of fun. Have a GREAT day!

What was I thinking?

Well, its official, I've lost my mind. I'm preparing to "reupholster" a rattan sofa, chair & ottoman and 4 breakfast chairs - knowing nothing about upholstery! I think that probably qualifies me. Mutt, my mother-in-law is going to help me with it; we begin tomorrow. I want it to have a fun, colorful, happy look (much like my artwork) so I have some bright fabrics and we're going to sort of mix it up! Which is probably going to complicate things a bit, but I will keep you posted. I'll take some before pictures and post them tomorrow. This is going in the "yoga house" and a friend was kind enough to give us some furniture they were getting rid of, but it just didn't scream happy. I'm hoping when I'm finished, it will, but I'll let you be the judge of that. We should have a lot of fun tomorrow. I may want to redo our house when I'm finished! I better not mention that to my husband :-)

Sunrise Blogging

Seems like early morning is the best time for me to blog, before the day runs away from me! I don't know if that happens to anyone else, but it certainly happens to me. The graduation Sunday was great, everyone had a terrific time and Lisa made delicious raw tacos, so I even had something I could eat. Yeah! Thanks Lisa. Durga took some great pictures, as usual. Here's a sample.

I didn't get much work done yesterday. Ione fell the other day, trying to get a small snake out of the bathroom, so she ended up in the hospital. Mutt and I went to visit her yesterday. Somehow it seems like I don't get a great deal done on days I have running around to do, regardless of how long I'm actually gone. I guess I should check into the whole time management thing! Obviously something about that is still eluding me after all these years. I did however discover the key to free motion quilting which I believe will help when I'm working with multiple layers of fabric and paper, to prevent jamming. The internet is such an amazing thing! It always amazes me when I stop and think back to BI (before internet) how did we survive, mailing away for information, going to the library to research something and if lucky, the book we needed hadn't been checked out. Now, everything is at our fingertips, immediately available. I guess this just feeds into the instant gratification mindset we all seem to possess these days. This just confirms there's an up and a down side to everything! I'll suffer the down on this one, I don't think I could ever go back - it would drive me crazy. I barely survive when our DSL is running slow. That's really bad, but I can't help it. Somehow I doubt I'm alone in this!

Lazy Sunday

Today has been one of those lazy days where although I'm doing things it just has a very laid back, lazy kind of a feel to it. You would think this kind of day would linger on and seem to last forever, but no, it has just flown by! I have to be honest though, sometimes when I'm working on a new piece, that happens, I seem to be in a different dimension where time seems to standstill. By now I guess you think I'm totally crazy, but it's true. I can't explain how it works exactly, but it has to do with my mind being focused or at least that's my understanding of it! But you're saying, "what does a crazy person know?" I'm saying, "you would be surprised!" Well, enough of that, I'll put pictures up when I finish the pieces from "the other dimension."

Unfortunately my post must be brief today, tonight is teacher training graduation at my husband's yoga center. This was a really great group of people, so I'm looking forward to their graduation. Toodle-oo!

Sleepless in Lake Worth

Well, I think this will be an early night. Durga and I went to an opening last night at Clay Glass Metal Stone Cooperative Gallery in Lake Worth. We both enjoyed it. I was impressed by how many people were there. Galleries don't usually draw such a crowd during the summer; I guess that speaks highly of the work. Anyone who has a chance should get by and take a look, you can find the hours posted on their website.

I haven't slept well the past few nights, I think it's the heat, we're going to leave the air conditioning on tonight and see if that helps. We went for a bike ride just before dusk, there was quite a breeze, so that made it invigorating. It was just what I needed. That should certainly help me sleep! Hope everyone has a great evening, sweet dreams!

Morning Cup of Joe

Mornings are such a peaceful time, well, after the cats are fed, they can be rather demanding! It's my time to go outside and read or journal while I have my morning coffee. Well, I don't drink coffee or anything with caffeine for that matter, but Maya herbal coffee "Chocolate" by teeccino is fantastic! It has no caffeine and it's organic; add a little alcohol-free vanilla and a few drops of stevia and I'm in heaven! This morning I was leafing through Quilting Arts Magazine listening to the birds and the crickets chirping, while I enjoyed my morning cup of Joe! (I never realized this phrase originated in the Navy). The early mornings and late afternoons are about the only times you can really spend outside during August in south Florida. Mid-day, even the birds aren't out, I may see the occasional dragonfly or perhaps some butterflies but that's about all. Yesterday I saw the most beautiful dragonfly it's wings were an iridescent red. Growing up, I only recall having seen green dragonflies, but in the past few years we've had green, blue, red and a golden yellow - they are spectacular. I think Saint Francis helps me really appreciate nature, there's a statue of him nestled among the foliage directly across from my chair. I wish I could talk him into attracting some fireflies! They are such magical little creatures. I remember watching them as a child, I would be mesmerized for hours. My husband and I did a lot of kayaking in Everglades National Park a few years ago and we saw them quite often out there. For anyone who has never experienced the Everglades, it's a national treasure that shouldn't be missed! I can't begin to describe the magnificence, it defies words. I'll look for some of my photographs and post them in the next couple of days, but if you ever have the opportunity, definitely go. It is the only ecosystem of its kind in the world. Meanwhile I'm going to continue trying to persuade Saint Francis to encourage the fireflies to pay me a visit! Hope you all have a great day!

Too Much Stuff

My husband forwarded me a link to a great podcast about clutter's effect on creativity, it was Marianne Williamson broadcast on Oprah.com. After listening to this, today becomes clear out some of the clutter day! I'd like to say I will clear it all, but I'm being realistic. I'm going to start with the arts & crafts supplies I've collected that never seem to make it into my work. I always seem to end up with things that don't totally resonate with me and therefore they keep getting pushed to the back of the bin. It reminds me of the kid in elementary school who was always the last to be chosen for a team at recess! I feel sad, all these poor little craft supplies that have the potential to shine in the right persons project! I know the perfect new place for them. My mother-in-law, Mutt (my husband's early attempts at saying mother came out "Mutt" and the name stuck) and her friend Ione started an art club at the retirement home where they live, so they will be the beneficiaries of my extra arts & crafts stuff. It's a win win situation, I clear clutter and the Art Club has fresh supplies. The club has actually been quite beneficial for the group at the home. Several people have said it gives them a reason to get out of bed each day; it has put meaning & purpose into people's lives. Any of you crafters or artists out there who find you have excess supplies might keep retirement homes in mind as beneficiaries, children aren't the only ones who benefit from donated supplies. Ione made me copies of several of her drawings, she did a nice job.

Art imitates life

They say art imitates life and when you see my house, you know that at least for me it's true. I told you I dream of living on an island - well... I created my own (you have to use your imagination)! My house is painted many of the same colors I use in my artwork, I have whimsical little painted turtles & lizards, wind chimes, and even a thatched roofed screen room, all nestled among plants so it's a little oasis. Bright colors have always "spoken" to me, I'm just not a subdued person when it comes to color. Actually, I should probably look at this, because I've always been rather subdued in other respects, maybe my art is telling me something! I'll get back with you on that one. Honestly though, you be the judge, does my art imitate my life (house)?

OK, now that you've seen my house, see how it compares to my art!