Pause & See ~ Morning Light

I love the shortening days and the opportunity to see the sunrise at a reasonable hour.  I have to admit I was a bit grumbly this morning.  I awoke to the sound of rain.  Somehow my forecast hadn't included rain for today.  You see, I did 6 loads of laundry yesterday thinking this would be my last outside line drying time for a while.  I had thought it would be dry today...oh bother.  Guess it is going to get a few rain rinses.  When I went to take Runa out I saw this beautiful sky!  Grumblies were all gone!  I ran and got my camera.  Wearing my robe and muck boots I ventured out into the cold drizzle to get a better view across the field.

It was breath taking~~~

I stood there just soaking it all in and watched the light come on.  There was a soft drizzle and I was getting a bit chilled.  I started think about my morning coffee and turned to head back to the house.  This is what was behind me ~~~ A spectacular rainbow!

I no longer felt the cold.  It was just so beautiful!  I took a stroll down to the pond to see.....

My camera does not do the sight justice.  The sun shone on the autumn leaves at just the perfect angle to create a burst of golden light.  Longfellow's Poem speaks to this moment so very well...

The Rainbow

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

I try to see something new each day. The art of seeing is essential to any creative work in my humble opinion.  My favorites are the ones that stop me in my tracks!  Like so many folks I have a very busy mind that I struggle to quiet.  By creating this practice it has given me many opportunities to pause and be with a new wonder.  I love to wonder about wonders.  These little seeings can be just the jolt my creative process needs to get out of a rut.  But mostly, they provide a pause which is that moment of peace I need to heal from a frustration. These seeings are grounding for me and bring me to the present.  I will admit to laughing out loud with joy over some of my discoveries, they are a moments of childlike wonder!  

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky"             ~~~Buddha

~~~Gratitude~~~

Today I am Grateful for the first REAL snow!  I wanted to go snowshoeing, but at 5 degrees I changed my mind.  Plus, I got my fair share of exercise shovelling and this snow is going no where anytime soon...plenty of cold weather in the forecast.  I have a nice vegetarian stew on the cookstove.  DH is clamoring for early dinner and biscuits.  So I will be quick today...I think he deserves it after plowing! <3

And a nice New England Poet for today...

Snow-flakes

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

Out of the bosom of the Air,

      Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

      Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

            Silent, and soft, and slow

            Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take

      Suddenly shape in some divine expression,

Even as the troubled heart doth make

      In the white countenance confession,

            The troubled sky reveals

            The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,

      Slowly in silent syllables recorded;

This is the secret of despair,

      Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,

            Now whispered and revealed

            To wood and field.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173915 

It is my intention, each Sunday, to share something that fills me with Gratitude. 

I write ~~~Gratitude~~~ with the wavy lines to represent the gratitude ENERGY~~~~~! 

I hope you will join me and share your gratitude moments. 

~~~Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste'~~~

***Tuesday's Tip*** (late)

This is how we left the shower mid September

What a long strange trip its been...Today's blog will be long on photos and short on words...I will admit to being pretty pooped!  We started this shower project at the beginning of September.  Then we took a "break" in order to get our wood in and the gardens to bed. 

With the outside work done it was time to dive in!

From Saturday - Tuesday we worked on the tile finally--->

I did not always look this happy!

It was a supreme group effort.  The group being me, my DH, Google Search, YouTube, & the Schluter Shower Systems 1-800 #!!!  I am filled with gratitude that we managed to do this job.  We did question our sanity on several occasions!  All is well that ends well~~~ahhhh.

We are short a few doodads that we need to complete the glass blocks.  Ordered them online.  Once the glass blocks are completed we can grout the whole shower.  Then shower!

Oh! Yeah! my tip....when I am going to do dusty, dirty jobs I like to coat my hair with coconut oil.  It makes a nice conditioner and protector.  I use olive oil too but, coconut oil smells nicer!

My FB status yesterday was ---> Shower nearly done ~~~ Marriage intact!  We had a few moments.  But after so many projects we have learned to find a way quickly past our little lackings of patience.  Today we took the day off and had a campfire.  It was just what our souls needed!

“Ah, to build, to build! That is the noblest art of all the arts. Painting and sculpture are but images, are merely shadows cast by outward things on stone or canvas, having in themselves no separate existence. Architecture, existing in itself, and not in seeming a something it is not, surpasses them as substance shadow.”

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow