Thaw

Thaw~~~ to be freed from the physical effect of frost.

I have been a bit frozen lately, but not by the winter winds.  I have been in a sort of creation freeze. I haven't made anything in a while.  The holiday hoopla usually hampers my production flow.  I am full of ideas but, I have trouble getting beyond the in my head and out my hands stage.  I am so easily distracted by the day to day this and that...so before I know it the sun has set and I am pooped.  (bet this sounds familiar)  To over come these slumps I give my self a "Creation Day".  Today was one.  On Creation Day only the bare minimum of chores are allowed.  And I make something, anything, just make myself make.

So today I woke up from a night of insomnia.  I was super tired.  But I was committed to getting unstuck so I started the day with a nap!  I napped from 8:00 am to 8:45 am.  Perfection!  I was good to go.  I zipped through the duck chores, a snow shoe with Runa, a few Etsy emails.  I warmed up by finishing the threading (warping) of my little loom.  Then into the sewing room to make......a mess!  A happy mess.  I love to have fabric and thread flying.  My process is not neat or tidy, it is creative chaos!  In that pandemonium an inner calm arises.  I feel my pent up ideas releasing and "becoming".  I worked on some love ideas with Valentines Day in mind.  But found more inspiration from the book I just started to listen too today, No Man is an Island by Thomas Merton (9 hour unabridged read by Jonathan Montaldo)  

I have had more "productive" days but I feel I have turned the corner.  I have got my rhythm back.  Loosened, melted, rekindled, coalesced....ok I will step away from the thesaurus....   Here is some of the proof of the pudding...

Finished Warping and Even Spun a Bit!

My Mirthful Mess...and it is going to get messier!

It really is a January Thaw....Enjoying my Lunch Break Outside in the Winter Sun!!

Sending You Some 

Getting Organized!

Sales Tax DUE the 15th! ...so... "fun" bookkeeping

 January is a busy month!  Time to get organized and purging.  Decided to re organize my closet to keep better track of my Etsy inventory that is ready to ship.  So need to let some stuff go...namely magazines.  I am a reforming pack rat!  Etsy is my therapy!!  So I am listing some magazines in my www.injoytreasures.etsy.com and giving others away.

Need to get my books in order.  Not my favorite task.  But once I get going I get into it.  I like the feel of sharp pencil on ledger paper.  I use a combination of computer and old fashion pencil and paper sort of like my art and Etsy!  (I have got my son's 1st FAFSA done!)

So time to get off the computer and snow shoe before the snow melts.  Then get busy!  Wish me luck!!  What do you do to get organized?

Closet Organization in Progress

Maybe more time to read soon!?

    

If I could get organized

There may be nothing wrong with you
The way you live the work you do,
But I can surely plainly see
Exactly what is wrong with me.
With you there may be nothing wrong,
But here's my trouble all along
I do the thing that don't amount
To very much with no account.
It isn't that I'm indolent
or dodging duties quite intent
I work as hard as anyone
And yet I get so little done
I nibble this, I nibble that
but never finish what I'm at.
The morning goes the noon is near
Before I know the night is near.
And all around me I regret
The things I haven't finished yet.
If I could just get organized
I oftentimes may realize
Not all that matters is the man
The man must also have a plan
It really seems important though
I let a lot of matters go
and all around me I neglect
the things I haven't finished yet.
I work as hard as anyone
And yet I get so little done
I'd do so much you'd be surprised
If I could just get organized. 

Baidurya Mukherjee

Hand Woven Scarves that need finish work and listing...

Make Bed...Fold Laundry...Snow Shoe First...Cheer Up Runa!

~~~Gratitude~~~

Right Out My Back Door

I am very grateful that I can snow shoe right out my back door.  It is one of my favorite winter activities.  I have a great snow shoe set up from LL Beans.  With the special boots I can just step into the snow shoes and go!  Runa loves how quick I am ready.  It is such a great activity.  Low cost, no lift lines, and right out the door.

I had my first snow shoe experience on my 12th birthday in the Cascades Mountains of Washington State.  My dad and 3 sisters went on a organized snow shoe hike.  After the hike my dad gave me a pair of wooden beaver-tail gut snow shoes.  Best gift ever!  When we would go skiing as a family I would often take off into the woods on my snow shoes.  I loved the solitude and the closeness to nature.  I often wandered pretty far off but just followed my tracks back.  I have always felt most comfortable in the woods alone.

Now I don't need to wait until the weekend ski trip to head out into the woods.  Just have to wait for snow!  I try to snow shoe everyday that conditions allow.  Happy Winter!!!

Let's Get Going~~~Put that Camera Away~~~says Runa

View from my Back Door

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'~~~

Busy!

 I have been quiet when it comes to the blog-a-sphere. Wish I could say the same about my life~  BUSY! week.  Un-decorating, celebrating my birthday and son's 18th!  A happy flush of Reiki clients, getting little loom warped (warped means threading the loom, not a warp speed operation or me going crazy).  My camera broke---that is a yikes for an Etsian/Blogger!  So new learning curve with the new camera. (full disclosure~last couple of blogs have photos from past winters...)  Oh yeah, winter!  It has been frigid here.  I have been busy keeping both wood stove stoked and keeping an eye on my quackers...don't want duck-sicle...they do pretty well if I  make them stay in and give them hay to snuggle up with.  Today is my first day alone in 2 weeks + at least until 3:20 when the boy (legal adult now!) gets home from school.  Hope to re-group a bit.  

I love my family and friends.  I enjoy all my interactions with my Reiki and sewing clients.  But I re-charge best ALONE.  Alone is like ahhhhhhhh, a fresh breath of air, time I wish to savor...but usually I go into screech mode.  I love that too.  Being able to work at my tasks without interruption.  I listen to the music that I love or an audio book...or my favorite...nothing!  So better get to it!  Daylight is burning! (it is pretty dark by 4:30 pm these days)

List for today:

Blog
Ship Etsy Sale
Black Bean soup cookstove/crockpot
Snow Shoe with Runa
Measure Scarf Warp for Loom
minimal house cleaning
Photo shoot for Etsy
work on mini fiber art idea for Etsy
drive 30 minutes to town to meet with fiber group (probably dreaming)

Thinks that enough!

First Photos on "auto"....add reading big camera manual to list!

Soups on the Stove...Need to fill the wood rack too

Runa's Fun...Vern doesn't even try to help pick up!

Warping Reel Measuring Scarf Warp

Empty Little Loom

Waiting for a Snow Shoe...if looks could talk! (mop the floor?  probably not)

Coming soon to a blog near you~~~My WORD(s) of the Year!

~~~Gratitude~~~

SNOW!

I am Grateful for SNOW!  I love snow!!! We finally had a good storm this past week.  Now my world is a wintry wonderland!   I love being able to go out my back door and snow shoe right into the woods.  I love the light that is created by the white world.  I love the kind of quiet I experience in my little frosty domain.  

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  I seldom experienced snow in my backyard.  Snow required a 2 hour drive to the Cascade Mountains for skiing on the weekend. I know a lot of folks that are affected by the low winter light here in Maine.  But for me winter is brilliant.  The snow makes the world blindingly bright!  Even after 30 years in Maine I remember the long gray rainy winters of Washington.  I will take the cold, the ice, the shoveling, the tricky travel all in exchange for snow!

Winter Trees

All the complicated details

of the attiring and

the disattiring are completed!

A liquid moon

moves gently among

the long branches.

Thus having prepared their buds

against a sure winter

the wise trees

stand sleeping in the cold.

BY WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS

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's. 

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

Quiet

For some time now I have made a practice of choosing a word to contemplate for the year.  2012's word was "quiet".  Now with the year coming to an end it is time for reflection as well and making my final choice for 2013.  But first a little about my tradition.  

I have a great love of words.  Not only their meaning but I like their shapes.  I love just to look at particular letters.  (cursive capital G has been my favorite since I was a girl~~O is my other favorite letter).  I have been a terrible speller all my life (much gratitude for spell checkers...though sometime my spelling is so bad spell check can't figure it out!).  The word "if" can look wrong to me.  I was a good student in school, otherwise (back in my day we were graded on spelling..it was a subject in grammar school).  Well this affliction made me  friends with dictionaries.  I still love to read them.  A high school teacher finally had me tested and I seem to have some mild form of dyslexia.  But it is a blessing.  Simplest words looking "wrong" to me has created a need to look.  I sometimes just look at a word for a while until my brain assures me that it is spelled correctly. During that "looking" I see more than the meaning and the spelling.  I see flowing lines and beauty.

I am a seeker.  I am on the search for meaning in this life.  I am inclined to experiment with different practices to energize my search.  Some work for me, some don't.  The word for the year practice is a keeper!  I started at age 40 and have kept it up every year since.  Some of the more memorable word include: enough, truth, relish, and humble.  I have a big story around "humble" that I will share later this winter.  It goes along with this piece of fiber art I created. https://www.etsy.com/listing/91793140/monks-robe-humble-fiber-art-icelandic

So this year was QUIET.  Quiet has been a rather quiet word for me.  No big shake ups that I am aware of but, I am quieter.  Especially, with my teenage son.  It was his request for me to speak in a lower tone that prompted the word choice.  I have a bit of a hearing loss, so I guess I talk louder than I used too.  I have been putting awareness towards my level of speech.  I also took 2 days of silence during the summer to get really quiet.  I even taught Runa to come when I clapped so I didn't have to speak.  I have surrounded my self with more quiet.  I watch less TV, I seldom listen to the radio, and have been engaging in tasks that quiet my busy brain.  I looked into "Quietism", not an idea I need to explore further but, glad to know it exists .  Quiet is not the same as silence.  It is closer to stillness but, not quite that either.  Of course, I read many dictionary and thesaurus definitions, my favorite was "freedom from unwanted sound".  I think this describes quiet the best for me.  But, now it is time to put quiet to bed. I will always have more awareness for the word from here on out.  It is so nice and quiet here now with all of our snow, a perfect time to say good bye. I will leave you with this wonderful Pablo Neruda poem I discovered during this year's searchings.

Keeping Quiet 

by Pablo Neruda. (trans. Alastair Reid.)

And now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth
let's not speak in any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.

It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.

Fisherman in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.

Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.

What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about,
I want no truck with death.

If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.

Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.

Now I'll count up to twelve,
and you keep quiet and I will go.

The Path Continues 

~~~Gratitude~~~

"If we are to create peace in our world, we must begin with our children." Mahatma Gandhi

I am Grateful to have raised a son to nearly age 18.  I am Grateful for all the children that have flowed through my life.  In light of the recent events in Connecticut I cannot help but be a part of the collective grief.  I think the most awful thing must be to lose a child.   I do not just consider the children that were killed at Sandy Hook, I feel for all the losses across the world.  Whether it is "collateral damage" during times of war, famine, or diseases like aids each loss is no less painful to the ones who love their children.  And too the teachers who lost their lives I honor their power of love for children.  Many parents, myself included, know in our heart of hearts we would give our own life to spare our child's.  Maybe we can take some of that energy of sacrifice and do more to make this world a safer more peaceful place.  PEACE~~~let it begin with me.

In quiet tribute I share some of my many happy memories I have experienced raising my son.  My heart goes out to all of those folks who have lost the possibilities of such joys.

It is my intention to share each Sunday 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 what fills you with gratitude and how it has changed your moment. Amen, Blessed Be, Namaste' ~~~~~~~~~~~