Pause & See ~~~ April Ice

You know that old saying..."If you don't like the weather just wait a minute"?  Well, that is the story of our lives here in Maine.   Plenty, of variety and surprises, like April ice!  Do not believe I have ever seen ice this late into April!  Glad to see the sun this morning and hope the rest of the snow will melt away before the day ends.  But a first, for me, is an icicle on April 17th!

Ice in my garden paths!

This is a very brave garlic emerging from my hard scrabble soil and the spring ice!

Tonight will be the first OUTside aired Clean Sheet Night! 

(Sheet look a little stiff? Yes, they are frozen!)

morning field view

first I heard your name

bringing my mind back to spring

thaw recall, Phoebe

orah

This is a regular feature on my blog.  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.  But 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 moment of childlike wonder!  

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

Foolish April

I had planned to blog yesterday with my Tuesday's Tip but I got busy making the shades for the bathroom windows.  The sun does occasionally shine here in Maine and at just the right angle to make bathing blinding...so I made blinds!  My thought was I would get up early and do my Tuesday blog this morning.  That was until I looked out the window and laughed and laughed and laughed.....

This is real time April 16th 2014 6:30 AM!  We got a couple of inches of snow!  

Crazy!  But still beautiful!  But still CRAZY!

"Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather."    ~John Ruskin

Hope my poor lavender survives!
It was mostly protected by the winter snow that never melted.
Snow can be good mulch...but not so much anymore...

Rest of the "garden" is safe inside!

I think my Icelander has even had enough!  She looks like she could use some coffee 

(right now she is back in bed)

Here are the shades that kept me busy yesterday.  Just simple blinds that are rolled by hand and held up with a snap.  They are lined with light block fabric and hung with 2 grommets each on little "L" hooks.  Amazing how what I think will be a simple job takes half my day.  Amazing that I thought spring was actually here!!

My DH will be home from work soon...Wednesday is our day off...I think this is the best advice for today....

Sitting quietly, doing nothing,
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
Lao Tzu

~~~Gratitude~~~ Opening

Today is a mix of rain, sleet, and SNOW!  Big crazy flakes that make me laugh like a lunatic, even though I know they mean nothing.  This winter loving creature that I am can finally say, YES I am ready for spring!  But, what a difference a day makes, only yesterday we had the most beautiful day.  It was OPENING day around here.  OPENED up my garden shed yesterday.  This got my gardening blood stirring!

Summer comes out of storage!

The last of the ice ~~~ today the pond is free ~~~ toe dipping begins!

The snow/ice hump in front of Duckingham Palace finally melted enough that we could OPEN the door.  I made a new list...the spring list...

Clean the Duck House

Build the Brooder

Order Ducklings!! <3

Prune the Berries

Clean the Cold Room

Summer-ize the Treehouse

Transplant Trees

Clean out Attic

Sew Bathroom Curtains

Transplant Seedlings

.......more I haven't even thought of yet!

Still time for daily walks...more OPENING to come....like the wood trails and.....

Opening Up

We sit amid a growing darkness.
It is growing in me, you have no idea.
I look in your eyes, they are the eyes
of so much love.
To know where you belong is one thing,
but to accept it like opening up to a rainstorm,
to accept it like refusing to run when the
rain comes, but letting it wash you,
is another whole thing,
new and pristine, like clear rivers.
It is another whole thing you ought
to have in your open arms. 

Courtney Kane

love.....

Grateful for OPENING!

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'~~~

2 ~ Walk Day

Winter is finally waning.  I celebrated with two walks today.  I am just in from my evening stroll.  It has been a long time since I have gone on an after dinner walk.  It felt absolutely wonderful and relaxing!  I am back to walking on our land so Runa is off leash again.  She enjoyed a romp this morning that included giving chase to the flocks of robins that have returned.  Harder for me to get to the computer these days, just want to soak the sun and above freezing temperatures.  Here is a little photo journal of my close to home journeys...

Ice will be out soon I think!

Water flowing into the pond.

One of my newer gardens heavy on the clay side but will produce amazingly well.
Here is where my garlic is waiting to emerge!

GREEN! I'll take what I can get!

Things to come!

Evening walk...even more snow has melted since morning!

Thaw

Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed
And saw from elm-tops, delicate as flowers of grass,
What we below could not see, Winter pass. 

Edward Thomas

happy walkers
brown preferable to white
my heart is off leash

orah

~~~Gratitude~~~ Spring Thaw?

We decided to celebrate spring yesterday afternoon by helping the thaw along with a campfire!  We made our Selves stop working and just sit a bit and enjoy the wonderful outdoors.  A lot of the time we just sat in quiet together, mesmerized  by the flames and the sound of wind in the trees.  I am grateful that I am with a man that I can be quiet with me.  

Getting the fire going on top of ice!

Still struggling with making meal for 2 middle age folks watching their waistlines.  Realize that leftovers are a new phenomenon in our house.  I am used to cooking for 3 with the third being a growing teen that always looked imploringly at me after each meal...is that all?  (his first bit of communication as a babe was sign language for the word "more" ~ it is rumored that up at college he has 6 meals a day!)  We did enjoy our meal by the fire~ chicken wings, quinoa salad, water, & wine!

A CAMPFIRE

There's something ‘bout a fire and the mesmerizing glow
Of its dancing, flick'ring embers that does enthrall me so
A soft and gentle fire slowly glowing in the night
Soothing, calming, warming. It is such a pure delight

The best time for a fire's when the flames they have died down
And the crackling and the popping all have ceased
All the flurry and the groaning, all the hurry and the churning
All have gone, and now the fire is at peace 

Neil Milliner

It is my intention, each Sunday, (OR another Day)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'~~~

SPRING MORNING ~ Woodcock Buzz

Runa having a snow bath...hopefully one of the last...

Hemmed in by rotting snow....or so I thought.  I went out early a few moments ago to photograph the mote of melted land that is surrounded by rotting snow.  Yesterday evening I tried to venture near the pond.  A few steps in and I sunk to my knees.  I had intended to write about being trapped and confined to walks on the road.  But the buzzy sound of a woodcock interrupted my thoughts of confinement which was soon followed by wild turkey gobbles ~~~ Spring!  Even though I was only dressed in my robe I took a few steps onto the morning shaded snow.  It held me!  

Not really "dressed" for the occasion but, I didn't want to take the chance that the thaw would happen at any minute so I took a little walk.  Here are a few scenes from my short circuit...as soon as I left the safety of the shadows I began to sink.

With the sound of the woodcock and the sight of swelling pussy willows I say good bye to winter.... finally!  It may interest you to know that I have not left this place for 20 days (walks on the road only exception).  I broke my previous record of 16 days.  Time to let go of my winter solitude and hibernation and embrace the increasing light! (I have plans to go out this evening...my monthly-ish meeting with my spirit sisters for an evening of food sharing and philosophical discussions~~~sweetness)

Good-bye Snow

Welcome Light

"Hope" is the thing with feathers - (314)

BY EMILY DICKINSON

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

That perches in the soul -

And sings the tune without the words -

And never stops - at all -

And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -

And sore must be the storm -

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm -

I’ve heard it in the chillest land -

And on the strangest Sea -

Yet - never - in Extremity,

It asked a crumb - of me.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/171619

April IS National Poetry Month!

Yeah Poetry!  I love Poetry and my InJoyEmporium Shop is full of poetry expressions!

I am BUSY!  The SPRING energy has finally hit me!  So zoom ~ zoom!  Feels GREAT!

Yesterday I finally listed this piece of FiberArt   https://www.etsy.com/listing/184748093/natural-white-mix-media-meditation?ref=shop_home_active_1

Robert Lax is one of my favorite poets!

This is a mix media piece honoring part of one his poems. It is made as a kinetic mobile with 6 small panels. The panels are connected with swivels so they turn freely between the text side and the mirror side. The panels text is letterpressed onto cotton with a vintage mirror tile contained by wool batting & sparkly tolle. There are quartz chips, moonstones, & Austrian Crystals to add more shine!

A wonderful meditation on the beauty of life!

[life]
is
no
hol
y

be
cause
it
is

beau
ti
ful

it
is
beau
ti
ful

be
cause
it
is 

hol
y

Robert 
Lax 

 

Robert Lax (1915-2000), was a little known American abstract minimalist poet and spiritual hermit. Lax may be best know for his friendship with the Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton. Though, I wish he could be known more for his own works. Lax wrote many poems but was not well published in the US. I love his writings and hope to bring more of his wonderful poems to light through my art work.