scenes from an early summer week

Summer Vacation has officially begun and the weather still hasn't quite caught up to the fact. I love it though, June Gloom is a favorite 'season' of mine. It's a wonderful feeling, having the windows opened in early morning and that sweet chilly breeze wafts into the room.  June has afforded me some great moments, in both the big things and the small. As always, I see His work being orchestrated from everything around me and within me.

Natalie ended her first grade year tremendously well and we are all so proud of her. On her last day, we gave her vibrant dark pink peonies and red carnations to congratulate and celebrate her on a year well done. I am now looking forward to the blessing of having her more with me during the summer and continuing to establish our relationship as mother and daughter. Sometimes, during the school year things get a bit lost family wise with homework, school activities and extra curricular activities as well. Summer is the time for me to gather everything back and enjoy my daughter with love and with life itself.

Every summer, it would seem, I always have the same notion of thoughts. I remember my fondness for herbs, for making dolls (like mandrakes and owls), and for fall. Always in the very beginning of summer, I love it even though my heart is set on autumn. I don't know what it is but I certainly hope that the resurgence of creativity and thought will manifest itself in very productive ways! I am looking forward to September, where a piece of my artwork will join a handful of others at the 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod Welsh Festival of Arts. Lorin Morgan-Richards is the artist heading this up and he presented a wonderful opportunity for some artist friends. He put together his own original poetry to the Welsh Alphabet, with each artist getting their own letter. I have:

N is for Nissien
Who battles amongst the celestial star
He combats his twin Efnissien
Dueling for peace afar.

 I finally finished my piece and will be scanning and sending it to him this week. It's all so very exciting and am so interested in seeing what every one else contributed!

Again, I have been filled with so much joy coming from every which way. We have been spending more time with family and old friends whilst making new ones as well. We are seeing and understanding the value of 'community' and living life with others, not just learning to live individualistically. It's been sort of amazing, for me, seeing those little barriers come down that I've never really realized I had in some ways. We are also planting again and truly trying to start a little container garden of sorts. Rick's friend has given us more than a handful of pumpkin seedlings along with a few pepper ones too. We finally managed to get them all little homes with new soil so they can grow and flourish. I really hope as we learn to do all of this our newly green thumbs won't turn black!

It's afternoon now and that last photo of fresh basil leaves brewing for tea is reminding me how I have not had any tea yet today. I am off, but I hope everyone is truly enjoying this season. For all the wonders and beauty it brings, from every which way around :)

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.  ~Henry James

the merry ol' country life...

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."
- Laura IngallsWilder

I started this old man awhile back but finally set out to finish him the other day. I wanted to have a different subject matter than a woman, which is usual for me. I believe this was more an exercise for myself, seeing life from a different perspective and time. I really enjoyed creating this because for me, it is a celebration of life. Sometime we think in our youth lies all the great celebrations but I don't believe that to be true. I think I am one of the few that actually gets excited to see a gray strand because I don't associate it with 'aging' but with growing up, with living rather than just 'getting old'. There is so much more life to be had, to be discovered, So far, in my 'growing up' I am also realizing that the simpler things bring more joy and dare I say, even the labored things can bring more satisfaction. My old man here, is contemplating the goodness of his life, of all his days with various things that fill his home and his heart.

I do want to strive for simplicity. Not in a way where it becomes an idol, but getting back to what is basic, finding the beauty and need for necessity. With God as my primary focus and in this way, being blessed by all the things He has graciously given to me. Taking joyful care of my family and being happy that we are taken care of. I know I still have wants. I still want a house of my own, with an open kitchen and big back yard for a garden (and for play!). Maybe one day we will get those things but still, I always want to be reminded to keep life simple and revel in the everyday joys. Of things that are not tangible and for the ones that are, just grateful that we have them....
As I sometimes do, here are a few quotes I have found and would like to share them with you. Enjoy :)

"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter. . .to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life."
-  John Burroughs 

"You can't force simplicity; but you can invite it in by finding as much richness as possible in the few things at hand.  Simplicity doesn't mean meagerness but rather a certain kind of richness, the fullness that appears when we stop stuffing the world with things."
-   Thomas Moore, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life

"I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking.  It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest, and living close to nature.  There are not hothouse blossoms that can compare in beauty and fragrance with my bouquet of wildflowers."
-  Laura Ingalls Wilder 

blarney stones, shamrocks and a leprechaun too

St. Patrick's Day is this Thursday and other than just wearing the required green, I have never done much else for it. As we came into March I began to think of why Nat and I never did St. Patty's crafts and what could we do to make up for it. So, we gathered a few nice rocks and decided to make them into our very own Kissing Blarney Stones! Before we set out to paint and decorate, I wanted to know what was a blarney stone and why do people want to kiss it. I found out that it is part of a castle in Ireland where legend has, if you kiss it, it will give you the gift of gab (like Nat and I need more of that)!

There is never a stone that whoever kisses, Oh! He never misses to grow eloquent 'tis he may clamber to a lady's chamber, or become a member of parliament.

Francis Sylvester Mahony

Nat and I began to paint our rocks (green, of course) and the following day I set out to make the example pair for her. I came up with Mrs Clover Blarney and Mr Seamus Blarney. I fashioned a little shamrock for the missus by gluing three light green heart shapes cut from felt topped with a patterned cloth circle.  Seamus has a hat made from a rectangular piece of felt glued onto a circular base and two yellow strips by the brim. I used a hot glue gun for all the pieces and for attaching it onto his little green head. Of course, with better (and more patient) skills than mine, you can make it where you don't see the glue or better yet, sew it all together.  I gave Seamus a 'beard' of yarn, frayed a bit on the edges.  Both the Mister and the Missus have their eyes closed and their lips puckered as an asterisk ready for a smooch! Since Mr Seamus was a more glossy stone than Mrs Clover, his green appeared darker and was harder to see his expression. I went over the black permanent marker with yellow paint thinking you might see his face more but I think it ended up adding to the confusion. I went back with the marker but left him with bright yellow freckles anyway! Also, since I didn't give his hat a top, I just filled it with a paper shamrock.  We still have her stones to do and hopefully they will all be up and ready for smooching by thursday!

Oh, Did you Ne'er Hear of the Blarney 

by Samuel Lover

Oh, did you ne'er hear of the Blarney,

That's found near the banks of Killarney?

Believe it from me, 

No girls heart is free,

Once she hears the sweet sound of the Blarney,

Once she hears the sweet sound of the Blarney.

Oh say, would you find this same Blarney,

There's a castle not far from Killarney,

On the top of the wall

But take care you don't fall,

There's a stone that contains all this Blarney,

There's a stone that contains all this Blarney.

Like a magnet its influence such is,

That attraction it gives all it touches,

If you kiss is, they say,

That from tht blessed day,

You may kiss whom you plaze, with your Blarney,

You may kiss whom you plaze, with your Blarney.

Since we never did crafts before for this holiday, I did want to read up about it a bit. I found out that St. Patrick was a Missionary who is credited for bringing Christianity to the masses. Now, we are always associating the shamrock with this holiday and with Ireland itself but why is it used? I found out that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the people. I also wanted to know what the difference between a shamrock and a clover is and found out that that there is none, really for the shamrock is just the name of three leafed old white clover. The name shamrock is derived from the Irish seamróg (little clover) which is the diminutive version of the Irish word for clover, (seamair). 

I think that's pretty neat and now have a whole new and appreciative outlook on the plant and the holiday itself. 

*Side note--Nat and I just got a new green watering can where we decorated it with permanent marker. At the bottom of the spout, I put a little clover on it with our initials on it. Not saying that we are the Holy Trinity but just in honor of our wee three person family!*

Since we had the paint out, we also decided to use it to make red handprints for leprechaun's beards, of course! This is Natalie's and once the handprint was dried, she drew her wee little man around it. She hasn't finished coloring him all in, but I think he has some good jolly spirit in him! Oh, and she named him Clover Gold Pot but you can just call him Clover for short ;)

Leprechaun, leprechaun, fly across the sea

And fetch an emerald shamrock for you and me.

Do not bring a nettle or a thistle for a joke,

But bring an Irish shamrock, for we are Irish folk.

And you and I, my leprechaun, will wear the shamrock gay,

And match it with and Irish smile upon St. Patrick's Day!

As you may have guessed it, this coming thursday, I will not only be wearing green but attempt to make Corned Beef and cabbage with potatoes for the first time.  Nat's also requested a green smoothie to drink for that day. I'm getting pretty excited about it all and was pretty excited over watching the Food Network's special, Bobby's Ireland. Wow, beautiful places, landscapes and of course, food! I would love love love to go there with my family one day. Until then, I can dream and this little poem can help me along:

By Killarney's Lakes and Fells

by Edmund O'Rourke

By Killarney's lakes and fells,

Em'rald isles and winding bays,

Mountain paths, and woodland dells

Memory ever fondly strays;

Bounteous nature loves all lands;

Beauty wanders everywhere

Footprints leaves on many strands,

But her home is surely there.

Angels fold their wings and rest

In that Eden of the west,

Beauty's home, Killarney,

Ever fair--Killarney.

'the scent of a flower we have not found...'

“The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things– the beauty, the memory of our own past– are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has laid upon us for nearly a hundred years.”
 –C.S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory,” in The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (New York: Harper Collins, 1949/2001), 30-31.

to be alone with you

I'd swim across lake Michigan

I'd sell my shoes
I'd give my body to be back again
In the rest of the room

To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you
To be alone with you

You gave your body to the lonely
They took your clothes
You gave up a wife and a family
You gave your goals

To be alone with me
To be alone with me
To be alone with me
You went up on a tree

To be alone with me you went up on the tree

I'll never know the man who loved me

*to be alone with you by sufjan stevens*

granite and wolves

I took out my graphite pencils the other day and began experimenting. It's been so long since I used them and tried to do something artistic with them. When I have creatures on my mind they are usually of same variety: owls, foxes, bears and wolves. My first graphite drawing in awhile was of the latter two. I couldn't find my shader so I used tissue paper to smudge and shade. I left the edges rough and smudge too instead of cleaning up the lines. I just kind of liked the way it looks like that.

I decided to draw a wolf of the more realistic kind. I pulled out a book I have had since elementary school, Of Wolves and Men by Barry Holstun Lopez. I remember reading straight through this and devouring it all up as a kid. Wolves were one of my first favorite animals. The book has some really neat photos including one of a pup. Natalie loved it and told me to draw that wolf and so I did. I wanted to add a little something so I placed a black ribbon (or scarf, as Nat calls it) around him. I was quite thankful that I had found the shader by the time I started him. Before I was even finished with the drawing, Natalie had already claimed it for herself :)



"The wolf is neither man's competitor nor his enemy. He is a fellow creature with whom the earth must be shared." -L. David Mech

Speak for the wolves...
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oh october!

Oh October, my favorite month! The weather is cooling and the little crisp you feel in the air is starting to come around. Yesterday was the first of the month and though it reached into the low 90's I still felt a small revival in my chest. It seems that I come a bit more 'alive' during this season. It's time for drawing and creating and things. For pumpkins and broomsticks. For tea and snuggling blankets.

Hopefully with my computer back and a camera still available to me, I can take and show more pictures and artwork. Last night, Nat and I sat on the bed, drawing and coloring and I drew a sweet brown cat in a goldenrod colored dress wishing a happy october. I'll have to get around to getting that here. Until then...

"There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October."

- Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The sweet calm sunshine of October, now

Warms the low spot; upon its grassy mold

The purple oak-leaf falls; the birchen bough

drops its bright spoil like arrow-heads of gold."

- William Cullen Bryant

"October is nature's funeral month. Nature glories in death more than in life. The month of departure is more beautiful than the month of coming - October than May.

Every green thin loves to die in bright colors."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"O hushed October morning mild,

Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;

Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,

Should waste them all.

The crows above the forest call;

Tomorrow they may form and go.

O hushed October morning mild,

Begin the hours of this day slow.

Make the day seem to us less brief.

Hearts not averse to being beguiled,

Beguile us in the way you know.

Release one leaf at break of day;

At noon release another leaf;

One from our trees, one far away."

- Robert Frost, October

climbing trees and other things..

Yesterday we waited until late afternoon and took a small trip to the nearby regional park.

We found some perfect trees for her to begin to learn how to climb them. At first, she needed assistance but she was eager to continue to learn.

I love being there. Living in the suburbs, you need an escape where there are more trees to explore, more life around you other than people, more textures, more sights, more sounds from nature itself.

Climbing on her own

a blackbird seems to wonder

I like to believe these three are chatty sisters, talking non stop about others around the pond and all the strangers without feathers who come by..

a little ghostie i drew on fallen bark

a moment of triumph and respite

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. --Anne Frank

to summer and what comes after...

It's friday, mid-morning. I don't know what it is about summer, but I love it because it opens the door for my thoughts for autumn. It's a little nostalgic for me, and magical too. It's something that happens to me every summer.

Today is a lazy day which I am thankful for. After this, I'll polish the girls toe nails and we will lounge, maybe do a craft and maybe fix the beds too!

So for this friday I thought I would do another fawned friday which I haven't done in awhile. I'll do it with photo favorites of mine from flickr (I love that site!) Just click on the photos for photo credit...

To Summer by William Blake

O thou who passest thro' our valleys in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched'st here thy goldent tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.

Beneath our thickest shades we oft have heard
Thy voice, when noon upon his fervid car
Rode o'er the deep of heaven; beside our springs
Sit down, and in our mossy valleys, on
Some bank beside a river clear, throw thy
Silk draperies off, and rush into the stream:
Our valleys love the Summer in his pride.

Our bards are fam'd who strike the silver wire:
Our youth are bolder than the southern swains:
Our maidens fairer in the sprightly dance:
We lack not songs, nor instruments of joy,
Nor echoes sweet, nor waters clear as heaven,
Nor laurel wreaths against the sultry heat.