Lovely World

poppytalk yellow

Tuesday is YELLOW at Poppytalk Spring Color Week!

I was so honored to see some of my photos posted in the green mosaic yesterday, and today my embroidery is posted. Thank you dear friends at Poppytalk!

poppytalk green

I'm participating in Poppytalk's Spring Color Week, a first for me. Today's color is green. I'll post a photo or two exploring a different color each day this week. Perhaps these lovely spring colors (green, yellow, pink, lavendar, and white) will usher in some color in the currently dull landscape around my home!

friday

Lovely, lovely Margie of Resurrection Fern sent me this medicine bundle she made with some of her naturally-dyed fabric. Inside is a special stone. I am so happy to have this to enjoy. Margie has some recent posts up about natural dyes - go take a look. She also has a give-away going on for some of the fabrics she has made. Thank you for being a wonderful blog friend, Margie.

A few close-ups from around the house today. Happy weekend to you. I'm hoping to go to a dinner and moonlit ski at a local x-country ski center tomorrow night.

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Fear is a contraction, love is diffusion. -the Bnei Yissoscher

When I was young I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. - Abraham Joshua Heschel

calling cards

Don't you wish you had a calling card? I imagine people handing these out at fancy parties. My favorite is the one with the peacock feather.

How about a merit card? I wish my children received merit cards with their names written out in beautiful calligraphy rather than the plastic crap they pull from the "treasure boxes" in their classrooms.

These cards belonged to my grandparents. There are many more in the collection.

Nice names: Minnie, Lettie, Clyde, and Arthur.

Looking forward to a high school basketball game tonight. My nephew is playing. He has worked very hard and is a strong player. It will be a pleasure to watch.

little bit of love

♥ A pink package in the mail.

♥ Inside the package is a beautiful heart embroidery from Barbara of Indiana Blue (she has more - go see!).

♥ Old photos of my sister and me as small children. Could our dresses be any shorter? That is me getting kissed by one of our horses.

♥ My painting of friends walking a tightrope. They look pretty secure in their journey. Probably because they are together.

place of rest

Our sense of the world is shaped by what we experience. A child's first sense of place is the home. Memory is formed in the landscape of home. What must it be like to have no home, no safe place? What must it be like to have to leave a beloved home because of war or persecution or poverty?

I have deliberately created a place my children can rest. All children will come to know the inevitable ugliness that exists in the world. Memory of rest and beauty and play can be a lifelong balm to adult angst. Is this where optimism rises from?

Clearing blue sky, a promise in bare branches. In winter, there are sunny days. In adulthood, childhood can return.

bright color

The dark days are here, but I have found some color this week.

I received this beautiful bouquet of tissue paper flowers from my son's second grade class. It is a thank you gift. I recently helped organize the whole second grade (3 classes, 50 or so children) in making sewn fleece hats to donate to a local charity. The children were excited to be a part of this project. I appreciated that the teachers planned a project that focused the children on donating time and energy to giving to others.

The girl with the yellow blouse and paper heart is for a project I will post very soon.

It snowed last night. I am happy for that.

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!

paper love

I found some old origami paper hidden in a drawer last week. It inspired these holiday cards that my 7-year-old son made for his teachers and the little paper box that I folded. I like the enthusiasm evident in my son's ink stamping of the greeting.

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I just received the new issue of the lovely Spoonful (thank you Thea). This is a little gem. Simple, small, but bursting with warmth and inspiration. A very nice craft by Melissa in this one!

cloudy

We were blanketed by lovely snow over the weekend. Then came the rain yesterday and overnight. We now have a green lawn and drippy brown in the woods. The only snow left is the faint foundation of an igloo the kids made by forming blocks in rectangular plastic kitchen containers.

Cloudy with more rain today. Clouds are suspended moisture in the air. The water that I used to activate my watercolors this morning was probably once moisture suspended over the planet. So here is my cloud in honor of the water cycle.

Here is something pretty:

Artist in the Arctic

Happy Monday, whether cloudy or sunny!

generosity

Earlier this week I began making a list of tasks I generally do every day, every week, every month, and seasonally. I started this list because I have felt disorganized and forgetful lately (likely a result of having too many little details to keep track of).

I surprised myself by adding "give something away" to my list of weekly tasks. I just jotted it down without even realizing I was writing it. But, I love the idea. I could give away something I have made, or simply something that I don't need any longer, but is still in good shape and might be useful to someone else.

Yesterday I gave my friend L a little package as we stood in the schoolyard waiting to pick up our children. She is a beekeeper, and as a card I cut out the page with the illustration of a honey bee from a tattered copy of the "Golden Book of Insects." You can see Mr. Albus Dumbledore checking out my wrapping skills in the middle photo.

Mother Nature gave me a gift this morning - a beautiful sunrise. It is bitterly cold here this morning, making the colors of the sunrise seem all the more crisp and brilliant. This is the view looking out my front window.

With gentleness overcome anger.

With generosity overcome meanness.

With truth overcome deceit.

- The Buddha

I thought this was a good quote, as it is Human Rights Day today.