Happy Mother's Day...

Rosa "Just Joey", August 08'

Happy Mother's Day

Sending love and appreciation to all who nurture, feed, nourish, grow, care for and LOVE...

This is your day, may it be filled with love, kindness and appreciation.

With love, always, Neinah

A Mother's Love

A Mother's love is something

that no one can explain,

It is made of deep devotion

and of sacrifice and pain,

It is endless and unselfish

and enduring come what may

For nothing can destroy it

or take that love away...

It is patient and forgiving

when all others are forsaking,

And it never fails or falters

even though the heart is breaking...

It believes beyond believing

when the world around condemns,

And it glows with all the beauty

of the rarest, brightest gems...

It is far beyond defining,

it defies all explanation,

And it still remains a secret

like the mysteries of creation...

A many splendored miracle

man cannot understand

And another wondrous evidence

of God's tender guiding hand.

~Helen Steiner Rice~

Bird Listening...

American Goldfinch (spinus tristis) Shares The Seed Feeder

With His Buddy Purple Finch (carpodacus purpureus)

We live in a very noisy neighborhood. Now I'm not talking about our neighbors in the houses nearby, I'm talking about the birds...

Today, as I sat on the steps by the front door, eyes closed, soaking up some wonderful sunshine and getting my daily dose of vitamin D, and thinking,, well not so much "thinking" actually, more like feeling the goodness of the sun on my face, I realized there was a verbal slinging match going on in the trees next door...I turned in the direction of the squabbling and saw several American Goldfinch males with their brilliant coats of canary yellow (some folks do call them "Wild Canaries.") Doing what seemed to be, some serious verbal gunslinging... They were all in their respective territories (each seem to have their own tree they were claiming as theirs,) and they would flit from branch to branch (staying within the boundaries of their own trees,) and would essentially hurl insults at each other... I sat and listened and watched them... To my ears it was music, but I dare say to each of the males involved it was all out war (from... the safety of their own trees of course!)

I read that during nesting time when the rather drab (in comparison to her rather flamboyant mate) female Goldfinch sits on her 6-8 peanut sized blue eggs.. The males get very noisy and territorial.. I think that's what I was observing today...

I wonder what they were saying in bird talk to each other???

I would love to know, but I can only imagine...

A Little Box of Joy...

Do you know what this is?

Its a little box of JOY.... This treasure filled box includes hand dyed felt, fabric, buttons, ribbons, silk flowers..beads galore.. and many other fabulous little bits and pieces... Sighhhh... and most importantly of all it contains an invisible Invite, or better yet, Permission Slip...

Yes, Permission with a capital "P", to go ahead and have fun, be creative, make something, do something, get out of your rut (if you're in one,) mix it up.., be wild, be crazy... you name it... in the immortal words of NIKE... "Just Do It."

Its all there in the box..., what a brilliant little kit this is, created by artist Nikki Wheeler, who sells at a fun new store on Bainbridge Island called Indie Banditas Bazzar http://indiebanditasbazaar.blogspot.com/ .

I fell in love with the color combinations in this particular kit..., they remind me of sunsets in the Southwest..

Have you noticed how over and over again you're drawn to certain combinations of colors, or certain individual colors that just take you're breath away? I am aware daily of the value of color. I'm intrigued by the conscious and sometimes unconscious role color plays in peoples lives.

Some colors have a beguiling effect on me, for example when I look at something that's painted the blue color, some call "Periwinkle", (I call it "French Lavender Blue,") my heart skips a beat, I have to stop what I'm doing and stare.. My eldest daughter says it has that effect on me because its my "Soul Color," I'm not sure exactly what that means.., but my heart says she's right... I wonder, how it would be to have a room painted in French Lavender Blue...? Hmmm...

What colors move you???

Stillness Before The Big Move...

Oranges In A Yellow Glass Bowl

I like this photo a lot. The early morning sunshine is streaming into the front of the house and the dining room. The oranges are contained in a glass bowl, allowing the light to shine through, creating a soft glow, gently diffusing the usual, natural vibrancy of the oranges. I find myself soothed and calmed by this little still life.

It seems like I am drawn to soothing and calming everything these days...

I must be doing a little self-medicating, trying to draw a sense of peace from quiet images and activities (doodling at the track,) as I try to stay focused, positive and CALM about our up-and-coming move. The house sale is moving ahead nicely, and I continue to keep the house in order, in case people want to view it... In fact, we are planning on showing it right up until the papers are signed on June 2nd, when we hope to hear the proverbial "Fat Lady Sing."

We have yet to find our new home, yet I am not panicking ..., I have faith that we will hear about it soon, and all will work out wonderfully.

Besides,,, we ALWAYS have Petunia! (our RV)

Spring poem..

Tangle Of Trees, Bursting With Leaves... Spring 09'

For those of us who love bears AND springtime...

"spring" - by mary oliver

Somewhere

a black bear

has just risen

from sleep

and is racing

down the

mountain.

all night

in the bristk

and shallow

restlessness

of early

spring

I think of her

her four black

fists

flicking the gravel

her tongue

like a red fire

touching the

grass,

the cold

water.

There is only

one question:

how to love

this world.

I think of her

rising

like a black

and leafy

ledge

to sharpen

her claws

against

the silence

of the trees.

Whatever

else

my life is

with its

poems

and its music

and its glass

cities,

it is also this

dazzling

darkness

coming

down the

mountain

breathing and

tasting;

all day I think

of her-

her white

teeth,

her wordlessness,

her perfect

love.

Art as a meditation...

Art Doodles At The Track...

I forgot all about "A Year Of Finding Love," last night. After returning home from our weekend at the race track, I came home, had a bath, ate dinner and fell into bed and slept long and peacefully... It wasn't till this morning that I realized I had forgotten my daily writing ritual... sighhhh.... Ah me... Apologies...

So, with all the hustle and bustle going on with getting the house ready, showing it, and selling it, all in the last three weeks, it was great to take another breather and go to the track..

I spent most of the weekend tucked away in my little mobile sanctuary - the RV.. ( I really have to give her a name - she deserves one... "Petunia" I think suits her well.)

I usually bring a "few" art supplies along when we go racing, in fact I quite often have a couple of bags worth - papers, collage stuff, glue, paints, pastel crayons.. But since the big organizing went on throughout the house, most of the art supplies went into storage. So this weekend I had a scaled back version of supplies, a small tin of crayons, and a sketchbook.. and some images that I'd torn out of magazines because I'd found them to be inspirational, or just down right beautiful..., which as it turned out was all I really needed..., that and a little bit of quiet. It sounds silly to think of the noisy, raucous track as being a place to experience quiet, but I find peace at the track quite often, and without too much difficulty. I think its quite like meditation, I simply sit still, quieten myself..,(often clutching a hot cup of tea,) and let myself be sort of hugged by stillness. It works almost always, and then if I feel like doing something, I get out my supplies and just... "allow" whatever wants to come out... During these quietest times... I have no sense of what time it really is, or how long I'm taking.. For all I know, time has stopped... its a truly blissful feeling, and each time I experience it, then come "out" of it, I am so grateful to have had such a rich and replenishing time to myself.., and I find myself craving more..