A Home for the Little Pink Slippers..

Do you remember seeing these little pink slippers I felted a few months ago???

I wasn't sure who I'd made them for, as they were far too small for any little girl I knew...

Until today, when I began looking through my stock of photo's looking for something to post to Beverley's Pink Saturday - http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/

I have quite a few "pink items" to share, but today, as I looked through my photographs these little slippers called out to me saying we want to be worn , we want to be loved, and we want to snuggle and give warmth to ten pink, little toes.

So, I am sending them to a special friend of mine who has become a grandmother to a beautiful baby girl.

I hope she'll send me photos!!!

An Unspoken Desire...

Magenta Geranium Next to Blue Pot

Something has been happening to me over the past few months...

It began when I transformed my blog from Birds, Bees and Bread to A Year Of Finding Love...

Each day, as is now my practice, I "find" love and beauty, and, well.... ,,,, its EVERYWHERE!!! The trouble is (if you can really call it a trouble,) I only have a certain amount of time each day to photo, document, pause on what I find...

Now I long to spend more time experiencing this abundant world we live in. Looking under leaves, counting the hairs on a caterpillars back, you know..., taking time to "smell the roses,"

I would love to learn to paint with oils or acrylics... There, I've said it..., I have wanted to know how to paint for many years, but until now, I never really gave myself any encouragement.., but now I feel differently as I document all of this beauty and feel all this love, I would like to learn how to express a little bit of that in painting... you know..., capture some of the love I see all around me..

Do you have any unfulfilled creative desires? What holds you back?

Color Combining...

Today in the garden, I paused as I love to do, especially at this time of year, when everything grows and changes so rapidly.

I've noticed, that when I leave for a couple of days during springtime and then return, its as if I don't recognize my own garden, like the garden had a party whilst I was gone, and went WILD!!! Just a few days in spring can bring on the plants so quickly and make huge changes.

So, pausing allows me to run my eyes slowly over everyone, to make sure they're all doing ok. No bugs, no diseases, no rot... check... Then today, I spied a most delicious color combination of flowers that are both blooming at the same time... - "Queen Of The Night" tulips and "Amber" rose..

The tulips have already peaked and are beginning to lose their purpley black luster, but they are still drop-dead gorgeous, especially when the sun shines on them.. and Amber is potted up (ready to travel to our new house when we move.) And she is gorgeous too, with her delicate apricot blush, satin petals...

I love serendipitous plantings that look like I planned it that way.. I've never noticed this delightful color combination before in either my garden or anywhere else for that matter. I will make sure to recreate it again in the next green oasis I plan.

Do you have favorite color combinations that wow you?

Meet Squirrel Nutkin...

Squirrel Nutkin Stuffing His Cheeks With Sunflower Seeds

We call him Nutkin, and he's a daily visitor to our deck to pick up the seeds that the messy finches leave behind. Sometimes he hides in the trees, sometimes he hides under our deck and sometimes he hides inside our outdoor grill!!! There have been many occasions during this past winter when I've gone to open the grill, only to discover it had an occupant! Gently opening the grill I have found myself face to face with a rather indignant squirrel, his black shiny eyes staring me down as if to say... "Do you mind?"

I find squirrels to be rather cranky creatures, well at least this one is.. I hear him more often than I see him, because he's always complaining about something.. His protestations can be regularly heard in the morning at our house, waking us all up, including Taz, my Cairn Terrier. Who scratches and claws to be let out so she can join in the noise making..., which she does and the pair of them go at it! Barking and (hmmm what is that noise that irate squirrels make?)

...Nit, nit, nit, nit..nitting... is what it sounds like to me...

Ah well, I shall miss the wee beast, as I suppose Taz will too.

I found this funny and true poem about a squirrel.. hope you enjoy it...

The Red Squirrel ~ by Barranca

I saw a red squirrel

Eat a yellow mushroom.

Daintily he nibbled around

The edge, turning it around

And around as he feasted......

Until he noticed me watching.......

Irritably he scrambled to a higher branch,

But I saw him again

Nibbling and once again,

He raced to an even higher branch.

Some little people don't like to be

watched eating,

Particularly yellow mushrooms.

~0~0~0~

Land Of Enchantment...

Georgia O'Keeffe And New Mexico, A Sense Of Place ~ By Barbara Buhler Lynes

I took a little break this afternoon, and spent an hour curled up on my bed, looking at this book that had just arrived in the afternoon post.

After recently watching a movie about the lives of Georgia O'keeffe and her husband, Alfred Stiglitz, I felt inspired to read more about her time in New Mexico

In the movie, she is taken away from New York by a friend, to visit Taos in the hope she'll recover her health after being sick for some time. From the first morning that she wakes up in this new

landscape, she is captivated, and begins to paint exquisite art reflecting the powerful and dramatic landscape that is New Mexico.

I understand that captivation. I fell in love with New Mexico on my first visit to the "Land Of Enchantment" and though I've returned several times since, I still feel a powerful pull to be there and not leave, as I watched the movie and saw scenes of the unmistakable landscape there, my heart and throat responded, and I wept. Each time I am reminded of New Mexico, I feel like a child who's been lost and gone away too long, and is being called home by her loving Mother...

Do you have a special place in this world that calls to you?

Changes And A New Home

A New Place...

Change is in the air. Firstly selling our current home, and now on the lookout for a new home to rent a few miles away on Bainbridge Island...

Immediately upon learning that our house had sold, I began to search in many places to find us a new home. I scoured Craigslist, contacted rental agencies, advertised in the local paper... but there has been a dearth of houses... I told Caelin, "not to worry, I've got it under control.., there's a nice house out there for us,, I just know it..."

Well, even the fiercest believers can sometimes feel a little doubt now and again... and that was me, yesterday...

I began to feel nervous and worried, and then came up with a thought, why am I trying to do this on my own? I mean, what what I trying to prove to myself? I cannot control everything...That was when I had an epiphany - to ask for help...!!!

I decided to email a handful of friends that live locally, asking them to contact me if they knew of any rentals that might work for us... There, how hard was that..? It was that simple..., I asked for help... Sometimes, I forget that I don't always have to do things the hard way... , sometimes I try so hard to figure things out that my head and brain ache from too much "figuring things out."

I know from experience when my brain starts to ache, its time to try a different approach.. A cup of Valerian tea and little time in the garden giving myself a little love talk go a long way to feeling better.

Well, the funny thing is that now, after letting go, reaching out and asking for help, I am beginning to feel that the stuck feeling, and inability to find houses has changed, several of you friends emailed me today with possible actions to take or possible rentals... THANK YOU ALL.. for your time and trouble, for your love and kindness.

Interestingly enough, just this afternoon 3 very suitable/big enough sounding houses showed up on Craigslist... So, the energy has shifted folks, things are looking great... All I had to do was shift my energy, and the energy around me shifted.

Lesson learned...

P.S As you can see I've changed the format of my blog, and have re-named it "A Year Of Finding Love." It seems more appropriate as this is what I've committed to and chosen to write about. This is the focus of my journey.

Also, I have added a "Beverly's Pink Saturday" sticker/thingumy jigger (if you click on it, it directs you to her blog. Every Saturday, as often as I can, I will be participating/blogging about something "pink" If you go to her blog, you can read about this fun challenge that quite a few other bloggers are participating in. I love pink and its my daughter Isabella's favorite color. I like the idea of being part of a blogger community and this is my first attempt at putting myself (via my blog) out there... I'm willing to try new things.., perhaps this is the first of many.. Hopefully good ones:)

However, the HEART of my blog, will not change. I HAVE changed, my LIFE has changed, all for the better. Through this blog, I am learning to reach out, to share, to participate, more than I would have ever though possible...

The more I write about love, the stronger I become.

Thank you everyone, for sharing the road on this journey.

Love,

Neinah