February Love Story #3

It’s another week in February and another way to focus on love. 

Welcome to week three of February love stories where I’m focusing on things in my life that make me happy in body, mind, heart and soul. It’s so easy for me to go through my days in a kind of work haze: to do, do, done and more to do. 

While I love to be busy creating with my hands in clay, I don’t want to forget all the connections I make in and around me that bring peace and joy. And places that open my eyes and inspire ideas. 

Life is a walk in the park. 

I know, since 2020, nothing has felt that way. Right? It’s not been an easy three years, but  even on my worst days when fear surrounded me, my park was there. 

Calm waters waiting. Green grass growing. Peaceful reflections. 

Leaves changing. Geese migrating. 

Deer and fawns running through the woods.

Sun, snow or rain. 

No matter what the weather, I walk. Even when water is dripping down off my hood, there is so much beauty around to see. I’ve seen more otters swimming in the lake on rainy days. And geese landing with a slide across the ice. 

Snow covered tree limbs and bridges.  

Heron hanging out and flying closer to the path.

The best of all medicine: Laughter. 

Yes, even during covid, there were little feet running around the park playgrounds. It’s one of the things that lifted my heart and soul. When schools were closed, the park was open and  children were learning. 

Swinging. Sliding. Climbing. 

Exploring the bridges. And playing in the woods.

Natural inspiration. 

Walking is, of course, great exercise. It’s a great workout for my muscles and my heart. But it also strengthens my imagination. And stretches my creativity, loosens my feelings and brings new ideas to the surface that grow into new pieces of art. 

I love my neighborhood park.

   

Snow, a Puppy and a Tea Party

I haven’t written here in two weeks. I’ve been happily busy in the studio, yes. I’ve been waiting for snow, yeah! But I’ve also been dealing with my feelings about life in our part of the globe. 

I know the State of the Union address by our current White House resident put me in a real funk. I could go on and on about how this person has put all of us in jeopardy all to feed his gigantic ego. But I won’t. Because the facts are clear enough. 

What I want to see clearly now and what I think we all need to see is some wonder and love. 

Snow. 

In my part of the country, snow doesn’t happen very often. When it does, I think it’s something to celebrate. I stomp through it with big fluffy boots. Marvel at the delicate white flakes. 

I just love snow. I love how it twinkles on the tree limbs. 

Decorates my sculptures. 

Frosts the lake. 

And makes playing ball with my puppy even more fun.

Snow puppy. 

Darby, my sweet ‘pup’, comes from a place with more sun than snow. When we opened the door for him that morning, he wasn’t so sure what to do. There was no green grass. Where did it go? And the bigger question: where was he supposed to ‘go’? 

After he figured that out, we took him for his walk and he got his ‘snow’ legs. 

I don’t know if he thought snow was wonderful, but to me, it’s a special kind of wonderful to play ball with him in the snow for the first time. 

Princess Tea Party. 

My granddaughter loves to play in her kitchen, build block towers, read books and coloring in my studio. But lately, her favorite thing to do is playing dress up in her princess dress and tiara. One week, we had a picnic on the kitchen floor. 

This week, she wanted to have a tea party. Of course, I said yes, your princess. 

We baked blueberry muffins. Brought a table from upstairs, downstairs and covered it with an elegant white lace table cloth. (We put a ‘special’ rug down for the occasion and for easier cleanup.) And she got all dressed up in her Princess Sophia dress and tiara. 

The muffins were served warm from the oven accompanied by Mango Tea (juice). 

Everyone had a wonderful time, loved the homemade muffins and the ‘Princess’ declared the event a success.  

I hope I’ve succeeded too, bringing you a little wonder and love to lighten your life, like it did mine. 

Snow Days. Happy Days.

As I sit on my window seat, I see the pale alizarin Crimson sun setting behind deep Payne's Grey hills with blankets of silver white snow draped over the rooftops. There are a few kids playing in the snow below reveling in the last of their 'snow day'.  And my sweet, silly Jilly runs through the yard barking with joy.

I love snow days, too.

I remember the glee in a free day off school. I didn't get many living in Michigan as a child but my Oregon children got quite a few. They loved it and I did, too.  Wrapping them up in layers of sweaters, scarves, hats, coats, gloves and snow boots brought back Michigan memories. I smiled seeing them slide down the hill. I helped them make snowmen and toss snowballs around. Soon they'd troop in dripping snow from their mittens with their friends for hot chocolate and cookies. 

Some of the best things in life are messy.

It was cold and white and sparkly this morning and I couldn't wait to sink into the damp, bright snow. My first wonderful sight was deer tracks leading from the street across my driveway to the huckleberry bushes. The other day, I was going to trim those bushes because they hung out over the driveway, but something made me stop. Now I know why. The deer were going to need some food and I had it right there ripe and ready.

Walking to the park was a wonderful sight.  

I saw the lake surrounded by white. Bridges over the lake and into the forest all shimmering.

My favorite willow tree snow covered.

Snow packed gently into the arches of the stone bridge and along with railings. 

Even crystal flakes made the fading pink roses shine.

Best of all was taking a snow day with my sweet granddaughter, Meyer.  Watching the snow swirling down through her eyes, brought back the wonder and the magic of snow days once again.