Silent Trees

The other day, as I looked out the kitchen window, I realized that the leaves on the trees were gone.  I was looking at the bare bones of the trees that share this small space with me.

For the first time in many months I could see beyond the trees.  I could see the blue sky. I could see each branch as it reached for the sky.

Some trees had tangled their branches with another -- as if reaching out to each other. Others stood proud showing just how very, very tall they are.  And I viewed them in silence and with awe that I should have this beautiful, magical forest outside my back door.

"When one sees the tree in leaf, one thinks the beauty of the tree is in its leaves, and then one sees the bare tree." - Sarah Brana Barak

Seek and Ye Shall Find

Somewhere in the forest, or along the tideline or in what looks like an empty desert expanse there is treasure.

Many of the treasures are overlooked and some are so well camouflaged they might never be seen.  

One of my upcoming new year resolutions is to 'pay attention' and to 'look'.  Its so easy to walk on by, or to ignore something right in front of me and then one day, the light hits it or my eyes and mind are really and truly open and there it is.

Life is beautiful!

"Look carefully, record what you see.  Find a way to make beauty necessary, find a way to make necessity beautiful." - Anne Michaels

Hidden Treasures

The paths I follow these chilly winter mornings are filled with fallen leaves and compost and I must walk slowly to see the hidden treasures that await me.

Leaves that are hidden beneath the oh-so-brown 'leftover' leaves.

What else might I miss if I walk too fast, if I keep my eyes ahead and don't pause long enough to look around and up and down?  

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

Shhhh

Its darker earlier these days.  Looking out the window I see softening shades of blue and mauve and grey.

I see stones along th3 path and must be careful so that I don't stumble in the early evening hours.

I see a button that looks as if it has been created out of clay, perhaps from the bank of a slowly moving winter stream.


"The pale stars were sliding into their places. The whispering of the leaves was almost hushed.  All about them it was still and shadowy and sweet. It was that wonderful moment when, for lack of a visible horizon, the not yet darkened world seems infinitely  greater -- a moment when anything can happen, anything believed in." - Olivia Howard Dunbar

"The Sounds of Silence"

It is time to hibernate, cocoon, find my 'quiet place' and nurture myself. Seeking silence, seeking quiet, seeking peace and harmony.

I'm sure part of it is the time of year because when I look back at past years' postings I find there were always one or two 'silence', 'quietude' posts and usually they occurred in the late fall, early winter. 

Fortunately blogging is a 'quiet' treasure so don't worry -- I'll still be here whispering to you.

“A quiet mind is all you need. All else will happen rightly, once your mind is quiet. As the sun on rising makes the world active, so does self-awareness effect changes in the mind. In the light of calm and steady self-awareness inner energies wake up and work miracles without effort on your part.” - Sri-Wisargadatta

Long Ago Pathways

This small pathway hints of the long ago first settlers of our country.  With none of the tools and implements that we have today, they created places and ways to live.

Rocks, rubbed across other rocks were made into implements.  Beads were fashioned from bone and wood and small rocks.  Hunters hunted and farmers grew crops.

I have always had a deep abiding sadness for what the later settlers did to these first people.  This small pathway is a tribute to what came before and the skill and thought with which they made their way through their lives.

"Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask ourselves this crucial question: Does this path have a heart?  If it does, then the path is good.  If it doesn't, it is of no use." - Carlos Castaneda

Paths

How many paths have I taken in my life?  So many that some are only vague memories, others have disappeared completely.  And yet, here I am, taking another one.
  

One thing about creating -- it lets me take new and wonderful paths without even leaving my studio.  At this time I've gone back to a path from the past.  That's not all bad.  I know my way better this time, although even an old path can lead you into new discoveries.

My husband has created several small paths here in our yard and I love to walk them, even though many of them are only a few steps long.  

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives." - Henry David Thereau

"Wandering"

Come on along on a little wander.  Something inspired by my own walks, both present and past.  Something that says 'earth' to me and that I must pay close attention to the smallest twig, to the sound of water, or leaves falling, to every moment of my day.

"Focus on the journey, not the destination.  Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

Making My Way

Once again my work table is filling up with ideas.  Fabric, threads and even doo-dads.  I'm getting very excited about starting a new punchneedle project.

My mental thoughts are of flying a kite.  What direction will it take?  How high will it fly? Can I truly give the work over to my hands and heart - without my critical mind taking over?

"Day dreams are fertile ground for the imagination.  While day dreaming rational thought goes out the window, so new perspectives can find their way in." -Linda Naiman

"Tidiness"

Do we ever stop learning about ourselves?  Does discovery somehow disappear when we turn a certain age?  I am of an age where I'd better 'figure' myself out, if I'm ever going to do so.  And so the subject of 'tidiness' has entered my thoughts.

Moving from mice (who were quite tidy in their pattern and design) back to punchneedle, my first thought was that I would like to  be a little 'looser' with some new-to-me designs. Perhaps more mixed media.

My second thought was: 'where will I put whatever I make after its finished'? And that meant that it 'had' to stand since I have little to no wall space. Without much thought at all I gave myself a framed 5"x7" space for each piece.

 My original idea was to use both regular punchneedle and reverse punchneedle.  As mentioned before I wanted to incorporate some trinket that I already had on hand.  Of course the colors I used had to be appropriate to the trinket(s).  Can you see my limitations growing?

 Now that it is finished, and sitting neatly on the shelf, I feel as if I have trapped myself in 'tidiness'. While I had an 'earth' story in mind, my finished piece told me no story. I ended up with something boxed in, very tidy in design and pretty boring, even to me.  I think its time to let go of limitations and rules.

"Creativity can be described as letting go of certainties." - Gail Sheehy

Finders Keepers

Cleaning out, as I have recently done, has revealed all sorts of this and that - those things that came into my possession at one time or another.  Neatly stored away (or not so 'neatly' stored) they have been sitting here waiting patiently for one of three things: a)to be given to someone who would actually use them b) to be thrown away as if they were not worth a thing c) to be used in something new, something unknown at the time of their rediscovery.

I'm not sure whether having a 'treasure' hunt in my own studio is a good thing or a bad thing.  On the good side I say "Oh, I remember this -- I must use it".  On the bad side I say "What in the world was I thinking".

And so a new-to-me series will begin -- hopefully using some of these 'finders keepers'.  My trusty punch needle comes out, threads of all color and shade find their way to the top of my table and the fun begins...

"Life isn't about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself". - George Bernard Shaw

Where Have I Been?

I'm truly sorry for not getting back to each of you over the past week.  We traveled out to Nevada to visit our family and I didn't even look at the computer nor my blog the whole time I was gone. 

It was so lovely to visit with our family -- almost all of them at the same time.  Truly a magical, fun filled week.  

Each day I was surrounded by my beloved desert.  Beautiful deep blue skies above me. Mountains in the background (once even sprinkled with snow).

Sunshine that kept us warm, as only the sun can do - but never too warm.  

We looked for water everywhere we went because it is in such scarce quantity.  It was always a treat to see a stream running or ripples on a pond.

It was a lovely time-out-of-time trip. 

"The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands." - Sir Richard Burton 

Wow!!!

Recently you saw my 'messy' table -- filled to the brim with this and that -- all leading me toward a new experiment.  And here that table is today!

Before beginning a new project I did a MAJOR clean out.  Oh my goodness -- it took me several days.  Not only did I clean off my work tables I cleaned out boxes.  Wow, what things you find when you take down a box and go through everything.

Who knows how long things will stay tidy -- but for now, not only is my studio cleaned and ordered it feels like my mind is also.

"It must be great to know what you want to do.  I've got no idea at all.  I just go from one day to the next." Whisper of the heart - 1995"

Experimentation

How do we know when 'enough is enough'?  If you visit with me often you know that I go full bore into something, testing, making, talking and writing about it.  And then, one day, sort of like a bit of fog or smoke - elusive - I know that its time to move on or over or back.  Its time for me to experiment once again. 

Thus this messy table has appeared.  It's covered with bits and pieces of fabric, with buttons and bobbles and beads. All waiting for my next passion.  How blessed I am to be able to sense a discomfort and refill my mind and hands with a something different and challenging.  

"Part of the elasticity that you need, in order to continue to create, is the foregone conclusion that not all of it is going to be fabulously successful.  But it's all going to be part of a long lifetime body of experimentation." - Elizabeth Gilbert

A Cheesy Mouse

Okay -- I ask you -- how did he get the lid off this jar???

I think things have gone a bit mad around this house.  If I'm going to save my sanity  I simply must put a sign up saying "no more mice".

"You see a mouse trap...I see some fresh cheese and a challenge." Scroobius

Autumn Equinox

The weather is slowly changing. The days will soon shorten.  This time of the year is so beautiful to me.

I love going into the storage closet and pulling out sweaters, jackets and yummy warm socks.  Although my life changes very little from season to season – at this time of the year I have wonderful memories of the first day of school, football games, leaves changing and then falling to make a rustle of my morning walks.

With the change of season I feel a change of direction.  I don’t exactly have a road map yet but my mind is moving, one step at a time, toward work that will lend itself to cooler days, hot cups of tea and the enjoyment of bright blue Fall skies.

"Delicious Autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the ever successive autumns." - George Eliot

Garden Mouse

I'm so used to seeing mice inside that I nearly tripped over this little one.  He had found a lovely place in the moss.

The sun was out so I'm glad that he'd found a leaf to shelter his head.

Before leaving him to his own devices I tried to encourage him to ask some of the 'herd' that has invaded my house to come outside and join him.  I'm not sure whether that was nod of his head or a slight breeze had come up.

"If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life." - Bill Watterson

Reds and Yellow

Autumn is coming and as a goodbye to summer the yellow and deep red flowers appear.  Do they show up at this time so that we will have their vivid colors to remember as we go into Autumn and Winter?

They don't last long at this time -- but they do attract the birds as well as the eye.

Soon I will be longing for these beauties as well as all the other blooming plants and flowers that I have gotten used to over the spring and summer.  Perhaps the fact that they aren't there for me all year long makes them even more precious.

"We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course its our garden that is really nurturing us." - Jennie Uglow