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Archive for the ‘appreciation’ Category

beginnings

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The fun of starting something new, is that one never really knows what it will end up to be.  what I showed you yesterday, and this today, are beginnings.  Like one would sketch an idea, I am using fabric.  Already when working this piece last night, I could see a glimmer of what I was NOT doing, that I think I will try when I continue playing,

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When we look at a visual, it leaves an impression, that our gray cells will process in different ways, over the course of minutes, hours, days, who knows when what you saw, will reclaim a moment of your “now” to present itself in a different way.

Whatever your medium, photography, paint, ink, text, fabric, if you are expressing yourself, through a visual, the colours, patterns, shapes and textures that impressed themselves on your psyche will show up.  Some colour combinations will never draw my attention, because, my “personal” makeup is drawn to shadows/light and colours that are attractive to me.

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This is one of the reasons I love life, and find it so fascinating.  I “see” the world in such a magical way.  I loved this picture, didn’t know why till I got it home and saw it on my PC screen.  When I took the picture, it was instinct.  Now all I see is the wild animal preparing to chow down.  =^_^=

Beginnings never have to end. Love the choices you make in a day, embrace the adventure of life.  Appreciate your friends.  Life IS.

Oyashikiri

 

all photos and work, mine Q

hexagon – sometimes

Quilted flower 10.27.17Sometimes, you decide to cut out a hexagon.  You have an idea.  But before you can really get carried away, your creative self goes to work… and yes, you do hexagons, but this is what you end up with.

Quilted hexagon flower 10.27.17

There is another step or two that followed, but the picture may or may not be completed, so… I leave you with the above.  I wanted fall colours, and I’ve done a flower.  We will have to wait to see what comes next.

Sometimes, we have to know when to stop, take a step back, and wait.

Happy week-end everyone!

Oyashikiri

chop suey Thursday

IMG_4093Some times when we are travelling full speed down a Provincial highway, we admire the beauty along the sides of the road.  Same is true when we are on secondary roads.  My mind will pick up on a detail, that later brings me to another storyline.

old orchard beach taken by B

Two very different landscapes, yet each sends me images and text.  I imagine that for many this is also true.  This morning, when I opened up my mail, one of the images I saw was this one.

fantasy house Pinterest

Of course I thought immediately of Norm’s Thursday Doors.  His this  week is AWESOME Norm 2.0  For those of you who know my love of the “character” doors, you will appreciate why today he had me mesmerized..

My husband has been wanting to take me back for a visit to Newfoundland and Labrador, he worked there years ago when he was still doing radio/TV… I have also been there, but just to visit, now seeing Norm’s doors, you can bet your booties, I am going to be suggesting that YES, Let’s pack up the truck, bring the dogs, we are going exploring.

See that is what an image can do for me.  I love seeing the world through the lens of another, as well as my own.  When we focus, a whole new world opens up for us.

BE  present.  always.  listen giving full attention.  the rewards are   A MA Z I N G

I didn’t plan on a trip to the States yesterday, but there I was, having lunch in NY State, and adding to my fabric stash.

Ogdensburg,10.25.17

Life is good, life is great, being alive to see the fall colours, WOW, we are so lucky those of us lucky enough to experience Nature in  all her seasons.  Yes even winter.

Oyashikiri

PL Precept # 21 live in Perfect Liberty

a chance encounter


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shadows cast a spell

allowing me to see

 the world in your eye

when the sun moves on

you will be gone

 I won’t forget, but

your location

I won’t tell

your secret is safe

with me

Q

Susan

My long time friend,  passed away Friday – if she were here, we would likely quip that “another one bites the dust”  Susan and I were the dynamic duo who felt that we could do anything we wanted to. If others said it was impossible, Susan and I would sit down and work out how we could get it done.  I had two friends called Susan, she was known in our circle as “little Susan” cuz that is what she was, 5’2″ if that.

IMG_4120Being a Taoist, for me landscaping was all about bringing nature to my property so that it would as closely resemble natural growth, Susan shared that passion, when I bought a home with a double lot, she said, I’m going to get more land too.  She moved to a place where she had the kind of lot that she could build on.  We were off to the races, every week-end we toured miles of countryside looking for landscaping places that would offer us plants that were not the standard backyard fare.

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Susan’s passion soon outgrew her backyard, she called me one day to tell me she had decided to purchase land.  We both had full-time careers in Corporate Health Care, and were raising our “young” but that didn’t stop her.  Once her mind was made up, Susan was a very determined person.  Over the years I watched as she  took on one “project” or “passion” after another.

IMG_4126When I remarried in the late 90’s, we didn’t get to spend the time together that we did before, but anytime we did meet up, we picked up just where we left off. That was the kind of relationship we had. The bond we had created when we were younger, held like glue.  The years passed, friends in our lives changed, but still, we knew each other like one hand knows the other.

IMG_4116She is gone now, at least the human form is no longer here.  But her presence, the secrets we shared, the long evenings of simply “being” in the same space, discovering our “selves”.. that will always be.

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Rest in peace my friend, our joy in prisms will always be a reminder of how much you are part of mine.

When love is true it lasts forever, no matter what…

true friendship is not about how often you see each other,

or how long you have known each other..

but in the truth of what you were to each other.

Q

 

photos along the Tay River, Ontario,Canada

shadows

IMG_4112Shadows cast their imprint on the forest floor, not looking up, I wanted to read the storyline that played out on the fallen pines and organic debris that carpeted the way

IMG_4113autumn sun was high in the sky, so that the filtered light cast beautifully defined lines against the rusted shades of brown and grays that lay textured, the perfect foil for the images being projected for our viewing.

PL Precept #1     Life is Art.

How we creatively interact with the challenges and opportunities that come our way, if we were to see them only visually, it would be like the shadows shown above. dynamic and static meeting as ONE.

Oyashikiri

Perth on the Tay

Love a Donkey

 

“Hey, come on closer, I can’t hear what you are saying”… dutifully I found my way into the ditch and up to the fence.  I knew darn well they heard what I was saying, but clever darlings, wanted me closer so I could feed them the taller greens on my side of the fence.

I learned some time ago how devious they can be.  As full of mischief, they are also softies if you are deemed a friend. Get on their bad side tho’ and I would stay way clear. If they are working, and taking care of their flock… be warned, security checks can be quick and purposeful.

My visit was obviously on their lunch break. =^_^=    I’ve been known to chatter away, wax poetically and find myself rewarded with big sloppy kisses.  Of course a carrot or two in my pocket helped.

Lately I have found myself on back roads, where I have had the pleasure of a few encounters.  Have you visited with a donkey lately?  Aren’t they a wonderful audience. You know they are listening even when they turn their backs.. scratch an ear, if you are lucky, you’ll hear the donkey sigh, =^_*=  (wink)

Enjoy every day, today, will lead you to tomorrow.

Blessings be… Oyashikiri

communication …… remember, it is not always what we say, but HOW we say it. after we speak, it is important to LISTEN

 

soyez tranquilles

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tranquility

moments pass

yet stillness

inspires

more lingering

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Make every day special, we only live it once.

Oyashikiri

 

Perth, On. Canada on the Tay trail

 

 

Stash

fabric stash 4Happiness is finding that the coloured hook and loop tape is on sale, buy 1 and get 2 free.  I had not seen coloured hook and loop before, so I was for sure, having a few. Especially they were in the fall colours I was on the hunt for.

Took me awhile but I finally found the fat quarters, and when I did, I forgave the shop for hiding way in the back.  They were all half price. I managed to find enough quarters in the colours I was wanting.

fabric stash 3I’m even going to follow the “rules” and launder the pieces first before I start to cut them up and heat bond them.  I am showing you the raw pieces, before I play with them.  Hopefully I will eventually show you the end product.  I have no idea what I will do with the tape, but the possibilities are endless.

I’ve also begun to work on the art/junk journals again .. fall is in the air, I always get a nudge from Mother Nature at this time of year, the vibrant colours she splashes all around us is enticing.  Even the rows of golden rod and mellow yellows that dot the fields along the highways call out to me.

The unbelievable thrill of seeing the  1000 shades of orange/reds that wave from the hardwood trees that line the road, exhilarates.

My stash is slowly taking on the colour theme that I will work with. Yes I am excited at the pending creativity that is awake and churning to get going… anyone else out there feeling that zing that is floating around in the ethers of the bright fall days.  Not to mention the crisp night breezes that lull us to sleep.

It has been a super great Thursday  …  hello Friday, I’m ready for you.

May the happiness of the season, float effortlessly your way. Appreciate and enjoy this season of harvest.

Oyashikiri

PL Principle # 3   I will live with a mind of appreciation towards others and things.

bee,blessed

Manaus, Brazil

manause Brazil - Amazon Theatre

What brings me to Manaus, Brazil?  A book I picked up because I saw on the back cover that it was about a young girl who travelled to Brazil.  It is one of those “ah” moments when you are wandering down an aisle in a shop and your eye falls on a object, or in this case, a book, and you know you want to see it more closely.

The book is Journey to the River Sea, by Eva Ibbotson.  It was runner up for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the year and the Guardian Fiction Award.  I glanced at it this afternoon, sat down and read it through till the end.   I had not expected to spend the afternoon reading, but that is exactly what I did.

I was transported to a land I know only from various media presentations, the story line, the characters, it was a perfect blend of words presented in such a way that my imagination created the visuals.

manaus brazil amazon rainforest

I was travelling along down the Amazon (the River Sea), seeing where the brown waters of the Amazon joined the black waters of the river Negro.. where soon after the main character saw the green and gold dome of the theatre and church spires.  It was wonderful to be able to totally immerse myself for a short time in the adventure of a young girl, and her friends.

amazon rainforest waterfall

There were no pictures in the book, I found the pictures you see here, on the net. To be a young girl, who due to circumstances is off to live in Brazil, with distant family she has never met… (from England)…. you know… there are many possibilities, the author is skilled at her craft.  I will have to seek out more of  her stories.

PL Precept #17  Grasp what is most essential

The story held me captive for hours. At first I wanted to know what was it, what held my attention, then a thought popped up.. Could it be, my mind needed a rest from the chattering of nonsense and noise that has been whirling around me of late… my husband had his last chemo session today, and soon it will be his last radiation treatment.  Then we rest, and prepare for the surgeries.

PL Precept # 12   Everything  has a way according to its name

PL Precept #7  Everything exists in relativity.

Isn’t life beautiful… PL Precept # 11   Always be with GOD

Oyashikiri

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