Artful Journey

 I am a big fan of NPR and RBG and this book came highly recommended. It was refreshing to read about Nina Totenberg and her friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsberg, as well as with Cokie Roberts.  I am sure this will end up on my favorites of 2023. I’ve been busy with some art projects, but always keep reading on my daily list of things to to. It’s my way of winding down at night. It’s always nice to curl up with a good book. Happy reading!

  Art in Bloom Art in Bloom is being celebrated as a rite of Spring fundraising for art museums and libraries . In museums, floral designers create a piece to coordinate art on display. Local libraries and Chamber of Commerce combine their efforts with local art guilds and garden clubs to host a fun evening event. Libraries, art, flowers…what’s not to love? I decided this was an event I wanted to be involved in, both on the art and floral design aspect. First up: the display case, I asked Fiona for help on this. Here’s what we put together for the event. This is my first year participating, but it provided a great opportunity to put my art to good use. Happy Spring. Bloom where you’re planted.

Keeping my posting streak alive and returning to some uncial calligraphy with a quote from a favorite Irish poet, John O’Donohue. I took inspiration from a book I recently finished, To Speak For the Trees  by  Diana Beresford-Kroeger . Diana is a world recognized botanist, medical biochemist and author. Her efforts and advocacy to develop a bio plan to restore the global forest is ongoing and impactful. A remarkable scientist and world climate change leader, she works tirelessly to illustrate the  beauty and value of trees and forests. Her writings, interviews and film are poetic and informative.

Here’s the book… Here’s the author being interviewed with a picture of one of her pies on screen. This is City space, a favorite venue for inspiration.  Fiona and I braved the storm to head into Boston for the book tour, discussion, mini demonstration and a taste of her Happy as a Graham tart. Fiona picked up a copy of the book which Lauren personalized.  The book is filled by great photos, puns, recipes and inspiration. I see geometric pies and tasty tarts in the future. In the meantime, a happy St. Patrick’s day to all. Slainte☘️

 Those small things that can add happiness to your day…microjoys.  A beautiful sunset definitely adds to my joy! Keeping my posting streak going, another Microjoy. My envelope exchange cards in the mail…a microjoy I haven’t experienced in a while. A long overdue skype call with CJ, definitely joy infused microjoy. Look for the good,  even during challenging times, we can find joy in nature and in the little things!

 That’s it…the word of the month… move my body, add some resistance training. Keep it simple, just move through things. Movement, move to accomplish. One moment at a time…just keep the movement and momentum going.

 Purchase, My word of the year one includes one new or different challenge every month. January was dry January, with no alcohol. After that fun, February posed a new challenge, Frugal February, with no unnecessary spending or purchases. Ouch! Thank goodness I picked the shortest month of the year. Luckily, this isn’t a leap year. So far, I have been doing really well, and only succumbed to temptation once. I am thinking progress not perfection, so it’ s in the win column. And now for my purchase. I attended Margaret Shepherd’s opening reception of her calligraphy from Song of Songs at Yale Divinity School. The book contains the artwork on exhibit which took her five years to complete, as well as her thoughts on why she picked the passages and how she interpreted them. The book is beautiful and inspirational, perhaps moving it to the realm of necessary…at least in my opinion.

  Sunset walk with Bailey I took a watercolor class recently and the subject was a couple on a sunset walk. I decided to add a dog to my painting as Onz and Deets adopted a shelter dog 6 months ago. She is super cute, affectionate and loves to go for walks. We are always available for Bailey sitting duty.

Winter in the Dunes  Over the past year, I have taken up pastel painting. I love the vibrancy of the pure color and the impressionistic quality. The medium is challenging, but fun. Fortunately, we haven’t had much snow here, so the inspiration here is from a photograph. 

One That’s it…one, some days, one is all we can manage and that has to be enough. Obligations, responsibilities, distractions…and whoops that second, that minute, that hour, that day is gone. So this year I am committing to one, getting one thing done. Changing one thing. Eliminating one thing. Improving one thing. Accomplishing one thing Maybe they won’t happen on the same day, but there only has to be one thing. That’s enough to count it as a win. Because in my book, today something is better than nothing.  And now, I have completed one blog post. Nothing special, but sometimes you have to start with one and keep it simple.