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.

 My January reads were all excellent and varied. A favorite author An Author I admire Informative and empathetic  Poetic nonfiction full of surprises Barnes and Noble 2020 book of the year A lovely book of poems that I read daily A very different book that made me think  Because I am still trying to pick my favorites of 2021, I am starting to categorize monthly. I may even ask Fiona to help me set up a spreadsheet.  January Favorite.    How to Love the World   This a beautiful compilation. I keep it in the kitchen and start my day by reading a poem a day. A treasure! And a little time for artistic quotes in watercolor and pen and ink. From a calligraphy zoom get together With a big thanks to CJ as Administrator 

A blogging friend was hosting a stamping challenge using 2 colors- black and red. I have been interested in participating in her challenges for a while and finally got one completed. Sticking to just 2 colors makes the card making process quick and easy.  One of my favorite treats when shopping in Wegman’s grocery store is to grab a golden milk latte. Grocery shopping in Wegman’s is a real treat and I don’t get there very often as I have a few shops much closer. I am also trying to keep my carbon footprint small, so I plan my errands with that in mind. Fortunately, I will be over in the Wegman’s area next week  and will pick up some specialty items, flowers and a golden milk from the cafe. In the meantime,  I am enjoying this camomile and turmeric tea. Turmeric is an Indian flowering plant in the ginger family and is said to have many health benefits. On my last trip to Costco, I saw that they are carrying the rhizomes (similar to ginger but smaller) in the fresh produce ...

 I have been looking at my books of 2021 and trying to pick my favorites. My reading choices are often made by looking at reviews, award winners, personal recommendations, a book written by a favorite author, a topic I find interesting or a book I have picked up when browsing the stacks. It’s no surprise then that I end up with so many I love and picking the top 21 has been a challenge. One book stands out as the clear favorite for number one. My favorite book of 2021 Also on the list I read Patrick Radden Keefe’s book Say Nothing for my library’s book club choice in March.  It was a phenomenal read and I immediately put my name on the wait list for Empire of Pain. This historical narrative   is a testament to the power of investigative journalism and winner of the Baillie Prize for non-fiction and the Goodreads Choice Award  for History and Biography.  Also in my top 21 of 21 and in observance of Black History Month, Caste  by Isabel Wilkerson, another Goo...

 We live in a house of tea lovers and Fiona and I love to try new teas. I am getting low on my favorite Tea and Trumpets Earl Grey Lavender. Eugene has put the kibosh on ordering new flavored tea until we go through some of our incredibly large stash. We have made a big dent in our loose tea. Fiona got a great tea caddy so we can organize our tea bags. We have only 4 punjana teabags left from the 440 we ordered this summer, so I have more on order…it really is a go to here! Cheers to that,  Elizabeth and friends I am working on mindfulness in all areas including eating and drinking. So as I drink my tea, I will feel the warmth of the cup, inhale the aroma, taste the flavor, and feel the sensation of swallowing. I have been listening to  Rachael Kable’s podcast , The Mindful Kind and have recently started to listen to the early ones again. They are only 10 minutes each with over 300 episodes clearly listed and described, there is something for everyone. I know that a good ...

 A snowy Saturday with record 24 hour snowfall of 22 inches was the perfect day to catch up on some card making. It all started with a snowflake! A variety of cards and a variety of techniques  I was trying to catch up on some mail exchanges and made great progress. I love these stamps from Spellbinders. I experimented with alcohol inks a while back. I couldn’t figure out how to use the results but I kept the sheets in my stash. It made the perfect wintry background. I also played around with color layering of paper which is great color wheel practice. Some navy and white paper for die cuts, watercolor practice and some brush and pointed pen calligraphy and I was almost finished. While I was enjoying myself with art, Eugene and Eoghan tackled the snow removal. The snowblower helped  The kids bought Eugene a snowblower almost 5 years ago. At the time he didn’t think he needed it, but he has grown to love it! Our neighbors refer to it as the gift that keeps on giving. I tho...

 Happy New Year with Baileys Toasting the New Year with hopes for 2022 And a Best Year from one of my favorite podcasts, In the Doctor’s Chair with  Mark Rowe  a mnemonic device (episode 47) B Breathe   E Eat S Simplify T Time               Y You                E Exercise                 A Appreciate                R Reduce your carbon footprint         I love his weekly podcasts, and I have listened to a few more than once which I liken to a booster shot of optimism and mindfulness. I am very conscious of my carbon footprint and I will continue to include that in my best year, but my R will be reflection and resilience. ( R and R from a favorite 2021 read   10 Mindful Minutes by Goldie Hawn. The rest fit perfectly with my goals for 2022. Dr. Rowe suggests that we start our day thinkin...

 With some poetry I recently purchased this book because it includes some poems I love. This is the perfect book of poetry for these Covid times and fits well with my word of the year Hope.  Poets contributing include Amanda Gorman, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joy Harjo and Jane Hirshfield (just some of my favorites) made this book an easy selection. There are prompts for reflection, short biographies of the poets and much creative inspiration. I have found much to love in this accessible, hopeful collection. Already I know this is one to treasure and share. I used a lovely soft watercolor background from Mia and added some trees and sparkle. Using the abstract art to build upon was something CJ and I experimented with in a calligraphy class with Gerry years ago. We used sumi ink then, but I love the watercolor effect. I will be trying more of that in the future. Is the grey color the Winter Warlock from Santa Claus is coming to town putting one foot in front of the other? Or is it a lo...

 Although there was effort and learning in our watercolor class, it was more creative, fun and zen like. I love the results especially this watercolor by Fiona. The colors and serene atmosphere of this decomposing dory boat in the marshes of Ipswich is lovely.  A gift for Eugene  Proudly displayed in our living room. I haven’t painted anything for the walls yet although I did some greeting cards for some friends and classmates. Watercolor with Bokeh effect Out just in time Fiona made our New Year’s Day dinner. There was much prep work, but it was delicious and most appreciated  Setting the table, there will be no greens in a nod to the late, great Betty White, but we will toast her talent and joy  Mary Berry’s recipe for roast chicken Always a winner Especially when made with love. My word of 2022 was selected after reading a gift book from Onz.  Hope. This book is one of my 21 of 21. Onz said she thought it seemed like one I would enjoy and she was right. ...

of our Christmas in pictures  Lasso Fans Charcuterie with Onz and Deets I love my girl  Me and Onz Sisters before Misters And peach Prosecco Sista and Broha Chilling after a great Christmas dinner   Finally finished Years in the making  Cheers to that! And a happy and healthy New Year to all. Wicked comfy, Boston style