the blue muse

this photo is part of texture tuesday over at Kim Klassen’s place, check it out here!

tiny bits of sunshine

filter through an April

that wears

a cloak

of grey.

::

color peeks out

from beneath

this heavy cloth,

asking for an

audience.

::

i wait,

i notice,

i applaud.

::

never needs a map

always knows

how to get there from here

in straight lines

on soft breezes

through storms

and

endless days

filled

with sunshine.

::

my map

draws itself

with a pencil

of hope

blunt tipped

but

somehow still

legible.

::

this poem is part of one shot wednesday

monday must be a metaphor for something, right?

i am having a hard time keeping up lately, with everything.

but busy is good.

at least that is what i keep telling myself.

and deep down, i know it’s true.

::

don’t you just love the word ranunculus?

it’s one of my favorites.

you might think it’s silly to have favorite words.

but i do.

rapscallion is another.

and verisimilitude.

and serendipity.

and

okay, fine

i’ll stop.

::

do you have any favorite words?

do tell.

::

Each year, just as early in Spring as I can get them, I fill my window boxes with pansies. They make me smile.

Today it is cold and rainy and very, very windy It will be a day of
catching up on work and life and chores.

And maybe a little thinking. I think it is time for some re-prioritizing. Lately,
I am all over the place and I can’t seem to get a firm grip on things.

Sometimes, that is the way life is.

It will pass, and things will settle down.

But in the meantime, there are pansies.

::

p.s. I loved all of your guesses about the mystery item in my last post. It is a gourd from last fall that had fallen on top of some leaves. Still completely intact, it weathered the winter quite nicely.

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Also, all jewelry in the etsy shop is 20% OFF
now thru Mother’s Day!

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things are not what they seem.

for example, this is not an egg, nor a nest.

life likes to surprise us, play games with us, tease us a little.

or maybe it’s not life that does that, but our own minds.

just when you think you know something,

you discover something completely different.

something that looks like one thing, but is really another.

or something that doesn’t look like anything at all,

but is really something.

and sometimes it is all just a big joke.

so it is good to learn

how to laugh.

::

can you guess what it is?

Today I am over at Inspiration Studio

celebrating flowers as everyday gifts.

Would love to hear what you think…

softly dancing

petals swirled and curled

light dappled

flower

frolic.

Usually we think of February as the month of love. But it is only the eighth of April, and already, I see this theme emerging. It’s National Poetry Month, and I love poetry. Poetry was actually the first love of my life. It’s true.

Then for my Courage to Fly post, I picked the question “What do I love?”

And then two days ago, I received notice that a book I had donated some of my images for was out and available for purchase. The book is called, “Love From Me.” The image above, which I ran here last year, was chosen as the cover. But even more importantly, the whole book is a wonderful project offering beautiful images and artwork and inspiration as a fundraiser to help cancer patients. Details are here if you are interested in seeing more.

And so, April is the month of love. Not just romantic love, but any kind of deep, abiding, I will never get enough of you love.

And last, but most definitely not least, I love that you come here, to read and to comment or just take a peek. And I want you to know how much that means to me, and how much I truly appreciate it. I have been extremely busy lately with my graphic design work, and that is a good thing, but it means I have had less time to respond with emails or by visiting your blogs.

So I just wanted to let you know that I love you, too.

Love, from me.

::

Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession;

it is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed.

~ Vida Dutton Scudder

I am so happy to be taking part in the Courage to Fly blog hop. What a fabulous group of creative souls, filled with inspiration. We were given the option of answering one of several questions, and this is the one that jumped out at me:

What do you love? and why?

.
I think this one jumped out at me because I had an immediate answer. And then later, several other answers came to mind. And then of course, several more. So much to love, so little time.

But the simple answer, the one that immediately popped into my head was this: life.

That’s it.

Although, of course, life is never simple, is it? And some days, life is hard. Or sad. Or unfair. Or a struggle. But that’s the thing about life. It gives you lots of second chances.

Each day is a new beginning, Or each hour, or each minute, or each breath, depending on how you choose to look at it. Because if you’re here, and you’re breathing, you’re in it.

Life.

A gift that is so easy to take for granted, while at the same time, being the most precious gift of all. Now, of course, my life is not perfect. In many ways, it hasn’t turned out the way I expected, or hoped, that it would. But in many, many other ways, I am blessed.

I have a home. No, it’s not my dream home, but it is the home in which I dream. I make my living as an artist from this home. There is never as much money as I’d like, but every day, I do something I love.

I have food on my table, some of it grown in my garden. Almost always, I also have a vase full of flowers on that same table. I have family to eat with and gather round, I have tea to drink in the morning, a slice of cinnamon toast before I go to bed each night.

Small things, simple pleasures, second chances.

And there is beauty all around me, in a child’s smile, a bud on a tree, the painted sky of a setting sun. There are words that come as gifts, and words that fight their way to the surface. There is the tiny bunny rescued from the dog that killed his siblings. There is a cardinal singing love songs in a tree. There is joy and sadness, tragedy and comfort, flight and falls. Through it all, there is hope.

Hope for a better world, hope for more kindness, hope that I will remember, every day, to stop and live the life I’m in.

This wonderful, difficult, charming, exhausting, filled-with-second-chances progression of days.

Because having the courage to fly isn’t just about spreading your wings.

It’s also about the breathing. The inhale and exhale

that is life.

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