The artist goes through states of fullness
and
emptiness,
and that is all there is to the mystery of art.

Pablo Picasso

Mama's Tree

Merry Christmas Eve

This is Mama's tree
She loved this tree

I hope she can see the lights on it now
I can see them Ma
I love you so much my Mama

Christmas lights and flowers

But for now back in Florida...... These are my snowflakes hanging in my little palm tree.....and the most wonderful scent is in the air from these flowers, that only come out and open at night at Christmas time, giving the most Heavenly perfume to the air.The cool breezes gently blow the snowflake lights around and send the perfume from the flowers everywhere! This is Christmas now.

If only in my mind......

I wish I were here today, trudging through the snow
just for a moment I can hear my brother laugh as he tells a story of when we were growing up. I can see my sisters faces as they and I look adoringly apon him so happy we are all together once more.When we go inside there is a fire roaring quietly behind the doors of the fireplace. My sister in law would be in the kitchen putting away groceries she just bought from the store a half hour away. I would walk past the kitchen into the empty room with the piano, it seems just the piano room, I've never seen anything else in there, and I would sit down and play..... just listening to the keys coming together to make a melody.... maybe one I have never heard, maybe they play themselves, as I think of how relaxed and happy I feel, or sad, whatever the case may be. We are waiting for everyone to come from the barn, the upstairs, the living room, and from outside. Soon we all eat together like we did when we were kids I like to gaze upon a picture and go into it. I loved coming here today....... if only in my mind.

December 16th

Happy Birthday Amy my beloved sister
You are such a beautiful woman
You are kind with a loving smile
you are genuine and warm with lovely blue eyes
you care about others and make certain they know it
you are talented in so many ways
You have a gift of bringing out the best in others
You encourage and build up,focused on the good
seeing the differences in people and celebrating them
saying with your heart.............
you were never made to fit in.......
you were made to stand out.
I Love you very much......Happy Birthday Amy

Happy Birthday Holly Jean
Wherever you are today....know all day I am thinking of the day you were born, I am reliving every moment of that precious day 26 years ago and I love you more than I can ever tell you or show you..........but my heart knows..........please have an awesome day!!!!!
With all the love my heart holdsxxxxxoooo

December Moon

It is December and time to paint the moon again! I think subconsciously I have been waiting for it (the face) to come back because I saw it in the moon last night, and it was only partly full.......tonight it is close to being full, I will be looking for it tomorrow night!This painting is a watercolor, I was able to get it down faster! There were clouds all around, and I had to keep waiting for the clouds to pass over it, and it kept going higher and higher..... I started sketching it standing in my doorway and looking straight up at it before it went too high. I feel I got a better likeness of the sadness, and I know I will keep getting closer to what I see in my mind everytime I paint it

Luna Zinnia

November and it is almost over............
Into my painting.......into the moon when it was full this month
The face is very hard to capture.........but every time I paint it I feel I am getting closer. There is a sadness to it and I couldn't quite get that, but I will........There is an immense depth and distance to it........ very aloof, and I really couldn't get that at all......and I don't know if I ever will. I felt very alive, and excited and didn't make it to bed until very early in the morning the three nights I worked on it, My dog stays up with me and she senses my excitement I had to keep going outside to look at it and to connect with it..... and then back to the canvas. finally on the third night I knew it was gone for another month and I knew there was no more to this painting. This one like the face in the moon was finished.........

Gratitude

I am going to stay with the current theme of my favorite blogger, Grinning patient John.......
I am grateful for.......
New Months.....Leaving behind the old and embracing the new.
Breezes......Is there anything softer than the night breeze?
Daughters......and Sons.....better pieces of you, and their daughters and sons, better pieces of them......
Sobriety
The Glory of the Morning........God's recreation of the new day.
Butterflies.........precious,and free.... fleeting.... I wonder how they stopped by me in their journey and I always say hello....
The Moon........A great confidant
Nephews.....and, Nieces.....seeing extensions of your brothers and sisters.
Those who inspire me........These come in many guises......
paint.........every kind,every color
Quotes that make me think......and feel.......
People that believe in me.....even and especially when I don't.
Rain,soft, cool and...... dripping on my face
and Trees.....They have such a real live spirit about them,when I paint them, they always come out with arms....
clouds.........
Brothers.....and
Sisters.......They just know us.....who we really are, even if we forgot..........
Flowers of course....The very deep center, there's a secret surprise in there, that you will never see just passing by....
And
My Heavenly Father for all that he is, all that he stands for, his unfailing patience,mercy, forgiveness and his unconditional love and for all he has given me......... all of the above.

For these things and many more I am grateful.
Let us give thanks in all things.........
Count your blessings instead of sheep.

Testimony

On this day I would like to bear my testimony
I know God lives. I know he is our Father and we are his sons and daughters. We are all spirit chidren of our Heavenly Father.I know we can turn to him with all our problems concerns and worries, for he took upon him the sins of the world that his bowels might be filled with mercy and compassion for us, that whatever we might be going through, he knows it. He has been through it and much worse. Nothing is too big for God, he stands waiting for us to turn to him, and in fact invites us to do so.
Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give unto you rest.
Matthew 11:28
I know we came here to be tested and tried, but he will not leave us alone in our trials.
I know the scriptures are true.
I know the Bible and the book of Mormon are the word of God, and the Book of Mormon is another Testament of Jesus Christ.
Behold I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that you would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down to the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that you would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye should ask with a sincere heart, with real intent having faith in Christ,He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things
Moroni 10: 3-5
I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for his tender mercies and blessings, his peace and his comfort.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid John 14:27
I leave this testimony with you humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

More than one way to look at things

And the word for the day is.........- Serenity- clear, quiet,calm.

Recently I had a drinking dream, they always take me by surprise because I think I am done with them, and then I wake up all distraught, with the dream very clear in my mind. For those of you who don't know what a drinking dream is......It is after getting sober, you have dreams in which, you are still drinking. The last two of these dreams I had I was searching for the best The "top shelf" what I was drinking was not enough for me, I needed more, and I was aware that I could not get enough, enough buzz from the lower shelf and even when I found the top, the higher proof, I could not get enough of that either. the most current of the two was the same, I could not get enough and I was aware of that, and frightened of it. I was so afraid of what I was doing, so guilty and so ashamed. Mostly in these dreams, I am saying to myself when did I start this again? How long have I been drinking, I am never aware of when it started, I am just in the middle of that mess again, always wanting, needing more and there is just never enough. After I awake and realize it was just a dream, I become aware that it was not just a dream, It was more like a reality that serves to remind me how truly powerless over alcohol that I am,How frightened I was to wake up when I was drinking,How blessed I am to wake up today sober.There are always more than one way to look at things,and I think sometimes the adversary can't get me to give in to the temptation to drink when I am awake, and tries to get into my subconscious while I am asleep. He does shake me up quite a bit on awakening, but I just look to my God and thank him for another day sober.

GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Gift

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.- Rumi

What really moves you? What makes your voice go up an octave when speaking about it? What can you really lose yourself in? What makes you forget about the time? Forget about eating and other fleshly desires? God gives us all gifts and talents, it is up to us to discover what they are........
It is up to us to magnify them and present them back to him in such a way that he is glorified in what we do with them. -KW420-

This Day

Look to this day, for it is life, the very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the realities and verities of existence.
The bliss of growth, the splendor of action, the glory of power.
And yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision.
But today - well lived - makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore, to this day.

~ Sanskrit proverb ~

And the word for the day is...........................-Glory- Resplendence, Magnificence
Heavenly Bliss
A height of prosperity or achievement

Today I turned a little tiny corner into sensing my God given power, the feeling was overwhelming in that my being could not contain it and it spilled out of my eyes. Sometimes my Heavenly Father gives me glimpses into who I truly am, and it most often is nothing I could have imagined..............but there it is! This day I am grateful for that moment, that glimpse, that little turning.....

Word for the day

Word for the day

Euphoria
A marked feeling of well-being or elation
Synonyms: bliss, joy, elation, exaltation,ecstasy, rapture,intoxication, exhilaration
Antonym: depression

Bliss

I love to examine the expressions on the faces of people when I am out on my walk. I still can recall from this morning the look on a young woman who was riding a bicycle with a carriage of some sort behind her, inside the carriage was a baby, I thought the baby must be so happy to be riding along with his mother with the breeze in his face. The woman looked like a commercial and you would have thought she knew me, that is how her face lit up with her smile.When walkers , runners and cyclists pass by they are smiling at me, I am smiling at them, We share something. they have a moment to say hello,nod or wave as they pass, they, we are on a higher plane, there are no worries, concerns, or problems to weigh them down, they are in the present moment! I know this feeling and it is unlike any other, it is pure euphoria! you start out walking, running etc., maybe even before you start, you push yourself to go,then you build up to this certain point, and without knowing when it has taken place, you are off and you are "spinning free", I call it. You were walking..........now you are the walk.....you are the experience

Trees

God writes the gospel not in the bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.
-Martin Luther-

Music

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Word for the day

Harmony
musical agreement of sounds......
internal calm......

Music

Thank you for the music the songs I'm singing thanks for all the joy they're bringing
Who could live without it? I ask in all honesty
what would we be? without a song or a dance you and me
so I say thank you for the music for giving it to me
-Abba-

Today on my walk, I listened to the sounds of different music, I listened to the guitar in Third Day,playing an instrumental of How Great thou Art,
the piano in Cat Steven's Morning has broken, Steve Miller's Dance,Dance,Dance had me dancing in my walk,The Cure's A Forest, put me deep inside one with lush green trees, and Don Williams had me saying to the Lord, that I hoped this day was good, and of course Abba's thank you for the music brought me home with chills, like something whispering through me about singing. This particular song also brought thoughts of my Mother, and I felt her spirit near me.

reflection

We have to turn inwards, to look into ourselves, look into this container which is our soul, look and listen to it, until you have listened in to that which is dreaming through you, or answered that knock on the door in the dark, you will not be able to lift this moment in time in which we are imprisoned, back again into the level where the great act of creation is going on..........Sir Laurens Vander Post

Today I am reading and seeking information about growing flowers...... and caring for my own flowers Today I am texting instead of talking....... Today one perfect bird flew into my garden...... And mostly today I am in reflection.............

Awesome

Today was an awesome day............
I am humbled at the thought that my Heavenly Father would have me teach a lesson
with such depth that I am still left marveling at all I learned through the preparation,and
the insight I received from others as we were all uplifted and edified and strengthened by the spirit.
Time spent with my husband, and later in the evening,.
talks with my daughters completed this day for me.

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist,
and the less the artist does the better.......Andre gide