It' Sometimes Just The Little Things!

It all began with a simple exercise to make a list of what I was grateful for. I was then to close my eyes, land my pencil on one word I'd written, and write a letter of gratitude to that person, object, or whatever it may have been. After two minutes of quickly jotting down what I was grateful for, I closed my eyes and my pencil fell on the word "rain."   I had written it down because it was raining and I was glad. I know to some of you it's strange to be grateful for rain, but I am!  Here's my note.

Dear Rain,

I know this sounds odd, but I am grateful for you today. After the extreme drought and heat of the summer, I still smile every time you come. I'm thankful that you fell as rain and not freezing rain or sleet. I'm thankful that the added moisture and warmer temperatures brought fog this morning. I took a lovely walk in the woods through the fog with you lightly falling on my head. I listening as you fell from the trees and splashed in the creek. You soothed me as I took long, deep breaths and smelled the damp, wet earth and trees. All days can't be sunny and bright, our earth needs you!
Singing in the rain,
Cathy

Then comes the second part of my day. The rain quit for a while in the afternoon and I decided to get my grocery shopping over with.  I parked the car and there was a grocery buggy pushed up to a post nearby. That's a pet peeve of mine, I don't understand why anyone would leave one sitting on the lot and not push it to the store or the buggy return. Obviously, they have never seen one caught by the wind, begin to roll, and crash into the side of someone's car! Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now and get on with the story! Oh, my, as I began to push this buggy to the store, I realized I had just touched the cadallic model of a shopping cart!  Seriously, never in the over forty years of grocery shopping have I ever pushed such a smooth buggy. She  (yes I think it was a she) didn't have a dent or a ding, her handle was smooth and her chrome was shiny. Her wheels...perfect, all four of them, black and smooth with just a small amount of dirt on them. She was silent, not a sound did she make. No squeaks or pops, no annoying thud as a wheel rotated. She was brand new, I know she was! She sailed down the aisles, smoothly negotiated the corners, and glided to the checkout. I'm sure I must have forgotten something at the store. I spent so much time marveling at my buggy. I wanted to stop other shoppers and let them have a chance to push this buggy. They would have been filled with envy! After I loaded my groceries in the trunk, I pushed her into one of the buggy returns. I wanted to take my key and etch my initials in her handle so I could find her again. What are those chances?  Zero to none!!  As I left her I patted her handle and bid her fair well. If anyone had been around I would have said "here take this buggy, you will love her!"

 

Being grateful doesn't always have to be about the big things. Sometimes it's the silliest, smallest things that can bring us joy!

If you want to turn your life around,
try thankfulness.
It will change your life mightily.
~Gerald Good
 

Fuel Your Creativity Gratitude Exercise

with Kat Eye Studio

Let's Color!

As you probably noticed in the last few posts, I'm taking a workshop "Fuel Your Creativity" with Kat Eye Studio. She sends us daily emails with great exercises and inspiring words. Today we were to play with color using either crayons, colored pencils, paints or whatever we had.  I chose to use my crayons and color. I have always loved to color. I can remember when my Mom showed us how to color in very tiny circles so you wouldn't have streaks. Don't look at the coloring below, I wasn't coloring in small circles, but in swift lines. Oh, and please ignore the spot of ink on my finger! I was journaling right before I started coloring!

 

 

Finding the crayons was easy. They sit in my craft room just because I like to look at them!  Finding the sketch book I wanted was a little bit harder!  I sat down at the kitchen table and just sat there.
 

Where should I begin?

What shapes should I draw? 

Can I just scribble?

 

Why do I make things so hard?

It's just crayons!!

 

 

I picked my favorite color "cornflower blue" and began to draw shapes. I used every crayon in my box of 48. I noticed that when I liked a color I colored large, curved areas. When I didn't really like the color I only colored small areas with sharp edges. After playing with all the colors, I still liked my "cornflower blue" the best!

 

 

My favorite colors:
cornflower blue and mauve (both appear in our home)
 

Least favorite colors:
apricot and golden rod

 

 

Favorite color combination:

 indigo and red violet
 

And just for fun my favorite crayon names:
granny smith apple
timberwolf
mauvelous
wisteria
dandelion
macaroni and cheese
tumbleweed
purple mountains majesty

 

 

I colored for a good while, a page with random shapes, a page that looked like stained glass with all the various blues outlined in red violet, a page that I divided in half vertically with a black line and drew strips of each color, and a page where I wrote the color names.

 

 

The exercise inspired me to take pictures of my crayons, but the light was awful. It was so rainy and dark. That inspired me to make a photography light box. I had been saving a box just for this project.

 

 

Did I enjoy this exercise?

Absolutely!!

Did I feel creative?
Oh, Yes!!

 

 

I colored.

I made my light box.

I took lots of pictures.

It can't get much better than that!!

 

 

Coloring is such a relaxing activity.

I'll be pulling out my crayons more often!

Count, Stop, Snap

The third time's a charm, or at least today it was!

 

I opened my email from Kat Eye Studio and read today's creative exercise. We were to pick a number and go for a walk. Using the chosen number to count steps, stop, look around, and find something interesting to photograph. Then, repeat this for at least ten times.  No problem, out I went into the frosty, cold morning. Let me stop for just a moment, please. Check out my Christmas present...new hiking boots from Mr. H along with my mantra for this year...focus!

 

Back to the story...I picked the number 37. At first I found myself quickly counting my steps, snapping a picture, and moving on. I was, after all, on familiar ground in my yard and the woods at the edge of our property. I did finally make myself slow down and look harder for something more unusual. All done!! Before I even uploaded my images, I began to think about the exercise. I wondered if I had really gotten anything from it. I did enjoy myself, found some fascinating bits of nature. But, did it really "fuel my creativity?" I didn't think so. I was just in my normal routine of looking for interesting things in nature. I wanted more out of the exercise.

 

 

It's a good thing I didn't have any specific plans today. I had time for TRY NUMBER TWO! I choose the number seven this time since I decided to stay indoors. I rarely take photos of my home, I'm just not good at it!!  Nature is my muse! Instead of being inspired, I was frustrated and irritated! My steps seemed to stop at uninspiring places. Maybe I should have chosen a different number or taken longer steps!! One time all that was around me was a light switch! All I could think about was that it needed a little cleaning and why in the world does anyone need that many switches on one place! This definitely was not fun!

 

 

So...TRY NUMBER THREE! I decided to go somewhere I've never been before. I had heard of a small lake with a walking trail about 20 minutes from where I live. Perfect!! Isn't it a beautiful place!



I chose the number 59, which happens to be my age, and then walked the trail. Oh yes, this was more my style! I had no problems finding things that interested me. I made myself look around me, look at my feet, and then look up. I tried very hard to look for something unusual and not just take pictures of the lake. I spent over an hour there and took way more than the ten required photos!

 

Okay, let's get started!!!  I laughed out loud at finding a great first photo!!

ribbon in a tree

weeds will grow anywhere

 

a peek at the sun

 

shadows

 

rock? unusual?

it can be unusual when you change  your point of view

 

 

fishing on the bridge

 

hiding out

 

end of the pier

 

 

tribute to fishermen

or either there's a lot of bad fishermen

at this lake that can't see a power line over their heads!

When I got back to the car I was excited, exhilarated from the walk and fresh air, and anxious to get home to see what I'd captured! I've been in a little rut with my photography lately and this outing and exercise were exactly what I needed.

 

I assure you that I'll be doing this again, but probably not three times in one day.

Clean Up Time!!!

The weather has been beautiful today; sunny skies and warmer temperatures. Mr. H and I spent the afternoon cleaning up debris from the recent winter storm. We picked up and burned fallen limbs and branches. We made a good start, but there’s several more days work to be done!

During one of my breaks, I grabbed a glass of water, a small piece of chocolate candy, and sat in my swing for a few moments just absorbing the moment. I thought about what I could see, then I closed my eyes and just listened. I also paid attention to what I could smell, taste, and feel.

I looked around the yard and saw the branches and limbs that still needed to be picked up; trees with broken branches; my husband raking up a pile of small limbs and carrying them to the burning pile; the bright yellow, red, and orange flames of the fire against the charred logs; and the smoke that filled the air. As I sat there I saw an occasional bird crossing the fading blue skies as the sun began to set.

It was very quiet in our neighborhood today. So quiet that even though I wasn’t sitting very close to the fire I could hear it popping and crackling. I could hear the rake scrapping the ground, a car on the road below us, and one bird who just wouldn’t stop scolding!

I took a deep breath and smelled the damp earth from the recent snow storm and of course, burning wood.

I tasted the refreshing water and just a hint of orange in the chocolate candy.

The glass felt cool and smooth in my hand. After I sat it down, I reached out and felt the twill fabric of my gardening gloves, the soft denim of my oldest jeans, and the rough wood of the swing.

It’s hard to describe the feelings that were flowing through me. I always feel happy when we’re working together on our property. In fact, I find much more pleasure in working outside than inside! There were also feelings of contentment, peace, and thankfulness that we are so blessed to have a lovely place and to have each other.
 

I like this picture. I blurred it on purpose. It's like what I saw when I squinted my eyes!

It was nice to sit there for a few minutes and absorb the moment with my senses!  Give it a try; pick a spot, write down what you see, hear, smell, taste, touch and feel. Take the time to be "in the moment!"

 

This was an exercise in connecting with our senses for a class I'm taking,

Fuel Your Creativity, at Kat Eye Studio.