Sunday, February 22, 2009

Pancake Tuesday



Mardis Gras, or as we all know it "Pancake Tuesday" is this week. The crocuses are up and uncovered in the front garden and the seedlings are started in the sun room. Spring IS just around the corner! We are almost there and already there is too much to do to be ready. Breath everyone breath... and take a walk with a smile on you face. Make yourself realize that life will go on without you running at break neck speed. You can't control much so enjoy some moments before they are lost to you. I am proud of all your hard work so be kind to yourself. Don't give up fun for Lent.

Love you.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Have you had your Spring haircut?



Just a little visual from Angora Acre. This weekend we had beautiful blue skies that pretended to be Spring so Mama Mary had her hair cut. Not a bad job for a nonprofessional using the kitchen shears! I am heading off to the library this morning but leave you all with a wish for smiles on your faces. Take time to look for the little crocuses popping up around you with the promise that soon there will be flowers on the trees.

Love,
Mama Llama

Monday, February 9, 2009

Happy February Days?

What a great Monday morning it is when I hear from the hearts and minds of those I love most. After beginning the winter clean up in the garden last week, I woke to snow on the ground this morning. Where do I live? But still, we ARE to February already.

I am reminded as to why Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras are set in February.This time of the year we all need reminders to love and to laugh. After the gray and cold of December and January, crankiness sets in to our bones. As a stretching exercise to keep the bones from getting stuck in cranky, keep "doing" that art. I am also placing a challenge to be taken up by each and everyone of us. I challenge us all to:
1. Start each day naming 5 things we are happy to have in our lives
2. Say "I love you" at least once a day
3. Say "thank you" at least once at home and once out in the world of STRANGERS
4. Be kind rather than right and then smile when it works out better!

That it the challenge and the end of my sermon. I had a busy weekend with tree spraying, a wonderful symphony evening and a day of fiber show sales in Seattle. The show was great fun, since I made everyone come to visit me. Alex, Sofia, Sam, Marketta and Jeff even stopped by to say hello. I met great women artist and received inspirations from them. I was inspired to new projects and reminded that I really do not enjoy selling. One thing that always makes me happy is the opportunity to create what I want to create without thinking about marketplace issues, though I do enjoy chatting with strangers!

As February rushes through us, combining frigid days with brief promises of sun, seeing the beauty of it all is our salvation: little gems of discover around us.The globes floating in the trees are a reminder that we are all together in the world- Maybe those grocery bag balloons are really alien parachutes-they do seem to land everywhere from Kingston to the "stans". Take time to play, eat chocolate as a health food and look for more art and surprises in the "garbage" of February.

Love,
mama llama

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Collision

A weekend break from the cold. 60 degree Saturday drove the last ice off the sidewalk. But wind is bringing a chill back already and we are collectively reminding ourselves that this happens every year - the burst of spring to let us know there's light at the end of the tunnel, but snow and slush will force the wipers and blinders back on before we really reach it.

Coco also makes me wonder what cares one loses or gains when he or she decides not to BE something, but to DO something.

Here's accidental art of the day. In the evening, when the light is rich, abandoned grocery bags, picked up by winds and caught by sharp branches without their green summer mitts, glow like that plug-in globe I hauled out of the dump when I was ten. I loved that globe. Ditto these treed plastic bags (which are SO depressing on grayer days of winter, when they look like old dead snow without the strength to stay upright).

Strange quote encountered this week. From the Mary Oliver book from Lynne and Linda:
I... heard, in that lonely place,
two voices coming down the hill,
and I was thrilled
to be granted this secret,
that the coyotes, walking together
can talk together,
for I thought, what else could it be?
And even though what emerged
were two young women, two-legged for sure
and not at all aware of me,
...and though I knew
I had believed something probably not true,
yet it was wonderful
to have believed it.
And it has stayed with me
as a present once given is forever given...

Friday, February 6, 2009

My World



"How many cares one loses when one decides not to
be something but to be someone."
— Coco Chanel

While doing research the other day, I came across this quote by the ever sage, if scary, Coco Chanel. This, along with a snapshot of my everyday view, provide a wee insight to my February world. I wish all of you were part of it everyday. Happy Friday!

Love,
Erin