Soul Humming

Nature

 

Margo Polo

Today's creativity prompt is Nature and the wildest thing in our house is usually our little kitty, Margo Polo. When I first met her she was hanging out in a tiny hammock in a metal cage at our local rescue. I went up to her and she stretched her paw out through the bars to touch my face. That was it for me. We had no idea she would turn into a long haired beauty. Nor did we know anything about Maine Coons, which we learned she is a mix of. She loves to play in water, chase lights, and makes a noise more like a chirp then a meow.

Christmas Creatures - My Handmade Ornaments for 2012

Sheila

So this year we did not have a 12 Days of Christmas Exchange as in the past few years. Instead, I exchanged a few handmade pieces with a smaller group of friends.

 

My Christmas Creatures - 2012

 And these are all the girls I made. I wasn't sure exactly what I would be making until one day my friend, Deryn, posted a picture of her Welsh Terrier puppy.

 

I just wonder what she is thinking as she is giving that money such a look!

 

It seems that Maisey had made a snack of some ten dollar bills.

Lottie and Maisey

And then I decided to make this little imp named Lottie with her gilded golden ears and her pup, Maisey, who has the corners from a $20 flying around around. Lottie is supposed to help Maisey learn to be a good girl but I'm afraid she is a terrible influence. It was all her idea to eat the money.

Lottie before she got all dressed up

She is the biggest of the girls, coming in at about 9 inches long.

Soon other sisters followed, each with their own grand stories to whisper as they came into being. As a group they are called The Promise of Spring as they bring flowers to remind us that winter is not too long. Soon there will be sunny skies. And the little flowers were given to me years ago by my husband's Grandma Hope, who loved making beautiful miniature dolls.

Addie is ready for her first fancy dress party. She even oiled her freckles. She has to bring extra flowers for spring in case she needs a snack.

 

This is Clara and Bluebelle. Sometimes Clara keeps Bluebelle's egg nice and warm on the back her neck. Bluebelle is the True Bluebird of Happiness.

 

Leanora is the most shy. She comes from a very fine old family & once traveled across the land in a big, black car. She has a penchant for sundown and biscuits.

 

Lucy likes roses and the heat of summer best of everything. She is especially superstitious but feels safe when she is in Texas and if she has the proper number and size of Xs to wear.

 

Ella has an easy disposition. She loves to play jokes and is very fond of shiny things. She is prone to pinching gold objects and loud hammers. Compliment her on her horns and she will give them back in the night time.

 

 

Lastly, is Sheila. She comes from off the coast of Sydney. If you say her name very quietly it sounds like the waves of the sea. She is lonely and misses all her friends. I've promised her that I will make a school of mermaids for her before Christmas. Maybe there will be one extra for you.

 

 

Sunlight

 

 

The Word

 Down near the bottom
 of the crossed-out list
 of things you have to do today,

 between "green thread"
 and "broccoli" you find
 that you have penciled "sunlight."

 Resting on the page, the word
 is as beautiful, it touches you
 as if you had a friend

 and sunlight were a present
 he had sent you from some place distant
 as this morning -- to cheer you up,

 and to remind you that,
 among your duties, pleasure
 is a thing,

 that also needs accomplishing
 Do you remember?
 that time and light are kinds

 of love, and love
 is no less practical
 than a coffee grinder

 or a safe spare tire?
 Tomorrow you may be utterly
 without a clue

 but today you get a telegram,
 from the heart in exile
 proclaiming that the kingdom

 still exists,
 the king and queen alive,
 still speaking to their children,

 - to any one among them
 who can find the time,
 to sit out in the sun and listen.

--Tony Hoagland 

Finding inspiration...

 

with my sleepy friends.

 

 

 

Soon...

 

Yesterday I got on bloglines with the plan to read some blogs. I hadn't visited the first blog that I chose to look at in a while. Actually, I haven't visited many blogs, including my own, in a long time. When the blog opened the post was titled Happy New Year! I was more than 200 posts behind!

I am living a different sort of unblog-cluttered life these days. For the last year I've been waiting to have the desire to paint again. But I don't really have it. I know that the easiest way to get it is to put my butt in the chair and paint. Instead, I am distracted with these two dorks...

They have no manners whatsoever. One leaps up and eats food right off the table and the other is a secret agent sent from Dog Headquarters on a mission to exterminate or at least terrify every cat she can find.

And as there are two perfectly lovely cats living here, she must work diligently night and day and day and night barking and leaping and throwing herself into such a frenzy that her teeth chatter and shebarks so loud I think the roof will blow off the house. All this keeps a girl busy and out of her studio.

when i have time, i make simple pieces like these horn earrings

and these that have beautiful crucifix medals with sari ribbon

and these which are really colorful from where i sit.

but soon, soon, back to a schedule of painting and a store filled with jewelry and wooden fabulous creatures. soon!

 

Kai

We've changed her name a bit. It was Coyote but we've shortened it to Kai (which means dog, or the sea, or keeper of the keys, depending on which language you are speaking). She's been with us a week and, as you can see, has no problem making herself quite comfortable. ;0)

In the family of things...

Wild Geese 

by Mary Oliver

"You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees 

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body 

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain 
are moving across the landscapes, 
over the prairies and the deep trees, 

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, 

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, 
the world offers itself to your imagination, 
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place 

in the family of things."

Coyote

This is Coyote.

She is a smooth collie who was turned into Southland Collie Rescue by her owner when she could no longer care for her dogs.

She is around three years old.

And as of this afternoon,

she is...

living...

with us!

Dog Beach

First visit for both boys to Dog Beach.

A place for pups to play off leash.

 

Faelan can run like a banshee off-leash on the beach.

 

And I ran right after him, for a long while, then the leash came back out. An 8-month-old puppy can definitely outlast me in a running contest.

 

Finally tired.

Monday

All seasons are beautiful for the person who carries happiness within.

- Horace Freiss

A cloudy day...

a good hike

with so many birds,

 
  my leetle friend,

a big hill,

 

and a macro lens in hand

made my Monday morning perfect.

 

My profession is to always find God in nature. - Henry David Thoreau