~Mental Health Moment~

(Miss Rhianna in her 'Namaste' tank top by moi.)
Okay...just taking a little break from:

~painting lily pads...
~the sound of two little girls and one little boy clunking around in high heels.
~dishes, and half eaten grill cheese sandwiches...and not crying over the spilled milk.
~listening to a timely conversation about who is and isn't a poo-head. (Apparently,I'm NOT one right now...but I may be uninvited from a birthday party or two if I keep insisting on help with cleaning up. Of course, not to worry, because I'll be reinvited as soon as it's baking time. Whoever gets to crack the egg will be loving me!)
~dog hair dust bunnies...and last, but certainly not least...
~various renditions of Miley Cyrus and High School Musical on the karaoke machine.(Note to self: It's your own fault for buying them.:)


Ahhhh....it's Wednesday. Happy Hump Day...only two more days till the long weekend. :) (I'm thinking of that old Seinfeld episode...Serenity now...serenity now...)

xo

~Home Views~

(Click any photo to view larger.)
It seems that every other weekend(when Jon is at work)I make a promise to myself not to spend too much time cleaning my house...which inevitably leads me to spending too much time cleaning my house. I'm not a clean freak. I do not aspire to live in a magazine spread. Long ago I figured out that when you share your space with children...two BIG, hairy dogs...kitties, and whoever else happens to show up on your doorstep things are going to happen...

But yesterday I took the time to celebrate the rare little bit of tidy serenity that I got to enjoy...



This is where I spend ninety percent of my week days...I turned the old front room into the kid's playroom. It's big,and bright with all the old windows, and natural light spilling in.


Children are as charmed by history as we are. All the kids love the old school desk, and vintage Fisher Price toys...nothing stands up better!


Next to the playroom is our diningroom/art studio/greenhouse...


This is almost my favorite room...with all it's original mouldings and cabinetry, antique phone,and gorgeous French doors. (Which I always have to keep open and tucked away.)


There's no fine china in this china cabinet...just toys...and art supplies. And then there's my kitchen...I heart my kitchen...


(I think the passion vine hanging in the window is going to eat me someday...it's slowly taking the place over!)


It's not a huge space. We decided to stick to the footprint of the orginal one, but it works fantasticly for us. The kitchen is the last original room in the house...and it opens right onto the addition. If I ever manage to get the rest of the place presentable I snap a few pictures of it too...

What about your homes...what are your favorite spaces? I'd love it if you shared some pictures too! :)





.

~Through the Red Door~

(click to enlarge)

Wander barefoot with me down this freckled forest path...
Mind you...watch your step,and keep careful watch...
For it's somewhere along here. I know it. Barely visible in this ancient underbrush...
There is a red wooden door, with an open heart.

Where did it come from? I don't know...
It has stood strong and tall for years...and yet hangs from no hinge.
Long battered by the weather, it still has a warm welcome for all who find it, and cross it's threshold.

And once through...what will you see? Well, let me just say...magic abounds.
The sun shines in a technicolor blaze...
Toadstools tower, and you'll hear a butterfly's song.
Daisies stretch up and tickle you...
Poetry lilts on every breeze.

Around a surprise bend we shall find...
An open meadow filled with flowers of colours you have never seen.
Giant, velvety bumblebees cheekily buzz to be stroked.
And here we will lie down among the blossoms to take all the wonder in...
and marvel at the sky.
The clouds take the shapes of our hopes and dreams...
As the words leave our lips.

We revel in this moment...knowing we will soon move into the next...
Which finds us walking home with dusk at our backs.
The forest turning in for the night...
And us full of joy and shared wonder...


Wishing you a wonder-full weekend. :)

xoxo

~Troubled Waters~

('Ula' click to view large)

I'm finding it to be a very tumultuous time right now. The painting above is the first thing I have managed to complete in about a month. My mind is like that cluttered closet that you open...and shit falls out everywhere...Flustered? Yes, I guess that would be a perfect word to discribe my state of mind. And so I felt a little venting would be in good order...although to be honest, I'm not a very good venter...sort of soft-core if you will. It all comes back to believing that I've got no business being in this place, when there are so many others with bigger problems.

Speaking of problems...I've just started this great book, How to See Yourself As You Really Are, by the Dalai Lama.(Because after finishing a sweeping epic like Marley & Me, it's naturally the next thing on one's reading list.) Right off the bat...in the introduction, he got me. He speaks of how if we approach our problems with humanity...with love and compassion, the problem will cease to exist. If we face our problems with anger,or hurt we are just adding more problems on top the original situation. Someone very close to me is walking through a very difficult situation right now...the kind of situation where one doesn't usually find a whole lot of compassion for your fellow man. She knows we love her, and are willing help however we can... so there isn't a whole lot more I can do about it right now.

Then there is just the matter that I feel out of control. I can't seem to concentrate very well...I need to make a plan for my future. What do I want to do with my art..? What do I want to do with my yoga teaching? So far what I've come up with is a name...(Rising Lotus),and the idea to teach evenings art/yoga to children, and just yoga to adults. I would like to get my art out into galleries(I think!)...I don't know. See what I mean?

I just feel like casting all this disorder aside...and running...through the green grass and flipping a few cartwheels...or diving into the deep blue sea and becoming a sea goddess. Hmmm...I wonder if they ever have to deal with this stuff?

~Rhianna Banana~

Nine years ago...my life was graced with a beautiful, little 7 pound 14 oz. package. In that moment, into my life came...
A Dreamer,
An Artist,
A Believer in Magic,
A Karaoke Queen,
An Actress,
A Comedienne,
A Dancer,
A Poet,
A Personal Fashion Designer,
A Fellow Yoga Enthusist,
A Wonder...

Happy birthday my beloved little girl!! Life just wouldn't be the same without you.



(My niece Jenny, and Rhianna mugging in the canola field last night.)

~This Morning's Song...

My hearts skips...soft new sunbeams...falling upon all your pretty petals...



And you burst forth with your contagious joy and colour....


In the herb garden dwell the sparkling, fuzzy fairy flowers...


Majestic delphiniums rising up from behind the crab apple tree....


I bask in the meditative silence...this early light of day...

I so heart a quiet summer morning...and dreaming in sundried white cotton sheets. :-)
xo

~Ssssshhhh...breath...and remember....

('Bliss Found In Solitude'2005)


Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair. ~Kahlil Gibran

~And They Lived (Mostly) Happily Ever After...~

Seventeen years ago a girl and a boy who had been 'playing house' together for a couple of years decided to make things 'official' in front of their family and friends. The boy was terrified...but the girl knew that everything would be alright. She had known that this was meant to be from the moment she had laid eyes on him at a high school dance seven years before. How? She could never really explain it, other than it just felt like every molecule of her being shouted, 'Here He is!'.

There were lots of little bumps along the way...they were oh-so different. He was into working on cars...drag racing...heavy metal music. She was into poetry...art...classical guitar. His family was rather conservative...her's was artistic, and bohemian...Often he had teased her that she must have cast some sort of spell on him...A mystery...yes. Magic...maybe. She would certainly never tell.:)

Over the years though hearts and minds melded...although she still doesn't have any interest in cars or heavy metal...and he still smiles at her like she's crazy, when she starts talking about the ways of the universe. They have crafted a life of colour and beauty...Children...cozy homes...countless artistic endeavours...dreams for the future.

As in anyone's life...there have been those moments of pain and darkness. Blessedly...these fade into the back of their memories somewhere...

Seventeen years...of 'good mornings'...'good-nights'...'I love you's'...toes entwined under the covers as they fall asleep each night...

Seventeen years of learning...giving...taking...growing...and it only keeps on getting better and better.

I don't know where the next seventeen years will find us...but I am looking forward to finding out with you every step of the way.

Happy Anniversary Love...

~We Are...~

We are...
Loving
Kind
Connected
Kindred...magical beings.

We are...
Boundless
Spiritual
Imagination-full!

We are...
Breath
Nature
Wonder
Our hearts beat
Pulses race
Laughter.

We are...
Freedom flowing like a stream
Into...and out of us...

We are...
Intuitive...
Mothers to our souls
Guardians of the past
Nurturers of our future.

We are...
Open to our possibilities
Choosing to let it all in
Choosing to let it all out.

~Dog Days~

(My unhappy girl. :( )
Yesterday I had to take my pups to the vet for their annual check-up...Luckily (????) I already had the appointment booked, because we had just discovered that morning that our sweet Daisy Mae had a little raw spot under her collar, and to be really gross...it had an odour that would drop you. She'd been trying to lick her chest all the night before, and that morning. Weeellll....to make a long story short...the vet ended up shaving most of her chest(which required muzzling her, giving her a shot of antibiotics, oral antibiotics, and antibiotic cream. (And let's not forget the charming Elizabethan collar that she is now sporting for the next week or so.) So after such a stressful morning, she needed a little nap with her 'daddy'. :)

(My love, and the other blonde in his life. I'm only slightly jealous.)