A New Day

 President Joseph R. Biden

Grandbaby Chat

Mimi was having some fun during Grandbaby Chat this week. 

Melody laughed right away. Annie wasn't sure what to make of it at first, then had a full-body giggle.

video chat photo

This vaccine can't get here soon enough for me. Dale and I are so looking forward to spending time with Julie's family again!

Reflections

Jodie and I got together for a short hike on this cloudy day at Kirk Park, an area of protected wetlands. It's the first time we explored this lovely park. The trail was nice and muddy today. 

I'll share some of my photos over the next few days. Here's a beautiful shot Jodie took of a tree gazing at its reflection in the lake.

Mid-January Babes

It may take a few more years before I get used to signs of Spring in January. In north Idaho, where I lived for over 30 years, I wouldn't see crocus shoots until March! But in Oregon ... lookie here!

The daffodil bulbs Jeanne and I planted on November 24 are already pushing up through the bark!

I do so love living here!

My 2021 Story

For the last week, I participated in a writing workshop called Write Your New Story 2021 hosted by Sheri Salata (author, podcaster, and Oprah's former executive producer). The workshop was held online. We had a daily syllabus, a daily live talk with guests where participants could ask questions (I watched the recorded version), and some homework. Participants met in a private Facebook group where we were encouraged to share our homework and photographs. 

The stories that emerged from participants all over the world blew me away. There we shared our "what was 2020 to you" stories, our "what's your life like right now" stories, our shame stories that keep us frozen, holding us back from moving forward in critical segments of our lives. We shared our hopes, we shared the names of the people who love us that we can count on, and we shared the words we plan to use every day to formulate a new story for ourselves in the coming year. We learned the concept of wabi sabi: perfectly imperfect. Then we imagined how we can wabi sabi our life -- how we can take the hard parts and make them beautiful. We wrote about the points in our lives where we ran up against a big NO, that stopped us in our tracks and made us change course.

I think I put in about four hours per day on this workshop. It was well worth it.

Our final assignment was to write our new story for 2021. What is our next right dream? Incorporating the 10 words we chose earlier in the week, we were instructed to write a short story to describe our lives in 2021. Then we were to put  up a photo of ourselves at our "sassy" best.

While writing, I figured I'd share my Day 5 story with the other workshop participants, but otherwise keep it to myself. However, some of my words for this class were courageous, brave, and confidence. With that in mind, I've decided to share my 2021 story here. After all, personal writing can be counted as one of my my 21 Goals in 2021 ... try 21 new artforms.

==========

Sassy!

For 2021, I don’t have one next right dream. I never have. I have a lot of curiosity. I’m interested in many, many intellectual endeavors, paths of emotional growth, and artistic activities. My interests change with the seasons and chapters of my life. But I don’t have one big passion, one next right dream. I’ve searched. I’ve prayed. I’ve read. I’ve followed thought leaders. When I’m told to “follow my passion” or my “one next right dream,” I end up feeling like a failure. Failing at life because I’m 63 and still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. That’s a fractured place in my life. 

So how do I wabi sabi this?

Elizabeth Gilbert says, some of us are hummingbirds. We follow our curiosity. We flit from bud to bud, tasting the nectar, helping to pollinate flowers that will grow into fruit. So that’s what I do. I follow my curiosity. I flit from artform to artform. I don’t worry about selling any of it. I’m not about producing and inventory and marketing and selling and business. I’m about creating and being in flow in the midst of my activity.

Here’s my wabi sabi plan:

Keep doing what I’ve been doing for over 15 years. I already publish daily on my blog, shining a light on these flowers in my life. My blog, Studio Window, is chalk full of words and images of the places curiosity has taken me. All the little broken places that, when a light or a macro lens focuses on them, reveal their beauty. Sometimes it’s ugly-pretty. Many times it’s mundane. Occasionally I get brave and reveal some of the secrets of my soul.

My 2021 story is that I don’t need one specific purpose. I need to confidently and bravely explore my community, to figure out the logistics when they trip me up, to gradually make connections and friendships. I plan to shine a light on that which lights me up. Yesterday I started a second blog (it’s not live yet). My plan is to shine a light on, and take photographs of, the enchanting things I see in my new community. My charmed, wonky story, told through images.

That new start is enough for now.

 

House Movers

On Thursday evening, Dale and I put this 300 piece jigsaw puzzle together while watching the news. This size puzzle is just enough to get a quick fix without having to put in a lot of time and energy.

House Movers is another illustration by Charles Wysocki. I never considered that back in the horse-and-buggy days, entire buildings could be moved.

There weren't quite as many adorable details in this puzzle as others we've constructed, but here are three of my favorites. The farmer with the tipped-over barrel of apples,

the gigantic free range chickens and the literal horse-power moving the building,

and the rainbow. 

I'm pretty sure every one of these Wysocki illustrations has an American flag proudly waving.

The Three Sisters

I needed some more down time, so put together this 300 piece jigsaw puzzle a couple nights ago. The illustration is another by Charles Wysocki.

As usual, I am enthralled by all the little details. Look at this wagon.

And the sweet dog napping with the boy.

Here's a palette and an easel waiting to be set up to paint the scenery.

The question is, are The Three Sisters the artists, Hattie, Alvah, and Bronwyn York?

Or the lighthouses?

Very clever.

Video Chats

I'm so glad I get to have video chats with these girls twice a week. Today we built mega-towers, and played with stuffed animals, and counted to ten, and did ABCs. They also taught me about Kemosabe the porcupine. We only had one meltdown over sharing toys.

But sometimes it hurts so much that I don't get to see them in person. Got me cryin' today.

I Am Alive

 I find hearts in the strangest places.

As a diabetic, I check my blood sugar levels with a finger poke, blotting extra blood onto an alcohol wipe. Well, today ... lookie here:

I'm alive and my blood glucose is in range. That's gotta be good enough for today.

Chicken Soup for My Soul

 The news this week is all-consuming for me. Even so, I managed two main things today:

1. Watched a Netflix DVD that had been sitting around since November

2. Made this pot of soup. 

I must say, it's the best version of this chicken vegetable soup I've made. It's a pretty basic chicken, veggies, broth and cream mixture made without a recipe.. I managed to get the proportions correct this time.

Time for Some Lovin'

Epiphany was only 3 days ago, but that's not a good reason to refrain from prepping for the next holiday, right?

Mimi and Papa did a wee bit of shopping for the Littles today. We have a Care Package to put together that needs to arrive in 20 days.

Wish we could deliver the hugs and kisses in person. 

Maybe next year.  💕💕

What Year Is It?

 

Getting a Quick Fix

The tumult of the last few days left me feeling jittery. To get a jolt of calm, I pulled one of my new 300 piece puzzles off the shelf at lunchtime.

It's another Wysocki illustration and looked so cheery that working on it couldn't help but to put me in a better mood. Dale joined me during his lunch hour. Putting a jigsaw together is such a lovely companionable activity. This puzzle is called Peach of a Day. Finishing it did put me in a peachy mood. Afterward, I went out for my walk. 

Here are some of the details of this springtime illustration. A very merry robin sings on a branch.

A beautiful basket of tulips is ready to go from farm to table.

The sampler and sharp scissors speak to the embroidery lover in me.

Tonight's Sunset

 This beauty still exists ... even in the midst of chaos. All I need to do is look.

This is My Country

Shameful. 

Love On Track

Until recently, I was never much of one who liked to walk around an athletic field on a track. I much preferred to walk to a park, or walk around the neighborhood. But now that I live with a track right in my back yard, I've come to enjoy the convenience that it affords. Having it so close by has given me no excuse to keep from going on my after-lunch walks. I'm starting to love it.

It's been rainy and windy this week. The track has all these white bits on it. I can't tell if it's paper or egg shell or maybe even flower blossoms (seems the wrong time of year for that), but they're scattered all over the track on the north end of the field.

The track seems to be glad I'm out there using it, though. Because the white bits are loving me back.

My Personal Epiphany

 This is going to take a while. I may need some help.

Sigh

Jumpstarting an Old Habit

In Gretchen Rubin's book Better Than Before, my favorite happiness expert explores twenty-one strategies to make good habits and break bad habits. In the strategy of pairing, she suggests tying two tasks together, so that one habit starts to seem incomplete without doing the other.

I'm attempting to get back in the habit of my daily walks. My intention is to go for a walk after lunch, rain or shine (because, face it, there's a lot of rain in Oregon winters). 

This year I also want to listen to more audiobooks. I have an Audible account, and have already garnered an intriguing library of books that I've not yet listened to.

I need motivation for both of these habits. So I'm going to use the strategy of pairing. I'll go for my walk while listening to a good audiobook. I'll listen to that audiobook only while on my walk. So if I want to find out what happens next in the book, I must put my shoes on and get out the door.

For this to work, I'll need to really want to listen to the book, not pick a book I think I should listen to because it will be good for me. So I've decided to start with a book by one of my favorite comics, Celeste Barber: Challenge Accepted!

If you're not familiar with Celeste's work, I highly recommend checking out her Instagram feed. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, Celeste is flattering an awful lot of Instagram influencers and models while provoking belly laughs heard all around the world.

The Time Has Come

I've been carrying this book with me from home to home for nearly 30 years. I plucked it off the shelf today intending to read through the introduction so I can decide it it's finally the year for me to work through it, or the year to give it away. I bought At A Journal Workshop: Writing to Access the Unconscious and Evoke Creative Ability all those years ago because the very title spoke to a deep aspiration.

What would it be like to have the time, the money, the headspace, the self-indulgence, and the emotional fortitude to go to an intensive journal workshop? That sounded like heaven to me.

But it never happened. When I opened the book today, it was clear that I'd never even cracked the cover.

This year, I'm exploring a different way to journal. For several years now, I've written Morning Pages as taught in Julia Cameron's The Artist Way. I like that method of journaling. It worked well for me -- until it didn't when the pandemic hit. I haven't been journaling for six months, and I miss the practice.

From what I've read so far in the book, and from the YouTube videos I've watched about this method, "intense" is an understatement. Some of the method sounds awfully familiar from other self-help psychology books I've worked though -- and they were intense. Will this be repetitive? Have I already done this inner work? Am I up for it? Maybe. I'll see.

One way or another, this book and I will have a new conclusion this year.

Wrap It Up & Move Ahead

Wrapping It Up

I had a superb year of completing all my goals in 2020. Here are the results:

1. Transcribed my session with John Holland from Skamania Celebrate Your Life retreat
   
   
2. Created a watermark for my photos
   
   
3. Bought a car
   
   
4. Lost 25 pounds
   
   
5. Found a new medical team
   
   
6. Put 42 jigsaw puzzles together (my goal was 20)
   
   
7. Filed all my digital photos once per quarter
   
   
8. Zeroed out my email box once per quarter
   
   
9. Learned to make 16 Keto recipes (my goal was 6)
   
   
10. Listened to 28 short podcast series (my goal was 20)
    
    
11. Found 33 geocaches (my goal was 20)
    
    
12. Watched 120 movies from my Netflix / Amazon / Hallmark queues (my goal was 20)
    
    
13. Celebrated 28 minor holidays (my goal was 20)
    
    
14. Read / listened to 26 books (my goal was 20)
    
    
15. Wrote 27 Throwback Thursday blog posts (my goal was 20, then to finish my photo transfer series from my old website).
    
    
16. Made a preliminary design for furniture and fixtures in my Studio and built my worktable
    
    
17. Completed a master bedroom closet organizational system
    
    
18. Sent 23 cards and letters via snail mail (my goal was 20)
    
    
19. Painted 40 rocks (my goal was 20)
    
    
20. Bought needed furniture for the house
    
    
    I made progress on these alternate goals:
    
    
21. Completed 12 projects that were waiting in the wings for years (my goal was 20)
    
    
22. Made a food treat or dessert each month. (my goal was 12, and I did all of them)
    

My Word of the Year for 2020 was Settle. 

Dale and I feel like we did this well. We feel well-established in our home. We've made friends with some of our neighbors. We can get around town without having to use Google Maps all the time. Some of our settling within our new community was thwarted due to the pandemic keeping us in our home so much. But considering our restrictions, we feel relatively settled into our new home of one year.

Onward in 2021!

.

My goals for 2021 are simple and should be a lot of fun for me. I plan to attempt 21 new-to-me artforms! This means I get to try nearly three new types of art each month. 

I've made a list of possibilities, but I'm open to trying other options that present themselves throughout the year. My options include:

• Artrageous book
• Braided cord (using the loom I already have)
• Broomstick lace
• Crochet a corner to corner afghan
• Embossed foil labels
• Felt embossing
• Finger painting
• Hairpin lace
• Heat embossing on paper/cards
• Macrame
• Metal punch jewelry
• Mosaic
• Nail art
• Needle felting
• Paint pour
• Paint with string or chain pull technique
• Painting on canvas with oil or watercolor
• Postcard journal or other journals / bound books
• Potato stamps
• Pottery / Clay vessel
• Quilling
• Resin
• Roman shade (for my bathroom)
• Scratch board
• Screen Printing
• Sculpture
• Security envelope art
• Silk ribbon embroidery Studio sign
• Solar printing
• Sparkler painting
• Spinning
• Stained glass
• String Art (heart)
• Tatting
• Tie dye
• Weaving

My Word of the Year for 2021 is Explore. Where my hope last year was to get to know my new hometown and nestle into our home, this year is a bit of the opposite. It's to learn more about Oregon. Once the pandemic subsides, we hope to find new favorite restaurants. I need a new favorite nature walk area. We want to visit state parks and see the waterfalls.

It also means exploring more inside our home. Obviously, my 21 goals are all about exploring art. But I may also explore more photographic techniques. Maybe I'll try more home decorating ideas. I might do more inner-life exploration by journaling in a different way. I'm considering exploring a different way to express gratitude as well.

One more idea I have for 2021 is to play with the concept of Try It Toosday. I have a folder on my desktop called "Blog Fodder." In it are all kinds of ideas I've gathered from other artists/writers/photographers that sparked an interest in me. So on some Tuesdays, I'll attempt to re-create one of those ideas and write a blog post about it -- because I want to try it too!

I'm looking forward to giving these new goals a try. I think by exploring and learning, my eyes will be open to many more possibilities.