Grey Blue Monday Morning...

When David left this morning, there was a thick layer of frost and ice on most of the surfaces outside as we got a nice pile of rain on top of an inch or so of snow late yesterday.

As he was leaving, he called "You should come out with your camera. The frost is forming some beautiful designs on the car windows."

Cute, ain't he ? I taught him well to look for art everywhere !

By the time I finished my little tidying up, got some sweats on and grabbed the camera, the 35 degree warmth and the sun poking out of the white clouds had taken the designs away.

I headed back to the studio and decided to do a little self-portrait shoot - I haven't done that in a while and to capture a little bit of this grey-blue morning....

Had to take a couple more shots around the house...

With a little adjusting, they fit the color scheme perfectly...

and a pair of these little sweeties were picking up the droppings from my bird feeder that has kind of become a squirrel feeder but whatever...

The sun has burned through the clouds already and the ice all over the driveway is melting. The widget says 36 degrees already and I think a high of 39 is on the charts. I can handle that !

Today, I am off to finish up some shopping - only 4 gifts or so left buy.

The tree is up but not decorated. The Cosmo kitty is super curious about it and is batting the bottom branches around but I was glad to note that the tree was still standing this morning when we got up after he had had an entire night alone with it !

Meditation this evening and then tree decorating, I think.

The smell in the house is heavenly - one of my favorite things about the holiday that scent of real tree.

I hope you have a creative Monday with whatever is on your agenda !

Oh, and if you have an extra 4 minutes or so, take the time to listen to this inspired poem that the incredible chicks, Andrea and Jen, at kind over matter posted this morning. If I had a daughter I would encourage her to listen to it over add over again. Since I don't I will listen to it instead and hope that the girl child inside of me hears the message loud and clear.

Happy Monday, Beautiful Ones !

It is Thanks Giving Time !

Tomorrow is Thanks Giving here in the US. David and I just finished saying how it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving very much this year. We are invited to his Dad's house and actually have very little prep to do for the holiday. It is his brother Richard's 50th birthday so we ordered a lovely big cake from the local bakery so I don't even have baking to do. I am not complaining - the slower pace is nice. But it feels different...

The whole holiday thing really has me thinking this year. Thinking about the what, why and how of what we celebrate. Not thinking about it in a Bah-humbug ! way - more like in a "How can I make this more meaningful ?" kind of way.

The answer so far ? I guess for me it is getting back to basics. We celebrate the holidays in order to spend time with those we love, to rejoice in what is good and to share the love we have for one another.

I am going to try and keep that in mind as I go through the preparation, the gift-buying, the planning, etc...and also on the days themselves. It is making me question each "act" that I usually would perform without so much thought, and definitely with more of a sense of urgency and stress.

This year, I hope to be a little mellower about the whole thing as I lower the expectations, examine what I really "need" to do and why I am doing it, and maybe let go of a few things or at least keep things a little more simple. It feels really good to do this - kind of like a gift to myself ! ;)

This way I can maybe get back to the basics of why we celebrate the holidays in the first place...coming together in love. Now that is definitely something worth simply celebrating !

I would like to wish all my friends celebrating Thanks Giving a wonderful day filled with memory making moments, love and laughter ! So much to be thankful for...

Cheers, Beautiful Ones !