Ibis on your lawn

(Happy and Free Circle card by Deb Taylor)

Sharing the joy–Welcome, Brave Ones !

From this week’s joy list…

1.The green eyes of this Pumpkin cat and her beautiful bitchy kitty face.

2.Chickadees et al. at the brand new bird feeder on the back deck. After three days of empty, they finally showed up !

Those sweet little black headed guys are the bravest!

3.New 3.5X4.75” watercolor book that feels just the right size to play in, no matter what else is going on or has to be done.

4.Bizarre creatures from my imagination that come to life with a bit of time and my hand.

5.Returning to my meditation class after over a year away.

It felt so good to be physically in a group of people who all had the intention of being in the moment and radiating love and gratitude out into the world.

I need more of this.

 

Happy Thursday, Beautiful Ones !

For more joy sharing, visit Meri at Love, Meri.

She flew in…

This little bird flew into the studio this morning.

She spilled her story out onto the page

so beautifully.

She left this Artist Girl a sweet gift.

Thank you, Little Bird.

Day Light Savings Time Weekend…

On Saturday, my honey wasn’t feeling well.

I was bummed for him, and myself as well.

It was a really beautiful day, and I wanted to get out.

But I really didn’t feel like going out alone.

So instead, I went in as my honey rested.

With a window open in the studio, good tunes on Pandora radio, and sunshine streaming in,

I took a 20X20” canvas and went in

to wherever my intuitive artist wanted to go…

I got to this point and really liked what was happening.

Then I added the purple here and felt like I had ruined it somehow !

Especially in that upper left section. Too dark. The spring feeling was gone.

Suddenly, I hated the thing !

Argh…

Time for a good break.

Brushes washed, kitties skritched,

and a late afternoon nap with my man

and I was able to come back to the painting in the evening and complete it.

I didn’t take photos of the process as it was pretty dark in the studio, but I gessoed over a lot of the piece, and then went in with the cobalt blue/purple color, lots of detail stuff with white and black acrylic ink,

and brought the painting to where it felt finished.

Now I am much happier with it !

“Sprung” – acrylic on canvas, 20X20”

Luckily, David was feeling better on Sunday and we went for a scenic drive along the seacoast. We saw a lot of damage from last week’s storm where the high waves breeched the sea walls.

(crazy waves and kooky couples in North Hampton)

The Rock Fairy beaches still have some rocks but very little sand left.

(Swan couple in Jenness, NH)

Then we drove on to Kittery, Maine to hit some of the outlet stores and did a little bit of retail therapy.

It was a sweet afternoon and did both David and I a lot of good.

Oh yeah…

I also stopped at Michaels on the way home and bought another 20X20” gallery wrapped canvas on sale for 50% off…

More intuitive exploration to come !

Hope your week is off to a good start too, Beautiful Ones !

Big Love !

Bits of magic

My niece Jessica and I had a sweet time walking in the Domaine St. Bernard on Saturday. It was a crisp November day, perfect for getting rosy cheeks and perfect too, for Chickadee love!
Little bits of everyday magic. For these I am so very, very grateful.
Happy Monday, Beautiful Ones!

Share the Joy Thursday - Feeding the Soul

From this week’s joy list…

1. Snow on the bird feeder.

Okay, I am lying.

The snow does not bring me joy.

But the bird feeder does.

As does the knowledge that those cold little birdies will have some yummy seeds to eat when their whole world is frozen.

2. The morning after a bad headache when you open your eyes to no pain.

Heaven !!!

3. A bunch of bags with lots of fun goodies ready to go into the car for some Kimbo adventures with awesome peeps !!!

4. My sweet, sweet hubby who keeps the home fires burning bright while I head out for a bit. When I ask him if he minds that I go a lot, he replies “No ! Because you always come back.” Love him to bits.

5. Participating in the Chopra Center 21 Day Meditation Challenge. Today is day 4 and I can already feel changes in my being. I am loving the process so much !

6. This blog and my friends in Blogland. Knowing that there are dear hearts who hear me, see me, and acknowledge my own heart in this very special way with every post, fills me with joy and feelings of being connected. Good stuff !

I hope that the rest of your week is filled with simple and abundant joy, Beautiful Ones !

Visit Meri at Meri’s Musings for more Joy Sharing.

Haiku My Heart–Three Small Birds

Despair’s teeth sunk in.

Three small birds rescued my heart.

I am free to love.

***********

Yesterday, we got the news that our nephew’s Mike’s 7 year old daughter Kyara had died from injuries suffered in a horrible car accident.

We were not very close to this sweet little girl because of complicated family issues

but she was a very loved member of the Mailhot family. I especially remember the wonderful bubbly “little girl” energy she always brought to family gatherings and how much laughter there was when she is with us.

My heart aches for all of those who loved this little girl, taken from us way too soon, and in such a senseless way.

(candle on my altar for Kyara)

It seems to me that there were a lot of things this week that didn’t make any sense.

As a highly sensitive individual, I sometimes get overwhelmed with how much horror, sadness, loss and pain there is in this world. 

If you know me at all, you know that my life mantra is “Love is the answer to every question.”

I know this is true.

And yet, when the horrible, sad, scary, senseless stuff piles up so high around me,

I sometimes forget that truth.

I let despair sink its cruel teeth into me, and try and drag me down into its depths.

I have to say that after the news of Kyara’s passing yesterday,

despair definitely got hold of me.

It was a very grey day in spite of the sun. I felt sad, lost, angry, helpless, useless and beaten down.

I woke up this morning, again feeling sad,  lost, angry, helpless, useless and beaten down.

I was struggling just to perform the simple morning “mommy duties” here, and was mostly wishing to take a pill to shut down my brain, go back to bed, and pull the sheets up over my head for some indefinite amount of time…

Instead, with a little help from my amazing husband, who is going through his own grieving and sadness, I managed to get duties done, pour myself some coffee, and head into the studio to the computer.

That’s when they saved me.

I have this bird feeder that is now hanging from the very center of our gazebo frame on the back deck. The way it is hung has made it squirrel proof but it hasn’t had too much feeding action yet. I guess the birds haven’t been aware of its presence.

Well, they were this morning.

Just when I really needed them to be.

Not only were a bunch of little common finches and sparrows around, but I heard the magic twitter of my little favs, the chickadees, and suddenly, there they were, three of them all on the feeder at the same time. Twittering and eating away.

I love those little birds ! I felt joy at seeing them there.

I felt joy, in spite of the sadness, loss, helpless, hopeless crap.

Now, I can imagine many people saying “Whoopdidoo, Kim!”

I can even imagine myself saying that to me !

But this morning, those three little birds with their glorious “chickadee bee bee” twitter and their sweet, little black heads saved me.

I know today is going to be hard, and that I am going to have to keep looking towards the light to keep me from falling back down lower into those depths of despair.

But if those three little birds can bring me such tender sweet joy in my heart, there are a lot of other sweet, loving, beautiful things in this world that can too.

And heck, I don’t want to miss that ! That is the sweet stuff of living. Our one main purpose for being here on this crazy, bittersweet, beautiful planet. This my heart knows.

So from this very tender place, I am sending you, and myself,

Big Love, Beautiful Ones.

(Chickadee love – December 2011)

Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you”.

~ Bob Marley

Haiku My Heart–Stay Trusting

 

Your job is simple.

Resist the impulse to fix.

Stay trusting in Love.

I have missed Haiku Friday for a few weeks and I have also very much missed the energy that comes from sharing little bits of our hearts in this way.

It feels good to return to this !!!

Rather than write anything about some of the struggles of the week

which I had the impulse to do this morning,

(most of them were taking place in my very own mind anyway!)

I am choosing to get back to my real job.

And that is

sending Big Old Love

and shiny, white Light out

to

all of you,

Beautiful Ones !

Have a sweet Memorial Day weekend and feel da LOVE!

 

Haiku My Heart is hosted every week by rebecca at recuerda mi corazon