Share the Joy Thursday–Lots of Little Joys

From the JOY List this week :

More blob art.

Love the ‘tude.

A gift that Colleen found for David and me.

Ya, it kind of fits.

This little brat cat who jumps into my office chair every time I get up!

These trays of rocks, varnished and ready to be sent to Colorado

in support of Cassandra Perkins and her amazing work for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society  there.

This sweet Hallmark card that jumped out at me yesterday and came home.

One of my all time favorite Pooh & Piglet moments.

That I am headed here today with my friend Colleen.

They are announcing temps in the mid-eighties.

In March.

Hampton Beach, we are on our way

to soak up

the JOYS

of the day.

 

More Joy at Meri’s Musings !

Time to Play Ball

Life has been all over the place around here lately.

A lot of sad news, like my friend Colleen’s untreatable metastasized breast cancer diagnosis.

Some scary stuff, like facing a lot of fear about medical tests myself, as well as waiting for results.

(All of which came back fine yesterday. Next up, Mammogram on April 3rd.)

Processing the sadness and the anxiety resulted in a whole lot of crazy monkey brain last week!!

So much so that this nutty page and equally weird haiku turned up in the journal.

I so wish I could get through my emotions a bit better instead of basically making myself a rather sick, nervous wreck.

I am proud of the fact that I did use some newer tools to help me through, and that the really icky, scary anxiety stuff was a little less intense than it has been in the past.

I told many a friend about what I was going through, and got a lot of wonderful support for my fears and feelings.

I used medication where needed, and also turned to meditation a few times. Man, those deep breaths and quiet moments can be so comforting.

And of course, the amazing support and unconditional love that my husband, David shows me is unbelievably precious to me.

This week, having received good news from my doc yesterday, and the fact that the weather has been so warm and sunny, I am coasting into a more hopeful and peaceful place, thank God!

That kind of shows up in my journal page today, don’t you think ?

I have been able to spend some important, tender and often sweet and fun time with Colleen, and will continue to do so as many times a week as our schedules allow.

Yesterday, we went to Pandora store at the mall and chose this Friends Forever Butterfly dangle charm for our bracelets.

It is so perfect as a symbol of our friendship !

It reminds me of the magical day a few years back, where we stopped at this out of the way attraction called “The Butterfly Place”, and shared an hour or so in awe as butterflies of all kinds flew around us in a spectacular, beautiful show.

Our gang of artsy friends have planned a long weekend away on Cape Cod in two weeks.

Girl time, sea and sand, and LOVING. I know it will be such a balm for all of our tender spots.

So today, I will find some sweet ways to celebrate the first day of Spring,

also the birthday of Thomas, my whiz kid awesome nephew!

I think it will include the first grilling time of the season

and definitely some time outside playing with this beautiful Chica-Dog !

Spring is here, so let’s play ball, Beautiful Ones !

Big, big love to you !

Warning : Some Joy Ahead

From this week’s JOY List :

David and I visited an awesome place called “Old House Parts” in Kennebunk, Maine on last Sunday.

We were looking for a doorknob to fit the 100 year old fixtures we have in our house.

As you can imagine from the name, this place had some amazing things to peek at and photograph !

like this interestingly placed warning sign…

or this Chick with the amazing hat, hanging out way up on top of an old wooden telephone booth.

But the thing that I saw that thrilled me the most was this guy :

This is Napoleon, and he is one of the most magnificent cats I have ever, ever seen.

He is the size of a full grown Jack Russell terrier but probably heavier.

And what cat have you ever seen that has a heart-shaped nose like this :

and the word “JOY” spelled out on his side !

Napoleon was such a treat ! He is featured on the shop’s website and has free reign over the place. I left him purring on an old ratan recliner, curled up on a Winnie the Pooh blanket.

Loved him !

I have also been getting joyfully getting back to creating and painting,

though slowly for some reason.

Here is what has been popping up in my little “Blob” journal.

I prepped a whole bunch of pages with red ink and a eyedropper so they would be ready to go.

This strange bunny with her flower backpack appeared in this blob. She got a random line for poetry from an old book page. I love how the perfect line just appeared on the page I grabbed to cut up !

I used markers and Twinkle H20 watercolors to fill in the drawing.

The blob on the page next to the bizarre rabbit became

these interesting flowers. Some of my new ProMarkers, some Pitt Artist pens and a Liquid Paper pen brought color to this piece I did in front of the tv.

I love that there are more blobs waiting for me to play with too !

Speaking of waiting, this is a 12X12 inch canvas that I started this week as well.

It is waiting to see where it will go next.

I love Golden Fluid Acrylics !!!

Oh and one more thing that brought me joy this week :

the spring weather that has allowed me to take out the new purple glittery Chucks !

They make my feet and eyes happy !

Don’t you just love “little happies !”

I hope your list of joys is long this week, Beautiful Ones !

Big Love !

For more joy, visit Meri's Musings. It will make you smile !

A whole lotta hugging going on…

Mom with new friend, Zay.

(she tried to change his name from Monsieur Zay to Bob, but it just didin’t stick !)

Thomas with visiting dog cousin of love, Logan.

Katie, Thomas and Logan Love.

Katie and the Old Tree of the Lake.

And that is just what I captured on my iPhone during my time up north last week.

Thankfully, I was involved in a lot of the hugging too, so no pics of that.

I needed the loving very much.

People who give love need to make sure that they soak it up a lot too.

(Art journal page created at Suzanne’s place during playtime. Photo printed on my new Pogo printer by Polaroid. Such fun for an art journal keeper!))

And since, at this point in my life, I know

that Love is the answer to every question for me,

I am going to make sure I keep that flow going…

Big hugs and lots of love to you, Beautiful Ones.

Happy Monday !

It’s March Break here !

Some of my companions this week…

Thomas, my bright nephew full of imagination and curiosity.

We will be doing some art together for sure !

The fabulous Katie Cupcake, Boogie-Queen extraordinaire !

We will be dancing together for sure!

Then there is this sweet boy, Logan with his stuffed namesake close by.

My sister and her sweet family are dogsitting this awesome pup for a few weeks

and enjoying all the fun of having a big fluffy love bug in your house !

We will be snuggling together and romping in the snow a bit for sure !

It’s March break and time for a Auntie Kimmy visit !

So good for my heart and soul !

I hope you have a great week, Beautiful Ones !

Haiku My Heart–Love Pod

Inside my Love Pod…

Trust, hope,compassion and joy .

It’s my happy place.

 

********************

Going to try and hang out in my Love Pod today.

I feel like I am needing shelter from the scary, the sad, the painful.

I am grateful that the pod is always available to me,

even though sometimes it is a hard job to climb back inside it and live from within it.

A-climbing I shall go.

I hope you find your way to you own Love Pod today, Beautiful Ones.

Big Love !

 

More haiku my heart love at recuerda mi corazon

Share the Joy Thursday : The Acme of Our Own Happiness

Some days, Joy feel so abundant and easy to focus on…

as abundant as the snowflakes that fall over night, covering the tree branches with a cozy, white shawl.

Other times, when we get heavy-hearted with the “why’s” of life,

or with sadness, fears of loss, regrets…

Joy is harder to find, and much harder to focus on.

And yet that is the time when JOY is the most important for us to find.

Focusing on the joy in life helps us find meaning in our “whys”.

It helps us feel comforted in our sadness.

It helps us bring lightness back into our heavy hearts.

It helps us return to the acme of our own happiness.

(my new favorite phrase)

And to remember that in spite of the sad, bad, ugly, seemingly hopeless, moments,

we have this one precious day to truly be here in love, in life, in joy.

And what a joy there is in that.

 

****************************

One of my dear friends was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer yesterday.

There will be no chemo or radiation.

There will be a focus on quality of life.

Shouldn’t that be our focus every day ?

The  prescription she received as she left the doctor’s office :

“Go and live.”

I am going to follow those orders right along with her.

Be here today, Beautiful Ones, in love, in life, in joy !

 

For more joy sharing, visit the beautiful Meri at Meri’s Musings.