Thank You, Daddy

I don't attempt portraits often, but I gave it a go yesterday in honor of Father's Day.  This is my steadfast and gentle Father whom I love very much.  I wrote a little something for him this morning and thought I'd share it here. 

For My Dad, Father's Day 2013

Thank you, Daddy for loving us all.  Thank you for early morning jaunts to the beach to cook breakfast on the seawall.  Thank you for being my softball coach and coming to my school programs.  Thank you for going to work every day and working hard.  Thank you for teaching me to notice and appreciate the beauty of nature and the thrill of a really great road trip.  

Thank you for teaching me to work sums in my head and to look at life through kind and gentle eyes.  Thank you for remembering to wave to me every morning as you drove down the driveway and for waking me before everyone else on Saturdays so we could be the first ones at the tennis court or so we could get to the lake in time to catch a few fish at the farm...just and you me.  Those are such sweet memories.  

Thank you for giving me a magical, love-filled childhood.  Thanks you for the sacrifices you made to give us a good life.  

We have had our share of sadness lately but I pray that the coming year is filled with healing and joy for you and Mother.  I hope you get some rest, learn new things and laugh each and every day.  You are one of a kind...a great dad and a true gentleman.  I love you very, very much and I am proud to be your daughter.  

Have a wonderful day today.  We'll be together soon!

Linking up today with:

Sunday Sketches

Joining the Feast

Yesterday I was totally blessed by a friend who set out the sweetest little treat for our Wednesday morning coffee on her back porch.  Check out the beautiful silver butter dish.  It's the details that make life beautiful, don't you think?  The blackberries in the bowl are a little dark in the photo but they were so yummy with Susan's homemade biscuits.

Now that we're back from our week at the beach summer is starting to settle into my bones.  I love the quiet mornings and the slower pace but summers in Texas are brutally hot.  Check out the temperature on my front porch at 11:00 this morning:

I don't even want to look at that thermometer again today.  Air conditioning is my best friend!

On Monday I began an on-line course called Journey of the Heart, by Kathryn Costa of True North Arts.  Teaching on-line is a new endeavor for Kathryn and I must say she is off to a great start.  Her topics are spot on if you want to affect real change in any area of your life or just get back to some good habits that you may have let slip.

One of the first questions asked in the course is,"What makes your heart sing?"  It's interesting to me how rarely I stop to ask this question of myself but as I thought about it yesterday I found a clue in the sweet table my friend set for me.  I love a meal served in a beautiful setting.  I mean, I REALLY love that.  I love china and pretty cotton napkins and tablecloths.  I love fresh flowers and drippy candles.  So for the next several weeks I'm going to figuratively "set the table" with things I love and things that help me stay focused on my Journey of the Heart.

Kathryn encourages us to set up a dedicated "sacred space" for the course but since the huz and I are almost empty nesters I feel like most of my house is already my sacred space!  I have little work and study areas set up all over the place so for this course I've decided to gather the essentials and set up my space outside each day.  I'll have to make it early, before the heat sets in!

I suppose because I was thinking about beautiful meals and pretty table settings this morning I remembered the story of a man who prepared a great banquet and invited many people, but no one showed up for the party.  They all had excuses as to why they couldn't make the time to be there.  The tables were already set, the banquet hall was ready to receive whoever came, so the host sent his servants out into the streets to invite whomever they came across.  The intended guests missed out because they were too busy to make the feast a priority.  They lost their opportunity and someone else took their place at the table.

“Blessed is he one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Luke 14:15

I don't want to miss out.  I don't want to neglect the practices that will feed and nourish my soul as I put less important things higher up on my list of priorities.  I don't want my dreams and goals to become mere wishes or, worse yet, regrets because I'm too busy to be still and listen in this moment.

What feast might you be missing?  What important changes could you make if you accepted the invitation and took a seat at the table?  Maybe it's time to make time.

Beach Attitude

Just a quick post before I start packing for tomorrow's flight home...  

I wanted to be sure to share something for this week's Sunday Sketches at Blue Chair Diary.  It's a sketch inspired by the ukuleles my son and I bought earlier this week.  We started out with a plan to share just one, but after only a few hours we realized that passing it back and forth just wasn't going to work.  We headed right back to the music store and now we can play duets!  (Okay, well, we will be able to play duets once we learn how to play!)

George Harrison was right.  This definitely is "one instrument you can’t play and not laugh."

We've become quite educated about different sizes and qualities of ukuleles.  Mostly, though, we've learned just how relaxing and fun it is to sit and strum these sweet little instruments, even if we only know a few chords.  Instead of the tiny soprano size we ended up with concert and a tenor ukes...still very portable, but offering a bit more room for our fingers in the higher frets.

I think my ukulele will be great in the studio...a nice diversion when I need to take a break or stretch a bit.  I realized during Flora Bowley's intuitive painting course how much I underestimate the power of movement and music as tools in the creative process.  In fact, movement and music make just about everything in life better.

Tonight we had one last evening stroll on the beach and then ran down to the chocolate bar down the street to celebrate the lovely, restful time we had.   

Hopefully as we head home tomorrow we will take with us a bit of beach attitude...

The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. 

To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. 

Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. 

Anne Morrow Lindberg, A Gift From the Sea

I hope wherever you are you can cultivate a bit of beach attitude for yourself this week...a little less hurry, a little more rest, and a whopping dose of happy!

Linking up today with:

Sunday Sketches

Pilgrimage

Spending a week on the shore of southern California each summer has become a sort-of a tradition for me and the huz.  For him it's a business trip but for me it is a time of rest and contemplation, a pilgrimage of sorts.  (It's a rough life, I know, but someone has to live it.)

I spend a lot of time walking these gorgeous beaches, searching for (and finding) peace and clarity.

The gardens around our favorite inn are lovely and I revel in their beauty with gratitude.

It is a quiet week...contemplative and healing.

I did a bit of sketching this week and want to post this ink and watercolor Bird of Paradise blooms in honor of my friends from Paint Party Friday.  (Hi, everyone!)

This year's visit is a little different since our youngest is with us.  It's been fun showing him some of our favorite haunts.  We bought ukuleles (yep...ukuleles...more on that in another post).  It's been fun learning something new.

I cherish this time.  My boy is growing up and I try hard not to think about how quickly his last few years at home will pass.  There is sometimes tension in our relationship as he pulls away and we try to strike a balance between mutual respect and his increasing desire for independence.

I want to prepare my heart for the letting go that is just on the horizon but I know it will take me by surprise anyway.

Like this beautiful shoreline one never knows how life will appear from one day, one instant, to the next.  It seems our ability to adjust and appreciate the beauty of the immediate moment determines whether we thrive or merely exist.

Lord, give me the grace to adjust...to celebrate the ebb and flow and find joy in each season of life.  Help me see the beauty in it all.

Linking up today with:

Paint Party Friday

One Year Ago

I've been thinking a lot about how much life has changed in this past year.  One year ago my baby sister was just home from a long hospital ordeal.  It was not her first and it was not to be her last.  There was nothing the doctors could do to make her well again.

One year ago we were weary and overwhelmed by the mixture of sadness and tender mercy we experienced each day.

As I sit with my coffee on this glorious, breezy morning, one year ago seems a lifetime away.  What I've been thinking about, though, isn't the sadness or the overwhelm.  What is on my mind the most is the amazing way God has of bringing us through hard times and healing our hearts in His own way and His own time.

Many of you know Jill's journey on earth ended in December but she lives on in heaven, in my heart and in the things she loved.  She lives in the songs of the birds and the simple beauty of daisies.  Jill lives in the sound of the ocean and the laughter of children.  In some ways I feel closer to her now than I did when she was here in this world.

I miss my little sister so, so much but I am beginning to heal from the trauma of what happened.  My heart doesn't race quite so much when the phone rings at odd times and I don't feel quite so guilty when I enjoy doing something I know my sister wasn't able to do anymore.  Slowly I feel stillness and even joy creeping into my bones.  It honors her for me to move forward as I am ready and enjoy life.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Psalm 30:5b

I am joyful that for 45 years I had a baby sister that encouraged me, challenged me, and made me laugh like no one else ever will.  Our relationship was rich and I am so grateful to know what it's like to love and be loved by someone who reads my thoughts and finishes my sentences.  I am grateful, too, to know at an even deeper level that God truly is looking out for each and every one of us...that even though there is pain and sorrow in this world sorrow doesn't win.  Love wins.  Without fail, love always wins.

To love and to be loved is like feeling the sun from both sides.

David Viscott

In recent weeks I've had time to plant a small garden, to tend to my neglected flower beds and watch things grow and flourish.  It brings me such hope to see seeds sprout and buds open up.  They remind me that life is unstoppable.  This new season beckons me to rest and embrace the beauty that is here, now.

Some seasons shake us to our core and others send us soaring in the heights, but every last one is a part of our beautiful, albeit poignant existence.  Every last one has value and purpose if we dare to allow the eyes of our hearts to be opened.

This morning I received a gift.  It was simple and beautiful and I almost missed it.  As I watered my garden a hummingbird lit upon the fence and began to drink droplets of water from a jasmine leaf not 2 feet away from my hand.  

I stood very still as that tiny creature began to flit in and out of the spray of water, soaking his tiny feathers (iridescent green on his head, neon pink at his throat).  I bet Jill's spirit flits around like that now.

Needless to say, I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so you'll just have to imagine that beautiful little bird hovering there in mid-air as if weightless.  He even landed on the fence again and looked me over while he shook some of the water out of his feathers.  What a beautiful sight.  As I said, it was a gift.

I once read that grace begins with a crisis, that we fully experience grace when we are acutely aware of our need.  I pray you're not in a pit of your own, but if you are, choose to believe that there are glorious mornings in your future.  Seeds will sprout.  Buds will open.  They always do.

Hideous Fingernails and Little Time for Painting

Yes, I am alive and, gratefully, there have been no desperate circumstances keeping me from blogging for the past few weeks.  It's just been busy, busy around here with end-of-school activities and a working on a wonderful jewelry project for Mercy Ships International.

Mercy Ships is an amazing organization and I absolutely love working with them.  You may recall I shared a little about my first project with them in this post last fall.  Remember these?

The exciting news is that Taproot Studio Jewelry will soon be available for purchase on the Mercy Ships website!  I want to leave the big reveal to them, so I'll just give you a little peek at a few of the details.

I'm really excited about this project and will definitely let you know when the pieces are available.

Being in full-blown metalsmithing mode results in two things:
a.) hideous fingernails and
b.) little time for painting

The fingernail situation is a little hopeless for the time being but I intend to do something about the painting issue in the next few days.  I'd at least like to do some quick watercolors of the lilies we have blooming here...might be a nice project for Memorial Day.

For my friends in far away places... Memorial Day is the last Monday in May set aside each year in the States to remember men and women who died while serving our country.

For me Memorial Day signals the official beginning of picnics and lazy days at nearby lakes and occasionally the ocean...only a few weeks until I'm slathering myself with sunscreen and digging my toes in the sand!

I've missed linking up with my friends at Paint Party Friday, Creative Every Day, and Sunday Sketches lately, so I'm going to carve out some time in these next few days to visit as many of them as I can.  I can't wait to see what everyone's been up to!

If' you've never visited these sites I hope you'll take a few minutes sometime to check them out.  It's really fun to follow the links and be inspired by the beautiful, diverse works of the artists who participate each week.  It's even more fun to participate and all three of these link-ups are open to everyone.  Yes, that means YOU!

Have a great weekend, everyone.  I'm off to dig out those watercolors!

Creative Tuesdays - Monogram

I so enjoyed meeting and being inspired by the participants in Creative Tuesdays a few weeks ago that I'm having another go at it this week.  The good news is that I got my act together and really tried to follow the guidelines this time :-)  This week's theme is Monogram.

I haven't created a monogram in a very long time.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure I ever created one before so a big "thank you" goes to Michael of Creative Tuesdays for the inspiration!

I really had a great time with the black and white versions of these but I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn that after I got the design worked out I had a bit of fun with some color versions.  (You'll see what I mean.)

This first piece is for my son, Sam.  I included a sword in his monogram because he really loves them.  He and the huz spend many weekend hours creating and dueling with wooden swords.  (My knights in shining armor!)

Sam loves red so I added a little just for fun.

Then I really jazzed it up by trimming the monogram out of a scanned watercolor background.  He'll love this one!

Just to prove I'm not joking about their hobby, check out this photo of Sam's favorite homemade sword.  He and his dad spent an entire weekend on this one a few years ago.

I was on a roll, so I created a monogram for my daughter, too.  Emily is an artsy girl so I came up with these swirly, art nouveau-y E's and S's.  They are actually both created from the same basic swirl shape.  I like the sense of movement created by the repeated "S" in the background.

Of course I had to splash this one with a little color, too!

Here's that scanned watercolor background again.  This one's my fave!  I think it gives the impression of looking through a stained glass window into a beautiful garden full of blooms.

I hope you'll check out the other entries for Creative Tuesdays.   Some amazing artists participate in this bi-weekly co-op and their work this week is sure to inspire! 

Linking up with:

Creative Tuesdays