Boy is it windy today

Poor little birdy can hardly hang on......

 Hummingbirds have a hard time zeroing in

wind blows the door carpet all askew

 can't get the door open

trees blowing







Golfers can't get their balls to go straight down the fairway.
But after the storm the sun comes out beautifully.

So here I am in the present...right here in Thousand Palms. It's not Paris.  It's not Morocco.  It is not even Oregon or New Mexico.  It's windy ol' Thousand Palms...and I love it.  The sun is shinning and the sky is blue and all the clouds are fluffy and have silver linings.  Wish you were here with me.

Artists roam the earth with wide eyes, cultivating artistic inspiration as they amass found objects and other materials for their artwork.
I have a huge bullitin board my husband mounted for me in my hobby room. On it go all sorts of found objects & art.

Most of us do not need much for inspiration to begin blossoming ---

fallen leaves 

sound of the ocean

Children laughing

and even the rusting objects found on parking lot floors.  All this is enough to send an artist back to their studio for hours.

Today is Pretty

Today is so pretty....I want to look for yellow things.  Yellow is such a happy color,  I can't believe how many things I found just around the house......

Goldstar Bush at the corner of patio.

 Little miniture rose

Yellow fallen leaf

Some lemons to squeeze

My center piece on the patio table

Some sunflowers

A collage of stuff on my kitchen counter

Dandylion

Quilted daffodills

Threads in my sewing kit

Rickrack in a jar

Snowwhite and 7 dwarfs music boxes

Box of Glad bags

Cup in my cupboard

Pull cord on lamp

Pillow where I like to nap
on the patio







Sometimes life is so darn pretty I just have to write a post or snap a photo in order to prolong it and give myself the time to look at that moment long and from all sides.  Hope you can take a quick peek or stay a little while relishing in the pretty moments too.

Falling for Fall

It is an absolutely beautiful day here today, so I headed out for a long walk.  I have fallen for fall in the desert. Not only the desert but all over Calif. and Oregon.  We had a marvelous color trip down Hwy 395.  Bishop was gorgeous with all the gold trees and snow covered mts in the background.  It was breathtaking the whole trip down.
Back to my walk.  I go out the back gate and sometimes walk to Ralph's Shopping Center (3 miles) and sometimes go across the freeway to Starbucks and back. (4 miles)  My legs are building up strength and I get to see the panoranmic mts. (Mt San Jacinto and the Santa Rosa range) clear to Idllewild spread out.  The sky is blue...the sun on my back...and about 75 degrees.

Have a good day!!

The Artist and God's Presence

The reason I, as an artist, long to practice making God a part of my everyday is because I don’t want to miss a thing. I want as much of Him and His creativity as He will give me. I want Him to teach me how to be an artist. How to engage my senses like an artist. How to create redemption out of heart-breaking situations. I want to see my reality through His eyes. I want to learn from Him, constantly. I need Him to help me make sense of my art.
His presence reminds me that I have a gift and that I need to be using it. His presence makes it possible to continuously live and breathe art instead of just confining art to one or two hours of my day. His presence brings mystery, ignites wonder, gives me purpose and confidence and laughter. His presence gives my life meaning and my journey to self-understanding a wider scope.
As my friend Sue explained to me recently, as I seek to make sense of myself and where I fit in this world, I am following bread crumb clues. The bread crumb clues lead me to Him, and then just as I make it to Him, He’s off again. Like a child in a game of tag He teases me with His presence and then darts behind a tree, daring me with His action to come along and play.
I am an artist. I must make sense of my reality. For myself and hopefully for others. I’m collecting and exploring. I’m focusing. I’m getting lost in moment after moment. I am awaiting clarity. And then when it comes I’m communicating in the only way I know how, from my heart to another. Reality can not pass me by. I must be ever operating in a sense of wonder. I must be aware. I must be in communion with the Master Artist who sheds light on it all.
An artist who practices being in the presence of God will be inspired, transformed and used. In the light of that, I can’t afford not to practice being in His presence.