ARTFUL GATHERINGS

October Roses

October Roses

(Linda Allen)

You say you are sorry for the youth that you lack
For the sag of your breasts, for the bend in your back
For your hair turning grey and the tears that now flow
For the choices you made such a long time ago
Spring roses are lovely, they make my heart sing
And in summer the roses sweet memories bring
But I most need the rose when the bitter winds call
October roses are the fairest of all  (x2)
As a maid you were lovely, your cheeks bloomed so red
And you gave your heart freely, too freely, you said
As a woman full grown you knew passion and strife
And a gentle heart torn with the thorns of your life  (CHO)
Now you're growing older, sometimes you feel done
But your strong roots still guide you, you'll still find the sun
For you blossom with wisdom and courage and care
You're the fairest of roses that bloom anywhere  (CHO)

A Fall Morning

This morning was gorgeous. Lucky and I ventured out into the garden to take photos of  the  fall effects on the trees, flowers, and bushes. My garden is not near as prolific as I had hoped this year. But because of the lack of rain many flowers have started to die back and I have not planted any fall flowers . I usually plant pansies, mums, cabbages, kale, and whatever else strikes my fancy while at the nursery.
I love hydrangeas. I have photographed three different kinds I have growing in my yard.
I love these mop -heads because de- pending on the acidity of the soil the blooms will either be pink or blue. As fall approaches these flowers turn sap green and  one contains what is left of the pink pigment. This next picture illustrates  what is left of the blue pigment.
I am obsessed with PEEGEE'S I think I have four or five bushes that am pruning into  tree forms. I keep finding volunteers under the bushes and than transplanting the tiny sapling. I always wait until the first frost and than put these  flowers into arrangements to last all winter (no water needed) but as winter draws to close I am ready to throw them out as they become dry and start to crumble.
My last picture is of my lacecap hydrangea. I was given this bush as a gift to bloom inside and I was told since the blooms had been forced in a greenhouse it would die if I planted it outside.
The bush is four feet tall and has lived through several winters.
I love all small these flowers . I call them baby black eyed Susan's. These flowers are smaller than they appear in this picture and are blooming all around my yard.  
My final flower is my late blooming rose. I have been trying to find a song I remember singing about October roses being the fairest of all. If I let myself I would spend the next several hours searching Itunes for the song. No I would rather be outside on this gorgeous "splendiferish" day.

When I grow up

PixieDust has tagged me with a meme that Kateri   made up – I  think I love this game. The rule is to name five things I would like to be when I grow up – five things that I’ve always dreamed about.
The reason I said I think I love it is because I have been creating lists for days. I am trying to pick the perfect five things.....yes I realize there is no perfect five. Basically I need to write my answer and move on.
1. I would love to be an accomplished/successful painter. I do not mean success by fame and prestige. I would love to be able to be financially sound because of my paintings. But to be this painter I would require my own personal studio in a building separate from my house.  I picture a somewhat rustic structure with one wall of windows facing south. The place would be flooded with magically light. It would be one large room with a bathroom and washroom for brushes etc. In this space I would create paintings on larger than life canvases.
2.& 3. I have always dreamed of living in an old house. I have 2 dreams one would be a historic house in a downtown location. The second would be an old farmhouse with acreage.
The downtown house would be detached not a row house. It would have an entry hall running from the front to the back of the house and a beautiful staircase. The ceilings would be high, the windows large and beautiful woodwork throughout the house.
The farmhouse would have a wraparound porch. A large kitchen with a long wood table that would seat twelve. There would be enough land for horses, cats and dogs. No goats because i would have beautiful English flower gardens. I think there would be a small barn that has been converted to a studio.
Maybe the downtown house would also have a lovely garden in the backyard. I could ramble about these two houses for pages.
4. I would love to own a combination book/antique/coffee store. I would not have to manage the store. I would travel to purchase all the wonderful items for the store. I would travel to the Paris flea market one month. Then to Italy the next month. In every location I would search for books. Some books because they would look beautiful sitting on a shelf others because they have unique qualities. These qualities could be signed by the author, a first edition, etc.
5. This dream is not about a job or an opportunity to make a living. I would love to be able to play the piano famously. I would love to able to sight read a variety of musical styles.
Now I have to pass this on to five more people and these are great fun sites to visit. So enjoy.
Sue
Elizabeth
Royce
Mary Ann
I have a fifth person but they might not care to be tagged so I must check.

Exercise of Choice

Today I am writing my post for Wellness Wednesdays . Has a week passed already so hard to believe, time does go faster as we get older. My recommendation for today is exercise

Yes I wish everyday I could go for an all out run. Within a week I would be in the hospital. My body  cannot take this kind of continual stress. I have friends who starting running in their forties and are now running marathons. I am  envious but also realistic my body is not capable of marathons. I would need both a knee replacement as well as new lungs.

Also exercise for me is to encourage both a healthy mind and body. Therefore my exercise of choice is yoga. The studio where I practice is Sol Yoga  and the style of yoga we practice is  hatha which has both mental and physical benefits. Yesterday I was reading  PEMA CHODRON and I came across her explanation of Maitri.

Maitri is translated in a lot of ways, maybe most commonly as love, but the way Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche translated it was unconditional friendliness and in particular unconditional friendliness to oneself.

I guess yoga is helping me to be friendly to myself. If I have had a very stressful day and I do not  feel I have the energy to push myself physically I will participate in a "gentle flow" class. Another day I may feel strong and energized and I will do a "vinaysa  flow" class. There are some days I feel it is  far to beautiful to be inside or I am simple not in the mood for group exercise. On these days I either walk or jog.

If you have never tried a yoga class try one. You may not enjoy it or as in my case it may become your exercise of choice.

In Memory of Marvin Jack

. Yesterday September 21, 2007 was the one year anniversary of my father's death. To honor and celebrate Marvin Jack Perry we, my family and friends, had an outside mass with dinner following at my sister's home. It was a perfect evening and Jodi's garden was beautiful. A perfect setting for a mass. I love this picture because of all the grandchildren front and center.
The grandkids, all eleven of them, were the sunshine of my father's life. Look at Dad smile in the middle of this huge pile/group of children. If I remember correctly several of the little ones were not happy about getting their picture taken. With this many children and mostly girls there was always drama. I do think part of the reason he loved the chaos generated by all the kids was because he was the youngest of eleven. . My Mother and Father had an amazing marriage. They were best friends and soul mates and would be approaching their 47 wedding anniversary. Here they are on their wedding day and another photo taken 45 years later.


The evening was wonderful. The weather, friends , food, wine, dessert and all were perfect. The best part was the stories.......
The more we talked about Dad and remembered all his antics the more we laughed.
I will share one of our families favorite photos...dad is posing here with my daughter Megan. Now Megan was and still is a high energy girl. Her feet hit the floor in the morning and she is on the go ready to face the day at 110 miles per hour. This morning 10 years ago Dad was not ready to face the world at Megan speed. He was moving very slow because he had been out late the night before.
Dad was an amazing person and he lit up a room just by entering it. Dad always had a smile and a great big bear hug for everyone.
I was an extremely lucky girl to have been blessed with such an inspiring, loving, jovial, father.
Thanks Dad.

Crushes, Obsessions, & Infatuations

Crushes, obsessions, & infatuations....ooh my. This is crusade #12 for Michelle Ward. I have thought about this all month. Every day I realize I have yet another crush, obsession or infatuation. For a brief moment I thought I was or am neurotic or simple crazy. Well I really do not think I am crazy just filled with passion. Passion for and about many things..... I have a big crush on my dogs.
I am infatuated with garden angels.
Yes ,I am obsessed with red wine, olives, and the beach
Of course there is the given all my art and creative supplies.

Wellness Wednesday

Here is my first post for wellness wednesday. Wellness "the state or condition of being in good physical or mental health: when you come right down to it stress effects ever aspect of wellness." I have spent this past year working on my physical and mental health. I am attempting to add yoga and meditation into my daily routine. With this said, my first recommendation is to relax and meditate.
In the wise words of Pema Chodron
Finally, couldn't we just relax and lighten up? When we wake up in the morning, we can dedicate our day to learning how to do this. We can cultivate a sense of humor and practice giving ourselves a break. Every time we sit down to meditate, we can think of it as training to lighten up, to have a sense of humor, to relax. As one student said,"Lower your standards and relax as it is."

Artist Trading Card

Wednesday dawned and i still had no idea for my Inspire me Thursday post. I was feeling frustrated because I was not sure if I wanted to work small. I have been working on bigger canvases and drawing paper (18x 24) and now I had to create something tiny around 2x3 inches. So I put the entire project out of my head and continued with my morning routine. I cleaned the kitchen, made beds, and started the laundry. I was moving some paper into my studio and I glanced at the picture of a doorway in my hand. The internal dialogue started in my head and I soon realized I had an idea for an ATC (an artist trading card).
"leave your problems at the door" I borrowed from my daughter's acting teacher. He is an amazing teacher who fills each class with life lessons as well as acting skills. As the students enter the theatre, he makes them touch the door frame and tells them to leave all their troubles, worries, mishaps, and dilemmas out in the hallway. He ask that they come into class filled with light and joy and be open to the positive energy in the theatre. I find it ironic that I did not know about this practice until after I had written my post on the practice of statio. Here is the quote from that post " The practice of statio is meant to center us and make us conscious of what we are about to do and make us presence to God who is present to us. Statio is the desire to do consciously what I might other wise do mechanically. Statio is the virtue of presence." Joan Chittister
I am thinking about painting "leave your problems here" on the door from my garage into my house. This is the door my children and husband use. If we all entered the house with no problems and full of good intentions all bickering and arguing would cease....right?

Everything is New

A fresh attitude starts to happen when we look to see that yesterday was yesterday, and now it is gone; today is today and now it is new. It is like - that every hour, every minute is changing. If we stop observing change, then we stop seeing everything as new. - Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche

Sometimes I forget how beautiful my neighborhood is and I need to be thankful I live in such a natural setting. I took these pictures today while on a walk a short distance from house. I Forgot to take a picture of the front of my house so I am including a thumbnail picture of the house three doors up the street. It is amazing the contrasting images from my front yard to my side yard. My children love living in a neighborhood setting surrounded with their friends. I love an environment where I am able to walk/hike/ jog around the lake and in the woods. I am surrounded by trees, deer, birds and water. My first love is the ocean but for jobs and raising children this a more sensible environment. Thank God my husband has the sensible genes because I am true to my gemini sign. I always want to be two places at the same time
Yes today was a nice day. I started my day at "hot vinyasa" yoga class. Yoga is my latest obsession and I wish I had found it years ago. It is a wonderful strenuous workout. I am the odd type that likes to feel somewhat sore after a workout. In my mind the more aching my muscles are the more calories I have burned off therefore I am allowed 2 glasses of wine this evening. I then have nerve to complain that I am not loosing weight. After yoga I returned home to my favorite breakfast pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I guess today has had a strong food interest in me. When the weather first starts to turn cold my appetite always increases. Because of my wonderful breakfast, I then went for a walk with my friends. The jack Russell, Lucky, is my tried and true walking and jogging buddy but felt guilt today and brought the other two critters along. Yes everything was new today.

IN CASE OF CREATIVE EMERGENCY...

What do I do when I have a creative emergency? It depends on what type of an emergency I am experiencing.
C.E. #1. I am overwhelmed, blocked, distracted......just can not get started.
C.E. #2. I have created something that I hate and decide that all my creative endeavors have been complete failures and I would be better off giving my paints and brushes away.
C.E. #3. The piece I have created has gotten destroyed...paint spilt all over it, lost forever on the computer, or possible glued to the next page and will not separate etc. Then this must be a sign from God that my idea was terrible and I need to start over.

These are just a few of the creative emergencies I have experienced. I have also tried many solutions for these emergencies. I have moved my entire studio to another room because if the light was better I would produce more pieces. I have bought new paints, brushes and a few motivational books. I have spent hours making just the right cd. One day I decide to paint/create into the wee hours of the morning and produce something horrible so I think I know better than to try and paint that late. So I go to bed earlier and get up early and still produce something awful and this time I say to myself I can never paint early in the morning. Through all this trial and error I have found 2 full proof methods.
Number one just show up and start drawing, painting, stamping etc. Do not plan anything just be creative on any notebook, piece of paper, canvas that is in your studio.....NOTHING NEW.
Number two keep it simple. Play with a design or idea you have already started or just doodle. But once you start working the ideas will start flowing. To be included with keep it simple is NO EXPECTATIONS.