Open Up

I'm not going to lie to you friends, I have been "on one." What with the painting and drawings and sewing and throwing-things-about in the beautiful craze of artistic creativity, I almost forgot to slow down long enough to appreciate the things that have been inspiring me.

Until I looked out my window and saw this. I swear that the Divine speaks to me through this tree. Broad leafy green in the Summer, arching, twisting branches in the Fall, dusted with pristine white crystals in the Winter, and heavy with the most exquisite cherry blossoms in the Spring. So I took a deep breath and just stopped.



And then thought I should show you some of the other things that I have taken note of lately. I mentally collect images as I experience them, then file them away along with a memory of what my other senses experienced to be called upon later. So while I could explain just how the wind on the Puget feels on my skin and how the setting sun was still too bright for my unshaded eyes, it may be easier to show you this picture and let you imagine the experience.



This day, a ferry ride and a garden walk with my D, feels summed up in the perfect veins of these huge leaves, the chalky feeling of birch bark, and the musky scent of warm magnolia trees.



So my advice (and I promise, I'll try to follow it too) is to take a second to look around and appreciate what makes you smile. What was the last thing that inspired you?