Things I Need to Just.Be.Enough.

I need....

...time and motivation to create...with paint, with words, with a camera, with pencils, with whatever.  Creating something is like travelling down a winding path, deep in the woods, simply experiencing what's just around the corner.

...connections...with my husband, my children, my friends, with people known for many years, with new someones stepping into my life.

...anticipation...for what comes next, for who is to come, for what is just a few steps away, for what will take a long journey to reach.

...sights...images to plainly see, pictures to see by looking closer, the grand vista, the ittiest bittiest detail, what sights my eyes survey everyday, the images I'm lucky enough to glimpse when looking from another angle.

...imagination...to capture me and carry me off, to inspire me to create, to remind me to connect in new ways, to spark my anticipation, to cast new shadows and light to every sight waiting to be seen.

Sure, there are specifics like painting with my daughter, music to write with, country drives both solo and with my kidlets, but specifics change as I change.  And thinking through this simple little question, these broad categories are what hold me, in the past, in the present, and hopefully in my future as well.

What things do you need to just be enough?

Sending off Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak changed visual possibilities and perspective for children's books where dark illustrations and ideas were not off limits, regardless of the reader's age.  He's best known for Where the Wild Things Are.  And the world lost him today, at age 83, but he left so much of himself behind for generations to come to relish.

I found this quote by Sendak and think it speaks volumes.

“Live your Life.
 Live your Life.
  Live your Life.”

Thawing out from a blog freeze!

Saying that time is zipping by faster than a speeding bullet might be true, but leaves me to lay in a heaping pile o' cliches. So, I'm just going to leave that pile and start fresh.

After an extended blogging break, I'm trying to make my way back. Something that I started participating in last year that I was surprised to find great enjoyment in was Microfiction Mondays. And while that original meme is no longer, I'm going to hop back in here with a photo I took a few months ago and a wee bit o' microfiction.

I know we're all running towards summer in this hemisphere right now, but since my writing went into deep freeze for a bit, this seemed a fitting way to jump back in. Hope you like it!

 

Wicking icy webs over the window pane, enclosing their still breathing bodies in an icy tomb; they’re left listening to silence screech each aching moment by.

 

Life has been really good here - just crazy busy!  Where's life taking you these days?

100 Years of Girl Scouts

I'm celebrating today!  Why?  Girl Scouts is celebrating their 100th Birthday!

I was a Girl Scout from Brownies, all the way up to my early adult years.  I was in Girl Scouts on both the East & West coasts, in two states, and three towns.

With my troops, I've crafted, sang more songs that I can count, hiked, participated in community and environmental service projects, learned new skills, and camped.  Camping was a blast and definitely a staple to punctuate every year of Girl Scouting. I've slept on mountains, in tents, on hills, in cabins, in more tents, and even in a big barn.

It was in my last two troops that I took on the camp name Gizmo and still respond to that name today.  Quite honestly, I think my best friend, who was also a Girl Scout, calls me Giz or Gizie more than she calls me Karen!

And I've met some of the most wonderful girls, now women, in my life through Girl Scouts, including my Four Musketeers.  In Gravity, or Instinct, I Just Knew, I shared my first meeting with Snoopy...at her first Girl Scout meeting.  And I'm grateful that thanks to emails & Facebook, I'm able to continue to keep in contact with so many of the women to this day, twenty years later!

So what are Girl Scouts up to today?  Check out http://www.togetherthere.org/ to find out!

Happy 100th Birthday,
Girl Scouts!!!

Smile!

"If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it."

-Andy Rooney

After taking the kidlets to their respective schools, I had to zip that red envelope (aka Saturday's Netflix) to the post office and then proceeded to take the back way home.  And I'm so glad I did!

On the side of the road there was a puddle.  And inside that puddle were four birds.  They were splashing water more than a foot up in the air, gettin' their groove on, shakin' their tail feathers and all.  It looked like a pool party in that puddle only big enough to hold the four flocked friends.

And you know what?  Watching them in the mere seconds I had as I drove my car by, spread a smile wide across my face, high up into my eyes, and low into my heart.  And there it stayed all day today.

In fact, as I write this tonight, it's still there.  Who knew four frolicking puddle loving birds could be so smile worthy?!  One thing is for sure, I am mighty glad they were!

What has made you smile today?



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