is easily distracted

recent photos from my adventurers & explorations - shrine of truth & beauty found on the Back Harbour Walking Trail 

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T. S. Eliot

If I let myself I could/would get completely carried away with resolutions for this sparkling brand new year awaiting on our doorstep. Plans, dreams, goals, to-dos, want-to-dos, should dos ... could-I-dos ?!? I've done it many years in the past and I'm learning that too rigid a plan is often foiled by the unexpected and the unexpected sometimes is good, even better than the original plan. Like that email that arrives one instant in your in-box "Hi Susan, wondering if you'd be interested in creating a commissioned art piece for Starbucks ?" - uh Y-E-S !!! -  a super big highlight of my 2014 and an opportunity that came completely out of the blue.

So this year I've chosen one word to be my guide and a handful of supporting words (at last count I had 10 I'd like to ideally edit that down to a half dozen). I will choose a word, a theme for each month - January's word is promote - the secret of the self employed creative person - pitch, promote & pester ;-) 

I have a dreamy loose-ish, long list of want-to-accomplish-this-year items, most all of them have to do with continuing the building of my Creative Empire, with securing my future & fulfilling my daily passion(s). I want to do more, learn more, be more, be less, step out, step in, nest & settle in my new home of Lunenburg. I'm anxious about tomorrow, I'm thrilled about tomorrow. I feel like a runner poised on tippy toes at the blocks waiting for the Jan o1 2015 starting gun to go off. 

The one thing that is top of mind, the one quirk in my character, the one flaw or weakness in my role as my own employee, the thing that if I were my own boss (Hey Wait ! I am my own Boss), the thing that would be mentioned to me at every performance review is - Susan is easily distracted. That damn www. again, knocking on my brain, urging me to check my Instagram, google something, order that book from the library you just heard about, wonder something - wait why wonder ! Google again, what about Pinterest ... oh my it's been at least 10 hours since you opened up Pinterest ! if we were to look at my browser's history on any given day  - trust me, We would be appalled. 

Instead of falling into the mish of la la land by opening my browser (a billions x a day) I've decided to keep a small note pad beside me as I work away at my computer. I will instead jot  down that request to my brain for a future pre-planned www. playtime at the end of my work day - I know some of you who know me well just snorted with laughter and fell off your chair thinking to yourselves Yeah ! Right I wonder how long that will last ?

I'm going to try & if I don't succeed at first ... 

When you want something you've never had,
you have to try something you've never done. 

a big bonjour 2015 !!

magic, grace & power

yet another walk through beautiful meadows and onto the crescent beach + requisite studio door high tide(s) chart ;-)

Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

lotus in a muddy pond

calm / I love this view from the lawn of Thinker's Lodge looking back into the harbour / seaweed abstract painting / the beginning of the meadow that edges the sea / a mown path with a forest of queen anne's lace - wee surf at the crescent beach / these bright orange beauties are a sure sign autumn's coming / bird's eye meadow view / 23 great blue herons (I counted) they sometimes like to hang out with each other + they nest in colonies also

I like to think that my story is not exceptional and not unlike so many of us who simply follow the call of their hearts, trusting that the path, despite the debris fields of gremlins (Who do you think you are? You're not allowed to want what you want. Etc, etc), will never fail us. Sure, there will be lots of "fails" when it comes to how to do certain tasks, but not in the bigger sense of perspective, not when it comes to shaping who we are, what we're here to do, and why we're here to do it. I believe in trusting the calls, the whispers, what delights us, and what is nudging at us for more attention. I believe, ultimately, nothing fails. Kelly Rae Roberts

from Kelly Rae's blog - a daily visit of mine - she's a huge & constant inspiration to me & I needed to hear these words today, this week ... this month.

August you've been difficult, maybe if I checked back through the years I'd find that you give me trouble every year, I wouldn't be surprised. As the days get longer, the evenings cooler, our beachy, bustling summertime village begins to slow down and get back to normal, back to sleepy - the melancholy seeps in, that bittersweetness.

Who do I love more ? what do I love best ? why do I believe I have to choose ?

I've been feeling lost, once again certainly not an uncommon feeling. I know I'm supposed to just let lost be, not poke it and prod, examine and analyze. It is what it is. It passes, lost leads to found, or at least to discovery & exploration, both adventures I love. I eventually see a new path or several and I charge down them with great enthusiasm & optimism - there's no doubt in my mind that that will happen again one day very soon.

If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong. Masaru Emoto - Secret Life of Water

the tonic of the wild

a tiny island / is there anything better than a meadow filled with queen anne's lace that beautifully frames the sea / ruby red deadly nightshade berries - atropa belladonna / a tansy edged mown path to somewhere / seaweed / bees + clover  = love / when the sky & sea are one / miniature forests / ants busy doing their thing / lichenologist love

We need the tonic of wildness... at the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature. Henry David Thoreau

I know I can never have enough of nature, I never tire of capturing, obsessively most often, the beauty, the wonder ...
the tonic of the wild.

greens !

a favourite tree in the back yard, not sure what kind but it has very rough bark / white lobelia in a pot on the front porch / Miss Sweetness Itty Bitty (she has a new red tartan collar with bell and jangly hot pink metal i.d. tag - we're hoping her jingling may save a bird or 2) / the Prince pulling Stinging Nettles out by the roots in our backyard paradise / the large smoke bush at the front door is in bloom and alive with bees / Miss Winnie Dixon enjoying her yard / lovely tiny white blossoms / I am crazy about the greens ... the shapes, the smells - this time of year is amazing / love the look on IBB's face, a slightly pissed look ;-) / looking up from my chair in the back fenced in yard / our homely old shed etc back garden ... a view from the second floor bathroom window / mock orange

greens ! I LOVE them ... especially with a side of Betty*

Always remember, 
your focus 
determines your reality
George Lucas

*that would be our dear Itty Bitty Betty who's actually becoming a bit of a chubette & not so itsy bitsy

oh so blessed

a new favourite ever blooming, shade tolerant annual - begonias / hey big guy ! handsome Samuel / it's lilac time / planting my window boxes this weekend & the best ever gardening gloves / I live beside the ocean / white lilacs / hot pink geraniums - shut up !! what took me so long + begonias / Winnie & I on our morning walk into the park & along the harbour's edge / fern love / front garden orangey red tulips

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. Anne Frank

oh my goodness !! what Anne said !

I've been outside almost more than I've been inside lately (which is such a good thing). It's like a drug, nature is - the incredible wonder & beauty of it all (from blossom to ant to leaf to the teeny bright red mite* in the vegetable garden). Sometimes it makes my heart race with excitement and other times, if I'm sitting in the back forest in the fenced in yard with Winnie & Sam & Betty drinking ice tea and listening to the finches I feel tranquilized, heavy like a stone, unable to move or lift my head. I become so relaxed, completely lulled into nowness sitting there in my faux adirondack chair ;-)

Nature cures me, nature lets me become lost, nature makes me happy, hopeful & oh so blessed.

* insectopedia - the size of a pin head, though it looks alarmingly like a tick - it's harmless to animals (including us ;-)