CROSS COUNTRY

Thursday we went to "Lower Woodland"... near Green Lake to watch our youngest run in the District Cross Country meet.  It was a rainy, muddy and very slippery day.  The kind of weather I would never run in...that is if I were a runner.

Hubby is a runner...he is training for his first half marathon.  Today he is running 10 miles...his longest run to date.  I am going to meet him on the other side to bring him home.  

Here's to runners! 

BREATHE

Sometimes...many times...I find myself full of anxiety and grabbing for the air my chest needs to settle down...I catch myself looking too far in the future and not focusing on the day.  Today is a gift.  A day to enjoy.  Remembering that helps me to calm myself and keep from fearing the future.  We never know what the future will bring and I realize...and it takes a long time to get to that point...that all the worry and anxiety my mind has to offer me will not change a thing other than the way I choose to enjoy the gift that I have been given today.

Turning on the morning news does not help...it seems to feed the uncertainty I feel.  I think they want us to feel that way and I am not sure what the benefit of that might be.  There are so many good things to focus on.  Slowing down...looking at the little things...captions and not headlines.  There is so much beauty in the day to day...

sometimes going away...away from technology...from phones...from noise...helps me to remember the beauty in the everyday... I remember where the water I brush my teeth with comes from...

and just who created the life that we live...there is a bigger picture...to big to see...but definitely worth trusting in...

 

I hope you are all enjoying the gift you have been given today.

FLANNEL, FLEECE AND WOOL BLANKETS

 ("Pumpkin Patch")

OOOHHHH...I can feel it in the air...  Fall has hit hard.  The leaves are just about peaked with their brilliant color and the air is so cold in the morning and night.  Flannel, fleece and wool blankets.  I love my wool blanket...it's so old and soft and cozy.  It's a really old one that I found in an antique store (but I don't think it's an antique...it's just older than me!).  It's kind of a mint green color with a beautiful floral design in the middle and in the corners.

  (my blankie)

It's different from other wool blankets that I've seen.  My wool blanket is part of a morning routine that I have become quite fond of...Hubby usually gets up first and goes into the kitchen where he then pours he and I a cup of coffee and then brings it back to bed where we sit under the favorite wool blanket and drink our coffee and wake up slowly.  It's nice...I actually love it and love him for catering to me and treating me like a princess.  I'm really not a princess but like to pretend that I'm one when waking up!  Maybe it's this morning routine that makes me so excited to go to sleep at night!  Or maybe I am just entering the hibernation mode that I go into every year when it gets dark so early.

Aside from talking about blankets, I hope you enjoy the painting above...it's one of the new fall images that I painted for my line of cards I did this fall.  Enjoy the cool weather and the wool blankets!

Meagan

CRACK UP!

This is what ended up in the bowl when I cracked some eggs for breakfast!  I couldn't resist grabbing the camera...there they were just staring at me like a face that was going to start talking or something. 

Have a great weekend...and be sure to crack yourself up!

HARVEST

We went to a farmers market this summer and I snapped a few shots of the produce.  The colors are so amazing!  Makes me want to grow vegetables!  I've tried...they don't look like these...but my Sister In Law ( better known as SIL) has the gardening thing so figured out.  Check this out...

 This is only a little glimpse of her garden...her veggies would look just like the ones above.  Maybe better, yes, a lot better.  She is busy during the harvest...lots to freeze, can and pickle.  I wouldn't be so busy...none to freeze, can or pickle!  Oh...I'm not feeling sorry for myself...no, not at all.  I'm just amazed at the folks that have the ability to grow such wonderful produce. What's really amazing are the farmers that farm acres and acres of produce...the ones that feed the world.  My sister is married to one of those, a wheat farmer.  A very good one.  And my other sister doesn't have acres and acres, but you should see her containers.  She would make Sisco Morris proud!  (famous Northwest gardener, if your not from here!) More people to be amazed by...  So to all of you good crop growing types...why is it that my lambs ears have holes in them and my lace leaf maple lost all of it's leaves already and my toffee colored ornamental grass has woolly aphids in it?      There is one thing that I do seem to grow well these days...

Yep...spider webs...I'm real good at that!

UNEXPECTED TREASURE

(UNEXPECTED TREASURE)

Don't you love the sunlight on fall leaves?  It draws me in like a discovery of unexpected treasure.  I love the silhouette of the other leaves that shine through the ones in front of them.  The sun creates a mark on the leaf from the others that surround it.  I see a deeper meaning here...we all affect each other...we leave marks...maybe not always seen but they are there.  I hope the marks that I leave on others are lasting and good...I hope they shine and beautify and help the other person to be all they can be.   To be the unexpected treasure they were created to be...

DELIGHTFUL

 ( newest image - "Indian Corn")

Friday night was so wonderful...Fairbank Construction was a PERFECT venue for an Art Walk!  The weather was magical along with the sounds of the Salsa band billowing up from the harbor.  My ears were tingling listening to the laughter of the people enjoying a simply fabulous evening.  The white twinkling lights outside the building gave such a feeling of wonder. The passers by could look in and see art lovers mingling while enjoying their goodies and wine and couldn't help but join in.  There must have been 200-300 people who stopped in to visit and look.  It was a delightful evening!

TONIGHT! ART WALK ON BAINBRIDGE ISLAND

(one of my new fall images "Pumpkins")

Hello Bloggers!

It is a BEAUTIFUL day here in the Pacific Northwest and a perfect night for an Art Walk!  If you happen to be in the Bainbridge Island neighborhood, there will be lots going on with the Bainbridge wine weekend and the First Friday Art Walk.  I will be showing my work at Fairbank Construction along with two other amazing artists.  You can check out my last post for links to the event.

Have a great weekend!