art every day

Last year I did the NaNoWriMo challenge. I wrote 50,000 words in November. It was really good for me. I turned off the inner critic, the inner perfectionist, and the inner rule-follower and wrote whatever came into my head.
I gleaned two stories from the mess that came out of that.

This year I'm not doing NaNo. I'm doing something called Art Every Day Month instead. The process will be similar for me, though. I'm just as critical and perfectionistic about my art as I am about my writing. Which is quite frustrating as I can never get things to look the way I want them to. I'm not a real artist, I just play one in my mind. ;)

Creating some kind of artwork every day is going to require that I put all that aside. The idea of random and carefree creativity appeals to me and terrifies me.

I know that this throwing off of the fetters will help me in my writing as well.

It's been a long time since I've been in an artistic groove. I'm looking forward to it. I'm declaring it a month of fun, unleashed creativity. Imperfect. Unedited. Free.

If you want to join in the fun, click here.

Today's piece is "Chicken."

real kind

photo from morguefile.com

What does it mean to be kind?
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. That's a good thing.

Here's what I'm wondering though: if I have horrible mean thoughts toward someone--a lady in line at the grocery store, for example--and I smile at her and help her when she drops something am I really being kind? I'm acting kind, but is it genuine?

Is kindess an external thing or internal? If I perform kind actions, is that enough?
When I'm in a rotten mood and everything irritates me, it might be more authentic to grump at people, but certainly not kind. I want to be real, but is that always the best thing? I can be real ugly in my realness sometimes.

If I feel like grumping, but I smile and behave kindly, am I being phony? Or is that what kindness is? Choosing to act kindly even when I don't feel like it?

renewed

Click to enlarge

A friend and I spent the weekend in Estes Park.
We laughed.
We wrote.
We ate.
And ate.
We had some marvelous Indian food.
Some fabulous pizza.
Ben and Jerry's.
Donuts.

Bigfoot!

We spent some time on the side of a hill in Rocky Mountain National Park. I cried. I took photos. I walked around. And I would have danced, had my back permitted.

We watched The Fellowship of the Ring.

And I woke up feeling rested for the first time in a long time. Twice!

Sometimes, we need to get away. Breathe. Relax. Just be.

God met me there.

What I need to do is figure what I can do here. Now. Days when I need refreshed and I can't take a jaunt up to the high country.

Where does he meet you? What do you do when you need renewed?

mountains

Mountains are quite metaphoric. We move them. We climb them. We have experiences on top of them.

We come down from them.

Lately, I've been called by them. They beckon me to come and just be. 

San Isabel

When I was a kid we frequently went to the mountains. We weren't campers, but we went on day trips to fish or to climb or picnic or just take in the scenery.

Cottonwood Lake

I don't know that I always loved it back then. There weren't any McDonalds. Usually there weren't even bathrooms. The trips seemed long and I'm sure my sister and I fought a lot for lack of entertainment.

But those are some of my favorite memories.

Back of Pikes Peak

And now that I've moved to a different part of the state, I'm not familiar with the local mountains. I don't know where to go. I don't know where the fishing holes are.

And, my family doesn't like to be in nature.

And we only have one car.

San Juan Mountains

So...

The mountains call me and I look at them in the distance and yearn.

I see beautiful photos of mountain scenes and weep with longing.

The mountains feed my soul. They nourish me in ways nothing else does.

Estes Park

Several months ago my critique partners and I decided that we would go to Estes Park (Estes Park = mountains) in October. At the time that seemed far to long to wait. But here I am. The weekend is upon me.

This afternoon we are heading up to spend a couple of nights nestled under the Rockies. 

I feel a big sigh coming on. 

borrowed tag

Cindy at Notes in the Key of Life tagged someone with this meme and I asked if I could borrow it. I sure have grown lazy in my blogging lately.

1. Given a plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go? I would go to England. And I would stay a long time and visit all of the UK.

2. Who is your most admired woman, living or dead, and why? I think Corrie ten Boom, or her sister Betsy. They demonstrated courage, sacrifice, and forgiveness that I think we all should try to emulate.

3. (Besides the Bible, of course) What is your favorite book, and why? This is a very tough question. There are so many possibilities. I think I'm going to choose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is such a lovely redemption story as well as being imaginative and entertaining.

4. Do you re-read favorite books? (If so, care to name which ones?) I do re-read books. The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Loneliness by Elisabeth Elliot, The Hiding Place, Christy, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, C.S. Lewis' space trilogy, Little Women, Heidi, Tess of the D'urbevilles, and more. 

5. What is the biggest difference (other than gender!) between you and your husband? Maybe that he's pretty serious and I am a goofball.

6. What is your favorite soup? I love good old Campbell's tomato soup, but I'm allergic to tomatoes now. I think my favorite is Tom Kha. It's a wonderful Thai soup.

7. If calories, weight gain or health were no object, what food would you eat all you wanted of?   I would eat beef burritos smothered in cheese and green chili. Or...fudge.


I am supposed to tag someone with some new questions, but I don't know who is blogging anymore. So if you want to answer some questions on your blog, answer these and let me know.


1. What childhood dream do you still hope to achieve?
2. What are your three favorite movies, and why?
3. If anything were possible--there were no obstacles--what would you do with your life?
4. I'm borrowing one from Cindy. If calories, weight, or health were no object, what food would you eat all you want of?
5. Do you watch movies over again? If so, which ones, and why?
6. What is the furthest you have been away from home?
7. If you could choose a great talent, what would you choose?

flashback friday

Did you play many games when you were growing up? What were they? (Include outside games as well as board & card games.) Who did you generally play with? Did your entire family play games or just the kids? Were there any traditional games your family always played? What were your favorites? Are they still around today? 


When my grandma was still alive, (she died when I was ten) we played cards at her house. She taught me rummy, a game called spoons, and one called nuthouse.  Just us kids would play slap jack and crazy 8's. 
We also played Yahtzee. I still enjoy these games and they often remind me of those times.
My grandpa made a "marble board." We played a game we called "marbles." Turns out it was the same game as Sorry or Trouble. I still have those marbles and I had the board until some movers lost it several years ago.


At home we played things like Monopoly, and Life. The only kid game I remember was Hi Ho Cherry-O. 
When I was a teenager we got Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary, still two of my favorites.


My dad taught me to play solitaire. That's a skill that has been valuable over the years. Valuable for procrastinating, anyway.


I don't know if we played games often, but I have good memories of times playing together as a family. I'm not sure why as I'm sure it probably often disolved into fighting. My sister and I fought a lot, and games seem to be good at bringing that out.


One of my favorite things was playing Hide and Seek outside on a summer's night. We also played things like Mother May I when we had some friends over. Most of our outdoor games were things we made up ourselves. Make believer, rather than actual games.


I'm a loser. I very rarely can win a game. Maybe that's why I like Trivial Pursuit, it's one of the few that I can. I can't even win a game of Go Fish!

flashback friday

I got this meme from Mocha with Linda. 

Me at about four years old

What toys do you remember from your childhood? 
When I was little, I had a toy record player. I loved that thing! 
I had the little farm and the little schoolhouse, too.


I also had a Baby Tender Love. She was supposed to soil her diaper and things, but she didn't work quite right. Still, I liked her enough that she stands out in my memory.


When I got older I had some Barbies, but I didn't enjoy playing with them as much as my friends did.
I had a set of western dolls that came with horses and all the accouterments. Those were fun.




What did you like to do to entertain yourself? 
My sister and I used to record ourselves on the tape recorder. I listened to my parents' records a lot. I also read a lot. And best of all, I had a pony. I rode her almost everyday, I guess.

These are some of my toys I still have

Did you mostly play inside or outside? 
I'm kinda an inside kind of person, but I did play outside a lot. Most of my memories seem to be of playing outside. I think mom made me. 
We had a tire swing and a swing set. And, as I mentioned, a pony. Not easy to play with a pony in the house. We had cats and dogs we played with. 
My sister and I would make up games like "Bionic Woman" and "Wonder Woman" and "Cowgirl and Indian." I remember making mud pies and playing hide and seek in the yard at night. 


Did you ride a bike all over the neighborhood? Play baseball in the backyard? 
I rode my bike up and down our street. When I got quite a bit older I was allowed to ride other places, but I didn't really want to much by then. We had a small store at the end of our block and we could ride down there. Our dead end street came out onto a highway and my folks didn't like us riding along there very much. I
I remember playing ball in the yard. It wasn't ever a real game, but dad would pitch to us. He also taught me how to cast a fishing line with a paper plate for a target.


What were the "fad" or "must-have" toys of your generation? Did you parents buy them? 
Kids had banana seat bikes. I didn't.
I can't really remember the other "must haves." Must not have hurt me to not have them. 


The two most disappointing toys: I desperately wanted both of them, a sewing machine and a microscope. I got them! But neither of them worked right. 


Was there a toy you always wanted and never got to have? 
I wanted a Spirograph. My friend had one and I always wanted to play with it when I was at her house. Sometimes she let me, but she usually wanted to play Barbies. I could have Spirographed for hours!


If you would like to take part in this fun blast from the past click below.