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“Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award”

/ wantonwordflirt / 1 Comment

sister-hood-award

I would like to thank ITTYMAC  for nominating me for the “Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award”. As a novice blogger I truly appreciate that someone reads my blog, let alone finds it among their favourites. I thoroughly enjoy reading “ITTYMAC – One seed can split a boulder into a handful of stones – A philosophical view of everyday life.”  The insights she offers about life’s journey, especially in later life, are enlightening, inspiring, humorous, and authentic. I encourage you to check her out:

http://ittymac.wordpress.com

~ ~The Rules ~ ~

  1. Provide a link to and thank the blogger who nominated you for this award.
  2. Answer ten questions.
  3. Nominate 10-12 blogs that you find a joy to read. Provide links to these nominated blogs and kindly let the recipients know they have been nominated.
  4. Include the award logo within your blog post.

~~Questions~~

1.  Your favorite color….blue – greens

2.  Your favorite animal … Yellow Labrador Retrievers, cats, donkeys + jack-rabbits

3.  Your favorite non-alcoholic drink ….tea

4.    Facebook or Twitter….. Facebook, seldom Tweet

5.    Your favorite pattern …..waves

6.    Do you prefer getting or giving presents…. giving

7.    Your favorite number …2, 7, 13

8.    Your favorite day of the week ….Wednesday

9.    Your favorite flower ….lilacs

10.  What is your passion? ….. reading, writing, being curious / learning

There are so many deserving blog sites and so little time.  Here’s a list of a few of my favourites, in random order. Do not worry if I nominated you and you are unable to / do not wish to participate. Readers, hope you will take the time to visit a few of these blogs. Enjoy!

http://humoringthegoddess.com

http://theempathyqueen.wordpress.com

http://whatdoyareckon.wordpress.com

http://wordbitches.com

http://booksonthetable.com

http://www.shannonraelynn.com

http://morningcoffeebliss.wordpress.com

http://yogasoulblog.com

http://honeydidyouseethat.wordpress.com

http://raisingthebarrblog.wordpress.com

“Home”

/ wantonwordflirt / 6 Comments

I have the urge to collect the sparkling crystals in a clear container. However, I know from having collected butterflies, bees, frogs, and dandelions in jars as a child, I cannot capture nature for a later time, it has to be revered in the moment. A moment like now; a morning when diamond crystals hang from every branch, every stem. Every individual needle and twig sparkling in the late morning sun against the perfect winter sky painted solid blue.

Ice formed on the lake overnight for the first time this season. Not all across but for several hundred feet out from shore, white solid stillness, with ripples of dark water beyond. The last of the geese float by silently.  All the birds and animals are silent. No chickadee calls, no blue jay squawks, even the squirrel is without chatter. All that can be heard from them is the cracking of the sunflower seeds that have been left for them to enjoy, followed by the sound of the shell dropping softly onto the glistening frosty snow below.

A trail of tracks goes across the snow covered grass to the bird feeder. Deer tracks. The same tracks go to beneath the Mountain Ash tree. Yesterday a flock of over a hundred cedar waxwings descended in the afternoon, a flutter of activity enveloped the tree as they attempted but were unsuccessful in eating all of the berries. A bumper crop this year, allowed for some to remain for some other creature to feast upon. The lower limbs of the tree are naked now. All the bright scarlet ornaments are gone, devoured by the two deer that came before I woke.

I think of clichés. How lucky I am to live here, how blessed. I take a deep breath. Let the cold air fill me; let my body make it warm to flow back out. I am calm. I am quiet. I am home.002

My Muse returned just in time!

/ wantonwordflirt / 18 Comments

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My Mom recently renovated her bathroom. A couple weeks ago she told me she has never asked for anything specific for her birthday gift, but could I please paint her a “Seascape” painting for her birthday.  She loved the “Seascape” paintings I had made for Shannon Raelynn’s book launch, and was now wanting one for herself.

I told her I could, yet on the inside I was thinking: “Oh no, I have not painted in several months, my Muse has abandoned me. I don’t know when she is coming back, if ever.  I don’t know if I can do this without her.”

Well, with my Mom’s birthday looming (it is tomorrow Oct. 1st), I hauled out the paints, a 24″ x 12″ canvas on Saturday,  and had at ‘er! It was slow going to begin with , a couple times I was ready to pack it in. At one point I got upset, not satisfied with my progress and wiped down the entire canvas with a damp rag. I began to see some potential in what I had done thus far. My Muse appeared just in the nick of time; several hours later I decided I had my best painting thus far. Happy Birthday, Mom, “Seascape III” is all yours!

“Blank Brained”

/ wantonwordflirt / 5 Comments

http://humoringthegoddess.com/2013/09/04/blank-brained/ When I read Claudia’s blog today, I knew I had to reblog it. What she describes has been happening to me since mid-July! I have been in such a creative funk, struggling to write something… anything… to at least keep my blog going. I have not painted for a minute in over two months. I blame my lack of motivation and ability to be creative the past couple months on two things. Summer is a busy time with extra visitors, weddings to attend, travel, outdoor activities. The second is probably the more likely cause. I have some medical issues (Autoimmune Hepatitis, Sjogren’s Syndrome, and Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease) which cause fatigue, joint and muscle pain, brain fog.  I have been having a flare-up of these symptoms, and others, resulting in more than just mere fatigue but at times utter exhaustion this summer. Some days it is a struggle just to do daily tasks, forget painting and writing. Some days it seems it is hard to get my mind and body in sync. I have great ideas ready to put on the page or the canvas, but my arms, fingers, neck, and / or back hurt. Other days the body is willing, but the mind is blank. I think the answer, at least for me, is to return to finding “stolen moments” (see an earlier blog by that name), snippets of time in the day to engage in writing or painting even if for only five minutes, knowing the expression and expulsion of what is inside me will be the best medicine.

More from the grocery store…

/ wantonwordflirt / 6 Comments

Okay, so last post I promised more thoughts from the grocery store. Lots of life has happened since then. Admittedly there are other things I’d rather blog about now, so I need to make a note to self for the future. “Don’t promise the next blog topic ahead of time.” I should know better. I am way too random-abstract to be making such commitments.

Anyway, back to the grocery store. After leaving the two lovebirds behind me at the check-out, I continued my zombie-like walk out to my vehicle continuing to have random thoughts about grocery shopping. It occurred to me that it is ridiculous to spend money on groceries, spend time preparing meals and eating them, only to turn around and spend money and time on exercising to get rid of the calories you just spent time and money on. Yes, I know we need to have a certain number of calories each day in order to be healthy but seriously we could get those from chowing down a few simple, uncooked foods each day.

Then I remembered a youtube video my kids had shown me from MAD TV. One of those ” it would be funny , if it were not so true” satires. Here’s the link to the 2 minute video “Eat Less, Move More”:

Simple right?

The only thing more simple would be if I were Oprah. If I were Oprah, I would have people to go out to the markets for me to gather the freshest foods, a personal chef to prepare low-calorie delicious meals, and I would have other staff to do all the other things I did not want to do thus freeing up my time to exercise. Hmm, only one flaw in this fantasy, Oprah is still heavier than me. I guess I will just have to eat less, move more.

groceries

“Brothers, Bullies, and Bad Guys”

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Book Review:

ndrichman cover

“Brothers, Bullies, and Bad Guys” by N.D. Richman

Although I gave this book a 5 star rating overall on “Goodreads” because it is a fun and entertaining read for pre-teens to young teens, there were two things about the book that I did not like.

Unfortunately I fear the audience for which the book was intended may not ever choose the book because of its cover. I actually love the cover design / photo however it is not appropriate nor appealing to middle school students. It should have a photo of a jet boat flying over a waterfall with a helicopter hovering overhead, a grizzly bear lurking nearby, or similar scene reflecting the action and adventure prevalent in the story.

The other downfall to the book was the first chapter. I found it too jam-packed with information. So much so, it was almost confusing to the reader.

However if you can get past the inappropriate cover, and confusing first chapter, you will be in for a treat! You will discover a well-written, action packed story by a debut author who knows his audience extremely well.

I noted that another reviewer said there was too much action, it wasn’t realistic, there were fart jokes…you bet there is! And I can also tell you that is exactly what pre-teen kids will love about this story, especially reluctant readers who need their own brand of humor, and  quick story pace, to keep their interest.

Well done N.D. Richman for crafting a story sure to be loved by young readers, as well as those of us who are still young at heart!

(Book may be purchased in e-book format from most digital retailers for Sony, Kobo, Kindle etc., and in hard copy from Amazon. To learn more go to: http://www.ndrichman.com )

Mini Muffin…blessing or curse?

/ wantonwordflirt / 8 Comments

“Who ate just the top of the muffin, and left the stump?”

I admit it, it is always me. Everyone else in our family eats a whole muffin at a time. I only ever seem to want half, or if the muffin is large sometimes just a quarter. Even though I reassured them I would be coming back to eat the muffin stump later or perhaps the next day, they were not happy.

“Why can’t you just eat the whole muffin? Don’t leave those stumps behind, that’s gross Mom!”

“Because I only want half. I won’t waste it. I will eat it when I want another half.”

Okay, so no one in our house liked to look at muffin stumps. I got the message loud and clear. I started slicing the muffin in half vertically instead. I assumed there would be no complaints.

“Who left half a muffin in a ziplock baggie on the cupboard?”

Wow! Who knew eating half a muffin at a time was such a crime? Who were these guys in my house who all seemed to develop muffin OCD simultaneously?

I actually stopped buying muffins because I was tired of explaining it was not necessary to eat a whole muffin at one sitting. Then this summer along came Jennifer to my rescue!

Jennifer was a new vendor at our local Farmer’s Market whose summer business project was “Playing With Food” – homemade baking with gluten-free and diabetic friendly choices including mini-muffins!

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Little did Jennifer know she restored peace to muffin eating in our home. I could now eat an entire muffin with no stump or any other portion left behind to offend the muffin police.Hooray!

Over the course of the summer we tried several varieties including chai spice and cornmeal cheese, with the favourites being good ole banana chocolate chip and saskatoon berry, made with freshly picked saskatoons out of Jennifer’s backyard. Yummy!

Okay, I admit it. I could now eat more than one muffin at a time. In fact the day I brought home the saskatoon berry muffins, I am quite positive I ate the equivalent of a whole regular size muffin. Hmmm, maybe even a little more. Was just so easy to pop one of those delicious little morsels into my mouth! Fortunately no one in my family witnessed it.

Suddenly I remembered seeing a report that came out around last Halloween in which researchers concluded people who bought a bag of “mini” size chocolate bars actually consumed more calories than those who bought and ate a full-size chocolate bar. Those who ate the minis fell into the trap of ” it is just not that big, so I will have another”,  without realizing how much they actually ate.

Jennifer is done at the market for this year. Maybe I need to be done with the mini-muffins and go back to leaving stumps around for another day, muffin police be damned!

(If you would like to know more about Jennifer, an elementary teacher who loves to cook and play with food please visit her blog: “Inspired At My Island”. Her blog is filled with recipes, photos, stories about food, and food projects she has used to teach in her classroom. http://inspiredatmyisland.blogspot.ca/)

Stolen Moments

/ wantonwordflirt / 10 Comments

I often hear friends and family say they would love to paint, write, or engage in other artistic pursuits if they had the time. I must admit I felt the same way for most of my life.

About a year ago I realized that if I did not start engaging in the artistic endeavors I desired to be part of my life, I might not ever get the chance. It occurred to me if I was waiting for a big chunk of time to begin writing or painting, that day could be long in coming, if ever. The perfect time was never going to arrive.

I decided to steal moments here and there as I could to jot tiny snippets of memoir down, start or finish poems, even paint small paintings, sometimes while making dinner in between stirring a pot of sauce and pasta.

Finally giving myself permission to engage in these activities (even for 15 minutes at a time) provided a sense of well-being. The pleasure of allowing myself the chance to express myself and actually do something I longed for was immensely gratifying.

If you want to dabble with some art in quick stolen moments…try getting some 4×6 or 5×7 little canvases and acrylic paints, or some paper and watercolors and make 5 minute paintings…..or buy yourself a beautiful journal to write 15 minute little poems, snippets of stories, moments of memoir…you may surprise yourself!

Remember even a novel can be written ten minutes at a time. 😉

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(One of my 5 minute paintings.)

Postcard Art Experiment!

/ wantonwordflirt / 5 Comments

After being in a creative funk for several weeks, today I remembered just the right size project to ease me back into the creative world.

Several weeks ago, I discovered a blog here at WordPress that belongs to a lady, Katerina,  in the Netherlands who has a visual art experiment underway. I was intrigued. I contacted her right away to become a tiny part of  “Receive, Create, Combine”.

You can read about this unique project on her blog: http://receivecreatecombine.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/new-cards-and-another-first/

I received a set of 9 postcard size pieces of art in the mail, that had been started by 1-3 other individuals thus far. A card is complete when 8 people have added to it.

Here is what the set of cards looked like upon receiving:

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(All of the above cards above are as I received them, except for the pink one in the bottom left corner. I did add the eyes / nose to that one before I remembered to take before / after photos of the cards.)

And, here is what they look like after my additions:

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Looking forward to seeing the cards once the remainder of the “artists” have added their personal touches.

Thanks Katerina for the “spark” I needed!