Echoes ~ 3

Time slips past

Years stacked one on the other

Being aware of each moment

Impossible

Yearning to remember 

A little hand on my cheek

  Clean baby smells

    Belly laughs and giggles

Time stands still in each memory

“In our lives are special moments that live as their own, 

the rest is movement with the passage of time.”

~ Donna Lynn Hope

An Aura of Calm

Living on the prairies of Saskatchewan
and the plains of Texas    where land and sky
wrapped under and over me, I felt in awe of the grandeur

A return to Canada's land of 
   mountains, vast expanses of water and soaring trees
a new home wrapped around me.

The gardens of prairie and plains passed into memory
Only small patches of land existed - would that suffice?
Definitely - always aware of the satisfaction of growing food, flowers and an aura of calm.

“To dream a garden and then to plant it is an act 

of independence and even defiance to the greater world.”

~ Stanley Crawford, A Garlic Testament: 

Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm

World Ocean Day Appreciation

Today, June 08: 

    World Oceans Day.
Even though I live just blocks from the Pacific Ocean, I am far removed from the life below the surface of the water.

Water:
- blue, sparkling on a sunny day
- greygreen, frothing on a wild and windy day

A peaceful or challenging surface for
- man and bird
- ships and sails

Are we aware of the abundance in the deep where
- life teems and grows
- fishes, mammals and plants swim and drift?

Our oceans deserve our respect, our care and our gratitude

        - for the gifts of entertainment, travel and sustenance

                  - for being another dimension of our world.

".....the ocean is alive, and needs to tell us something important......."

~ Jeffrey McDaniel

Artist’s Statement and Session Five - ArtWriting

Last week I promised my Artist’s Statement, completed this afternoon. Here it is:

“Approaching retirement age ten years ago, I wanted a new direction that would be a daily activity and would incorporate my personal life experience and my nursing career. “Standing still slowly” became an experimental blog for ‘Daily musings in poetry, story or just wandering with ideas, questions….’ in December 2011 to last one year. My medium of wordcrafting has included my own written work accompanied by a photograph from a nature stroll or a still life, and a quotation from another author from another website. Setting my own parameters for my posts, each photograph and each quotation must speak to the intent of whatever I have written.

As I have developed Standing still slowly, I have included book reviews, movie review and the occassional play review. Initially, I had no specific subject or theme other than my own experience with epilepsy and from my still active nursing career. I have also addressed social issues based on personal opinion. A couple of years ago, I began establishing a topic or theme for each month. With these parameters, my awareness of my daily life has heightened.

My first years of writing were influenced by Julia Cameron (The Artist’s Way), Naomi Wakan (Late Bloomer), Natalie Goldberg (Writing Down the Bones), Mary Pipher (Writing to Change the World) and a plethora of other authors and their books filled with their experience in writing. My interest in writing more deeply about addictions nursing, outside of my blog, has been encouraged and coached by Connie Frey, a certified Creativity Coach.

Writing has provided me with the satisfaction I sought in 2011. Standing still slowly has moved my life forward.”

******

Tonight we discussed Reviewing an Exhibition. As I am not an artist in any medium other than words, I felt rather out of my depth tonight. How to write a Review of an Exhibition when my gallery visits are few and far between. Like a speed dater, I do not linger long on any one painting or work of art before I’m on to the next.  I listened to tonight’s presentation, listening for anything that would give me a hint. While the others broke into pairs to review each other’s creations, I began reviewing Google for any glimpse of hope. And there it was, art galleries with their websites and blogs. So for next weeks assignment, and for next weeks blog, I will write a review of a Victoria Art Gallery. 

‘Til next week!

“Writing is a vessel...with readers the ocean and authors as its sails…”

~ William Petersen

Adriana McKnight - A Story

Adriana McKnight - A Story

Adriana McKnight was preparing for a holiday - a long holiday.

When she first decided to go on a world wide walking trip, her family all thought she had completely lost her mind.

Adriana, with her mousy brown hair and shabby sweaters, had never even traveled outside her home town of Caborford.

Reality set in one day when she looked at her picture in the High School year book and then looked at herself in the mirror.

Even then, in high school, she had been shy but was planning to travel the world.

Naturally, after high school, there was a job - just temporary - and another until the plans and dreams faded.

Eventually, involved in community activities, usually with children’s groups, she stopped thinking of them at all.

Seeing the young Adriana in cap and gown, her shy face bright with hope, sadness flickered briefly and fell away.

Studying the brochures of her world wide walking trip, Adriana picked up her plane ticket to Dublin, shouldered her back pack and left her home for a great adventure.

“Once you’d resolved to go, there was nothing to it at all.”

~ Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

Keeping Pace

It’s good to have goals
Goals that point the way
The way 
A choice
A direction

Each step towards any goal
Follows a line towards each goal.
Straight
Wandering 
Back and forth

Reflecting on each step is hard
Because many steps can seem directionless
Taken quickly
Or slowly 
Or somewhere in between

Being aware of each step is only important
To avoid dips in the road, stones or uneven edges
Maintaining momentum
Slowing a pace
A steady gait toward chosen goals.

“To climb steep hills requires slow pace at first.”

~ William Shakespeare