Swipe Left

There are many things I love about the Christmas season. The music, the bright lights. The charming Christmas story. 

It’s the malls and the technology that seem out of place. Necessary, I suppose, but our kids and grandkids are 

missing a real treat ~ shoving me into the generationally challenged category ~ but that’s all right. I earned 

every second of these decades. If I hadn’t been from 

this technology barren time, 

I would have missed out on 

the Christmas catalogue. Do you remember 

Simpson Sears and Eaton’s catalogues? 

Eatons was “Canada’s Christmas Store”. 

Shiny colourful pages with beautiful models, 

airbrushed too perfectly at a time when that 

was okay. Full of everything a kid could 

want and more. Sleds, dolls, and toys some 

no longer on the market because of perceived 

or real danger. But for me I wanted to see 

the latest fashions, especially the New Year's 

gowns. Getting ideas for the next gowns

I would sketch and colour. I never could get 

past the same full skirt and strapless bodice. 

Paging through a cold screen with a swipe left, 

can't have the same thrill with childhood dreams 

and hopes. I do hope that when a child swipes 

left, they file in their memory the dream that 

wafted from the screen, making their generation 

one of wonder when swiping left 

has become a memory.

“Whether you shop in person or by ‘phone, you’ll find the people 

at Eaton’s friendly and helpful…in the true spirit of Christmas.”

From an Eaton’s Christmas Catalogue, 1960

<cuttersguide.com>

Projects for Fun

yarn and crocheted little bits

ideas floating in my brain. 

woollen decorations? 

will that ever happen? 

maybe…..

they could be felted ~

You-tube here I come. 

another brilliant thought -  

start each of many projects

with my vision in mind. 

pressure to be done on time and perfectly ~

kicked to the curb!

chunking each project,

finish one section at a time to

open my play time for creativity and shopping.

“Almost all creativity requires purposeful play.”

~ Abraham Maslow

Illumination ~ 3

A light glowed ~

illumination from within

a space had been cleared

bright and empty

swept clean of doubts and fears

to be filled with …….?

so much room to create 

joy for heart and soul

decorations backed by music

with texture, colour and words

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

~ Desmond Tutu

Stacked

Ideas ~ stacked in neat piles

to be used when it’s time

Ideas pulled from the stack

will build, will create, will grow

Ideas ~ stacked in neat piles

will be used when it’s time.

“Ideas come from everything.”

~ Alfred Hitchcock

Phase-ology 102

I wrote and posted Phase-ology 101 in November of 2014. I am now in the next phase of a long term writing project. When I wrote the second line ‘not too long…but just long enough’ I had no idea it would almost be 10 years for this next phase. There have been many writing phases since 2014 all with the help of everyone who has read my stories, essays, poems over the years.  Finally arriving at Phase-ology 102, I still have lots of work to do.

Phase-ology 101 

New phases, like the phases of the moon, need breathing space

Not too long….but just long enough

Centering, regrouping but more importantly

….remembering.

Remembering each difficult, or not so difficult, task was accomplished with all the same skills

learned over a life that keeps rolling along,

shifting with changing spaces of time and talent,

carrying the vitality of belief and experience into each new phase.

With belief and creativity in mind and heart ~ 

Deep breath, 

Spread out,

Pull back in

And lean into the work once more.

“There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time,

unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.”

~ James Taylor

Phase-ology 102 

New phases, like the phases of the moon, need breathing space

not too long….but just long enough and much longer than imagined

fears, insecurities, self-doubt hovering just out of reach ~

centering, regrouping and more importantly

….remembering.

remembering difficult, or not so difficult, 

tasks were accomplished with skills

learned over a life that keeps rolling along,

shifting with changing spaces of time and talent,

carrying the vitality of belief and experience into each new phase.

always with the support and encouragement

       from everyone, anywhere, 

reaching out when my heart is too full,

my mind feels too empty, or my soul too dry

With belief and creativity in mind, heart and soul ~ 

Deep breath, 

Spread out,

Pull back in

And lean into the work once more.

“There’ll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time,

unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.”

~ James Taylor

Back Drop

Obsessing over

thoughts from others

wastes time and

dilutes creativity

Obsessing over

each detail of life

puts imagination 

into neutral

Obsessing over

the should haves

can turn confidence

into less than

“I got my own back.”

~ Maya Angelou

Design ~ DESIGN ~ Theme for May 2022

The How of Anything

Deeper I go……

Everything has a …….

Sensibilities are…..

Ideas are…..

Greater things can…..

Nature has its own……

“I am always doing that which I cannot do, 

in order that I may learn how to do it.”

~ Pablo Picasso

Down Under

On a summer’s day walk 

I could have slipped 

under the sea 

under the bridge

and above the water

colourful fish swam lazily

ahead of this cement underpass

a snub-nosed whale surfaced 

on this prairie stroll

“Creativity is the marvellous capacity to grasp mutually 

distinct realities and draw a spark from their juxtaposition.”

~ Max Ernst

DreamScape ~ 2

Over the mountain are dreams.

Are we willing to brave 

forests of well intentioned advice?

frigid snow fields?

barren, sharp rocks?

Over the mountain are dreams.

Are we willing to create

fanciful tree houses?

build sparkling snow forts?

learn to climb and scale the rocks?

Over the mountain are dreams ~

to get to our dreams

while we travel,

while we build,

we live our lives.

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

~ J.K.Rowling,  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

A Pause

The blank page stares at me

with its single white eye 

   ~ ideas flown,

     ~ fantasies buried 

       ~ memories deep in the past.

And so I let creativity rest.

     ~ just for tonight

“The principle of art is to pause, not bypass.”

~ Jerzy Kosinski

Creation ~ 2

Taking stock of 

the past and the present,

before the future arrives, 

is all a-jumble and babble.

Finding the truth of

yesterday and today,

before the future arrives,

is not for the faint of heart.

Creating value and order

from the chaos of yesteryears

gives the future 

a chance for redemption.

“Teach them that rainbows appear after a storm 

to remind them that light begins and ends with all colours.”

~ Frederic M. Perrin, Rella Two Trees - The Money Chiefs

On Immunity and Compassion

Creating something interesting

~ maybe wise or silly ~ is not easy when mind and body have been busy with the body’s normal immune response to vaccination. 

Nothing fanciful about it ~

reading, couch, blanket, sleep

eat, drink lots of fluids

stay out of the heat.

I have known that 

      ~ just for today ~

my mind needed relaxation, 

to let go of all of the ordinary to-do's and shoulds, allowing my body to work, strengthen and add polish to my health.

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.”

~ Jack Kornfield