Writing should be as easy as.....

Just saw the new Nicholas Sparks movie and as I was driving home my thoughts were rambling here and there. It was a great movie and yes it was my romance fix for the month but I describe this movie as not just a silly romantic movie as for me it had heart if that makes sense. But back to the topic of writing and specifically about writing this blog entry tonight. For me this sort of writing is hard and I was thinking, I wish that writing for a blog, for something that I am publishing freezes me up. I would like this sort of writing to be as easy as talking with my friends where I feel I can say anything that pops into my head and not worry about what they will think. Because if they look at me a little weird at what I say, we all just laugh about it. Here on this page I feel I need to be more buttoned up and not just write about any old thing that pops into my head as there may be many people that will be reading it and who know what they may think?

And then I thought to myself why not just write like that? All who read my words are family and friends and those who I hope will be friends. And those who think I am weird, well maybe they are right!  :o)   But I am me for better or worse and as long as my hand moves across the page and spills out my words and thoughts and feelings, it is all good!

So here are some meanderings as I was driving home from a great movie. Its about 7PM and most people have eaten dinner and are getting out as it is a warm spring dusk after a week of chilly cold weather. I drove past a Father and daughter walking their bikes after what I assume was a great bike ride. Passed a local park where people were doing laps around a trail. A Mom was sitting on a park bench watching kids plays on a junglejim. A couple were walking their dog. A great time to be outside when things are settling down for the evening, people are relaxing after a long work week. Just a nice time.

I hope your evening passes as easily and lazily and you all have a fantastic weekend!

Creativity and education....

I wanted to share with you all a fantastic talk about creativity and how schools are killing that creativity by requiring that we color inside the lines. I have seen where budget cuts are happening all over and the programs that seem to be cut first are almost always the arts and music. The school system seems overly focused on educating the students to pass the tests as that is what provides government funding and are now also the standard for how teachers are being evaluated for their job performance. I feel that the children are so getting lost in this shuffle of grades as being the measuring stick for education. All that seems to matter is that one side of the brain and not the whole child as being important. My granddaughter is graduating from High School this year and wants to become a teacher.Here's hoping things change for the better when she gets into the school system or maybe she can help change it.

I have added a link to a another TED talk given by Sir Ken Robinson and I believe you will enjoy it as he is a great speaker. Please enjoy!

 

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_sa...

TED Talks Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity.

Toward the end of his talk he speaks about a conversation he had with Gillian Lynne who when she grew up was in the Royal Ballet. She also worked with Andrew Lloyd Weber to choreograph Cats and Phantom of the Opera. I think you will find this video fascinating. Thank you for letting me share it with you.

I love hearing the birds in the morning.....

I usually awake early every morning, about 5am during the week and about 6am on the weekends. 7am is late for me on the weekends.  LOL The wonderful thing about waking up that early is hearing what I name as "the birds calling up the morning". I love listening to them which I did this lovely morning. I was hoping to find an audio of this wonderful sound and was very happy when I did. So, just in case you are not early risers please enjoy!

I also find that the best time to journal is in the wee hours of the morning and the birds singing up the morning is such a great accompaniment. I term this writing my morning pages and started doing them after reading Julia Cameron's book  The Artists Way . This is a wonderful book that is a 12 week program to awaken one's creativity and one of the techniques is to do morning pages every day. You write 3 pages in longhand and not on the computer. You need to get that flow of "your hand simply moving across the page." This physical act puts you in touch with yourself that typing on a keyboard does not- at least for me. As Julia has written there is no right way or wrong way to do them, simply keep your hand moving across the page.

I hope you will check out her book as I have read and re-read that book and I think I need to read it again. I picked it up when I was living in NY a long time ago in 1998 and joined a group of women who were reading it. When I moved down to NC in 1999 I was thinking I needed to re-read it again and low and behold I saw an ad for a group at the local art school. How serendipitous was that ? I met a wonderful group of fellow artists and from that group 2 members started working and leading other groups and it spread!

So what's holding back your creativity? Come and fill your well of creativity !

Guess what I found.......

I feel excited about sharing this discovery. I went over to youtube to see if there were any videos about growing Lavender and of course, silly me , yes there are lots. There are videos about planting Lavender, propagating Lavender from cuttings, making Lavender wreaths. So please go check them out and I attached one on the many varieties of Lavender.

Enjoy and Happy Saturday!

No more coloring Easter eggs for awhile.....

Well, this is the first year in a very long time that no Easter eggs were colored the night before or hidden around the house. Yes I am being nostalgic but that's OK. I uploaded a scan of Easter through 3 generations.In the upper picture I am the one on the far left with my brother Eddie, Walter and our dog Minnie. The house was built by my Dad. Minnie was the dog who when we left our dozen plus Easter eggs  on the dining room table while we went to church ( BIG mistake! ) ate all the Easter eggs.  :o)
The beautiful girls down below are my daughter on the left and my granddaughter who is now 17 on the right. I have memories of hiding the eggs and the race of the kids to find them all. The questions asking is this all of them and the yeah or the nay and getting hot or cold in getting that last egg. Of course one year the last one did not get found and of course we did not realize it. But that last egg was found a few months later- big yuck. I will have to wait for my great-grandchildren to be coloring more Easter eggs or I could color them for myself which is always fun. I love the colors the shells turn.

 I do love Easter and the celebration of Spring. This is the time for renewal of the cycles of life on this beautiful Earth, with new life being born and the flowers blooming and the end of Winter's hibernation. This is the time of new beginnings where the earth's energy starts flowing upwards and blossoming. I plan on making this Spring and this year to be full of growth for myself and for Ritual Waters and to make 2012 memorable.

What are your plans for this season and this year? Where will you be when June 21st comes with the onset of the Summer season. Will you be reaping the rewards of all you began and planted in the Spring, carefully tended and grown?



What a Beautiful Day

My Azaleas are in bloom and I had to take a picture of one of the bushes to share it. I also spied some Iris buds and Columbine flowers getting ready to open up. I even saw this year's first butterfly- black and gold wings. A great promise of things to come. I love this time of year and luckily am not affected by the pollen that seems to be so abundant now. Next weekend I really need to get out into my flower beds and get them ready so maybe I can plant afew more flower beds and herbs. What sort of things are you planting this Spring?

My windows were open to the warm air and sun and my cats took full advantage, sitting there and looking out at the world. Oh to be a lazy cat sleeping in the sun for major cat nap. But today is Monday and I must be off to work.

I found the above video with some beautiful flowers and music  and wanted to share it- enjoy!