Paper Follies ~ A Bit of Whimsy

{blossoming}

 

{every day is an opportunity to blossom}

{i am here}

 

{i am here and i will remain true to who i am}

{i am here and i will not be detoured into unhappiness by others who are unhappy}

{i am here and i will be confident in my abilities}

{i am here and i will not be wrangled into games of the head by others who can only play}

i am here and i strive to be:

honest

loyal

fair

loving

lighthearted

serious

hopeful

kind

quirky

in motion

dreamy

{i am here and i will remain true to who i want to be}

{holding hope}

 

*i love the light. the way it dances on my heart,  even when it seems everything around me is dark*

{i hold out for hope. i am not an optimist ~ perhaps a hopefulist.}

{i seek out those places of light. i stand in them, no matter how small and believe others will join me when they see that being illuminated brings warmth, strength, joy.}

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Working Together

 

We shape our self

to fit this world

 

and by the world

are shaped again.

 

The visible

and the invisible

 

working together

in common cause,

 

to produce

the miraculous.

 

I am thinking of the way

the intangible air

 

passed at speed

round a shaped wing

 

easily

holds our weight.

 

So may we, in this life

trust

 

to those elements

we have yet to see

 

or imagine,

and look for the true

 

shape of our own self,

by forming it well

 

to the great

intangibles about us.

 

~David Whyte

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and a song that's making me smile. hope it will you too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{recognizing creativity}

 

*i love to create little vignettes with my treasures ~ a tangible, changeable form of expressing my creative self*

{creativity takes many forms}

{is there something you do that you can bestow the lens of creativity upon; something that makes you realize that creativity does not have to be defined so traditionally?}

{indulging luxury}

 

*i love to read late at night, when everyone else has long dozed off ~ my midnight snack*

{indulging in luxuries is not a selfish act, it makes you more present for everything else}

{what are you loving reading right now?}

{being industrious}

 

*i love the feeling of accomplishment that comes when i wake up to meet the dawn and start checking off the list and having time to enjoy the little moments too.*

{being industrious brings such sweet honey}

{write a list, check things off as you go, enjoy the feeling of satisfaction as you tic the little boxes off - one by one.}

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today's list:

bake cake - check

take photos - check

try out new hot rollers for country-western star hairdo - check

peek in on sleeping teenager - check

pick up new chair - check

take more photos - check

pack for lake - check

love on dogs - check

go to grocery store - check

pick up an iced chai - check

go to bookstore - check

frost cake - check

love on cats - check

pick up teenager's contacts - check (freak out at price - double check)

text husband twice because he has my driver's license - check

birdwatch - check

fold laundry - check

blog  for the days i will be gone - quarter-check...

pack a camera, ipod, computer, gears k'nex kit - check

blog some more - half check...

and its only 2:43. yum ~ sweet honey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

{watching passion}

*i love watching someone who is obviously passionate*

{passion is contagious}

{live passionately today, see what happens}

{a midsummer eve's picnic}

 

The cool grass embraced my toes as I took kendalee's hand to join the picnic in progress. {She understood the delay, of course, as a trip across the "pond" takes time.}

I tucked my garden flowers into the already bursting bouquet ~ a rose, a pincushion and some white and purple lavender ~ as we wandered to the picnic goodies.

 

 

For me, a Greek-inspired chicken sandwich (chicken marinated in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and thrown on the barbeque, wrapped in Middle Eastern flatbread with fresh Persian cucumbers, Roma tomatoes, red-leaf lettuce, red onion, and Tzatziki ) alongside some golden potatoes (sauteed with onions, Herbs de Provence and topped with a sprinkle of  Feta).

And a little later, a piece of Green Cake ~ picnic comfort food, if you will.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Green Cake*

1 ~ 21.5 oz (or so) lemon cake mix

1 ~ 3 oz package Lime Jell-o mix

3/4 cup oil

4 eggs

1 1/2 cup water

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes.

Cool and poke holes in top.

Pour over frosting {2 cups powdered sugar mixed with juice of 2 lemons}

Sweet, sweet and not light on the calories, but a little bit satisfies delightfully!

 

We picnicked until late in the evening ~past the sprinkles of raindrops, beyond the stretch of the dusky rainbow ~ sometimes laughing, sometimes whispering our secret hopes, sometimes silent, but always happy at the midsummer's gathering of friends flung  across this wondrous world.

 

Do visit {dance of a painted lady} ~ meet some new friends, gather some recipes, and leave with a smile on your face and a touch of cool grass on your toes. 

pearl forming {mosaic monday}

 

{teenagers}

One day they disappear

into their rooms.

Doors and lips shut

and we become strangers

in our own home.

 

I pace the hall, hear whispers,

a code I knew but can't remember,

mouthed by mouths I taught to speak.

 

Years later the door opens.

I see faces I once held,

open as sunflowers in my hands. I see

familiar skin now stretched on long bodies

that move past me

glowing almost like pearls.

 

{pat mora}  

***mosaic monday inspired by this lovely one: curious girl***                                                                                          

 

It's Black and White

 

 

Creo que el mundo es bello, que la poesia es como el pan, de todos.

{I believe that the world is beautiful and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.}

Roque Dalton

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We are so fortunate to live where we live. To be entitled to a fair election. To have more than enough of anything our hearts desire. Its easy to forget ~ to take these things for granted: sweet landscapes, heartache that is temporary ~fleeting even~, abundance of poetry and bread. Its easy to overlook the simple blessings of life, until you watch the news.

***************************************************************************************

"Like You"

Like you I

love love, life, the sweet smell

of things, the sky-blue

landscape of January days.

 

And my blood boils up

and I laugh through eyes

that have known the buds of tears.

 

I believe the world is beautiful

and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.

 

And that my veins don't end in me

but in the unaminous blood

of those who struggle for life,

love,

little things,

landscape and bread,

the poetry of everyone.

~Roque Dalton

{translated by Jack Hirschman}