Artists are different.
Artists are in a perpetual search for inspiration... for beauty, joy, light, magic.
Artists are inventive, expressive, adventurous, and intuitive with an overwhelming desire to share their world.
I am such an artist.
Each Friday, I'll share with you a few beautiful, delicious, intriguing treasures I'm grateful to have discovered.
Or simply things I'm just grateful for... Period.
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♥ Summer of 1976
Between June 4, 1976 and July 4, 1976, I experienced so many wonderful things. My family went on our first week-long vacation to the far-away and exotic land of Florida. It was magical. Afternoon Delight played on the radio. I saw the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. To this day I can't smell Florilinda Orange Blossom perfume without turning 12 years old again. It was the tiniest bottle in a nest of excelsior on half of a scallop shell in shrink wrap. We watched a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. And we went to Disney World. Dad bought a brand new car just for the trip, a red 1976 Grand Prix. And it took us two days to get there. We spent the night in Valdosta, GA, at the end of the first day, and drove over the Florida line early the next morning. We visited an old fort and the first schoolhouse in America in St. Augustine. We even went to Marineland.
It was the year of our nation's Bi-Centennial. I believe the official colors of the year were Red, White and Blue. In the summer of 1976, I had just received my 5 year pin for being in the Girl Scouts all through the Brownie and Junior years, and the Cumberland Valley Girl Scout Council hosted all of the scouts for an epic day called the Dixie Bi-Doodle in the Nashville Municipal Auditorium.
♥ Ken Burns' National Parks documentary
About a month ago I turned off the TV. It slows down my productivity and quite frankly, there isn't much I'm even interested in watching. Now I watch TV by appointment, meaning Sunday evening at 8pm, you can set your watch to where I will be... in front of the telly watching PBS' Masterpiece Theater. On other evenings when I finally run out of steam, I'll spend an hour or 90 minutes watching an episode or movie or part of a documentary by choice and only after 7pm. This week it has been Ken Burns' National Parks documentary.
I haven't gotten very far into it yet, but I love the history, the stories of early pioneers, and the unbelievable beauty they discovered for the first time.
When the Cook Expedition of 1869 and the Washburn Expedition of 1870 returned to the east coast telling stories of the geysers in Wyoming, no one would believe them. In fact, both Cook and another man in his party, David E. Folsom, kept journals during the trip. After the expedition, Cook combined the two journals into a single version. This version was submitted to both the New York Tribune and Scribner's for publication. Both declined citing the unreliability and improbability of the information.
Thank goodness someone finally believed them and in 1872 Yellowstone became a preserved National Park.
One other interesting tidbit I learned is that you can purchase a National Parks "passport" and at any gift shop or ranger station in a National Park have your passport stamped with the date and place you visited. There is even a set of National Park stickers that you can purchase if you like a full color reminder of your trip. So many people are asking for these that now non-National Park attractions are offering the same stamp to visitors.
♥ The Artist's Way
The Artist Way is a book by Julia Cameron I've owned for decades, yet I've never finished it. The book outlines a 12-week course to reignite your inner artist, re-discover your creativity, and connect with the divine energy that flows through you when you create art.
It starts with "Morning Pages" and do this without fail every morning. It's very simple, yet powerful. Grab a notebook and pen (Ms Cameron offers a plethora of workbooks and journals, but they are not necessary) and write three pages first thing. The first two pages will be worthy of the trashcan. Just write your stream of consciousness.
What I call "the monkey brain" starts the writing. "Remember to buy more avocados. Do I need a haircut? Wish Max would stop whining. Gosh the coffee smells good, etc." And then when you think you can't write another word, a different brain takes over and astonishing wisdom comes pouring out. Keep writing. It may just be one nugget or pearl of wisdom or it may be a whole strand. Don't edit. Just keep writing.
It's amazing what solid gold is stored in your head, but unless you give it the opportunity to appear, you'll never discover it. Wonder if that is why the scripture reads, "Be still and know?"
♥ Ralph Waldo Emerson
One morning while writing my Morning Pages, a quote came to me that is attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson,
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
Out of curiosity, I researched more quotes and was overwhelmed by what I discovered, a magnitude of wisdom and sound advice.
"Sprinkle Joy."
"Each man has his own vocation; his talent is his call. There is one direction in which all space is open to him.
"Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying."
"By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote."
♥ Happier with Gretchen Rubin
My all-time favorite podcast for the past four years has been Happier with Gretchen Rubin. It is simply a 30-minute chat between Gretchen and her sister, the sage, Liz Craft, about habits and tidbits to live a happier life. I love it! And I wish I'd thought of it.
“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”
