home dwells within my heart...

" home isn't just a place or a location

it's a feeling...a memory...a sound...sometimes a smell

it can be someone you know

and the memory of their laugh

it can be that feeling rising in your throat

when you hug someone you haven't seen in a while

or that sense of belonging you get

when you make a new acquaintance you didn't know you missed"

~maryjanes farm magazine

home dwells within my heart....

decorations of red........

snow! snow! snow!

we usually get....MAYBE....2 inches of snow a year...

this is the second big snow for us here in the midlands

of south carolina....about six inches.

now i know lots of you are probably laughing about our "big snow"

but...really...we're just not equipped for it here.

it was nice having a couple of days off work....yeah...that happens here!
i spent most of my outside time feeding the birds....
and my cat....so he didn't try to eat the birds....
what i enjoyed most about this snow...
sitting in my studio and watching these beautiful
red cardinals....like decorations...in the
snow covered trees.....

what a cheeky girl

this lovely lady has decided she needs to become my muse......

i used to make wall hangings from carpet.

i've had her rolled up in a corner of my studio for

years and lately she's been whispering

in my ear that she deserves better

treatment from me.......

so......i finally got around to giving her

a place on the wall in my studio...

all six feet by four foot of her...

cheeky girl....

this is a picture of another piece that i sold.....

i actually placed in an art competition with this one....

i'm hoping that "cheeky girl" will inspire me to
get off my duff and spend more time
creating......

something greater than me......

"life is a journey...

each year a new milestone...

but where is there a signpost?

...a guide to the lost life wanderer?"

~theodor fontane

the 2010 milestone is behind me...

i begin 2011's journey with a glad step...

there are times that i feel lost...

but in my heart of hearts...

i don't worry about the course...

the hows....

or whys...

something greater than me

leads the way....

and helps me stay the path...

may each of you have a safe

and happy new year.....

namaste....

walking lightly upon this earth.....

this book.......

profound....

it helped me see how

far off my true path i've wandered...

i have to share this passage from the book....

"This is the same fire that burned with the blast from Hiroshima," Masanori Oe says to me,

pointing to a small brass lantern on a table in front of us with a tiny flame burning inside.

"This very flame?" I ask taken aback somewhat.

"Yes. It has been kept burning, passed on from person to person to help us each remember

what happened that day, and how it must not happen again."

He explains that in August 1945, a woman who lost her son in the bombing went to the city

while it was still burning and, believing that the spirit of her son was inside that flame,

captured a bit of fire and brought it to her home a hundred miles away. She kept it burning

for more than twenty years, and then passed it on to a Buddhist priest, who decided to make

it a symbol of peace, and took the flame on a walking pilgrimage across Japan, burning in

a lantern, and passed it on to others, lighting new lanterns for those who would take the flame."

this book is about "simple living and inner abundance"....

of being one with nature...

art....

music...

creativity....

sustainable living....

of walking lightly...

upon this earth...

an infrequent visitor

..... snow

an infrequent visitor

to my home

magical...

a christmas gift...

in a small

southern

town...

a gift of peace.....

may peace be your gift

at Christmas and your

blessing all the year

through....

my empty begging bowl...

"even in my empty

begging bowl

a piece of hail"

~ haiku by Santoka

.....a gift from nature in my sleeping garden

.....hello hyacinth!

did you ever want to just walk away....

"did you ever want to just walk away?" ~ margaret roach

........YES!

these old bones.......

we've had unusually cold weather for this time of the year.....already down into the teens at night....and the wind....it'll sure put some pep into your step. as i stepped out into the garden to check on my bird feeder i could hear my cat purring....it took me a minute to figure out where he was....hidden in the vinca.... in a patch of sunlight.
he didn't feel it was necessary to get up and greet me....as he usually does. i guess his old bones are feeling like mine in this frigid weather. we're both moving kinda slow.........

someone's confused......

i spent much of my afternoon belatedly tucking my garden 'chillrens' in for

the winter. even with the icy wind i enjoyed puttering around ....thinking

of plans for next spring.....and look what i found....

this is such a poor picture that i really hated to post it here.....but.........

my jackmanii clematis is BLOOMING....

.......on december 5th!

someone's confused......
and this time....
it's not me!

move over Bridges of Madison County

move over Bridges of Madison County.....

i think you've been dethroned....

i'm not much of a "touchy feely" kind of person....
but i finished this book with tears in my eyes......
this would make a wonderful movie!

hello old age.....

ok.....last christmas i was officially the grinch!

my only decoration was a six inch metal tree on the mantel.

after being the ultimate couch potato today...

as i watched all the hgtv christmas specials...

i was inspired enough to pull out some of my decorations

and start transforming the house into a winter wonderland.

the good news is....i've dusted places in my house that

haven't seen a dust rag in a while...the bad news...

it looks like a bomb went off at the north pole in here...

good grief.......there's STUFF every where...

and i've run out of steam.........

LOL....hello old age!

it's turkey day......

i hope each and everyone one of you have

a safe and happy thanksgiving....

bring on the turkey!

three muses #78 - shoes challenge

the theme for the challenge at the three muses this week is shoes....this piece started as "the old
woman in the shoe" kinda thing but somehow
morphed into....well...this!

(the moon, arms, and bird feet images are clipped from old magazines; all other images are my creations and images)

...a pain in my heart

twenty five years today...

you didn't make your 8 seconds cowboy

that ole winged horse threw ya....

one last time....

no brushing yourself off...

grinning that grin...

no coming home again....

i miss you...my space cowboy

sending hugs and kisses on the wind......

sometimes.........

i'm there..........

thank you.......

THANK YOU.........

sigh..........

wow.....it's really getting hard to take pictures inside since it gets

dark so early....these sheets are actually WHITE and red...but i

do kinda like this color combo!darkness falling early heralds the time to bring out the flannel sheets!

sigh.........

i love flannel......

and fall...

and wrapping up in a blanket on the porch...

under a kzillion stars...

on a crisp night....

just letting the worries of the day...

melt away...

ummmmm...

finally feels like fall....

in her footsteps.....

my youngest daughter just graduated from cosmetology school

....52 years after her grandmother.

i'm making her a shadow box with my mothers diploma...

a transparency of my mother over the diploma...

her scissors...comb... a couple of clips

that she used when she was a beautician.

i think she would have liked that her granddaughter

is following in her footsteps....