Capturing spirits in form.....

Last Easter, our grand kids got dressed up as their Spirit Guides.
Here's a link where you can see more photos.
So for their birthdays I am doing each of their images in clay.
Here is Kobain as a flamingo and Ava as a chipmonk. So fun!

Crown Yourself Queen!

I have just created a new online class at That Creative Place.

A few months ago I wrote on my blog of the crowns that I was creating for friends for a group birthday party.
By the end of the 8th crown I had developed an easy step by step format to follow to produce a form for a crown and so I put together a lesson plan with lots of photos, that anyone could follow.

It's fun, simple,and can be adapted for any occasion.

Check it out here along with other fun classes and join me for some creating fun!

A Crabby Old Man.....

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in North Platte,
Nebraska, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.

Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, they found this
poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and
distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Missouri.


The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas edition
of the News Magazine of the St. Louis Association for Mental Health. A slide
presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this little old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of
this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.


Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . . .. . What do you see?
What are you thinking . . . . . when you're looking at me?
A crabby old man . . . . . not very wise,
Uncertain of habit . . . . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . . . . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . . . . . 'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . .. . . . the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not . . . . . lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . . . The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking? . . . . . Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am. . . . . . As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, . . . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .. .. . . with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters . . . . . who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . . . . with wings on his feet.
Dreaming that soon now . . . . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . . . my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows . . . . . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . .. . . . I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . . .. . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons . . . . . have grown and are gone,
But my woman's beside me . . . .. . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children .. . . . . My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . . . . . my wife is now dead.
I look at the future . . . . . shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing . . . . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I've known

I'm now an old man . . . . . and nature is cruel.
Tis jest to make old age . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles . . . . . grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . .. . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . . . .. a young guy still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells.
I remember the joys . . . . . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few . . . . . gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people . . . . . open and see.
Not a crabby old man . . . Look closer .. . . see ME!!

Taking time to smell the flowers......

This morning's walk along the bike path.....

Blossoms stop me in my tracks and beg to be shared.

"See our beauty!" they sing.

"Smell our sweetness."

"Sing our song."

and so I do......

A Walk Along the Bike Path.......

There was beauty all along my walk today.
My favorite tree is called a Rainbow Shower Tree.
It begins it's blooms in July and now at the end of September it is still glorious with blossoms. And then there are the dangling roots and the Tulip tree with bright orange flowers, palm fronds in green and orange, a root that is tied in a bow, a beautiful white hibiscus, little heart leaves, more Rainbow Shower Blossoms and then...to top it all off.... there is the ever glorious turquoise of ocean against the incredible french blue sky.
So happy to be home...can you tell?

Come walk with me......

I just returned to Hawaii yesterday and a big smile hasn't yet left my face.

Come join me on my walk to the Turtle Bay Resort....

Down the stairs, onto the beach, past a sea turtle sunning in the sand....
into the banyan forest...through the magical trees....out onto shore to glimpse the hotel....past the golf course, past the horse stables, onto the beautiful green lawn, along the swimming pool.....
past the wedding pavilion, around the hotel to the swimming beach...
back through the lobby and past the pool again ....
back into the banyan forest....out onto the beach...
and back home again.

I'm thinking of putting on an art retreat around mid January. Let me know if you might be interested in joining us. We can take 7 women and oh, my.....what fun we have!