I live on a farm ... — love
Bittersweet
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Bittersweet. I look outside my studio window as I write, viewing a great bounty of lush green growth. Trees, green grasses, flowers, an abundance of life that is breathtaking in its simplicity and rustic charm. Several Amish families in open, black buggies pulled by elegant dark chestnut colored horses have passed by on the road, their children wearing straw hats in the bright morning sun. I am blessed. I look over at the watercolor painting I am working on with two swans I photographed on our river last year on a perfectly gorgeous June day. It is amazing to...
The return of the rabbit
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Three springtime's ago I did quite a lot of needle felting, during the last trimester of my daughter's pregnancy and for a while after my granddaughter was born. Needle felting at that time was a substitute creative release for me, because I was on hiatus from oil painting for a bit at the time. I am a professional writer and fine artist by trade, but there are many crafts I have enjoyed over the course of my lifetime, beginning with learning to knit and crochet when I was a little kid. I was recalling the other day how much...
Chocolate. Coffee. Whiskey.
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Remember seeing photos of the cookies I make with chocolate, coffee, and whiskey (among other things) in the ingredients? I love making those cookies at the holidays and sending a dozen each to various family members and some friends. I love photographing them also, because they look so scrumptious and photograph so beautifully. Sometimes I make a second round of them at Valentine's Day, adding a drop or two of red food coloring to make the icing pink and again, send them out a dozen apiece to family who I sorely miss. What makes me sad, however, is that I...
Our world of many faiths
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There is a tradition of faith and religion, the seeking of an understanding of the nature of God and our relationship to whoever or whatever God is going back at least 10,000 years on our planet. During those 10,000 years many faiths have emerged helping people find their way to a connection with God from many different viewpoints. Each has validity, each has value. With so many different faiths the world over, the concept of any one being the one and only true faith is peculiar to me. It doesn't make any sense if you think about it. However, it...
About wishing you a Merry Christmas
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The other day I stopped in at our favorite local apple grower's roadside store to buy a few pounds of apples and some fresh pressed apple cider. After paying, the lady at the counter said, "Have a nice Christmas," and I could see a little look of doubt in her eyes as if she wondered if it was okay to say "Christmas" to me. I smiled and said, "Merry Christmas!" She relaxed, smiled and said, "Merry Christmas! It is so hard to tell what to do say these days." In response I said, "Let's not have our communication stifled by...