April 27, 2011–Dogwood Droplets

Dogwood Droplets -- In My Own Backyard

This yard is a blessing and a resource of inspiration. When I committed to a photo-a-day during April I was worried that I could not possible d0 this and also train as Resident Supervisor of an Adult Foster Care home. But again and again, the yard brings beauty. This fine wet day filled with fog and reports of snow in the forecast also caught me off my best, feeling a little under all this weather, and in need of a slow lazy morning.

It Gets Complicated

The April 30-Day Project

(or)

The Wreck This Journal Project,
Fruit Sticker Pages

It get’s complicated and things get lost. I lost a set of rechargeable batteries and an 8 Gig SD card full of cherished family photos. And I did not have back-ups of the data.

Mike suggested leaving out a bowl of electrons and seeing if the SD Card will come home to me.

So Here goes…come home SD Card we miss you and all your little pieces of data. Want to cuddle, go for a camera walk? I am here. I am sorry I ignored your needs. I have a pen to store you in–I promise I will take time with you.

Other things that have fallen away? The Wreck this Journal Project which was to be a March Madness workshop. (sigh)

These things will come back to me ( I Hope).

BTW I am good at Fruit Stickers. It is one of the only pages I’ve worked on! I eat a lot of fruit.

The April 30-Day Project was a commitment to my art that I underwent when taking a full-time middle management position. I felt it would be a step back, creatively, so I ought to pick a focus. The project has been a challenge. But it keeps my eyes open for the creativity in my daily life.

Creative Every Day–April 17, 2011

April seems to be getting away from me. But I stop often enough to notice the robins in the backyard. Today, the birds are rioting in the crab apple. Mike helped them out by placing a lid to 5 gallon bucket and filling it with seed. The birds have put up with two days of spring snow. The cowbirds fill the apple tree by the fence. Everything is coated in snow.

Pond Study

Yesterday I ventured into the yard to see what was popping up. Many crocus, some hostas are cresting with tender green, daffodils are up about an inch. But it was this feather afloat on the pond that got me feeling all fairytale, that we all can dazzle in the sun, that we can come from the dull color of a long winter and find vivid life.

Can I be an April Fool, 3 days late?

April 30-day Photo Project, Day Four

A bit behind. Or as behind as one can get when spread too thin. My very first middle management position. Training for a race. Healing an immune system. Being on call. Trying to work on writing, photography and other creative endeavours. Maybe I have been a fool, every day? An artist every day?

Maybe this life is about constant and consistent re-balancing and re-commitments.

One of my commitments to keep moving forward creatively into 2011, is to post a photo-a-day to The April 30 Day Project at Flickr. I am excited to see which photo I choose each day. I have to take more than one photo, of course, you know no one can eat just one potato chip, snap just one photo…

Then there is the theme for the Creative Every Day 2011 Challenge, Small. The photo of our cat seemed low to the ground, his tiny pink nose a contrast to the green lush (but yet to bloom) hyacinth. The bloom to come a small promise of my birth into spring, this year, this healing.

It is snowing today, sleeting, and I spent time at the kitchen window this afternoon watching the robins eat crab apples that had fallen to the ground. I potted-up lavender, sweet mint, peppermint, oregano, basil, rosemary and hyacinth. The cat had to make his comments on my mess and checkout which plants might be fine eating. I separated-out baby aloe plants for family, friends and coworkers. The newly potted plants will keep me feeling green as I await an Upper Peninsula spring.

These plants can be a centering force, healing. When feeling overwhelmed by my many commitments I can run a hand through lavender in the bathroom, or basil on the kitchen window sill. I can watch the hyacinth pop into bloom in the bay window. I can unfold and breathe, refocus and practice balance.

I can smile like a fool and leap into my creative world unexpectedly and with joy over and over!

April Commitments

1. Daily Gratitudes
2. Photo a day, taken on that day
3. Write or journal each day even if it is just a chronicle on each photo.

Gifted on a Day Off Work

Gifted
Day Off Work Hikes–Lil’ Presque, Marquette MI.

I came across this feather which appeared very blue-black in color. I was off trail. I had been called into the tall red pines and was walking bare ground as the trails had snow pack and ice. The air was warm, 45 degrees farenheit, and the aroma of pine filled the air. You could hear the sound of melting pack-ice on the shore of Lake Superior. After kneeling with camera, taking some macros, I picked up the feather and turned and in one step was another bluer, blacker, feather that appeared to glow.

Gifted Twice
Day Off Work Hikes–Lil’ Presque, Marquette MI.

The glowing feather. What bird was this? A crow, or perhaps a raven? What did these two feathers mean? What was the metaphor and story trying to come through? I was called out to the Big Lake, today.

What’s been calling you?

Creative Every Day–Week 7

Traditions & Strength, Marquette Michigan

Traditions and strengths, the caption on the above photo came to me as I watched the start of the Upper Peninsula 200 Dog Sled race on Friday Night. The old theatre sign was lit, a rarity. The people braved the cold. I pondered the changes coming in my life. Changes that have come as a surprise and others that have come with purposeful changes.

I completed an exercise in gratitude. For 30 days I tracked my gratitudes, overwhelmingly these observances were tied to my creative endeavors, my fiance’ Mike, and the good healthy food I choose to nourish my body.

The connections we choose, the activities, and the gratitudes help us build traditions and strength. I am excited to see what a year of tracking my creative steps will bring. Already, I look at my life so differently, and I’m open to change. I have less fear, and more willingness.

Sunday

• Gave a gift!
• Made cupcakes at work.
• Did things different at work.
• Whiteboard initiated with positive words.

Monday

• Took time to review goals for the week.
• Talked to my daughter—plans to babysit.
• Made do with a little less.
• Showcased in this Etsy Treasury, Yellow Bus take me to the front page!

Tuesday

• Framing of 4 new photographs.
• Dropped into the gallery.
• Took photos in Marquette’s Lower Harbor.
• Composed new signature for bottom of emails.
• Purchased local products and services.
• Posted my Creative Every Day chronicle.

Wednesday

• Meeting Ceiri at Garden Bouquet for wedding flower planning.
• Get Fit with Kim–Nourish Your Life! blog post.

Thursday

• Yoga
• Working at Zero Degrees Artist Cooperative.
• Expansiveness! blog post.

Friday

• UP 200 photo shoot.
• Photo edits
• Dream On blog post

Saturday

• Watched Grandson, read stories and sang songs.
• Compiled an Etsy Treasury, Prayers Take Flight.

Creative Every Day 2011—Week 5

Big Oreo Dream with Pink Snow

Each week of winter seems more treacherous. Especially as I make decisions, come in contact with more people, and see mirrored back to me flaws within myself.

I tell myself I surely can make it one more day, and another, and another. I mark off the days of February with a black fine-tip Sharpie marker.

I tell myself that the universe will support my dreams and all I need will be there when I need it to be.

All-in-all it wasn’t a bad week if you look at the list below. But I felt a bit sludgy this past week. And the mountain I climbed was not a Big Oreo Dream with Pink Snow.

1.30.2011, Sunday

• Photo edits.
• Shopped for Valentine crafts.
• My work was included in this Etsy Treasury, And Then There was Morning.

1.31.2011, Monday

• Posted my update for Creative Every Day Challenge, Week 4.
• Mike and I were blogged by Michigan in Pictures.
• Making Valentines with the Boss Lady at the day job.
• Holding a newborn baby girl.

2.01.2011, Tuesday

• Massage Day!
• I worked on Marketing and compiled my first treasury on Etsy, Follow Your Dreams.
• Mailed an Etsy order to Texas
• Ordered prints from mpix.com.

2.02.2011, Wednesday

• Nurtured my body with essential oils and products from Herbal Oasis.
• Packed a good lunch for work
• Green smoothie day 1.
• Featured in an Etsy Treasury, Harmony.

2.03.2011, Thursday

• Attended publicity committee meeting for the Zero Degrees Artist Gallery.
• Worked 11-2p at Zero Degrees.
• Research displays, greeting and post cards.
• Green smoothie day 2.

2.04.2011, Friday

• Green smoothie day 3–My first ever mustard green smoothie.
• Shopped at co-op, did banking, deposited money in biz account as check arrived from consignment sales at the Marquette Arts and Cultural Center, gift store.

2.05.2011, Saturday

• Saturday photo drive with Mike took us to new terrain and a couple surprising finds!
• Photo edits.
• A quick, sweet, and short blog post, Saturdays when you just have to beat it….

Saturday Photo Drive with Mike, Bonds

Creative Every Day 2011–Week Four

A little late in posting my Creative Every Day Week 4 due to it being such a huge week! Full of accomplishments and goal setting. BOOST! That has been the word for January! I have given rise to such wonderful energies.

1.23.2011, Sunday

• Wrote my blog-post for the Creative Every Day Challenge (week 3) complete with photos.
• Honored my body, after work, by letting go of stress in a hot shower and cooking up chicken fajitas.
• Posted an update to Zero Degrees Artist Cooperative at Facebook.
• Got brave and did a dairy food trail by introducing an aged cheddar goat cheese.
• Read Born to Run for an hour before sleep.

1.24.2011, Monday

• Joined the Happiness Project.
• Ran 3.1 miles, stretched and enjoyed the hot tub at the YMCA.
• Donated clothes which equals less clutter!
• Gifts arrived in the mail!
• Stopped in the middle of the road to capture images of pigeons on a wire.

1.25.2011, Tuesday

• Happiness Blog post at Create with Kim.
• Watered Plants!
• Another gift arrived in the mail!
• Flipped the mattress for better energy flow in the bedroom, complete with fresh sheets.

1.26.2011, Wednesday

• Posted an update and photo to Zero Degrees Artist Cooperative’s Facebook page.
• Decided to run The Charity Chiller 5k on February 19th.
• Mapped out photo-opps for my days off in February

1.27.2011, Thursday

• Yoga with Melissa.
• Vinnies’ Bag day Sale. Buying used clothing makes me feel abundant!
• Made my first ever cabbage soup.
• Clipped magazines for new vision map.

1.28.2011, Friday

• Supported a local business, Art of Framing for assistance with photo mats.
• Entered the WinterCharm exhibit.
• Weighed in for Biggest Loser competition at work.
• Created new Vision Map.

1.29.2011, Saturday

• Attended Superiorland Photography Club’s outing to Eben Ice Caves
• Photo edits.

Giving Winter Notice at Eben Ice Caves

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Giving Winter Notice at Eben Ice Caves was the Superiorland Photography Club and I was on board, as well. I hiked in wearing Keen boots and YakTrax but switched to my Brooks Trail Runners and STABILicers to handle the ice and the interior sections of the cave. I went a little wild in the winter woods and even jogged parts of the trail. I crawled into tiny caves and my feet stuck out. I lay in snow taking macros. I played with flashes with my MagicMan; check out his slideshow here. It was the most creative effort all week and I am proud of my Eben Ice Caves Flickr Set.