Celebrating Debi

Debi, today I celebrate you. I celebrate your newest published article in Artful Blogging, but mostly, I celebrate you. And what would a party be without a little cake? I picked up this cupcake yesterday, and dedicated every scrumptious bite to something beautiful in you...

The first bite... this was the sweetest bite. This one was for your love of words, which manifest into the most lyrical pieces of writing. You invite me to imagine the world you live in with all of my senses engaged. Not only can I picture the places you describe, but I can hear the curtains flitting with the breeze, I can feel the fallen tulip tree blossoms under my toes, and I can smell the rain approaching on a hot Texas night. The softest shades of blues and greens are all around me, so calming and peaceful.

The second delicious bite was for your attention to detail. You see fallen leaves that look like birds, you watch shadows move across the walls, the night sky tells you stories as you look up from your swaying hammock, you see hearts everywhere. You capture things with your camera that make me do double takes...that make me gasp with delight, when I see the hidden gem that you have brought into the light, just quietly waiting to be noticed.

This substantial bite is for your intricate creative process. Passion seems to drain out of you, through your paintbrush and sweeps itself across your canvases with wild abandon. Your calming, simple style is deceiving, for it is never a simple picture you paint. Intuition is your faithful guide...the very soul of your paintings.

This one is for the uncanny way you turn the most ordinary things into breathless beauty. Your entire blog is like this. The world, through your unique frame of view (and frame of mind) is extraordinary, and full of magic.

This last morsel packs a punch. It is for your honesty. Your raw, unapologetic, unedited, unfiltered honesty. You are the real thing, Debi. When you speak of loss, when you recall a memory, when you reflect what a certain colour does to your psyche, how the people around you affect you, when you talk about your charming neighbourhood, and how it is changing, how you dream of a new place to call home....whatever it is you are feeling, you speak straight from the most authentic places in your heart. When I read your words, my heart takes its own journeys, and I am grateful for the explorations.

Today, it's all about you.
You are lovely.
You are a meditation on living with soul.
You are a gift to us all.

Many thanks to sweet Amy for hosting this wonderful celebration today. What a beautiful heart you have.

Now I must brush off the crumbs, those delectable crumbs, and go looking for a copy of Artful Blogging for my very own. I can't wait to see what treasures are inside.

Happy Spooks Day!

Pixie, kobold, elf and sprite,

All are on their rounds tonight;

In the wan moon's silver ray,

Thrives their helter-skelter play.

~Joel Benton

Have fun!

Stay safe!

For Keeps

Sometimes you find yourself in a moment that seems to stand still for you, just long enough for you to be aware that this is a moment you will keep forever. You will never forget.

Sometimes these moments are little happenings.... nothing monumental. But something in it stirs you and coaxes you to imprint it into memory.

There we were, a week ago.... my mom, my dad and I, standing next to a deep slow moving stream. We came upon it by accident. It was a beautiful little spot, and as we gazed into the water, as if in a trance by the gentle current, my mom told me how she loves how the leaves, the ones that are submerged, how they tumble and turn underwater as they move downstream.

And all of a sudden, a new universe appeared before my eyes. Like a child seeing something for the first time. I have watched leaves float along the surface, but under the water...this was new. Well, it was new to my ever-increasing awareness of things. I stood there, mesmerized by these little leaves doing slow graceful somersaults deep down in the cold clear flow.

And then, disturbing the peace, was the child inside my dad as he launched a small stray tree trunk into the flow. He wanted to see how far it would go. Not very. It lodged itself between a tree and a rock wall on the far side, where it probably still remains. But inside myself, I laughed at this grown man, still curious and childlike at heart. Remnants of the little boy he used to be.

All three of us were briefly held captive by this little stream. We stayed for quite some time, observing and playing with the water as we watched for salmon, as rare a sight that day as a meteor in the night sky. And we gasped when we did see one large and lonely fish, resting in the slower pockets of the stream. And I gasped again as I caught a glimpse of these mushrooms growing on a floating log!

It was this quiet, uneventful afternoon....this fleeting fragment of time next to a stream that I won't forget. I felt such gratitude, to be with my family, to feel a sort of unity in our experience of that day. I felt loved and I felt loving. And all felt well in the world.

One of my dear friends just lost his father. And when he spoke to me of his final moments with his dad, one thing became very clear... the only important thing, all that really matters in the end is the love you share between those closest to you. I carried that in my heart that day as I walked with my parents. I am so grateful they are here with me, and that we can share these simple, unassuming moments like this together.

Yes. This is a day I will keep forever.

I Heart Fall

Happy October my friends!

This is my most favourite month of the year. I am wrapped around this season like a warm fleece blanket. The air feels so fresh...so good.

And the trees have been turning ever so slowly. What used to sound like a soft wishhhhhh as the leaves flickered in the summer breeze, now sounds like a restless rustle. The leaves are indeed restless. I stood very still in a maple forest this afternoon and watched them fall. Some spun in rapid tight spirals, angry to be separated from the branch. Others twirled in open, loose circles like the graceful arms of a figure skater. And some were completely motionless, except for the slow, quiet drift to earth.

Have you ever been lucky enough to watch a leaf the very moment it separates from the tree? It's kind of like watching a meteor shower. Hoping that you will see that soft beam of light right exactly where your eyes are aimed at the giant sky. Usually you see a flash in your periphery and glance quickly at the fading star before it vanishes. Usually you see the leaf as it is already floating. I have yet to see one detach.

As I set up my tripod and peered through my camera, I would hear soft sounds as though a hiker was approaching...it was only the sound of the leaves settling after their graceful flight through the sunbeams. Little golden whispers, all around me. My only company as I settled into my solitude. Click here to see the images I captured today.

I was happy in those trees. So very much in the moment as I listened, and took in the scents that fall exhales. And as I silently expressed my love for the forest and its beauty, the forest told me how much it loves me too....down by my feet, next to the river, was this most perfect heart shaped stone. I couldn't stop smiling as I returned along the path. The stone in my pocket and a knowingness that love is all there is.

Just Sit There and Look Pretty

She's a little beauty. Those big brown eyes could woo the heart of just about anyone. Her lashes are so long, they could sweep the dustbunnies off the floor. Her bouncy curls and pouty lips. And those sweet little toes peeking out from under her princess dress? You could kiss each one.

How will the world receive her?

Surely she will be adored. She will hear the whispers, the expressions of how cute she is when she's mad....how contagious her giggle is....how charming she is when she shows you her dance poses in her brand new pink ballerina shoes.

As she grows, she will catch the eye of many boys... on the playground swings as they double-dare her to eat grasshoppers....as they show off in front of her on the soccer field....a glance from across the room in first year history class....an office crush....love at first sight at someone else's wedding....

She will not be immune to the mixed messages she will receive in the world...on magazine covers, television ads, Miss Universe pageants, modelling reality shows, celebrity gossip grapevines...she will feel the ever-constricting pressure to be perfect.

But will she see past all that superficial garbage? Will she know that it is all surface stuff? Will she understand that what really means something, is the gorgeousness of her insides? How extraordinary she is? What it is about her that makes her so hilarious? What her hidden talents are that separate her from the conforming masses? How special she can make someone feel, just by being her beautiful self?

This little look she gave me...the way she folded her arms when I asked her to sit down in her fancy dress and let me take her picture... may she develop this subtle emotion, and use this little roll-of-the-eyes defiance when she is confronted with something that doesn't correlate with the truest parts of her being. A little attitude can be a powerful thing.

There's more to this beauty than just sitting pretty.

~Please go visit emmatree and find the other sitting pretty links.... an open invitation to see how many other collaborative bloggers are interpreting these 6 little words. Debi has created quite a gathering with this brilliant idea. And she is giving away one of her gorgeous paintings too!