Life on the Bay

I have spread my dreams

 beneath your feet.

Tread softly because

 you tread on my

dreams.
~ W.B. Yeats

I think I'm a reincarnated traveler, or an explorer from a different time. I would follow the migrating birds if I could fly. I always have to see what is around the next bend and I'm never satisfied until I beg my husband to come with me on my next madcap adventure.  The pleasure I get from planning and dreaming about traveling almost....yes almost... gives me the same pleasure as stepping off of the plane onto a small hot tarmac in a faraway land. I also dream up small everyday adventures around my home in an effort to satisfy my urge to be traveling. It's an addiction that I cannot explain. I have decided that the winter has won the battle. I want to be warm so I'm trying to find the perfect island destination.....hmmmm, where will it be.....

Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.

 I may not reach them,

 but I can look up and see their beauty,

believe in them,

 and try to follow where they lead.
~ Louisa May Alcott

 

It's Snowing and that is no news to anyone who has been watching the news.  We took a ride down some country roads just to see what there was to see.  I feel a little stale on the creative side, nothing looks too exciting to shoot with my camera.  I keep dreaming of warm blue water and it is starting to feel like an obsession....but I could be the kid on the school bus just

dreaming of the last day of school!

 

"Creativity,

as has been said, consists largely of rearranging what we know

in order to find out what we do not know....Hence, to think creatively,

we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted."

~ George Kneller

Yesterday the sky was so blue and the winter sun so strong that it made everything seem crystal clear.

I love working in my studio. Today I could feel the warmth of the sun coming through my window. It made me go outside to shoot some photos.  I added a couple of layers of long underwear since I planned on staying out for awhile.  To my surprise it only took a few seconds till my fingers couldn't  feel the camera button and I was back inside enjoying hot cocoa and staring out of my window, staying in my warm bubble.

The shadows are getting longer.

The sun is getting warmer.

Sunshine,  on my shoulders...

makes me happy.

Sunshine,  in my eyes...

can make me cry.

Sunshine,  on the water...

looks so lovely.

Sunshine,  almost always...

makes me high.

~ John Denver

It's spring fever.

  That is what the name of it is.

  And when you've got it,

you want - oh, you don't quite know

what it is you do want,

but it just fairly makes your heart ache,

you want it so! 

~Mark Twain

Yesterday this beautiful Robin and his friends where partying in my neighborhood and what a welcome sign they where.....but I'm pretty sure the wife was saying "I told you to ask for directions, you never ask."

 

Life brings simple pleasures to us every day.

It is up to us to make them

wonderful memories.
~ Cathy Allen

A sweet surprise carved into the icy bay by my neighbors...

Thank you for brightening my day!

I aim here only at revealing myself,

who will perhaps be different tomorrow,

if I learn something new which changes me.  

             ~ Montaigne

I hope to learn how to  handle the dark winter days.  To quit yearning for time to pass till I see sun and the hints of green popping  through the snow......I  must remember to be in the present moment even when it is grey.

Where  flowers bloom

so does hope.

~ Lady Bird Johnson

I feel very humbled by all the encouraging comments I have gotten on my art and photos in the short time I have been blogging.  It is amazing, this journey I have been on, I started with the simple goal of just increasing my very basic computer skills.  I never shared my art with anyone but my husband and just did things to try and find out if I had a creative side.  I think we all have a special talent in life and sometimes it takes a lot of excavating to find the ones that make our soul soar with happiness. So many people have  helped me grow and I just wanted you all to know how much I truly appreciate you.

 

I do have a small favor to ask. You don't owe me a favor, but I still have to ask. There is a sweet talented women who has touched me over the internet with her kind praise and beautiful artwork.  Just by chance I sent her a note at Christmas time and then found out that she has been ill. Still, she took the time to send me a heartfelt note and more encouragement on my work.  If you have time in your day please visit her blog and send her a note of encouragement or a quote that inspires you. She is a kind soul who needs to know how much she is appreciated. You don't have to say I sent You, just take a peek at her blog and if you feel inclined, leave a kind word.

Thank You.

Please visit:

Sue from artful adventures

The conditions have favored the Iceboaters and skaters this year. It's rare to get the Slick clear ice that we have and everyone is taking advantage of it.

My front yard looks like a huge Winter Playland.

I have had a lot of people curious about the Iceboat photos. I guess because I live on the bay, I have taken some things for granted. The Iceboats are a way of life here in the winter. The guys who own them are the kind of guys who have the right wrench to fix whatever's broken, and their only fear is not getting to use their toys often enough. M & I made a short video to let other people see what they look like as they fly across the ice.

Here's to the Bad boys of Winter!

Twenty years from now

you will be more disappointed

by the things you didn't do

than by the ones you did.

  So throw off the bowlines,

sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

  Explore,

Dream,

Discover.

  ~ Mark Twain

 There is no end to the adventures we can

have if only we seek them with

our eyes open.

~ Jawaharlal Nehru

Do you remember the TV program Mr. Ed, I loved that show as a kid.  I really am scared of horses since I was bit by one during my short lived career as a girl scout, but that's another story.  Yesterday the sun was shining and my husband and I needed a ride in the country to break out of our winter blahs.  Driving down one of the nameless, off the GPS roads through the country side, we drove past this old red barn with a horse leisurely taking a look around the neighborhood. Was he in need of an adventure too?  He looked me in the eyes and yes he started talking to me just like on TV. " I need an adventure, do you have a carrot, come on over here...just a little bit closer... so I can get a little nibble of you"....

It's February 1 Mr. Ed you'll be out of the barn soon enough!

  HAPPY FEBRUARY 1!