Pharaoh's Tulip

I think I can, I think I can.

        The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper)

When looking at any design I usually wind up trying to figure out what is on the artist's mind while he or she is trying to come up with what goes where.  What makes a design have a personality?  The longer I look at something the stronger the personality becomes and eventually produces some sort of emotional response, a conversation as it were between myself, the design, and the designer.  And so, after studying this particular cross stitch for a while it occurred to me that this particular design brings to mind the idea of attitude.  Looking closely it is clear the flowers couldn't possibly hold those positions without a determined outlook.  Those skinny little stems couldn't hold up those flowers in such a contorted position without the right frame of mind.  To my mind, therefore, this is the perfect bouquet to have adorning my wall right now.  If those little flowers can hold their heads up on those fragile little stems, surely we should be able to hold our heads up during this pandemic as well.  It may not be easy but given all that we have, all the unseen support we are blessed with we, too, can do it.  I'm sure we can.  I'm sure we can.  

 

 Breakfast For Two

The secret of joy in work is contained in one word ~ excellence.  To know how to do something well is to enjoy it.

                                        Pearl S. Buck

    Well, Ms. Buck in my opinion has surely hit the nail on the head with her definition of excellence.  Too many times I have wasted valuable time trying to achieve excellence when I should have just spent the time enjoying what I was doing.  How many beautiful sights do I miss on my morning walk because I am too busy looking at my Fitbit and checking my heart rate?  How may times have I struggled to get just the right color on my palette?  How many hugs have I not felt?  At least the pandemic, the quarantining, has made me slow down and realize excellence is something to experience not to aspire to.  Excellence is seeing, tasting, feeling this beautiful life right in front of me.  The pears and grapes may not be perfect but I had an excellent time watching them come into being on my canvas.  Tomorrow morning I might just leave my Fitbit home!

                                                                 RODNEY

The first step in crafting the life you want is to get rid of everything you don't.

                                    Joshua Becker

        I am addicted to a British TV show called Escape to the Country.  The premise of the program is to show people that are looking to move out of London into the beautiful rural countryside three different properties within their budget in the hopes that they will buy one.  Taking into account their budget and their needs the search is on for a property that will match both their criteria and also appeal to their desire to get away from city life.  Not surprising most of these people are also looking to have a small garden and, more often than not, the space to house some animals.  I have heard couples proclaim they would like to raise everything from goats to llamas.  When I painted this rooster several years ago I had no desire to live in the country and raise chickens ~ I still don't.  However, it seems to me the quote above makes the idea of crafting a simple life just a little too simple.  Sure, you can have chickens without a noisy rooster, but if you want baby chickens you better get use to an early wake-up call every morning.  Right now however, still living under this pandemic cloud, the simple life is quickly losing its appeal with just about everyone I know.  Dealing with and adapting to things that aren't necessarily on our top ten list of things we love to do actually can make life more interesting, more challenging, and sometimes even fun.  For now, I am content with Rodney the Rooster but if this keeps up much longer I may have to rethink the whole idea.