respite

this is my post about taking a little time off from posting.

i will be back shortly--sometime next week.

it's just that i have to attend to some--in the flesh, face to face, up close and personal stuff.

and i'm feeling a little like this.

or this.

it's not quite that bad;)

so, i'll be back and share what's going on. well, the stuff that is mine to share. you know how that goes.

have a wonderful weekend, in the meantime:) yes, i do realize it is thursday.


love and light and a little respite
deborah

growth

is it happening where you are, too?

are you seeing new growth,
fresh young greens,
and buds while you are coming and going?

spring is showing up a little more everyday.

it seems a long time coming.

i still, am sort of amazed that this happens every year.

that the grass begins to green,
that the buds begin to bloom
and that new growth happens....when we are just busy carrying on about our days.

it is happening.

whether you take a moment or two to notice what is happening outside where you are or not. nature carries on.

good karma blogging

one of the best things for me about blogging is the conversations, the connections that can be made, if you are up for it--open to it. i love the sharing of thoughts and ideas--that by writing and reading we all find our place, that we know we are not alone and that we belong to something bigger. (phew....i'll step off the soap-box now, keeping it handy--as i like the view from there)

this week i received a note from a dear old friend. alright, she's not old. she's young. we are the same age in my mind--you know how that goes. ;) she wanted the low-down on how to blog. and she asked me. i laughed out loud too.

the thing is, there are many ways to blog or journal.
i only know, my way. the way the works for me.

but, truly i'd love some help on how to do *linky parties*.
alright, i'd like to know what the heck *linky parties* are.

i'd like to do less trial and error--though i rock the error part.

i'd like to know where you all learn how to do stuff on your blog.

collage pictures? i'd like to know.

signing your name in a funky font? i'd like to know.

i'd like to know how to do the fancy stuff.

i'm wingin' it. flying by the seat of my pants. it's how i usually roll.

did you know there are not too many *how to blog* books? i need more blogging books. and i need pictures.

this is the only book that so far has helped me along: "blogging for bliss" by tara frey, it's my blogging bible. or my blogging cliff notes. yep, my blogging cliff notes.

what's helped you....would you share your resources? thanks--know that what comes around, goes around. :)




love and light and good karma
deborah

lost and found week end

the week ends.

the weekend,

those precious two days sandwiched between the scheduled week.

it was a hard week. nothing catastrophic. but some significant losses.

those stories aren't mine to tell. but, they sting just the same.

my folks wanted to have the boys with them this weekend--leaving big red and i with a completely open two days.

letting the days unfold as they do. allowing us to loose ourselves in conversations and detours--

we spent some time watching movies,



wandering downtown ann arbor,


eating murgh hyderbadi and murgh makhani at our favorite indian restaurant,

perusing bookstores,

talking for hours and hours over french pressed coffee and fresh bagels





and just doing the things you do when you find yourself open for the opportunities.


love and light and found treasures
deborah

just so you know

just so you know, the pictures to this post are from our last big snowfall. i should have posted them with some story about sledding. but, i didn't.

just so you know.




last night at dinner r had a difficult time keeping his loose tooth in his mouth. it kept squirrelin' out. his brother--patient as can be (sarcasm) says, "yank it already. it's gross." just three or so more bites and it fell onto r's lap, anyway.


r has admitted that he hasn't believed in santa claus for some time--he said 5 years. i think he hasn't believed in one or two years. so, he says as he gets up from the table to go look at his mouth, "i hope the tooth fairy comes tonight, because i lost that other tooth last week and it's been under my pillow ever since".

red shoots me a look.
i shoot it right back.
then b shoots me the look.

what?
why me? (even though i know)
and in hushed tones, we discuss that he doesn't believe in santa claus.

but this is the tooth fairy. a completely different animal? i don't know.
this is what i DO know.
1. my boys do not believe in santa
2. that the responsibility of teeth are mine
3. that my boys like money

r comes down this morning--"geez, the tooth fairy is crazy. she didn't take my teeth and left me five bucks on the floor."

really?



under my breath, i say, "she's doing her best and you only got five bucks because that's all i had--had i remembered yesterday? you would have got a twenty". that made me smile, just so you know.


love and light, just so you know
deborah

i am having so much fun or how i channel my inner suzy homemaker and tom sawyer....

"He had discovered a great law of human action, without knowing it — namely, that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain."
--The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

just a short post today.

big red is on the road, i've the house to myself. oh the things i could do.

but,

i started spring cleaning.

before spring starts? yep. that's me.
on.
the.
ball.

unfortunately i think i may be cleaning for spring 2009.

whatever.

i hope to finish before autumn. that would be awesome.

peace. out.


love and light and a little soap and water
deborah

p.s. any spring time cleaning routines for you? and you want to come over hold a broom or washcloth while admiring the molding? i have many washcloths, plenty of soap, some lemons, 2 brooms. alright only the first 10 respondents will be able to participate. sorry--maybe next time;)

coaching, focusing and editing....or this is the post where i try to make sense of random things....

i'm smitten with picnik--the photo editing site. i haven't even joined, so much that you can do for free. i can fiddle away hours playing with text and saturation, exposure and frames.

last night was r's basketball year-end get-together at the local dairy queen. the boys were their usual silly, adorable spunky selves. 10 and 11 year old boys.

we've always been especially thankful for the men--in our case, all men that have stepped up to coach our boys in sports. i would love to do it, red would love to do it. only one little itty-bitty problem. we aren't sporty. we learn the sports our boys are wild about as they are playing. makes for fun side-lines, but not so helpful coaches. so here we were again, thankful for coach gary for being who we needed--being the person we cannot be--for our son and for the other boys on this team.

it is always a treat to hear a coach say a few kind and helpful words to young people. i only teared up a teeny-tiny bit.

as we stepped outside, the sky was still all soft and whisper-y--a glow in shades of blue, lavender, pink and orange.

by the time we arrived home and i high-tailed it to the backyard this is what it looked like.

if you are in the states, there seems to be a good chance your sky last night was similarly beautiful. my facebook homepage was streaming with photos from all over--all sunsets.

i wondered what i could possibly change on this picture of the sky on picnik. nothing. it seems it was already perfectly altered.


love and good lighting
deborah

it's the little things.....

i did nothing constructive on saturday.

nothing.

i watched many, many hours of the tragedy in japan. and my heart broke.

yours too?

on sunday, i made those scones again.

i took a long shower and had yummy coffee.

red and i had a sunday afternoon date--sleeping around town.

and yes, i did tell red he looked like he was posing for a coffin. ew.

i might have fallen deeply in love with a $10,000 mattress.

i 'm wondering what else that $10,000 mattress does? i bet red does too. we didn't buy it. we have more beds to jump on before deciding.

so i asked red after dinner if he'd drop me off at the furniture store for the night. i would guess i'd sleep like a baby. but, instead i slept in our regular bed. the bed i call my shallow grave--the springs, now depressed like a shallow hole.

and then i turned on the television and thought about how so many people would give anything to sleep on my regular bed with loved ones nearby, the option of a long shower, hot coffee and fresh scones. it's the little things....and it's everything.


love and light and peaceful sleep
deborah

blog crushing

i admit it.

i'm easy.

i am so grateful for every single person that takes out a bit of time out of their busy day to read my posts. and am so grateful for those of you that leave me some comment love.

every one of you. (this is where i'd like to put some hearts....like you can do on facebook....except i'd make them rainbow-colored and puffy)

but when a blogging superstar stops by and leaves a comment? made my day. yes, i love you all. love. must i break out the capital letters?

meg from whatever left me some comment candy this very morning.

i am eating it up. i sort of love her. and her kids. and her dog. and her love of color. and her photography. and lots of other reason, that may or may not be weird.

so, i'm easy and grateful.

hi meg. shush, you never know, she may stop by again?


love and light and whatev
deborah

ps. who do you blog crush on?

water wonder

funny.

not funny--haha.

funny--curious.

yesterday i posted a picture of one of my paintings. it's called *good water*. i did it about 2 years ago.

then, i wrote a few drafts for upcoming posts. nothing that i wanted to pursue. so i read some favorite blogs instead.

two in a row, spoke about water--robin's blog andsuzanne's blog.

my mom called to say they wouldn't make it to the boys' hitting practice because my dad was sick. so sick he passed out and now has a black eye. some days i don't know if i worry more about my kids or my parents. i swear they tag-team me.

in speaking with my mom she says her sister's basement flooded yesterday. uh, water again?

so i went back to what i had played around with yesterday in a draft and thought--perhaps i need to post this. this is what i wrote yesterday before all the water words, before i realized our connection.

so i'm thinking about water.

is there enough?

is it clean? is it clean enough?

where does it come from?

do my boys drink enough?

do i?


i think about people who have no water.

i think about thirst.


i like to think about the color of water, large bodies of it.

i like to think of it at the moment it touches the shore.

i think of drops of it, of puddles, of streams and rivers, of ponds and lakes and i sometimes think of the ocean.

i think of the smell of the ocean, the familiar. the briny.

i think of the power of water.

i think of the age of water.

i think of rain and floods and droughts.

i think of water in blood and milk and tears.

and the holiness of it all.

love and light and h2o
deborah

ps. we were expecting sleet and snow this morning. nope, just rain. lots and lots of rain.

why we do the things we do

why we do the things we do. intention.

we do them for some kind of pay-off. now the pay-off may be vastly different from person to person, but there is a pay-off--or we would stop.

so why do you blog, if you blog?

what is your pay-off?

i'll tell you. i started blogging for one reason, or what i thought was one reason. and my reasons now have grown and changed and become much more clear.

originally i wanted to have a place for my customers to view my pieces--paintings and jewelry and handbags. yes, since i've started apples in wonderland, i haven't posted one of those things. i will return to that in time, i'm sure.

however, i wrote a little silly note on facebook a couple years ago. it was the bucket list note that sort of went viral and i realized that several of my 20 things i want to do before kicking the bucket could be done through my blog. really.

so here is my list from 2009.
1. travel the world for one year with my family....and then take a vacation
2. see jack johnson in concert in hawaii....and then a luau
3. summer in a cottage on lake michigan with all my favorite people....just relaxing, collecting stones, eating well, drinking wine and having a ball
4. write a book of essays about my grandparents for my boys
5. learn to make pottery
6. dance with big red at his 25th birthday party
7. enjoy my boys as men and see them happy in their lives
8. raise a barn with red....a creative space for art and music and great shin-digs
9. give with a warm hand
10. paint abstract landscapes on canvas too big to fit in my van
Original acrylic on canvas. 30" x40"

11. sleep in a thatched hut in tahiti over the water....enjoy the sunset and a fruity cocktails with red
12. travel italy, spain and greece with people that enjoy good food, any wine and lots of laughs
13. road trip across the US during the summer....in search of the best pie
14. be a paint chip namer, food critic or pajama tester
15. get paid for what i would do anyway....express my opinion on everything
16. design clothes and jewelry for my own label....indigo jones studio
17. do a summer of traveling art fairs
18. interview everyday people about the stuff i REALLY want to know
19. not be allergic to kitties and start with two....they always lead to more
20. my friends and family to know, really KNOW how much i love and treasure them

i'll break it down.

i want to write a book of essays about my grandparents for my boys. i want to get paid for what i would do anyway....express my opinion on everything. i want to interview everyday people about the stuff i REALLY want to know. and i want my friends and family to know, really KNOW how much i love and treasure them.

so this is why i blog. this is why i do what i do. why do you do what you do? i really want to know.:)



intentional love and light
deborah

flying high

my boy is flying high.

just after his big brother hopped on the bus, the district closed r's school for freezing rain.

he needs some outside time. don't we all.

i'm spending as little time outside as possible. i know, i should just brave it. i wuss out a little more every winter.

this year, i've hit a new low. i am not speaking outside. yes, you read that right. why? my teeth freeze.


r is origami-crazy these days. though, mostly he makes cootie-catchers and airplanes. lots of airplanes.

i find them everywhere. i dodge them as i am making dinner or standing on a chair, rescuing indie off the top of the fridge. my life is at risk all. day. long.

now--to rescue the planes that took some rather precarious landings. and hope that b's bus stays grounded in the ride home.


love and light and clear skies
deborah

proverbs for mommas

in memory of dr. suess and his "green eggs and ham", i taught the b how to make an omelette.

"give a man an omelette and he will eat for a day. teach a man to make an omelette and he will eat for the rest of his life." proverb--adjusted to fit--or at least until we are out of eggs....again.

Would you eat them
in a box?
Would you eat them
with a fox?
--dr. suess

he will eat them with a fork.
he would eat them with a spork.

he will eat them with a cat.
he will eat them sportin' a hat.

he will eat them with his brother.
he will make one for his mother.....well, i'm still waiting. ;)


love and light over-easy
deborah