Christmas arrives early!

Last evening I went out in the glow of sunset and gathered a huge bouquet from my garden.  It has been such a hot and muggy (and buggy!) summer, that I'm afraid I rather neglected the garden beds, and the plants ran amok.  The deep purple morning glories had crawled  away from the arched entrance and twined around the basil and pineapple sage.  The orange trumpet vine had also gone wandering off , inching along the lavender bed.  A tall stand of wild goldenrod had sprung up there, too.

The flowers inspire me with their varied colors and shapes.  The fiery red-orange of the Mexican sunflowers is a favorite that I like to wear and to use in my home decor as accents. This summer I took some fiery red-orange glass beads in a big, chunky size, some medium-sized amber glass beads and two antique skeleton keys, with me on vacation.  I was visiting my lovely and creative sister, and we made matching window-dangles out of the beads and keys.  The openings at the handle-end of the keys looked like hearts, so it was a perfect expression of our connection and love, to hang up in a window and think of each other.  Mine hangs gleaming in the light oof the double glass doors to our deck, with the deep greens of the woods beyond. 

Looking out at nature is always spiritually lifting...one reason we bought the house we live in was the surrounding woods and the greenspace near the house, where we have gardens and flowers.  Another reason we love this house is the unique design; it's sort of a cross between Victorian and ranch.  The living room is hexagonal, with a turret-style roof, which is why my art studio below is also hexagonal in shape.

What inspires you?  Do you find interest in texture and color, in the place where you live or work?  Are you aware of the shapes and forms and surfaces in the city?  The curves and cul-de-cacs of your subdivision?  Take time soon to notice something new about your surroundings.  Take photos or if possible, small souvenirs from nature, and keep them handy.  Breathe and enjoy. Treasure the little things as well as the wide vistas of your location. Wonder, joy and inspiration are all around us.

Gosh, while I was waxing poetic, I almost forgot to mention why Christmas came early!  My lovely and creative friend from the next acreage came over last night and brought me a tub of funky-scissors, a shopping bag of crafty odds and ends and scrapbooking leftovers, and a collection of old kitchen implements for my latest projects.  Wow!  What fun!  Guess who got the huge bouquet of garden flowers I had gathered earlier!

Blessings!---Miss Elainie