Inspired to Write

My best friend C posted a lovely entry on her blog www.thesilente.com today and, although my day was not as pleasant as hers sounded, it reminded me that there are many things to be thankful for every day.
Thank you Miss C....
1. Coffee brought to me in bed by J.
2. Sunshine coming through the window and hitting the bed, making it a comfy, cozy mess of covers and sunshine.
3. The warmth of the day. Spring-like in its temperatures and overall feel.
4. Watching Olive wiggle and worm herself on her back through the snow.
5. The birds chirping happily outside the window.
6. A great grocery store, with good food and always friendly cashiers.
7. Baking, always a contentment.
8. The clouds, purple bodies in the sky, tinged with pink from the setting sun.
9. KHOL, 89.1 FM
10. That despite my frustration at feeling like I "wasted" a lovely day, feeling that perhaps I needed a rest, both in body and mind.

Skate Skiing

This really is one of the most amazing workouts. After moving for ten minutes I am dripping and my lungs feel stretched to capacity. The potential to move fast across the snow is huge, and you can look back and look at the graceful, gliding, lines of your ski tracks. When done right, it is beautiful. I have moments when I think I might look good, moments when I feel like a floundering, disheveled mess. But afterwards I always feel deliciously tired. And Olive looks tired too, which always makes me happy.

Emily's Pond. A freshly groomed trail. Moose on one side of the dike, swans on the other. Paw prints and ski tracks. Tetons as a back drop. The sound of running water and the swosh, swosh of ski poles.

A nice way to start the day.

Not wanting to grow up...

Last night, as I was falling asleep, I remembered how I would sometimes sob, not wanting to grow up, to age, to lose the moment I was in. I remember my mom finding me in my bedroom some nights, just hysterical about the passage of time, of losing an age to the days and the months. I still have those moments. It is more than just recognizing how I have aged or recalling memories from the past. It is a physical pain, with some fear, at just where I am at in my life.

I was thinking the other day about how crazy it is that we hold onto our lives so preciously, how relatively short our existence is, and how we don't know when, where, and how we will come back. If we even do. We accrue these memories, these experiences, shape ourselves to our situations and environments and become these unique beings. It makes you want to do as much as you can, read many books, travel to many countries, help as many people as possible.

All we can do is go forward, I know, enjoy life and the moments that shape us. But there are just some moments when time feels rawer than usual.

Cold

It is cold outside and I have a cold.
Not a fun mixture.

I like winter when it is filled with powdery snow, blue sky, sunshine. And temps that make it pleasant enough to take your dog for a walk without the tip of your nose becoming numb.

Having a cold makes me feel out of it. My words and sentences sound different, slower and not as well thought out. I feel fuzzy and my mouth tastes weird.

Now you put the two together-cold and cold-and you get miserable.

I feel happy tonight to have a wood stove, a cup of tea, and a warm bed that I am going to get into....now!

A Beautiful Sunday

Sleeping in.
Fresh brewed coffee.
Blue-sky, sunshine-filled, clear air.
Happy dog dozing in the back seat.
Steady hike up.
Views to the distant Idaho mountain range Big Lost.
Great snow.
Feeling good on skis, in different terrain.
J showing me the different layers of snow.
Olive squeaking like one of her toys.
Luge-like ski out.
Tired body.
Chili and cornbread.
Football mixed with internet surfing.
Doggie love.
J love.
A good Sunday.

Blogging

I haven't totally figured out why I am blogging again. Am I using it as a journal, as a place to show art, and/or a place to share my daily life with family and friends? There is something freeing about writing a post and sending it out into the unknown, the vast space that is the internet. I would love to use it to spur creative pursuits forward, a digital way to record artistic ideas, thoughts, finds that I gather over the day, weeks, months, and years.

I was spending a couple of delicious hours on Saturday lying on the couch and absorbing the plethora of magazines that I take out almost weekly from the library (if they ever stop letting people check out old issues of magazines I don't know what I will do). I read this great article in Communication Arts, a design magazine, by Wendy Richmond about blogging, entitled Blogging with a Different Perspective. Richmond was at first very against blogging but states, " I began to see a different perspective: Blogging in the original sense can be a tool to foster and reflect upon the development of one's work. So instead of using a blog as a way of speaking out, I realized I could use it to speak in" (Communication Arts Nov/Dec 2009). She goes on to say how a blog gives permission for the works-in-progress to be shared, a unique position in a world where public often means polished.

I love the idea of using a blog to put ideas out there, regardless of whether they are "bad" or "good". Often, along the path of creating it is the first sketches that turn out to be the most treasured pieces because they are so raw and simple and usually devoid of too much thought.

To this blog being a record-keeper of ideas.