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Posts tagged ‘new hampshire’

A wellspring of landscapes

The Land is burning is Oregon, Washington, and California. I am worried about my friends..several have evacuated. The skies are red and smoke filled; Portland has the worst air quality in the world right now.

And I am in Gorham… so far away, painting. Not oblivious to what is happening in the world. Just trying to find comfort in ways I can. The world is suffering this year. We must dig deep. I must dig deep and find the wellspring within myself.

There is so much to face and deal with right now. But there is also beauty and kindness and love to be found. I will focus on what can be ahead..what I can create..what I can offer that contributes in better ways, healing ways, loving ways.

When Spirits Meet

Mixed media on 24″x36″

I have been wanting to paint this piece for such a long time. I practice, live, a nature based spiritual life. At the base of this practice is relationship. My relationship with the world around me.. not just people but place and land and earth and all of its creation. Relationship feeds and fuels inspiration.

My particular love of owls is no secret.

This piece is homage to that relationship.

Mudita

I’m starting a new practice on fb ..I’m calling it Mudita Thursday.. I will share these post here as well..spreading the delight.
“Patanjali and the Buddha taught the practice of mudita as an antidote to the feeling that your happiness is threatened or diminished by the happiness of others. Mudita, the third of the brahmaviharas, or yogic teachings on love, is the ability to take active delight in others’ good fortune or good deeds.”
So every Thursday I will celebrate the success of those around me..it will be pretty easy as I live in community of incredibly talented and creative and hard working people.
My first active delight goes to Christina and Brian Lefebvre and their amazing airbnb White Mountain Bungalo. I visited Christina this morning at the bungalow and was BLOWN AWAY by it’s charm and their attention to detail. Seriously, I want to live there…I really do. The home is beautiful and inviting, comfortable and peaceful. It’s filled with creative and eclectic decor which all serve a useful purpose and just adds to cool factor. Nothing was forgotten, everything in this home is thoughtful and well considered.
So much joy at sharing this with you!! So incredibly amazed by your talents Christina and Brian!!
(https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/10520239?guests=1&s=FKEnej44)

Placed and Found

I’ve been wanting to do this little project for awhile. I hike regularly, several times a week, if not daily. I’m going to start leaving little pieces of art for others to find. My canvases will be rocks I’ve gathered. These will be easy finds, not like a geocache (which incidentally, I love searching for); …just a simple, small gift. On the back of each rock, I’ll put my website and if someone finds my rock, they can check in and let me know in the comments sections. What they do with the rock art is up to them; they can certainly keep it or they can leave it for others to find or even pick it and deposit someplace else.

I’ve started with these simple pieces..nothing fancy..yet..we’ll see how it goes.

Happy hiking!!

 

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Lilac

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the ice has melted

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Into the Wild Indeed, when life is really good

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I had a really great weekend.

Sometimes when things are really wonderful it is hard to write about them. I am afraid of leaving some part of the goodness out.   In leaving out the details I fear I’ll feel ungracious and ungrateful. Right now, I am feeling very full and very blessed.

My art show opened this past Friday. Coincidentally it was also my birthday. I am sharing the March showing at The Gallery at WREN in Bethlehem, New Hampshire with Lucy Golden, a jeweler. Lucy makes beautiful pieces inspired by the natural world..mostly insects, but flowers too and other things. Her pieces are bright and whimsical, a lot like my paintings. Our work was very complimentary.

Below are images from the show, in no particular order. It was a such a wonderful night. Many of my new friends came. People were so kind and very generous with praise. I felt very very lucky.

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Red Mittens, lovely people, and the Argentine Tango.

It’s been a tough past month for various reasons. It’s a shame because I really love living here and the toughness has taken away from my daily joy of being New Hampshire.

Yesterday I was reminded that I must focus on the wonderful and beautiful things around me.

My husband took me for my weekly Sunday Drive. He drives, I marvel at all the pretty things outside the window. We drove up to Dummer first because I wanted to show him the ice fishing huts on the reservoir.

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We drive up here regularly to look for moose or sightsee. The lake is frozen solid now, or pretty solid. I had to walk on it of course because I don’t think I’ve ever walked on a frozen body of water. I figure if cars and little huts were safe, I would be safe enough too.

Afterwards we went to the Milan Winter Festival. I wanted to try the snowshoeing obstacle course, but there was scheduling snafu and it wasn’t running when we arrived. I also missed the animal show which included AN ARTIC FOX! I was very bummed about that. Apparently he or she is the only traveling arctic fox in the Northern Hempishere (I may be exaggerating that fact).

But to make up for all that, I got these

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The most beautiful pair of hand spun, hand knitted, raw fleeced lined mittens! They are really special. They’re knitted by my new friend Robin, such a lovely person. So incredibly talented. Definitely falls under my buying rule, “only buy what you really really love.”

Chris and I then headed toward home. We drove through Milan and the unexplored(by us) hillsides of Berlin. There are some really lovely areas up there, who knew?!

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Like this place…sooo pretty.

It was a very chilly day, I think it may have warmed up to 5 degrees by 2:00, maybe..

When we settled home, I checked into the local(by local I mean, New England..not North Country NH) tango scene and discovered there was a class just down road 20 miles. I called and got directions and headed out at 6. I have missed dancing so much. I have missed the music and the connection and the movement.

The class was small only 8 of us counting the teachers, a really lovely couple. The dancing was great though, especially considering it was a lesson and not a milonga. And everyone was so nice and welcoming. It was wonderful. It was what my soul needed. I am a dancer at heart.

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Blair Bridge

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First Snow

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Luka and I went a our first hike in two weeks, poor thing, she has been definitely deprived of her weekly and once daily hikes. We chose Howker Trail in Randolph because we’d have the chance to see 3 waterfalls. We saw two of them. The path was so slippery with leaves over tree roots. I was worried more for Luka than myself, even though I was the one slipping. It was lovely AND it was snowing! Which made me realize that I need to get snow tires soon!