Navigating life through grandparenthood, chronic illness, dream work, and other inspirations
The heat of summer, typically fuels our wandering impulses. A spontaneous drive to the beach, or a weekend up north. Now that coronavirus has reined us in, we search seasonal delight closer to home: roses in the garden, the emerald green of farm fields, and the leisurely hunt of a furry fisherman.
(For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: summer.)
Closed signs turn cautiously
trepidation persists –
are openings wise at this time?
Spring ignores man’s conflicts
delicately asserts her voice
delivers a message of renewal
A reminder to all hearts to set aside worry
open anew to the wonders around us –
all else will fall in place in its own time.
(For A Photo A Week Challenge: opening; and Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: delicate colours.)
Pursuing feathered inspiration takes me to quiet rural settings. At home, I pour over images, and “picturate” as my husband calls it – altering the photos to create something new.
I spend time daily, crafting poetry, inspired by images, or dreams, or prompts. Often I combine the poems with the artistic photos:
I’m also spending my time writing a community newsletter for our retirement community, and as a retired teacher, offering support to my grandchildren for their online learning. I’ve even created a YouTube account so that I can read to my granddaughters – posting videos for them to replay when they need a Grandma fix.
And in between, I am reliving the years of art I missed as a child, experimenting with pencil, ink, charcoal, and watercolour:
How are you passing this time, staying home?
(Submitted for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: pastimes)
Taken last winter in Texas, this image of a Great Egret coming in for a landing just felt too busy to me, so when I saw Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Cropping the Shot; I decided to give it a try.
As much as I like the other two birds in the photo, the egret really is my focus, so I cut them out.
And then, because it’s what I do, I played with the image to create art:
(For Lens-Artists Challenge: All wet.)
A perch to greet the world
a corner to keep my books
(could use some sorting)
A pot of home made soup on the stove
(Chicken tortilla – our favourite)
This is home.
(For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: at home)
So many questions cluttering my mind –
numbers and guidelines: Stay Inside!
I crave the single mindedness of a plant
whose nature tends towards sunlight
and contemplate the stillness of moss
wondering if it too feels the inquietude
And gaze on with envy as a solo flight passes
yearning to taste the freedom of escape.
Life has become so complicated, suddenly
Simplicity, we’re discovering, not so easy.
(Submitted for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: simplicity.)
I’ve lived the fog of distance –
life’s highway a series of hills
destination without promise
Have learned that acceptance gains perspective
that climates change, and hope sustains
and that in the stillness dreams renew.
Now I travel quieter paths, appreciate
space, have surrendered to a slower pace –
certain that this too will change.
(For Lens-Artists Challenge: distance)
A landmark in my life, the river follows
ages, and eras, seasons measured by her flow
She acknowledges change, bears the winter
regally, swells with confidence as Spring rains
Will walk beside me in sunnier times, and
hold my secrets as Autumn catches us in her flames
She holds my heart, my faith, always knows
and at end of day, oh how she glows.
(For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: A River Runs Through It.)
