eight years ago today…

Really the count-down begins ten years ago, when we met…amongst apple orchards in the middle of the Netherlands…

Then eight years and 14 days ago, we gave out parents’ two weeks notice…

A sudden storm…

A beautiful sunset…

And more adventures to come…

Quotable Sunday: A Thousand Fibers

I made this print with ArtPeers in mind. I learned that the group began with an idea of artists supporting fellow artists, so this seemed quite fitting. Actually, I have had both this photograph (taken last December in Arizona) and this quote rattling around in my mind for awhile, so it all came together quite nicely. I made both a large print (12×18) of this and also a 5×7 card. More of a wrap-up about ArtPeers coming soon. Once we’ve put things back in order and put the (few) photos from the weekend onto our computer.

Quotable Sunday: Love Deeply

This photograph is from last spring at Cape May and was used in this earlier post. I have enjoyed making some cards lately.  This one is for a dear friend who is going through a tough time right now.  You know who you are, or at least you will when this card arrives in your mailbox next week. And now, if I could just say, how I’d like to be at the beach this weekend.

just wonder

This week, Erin’s photo challenge was to Look Up.  It’s a perfect summer reminder.  I do remember laying on the grassy hill in our backyard, just watching the sky.  As a child, this was my meditation, and I did not need to call it meditating, or day dreaming, or cloud naming.  It’s just simply something that is done.  Now, when I find my own little girl laying in the grass, just watching and being still, I am reminded of this simple pleasure.  So here is my picture for the week.  I’ve included some lovely lyrics from a song that Ryan wrote for us last summer.  If I were more saavy, I’d figure out a way to include a listen to his song, but maybe this is better, that you muster your own song, your own way to remember these simple meditations.

you have to keep growing

Sometimes I buy plantings on a whim.  Sometimes I feel sorry for the ones that look lonely.  Sometimes the little cards make me think about how much I like that certain fruit or vegetable.  One rainy day in early spring, some three years ago, a grape plant came into our lives in such a way.  Ryan thought of his grandfather’s grape juice…we recalled grapes off the vine during our honeymoon in New Zealand… I thought about cutting up grape bits for a child…and this plant looked so lonely for the ground…  We didn’t read about how to prune the plant or how we wouldn’t see grapes for some years… we just bought it and planted it in the sort of rocky, somewhat sandy soil of the planter Ryan built.  In the first years,  we had grape vines shooting everywhere, but no grapes.  That is, until this year.  After I told Riana about this, I found her in the planter, talking to the grapes-to-be, telling them (as she tells us) that you have to keep growing.  I love it when children say things that are both very true and more sage than they realize.

Obviously, there are many “insights” that I could glean from this. In fact, I have been thinking on them over the past few days. Like many things though, the insight is yours for the taking. What do you glean?