Unfinished Story

I read this in a free book I downloaded to my Kindle, "Crones Don't Whine." I'd recently been joking about being on my way to cronehood and I'd also recently accused myself of whining, so the book seemed meant for me at this time. It was free when I got it, but I see it is now $9.99. Score! For me, at least! Anyway, the book is very good (though I don't  know if I'd pay $9.99 for it).

I've been discouraged and in a bit of a funk lately, and needed the reminder that the curtain has not yet closed on my story.

Playing Around

I have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off this week for Mardi Gras. We had a freeze last night and it has been raining most of the day so I will not be partaking in the festivities this year. I have been staying inside like a hermit. I've also been staying up late and sleeping in a little in the mornings. I installed the latest version of Photoshop Elements and have been fiddling around some with that. Here are a few things I've worked on.

 The ice was quickly melting when I finally realized how much there was! I went out and took a few photos with my good camera. Nothing too spectacular but still, fun.

 This is an old one I'd take at a plantation garden in New Iberia. I've added a texture layer and played around with the impressionist brush a bit.

And this one is a donkey I'd seen at the Christmas tree farm. I removed the fence bars in front of his face and did some expressionist painting on him then I added the photo to a larger canvas and put the text below.

Regrets

Something I wish I'd learned at an earlier age:

In case you can't read it clearly:

Every path has a cost--there are no free rides (the toll booth is in there somewhere, and often it is beyond the point at which you could have turned back, though many people will glibly say "It's never too late." On the other hand, there are always other forks in the path and so, often the most practical thing to do is to just keep moving.")

Stumbling Around (in a good way)

On the heels of my regular weekend, I am going into three days off due to the madness that is Mardi Gras in Southwest Louisiana. I don't know whether or not I will brave the crowd to get pictures. I am looking forward to my three days at home.

This weekend in the country I noticed my narcissus is blooming. 

On the way into town Saturday morning, we spied this Icee Bear sign out in the woods. I have no idea what it is doing out there.

On the way home, my mom and I stopped to get a photo of this phenomenon. We would have gotten closer but it was too muddy for our shoes!

We also stopped at a very old cemetery that had this creek running behind it. There was a bit of a dam in the water and the water was singing as it flowed. There was also a very nice "sitting rock" where you could look down into the creek and sit a spell. But since I was with my mom, I did not take the time to sit and meditate upon life's wonders!

We were returning from a quilt show. The upper left corner of this collage is one of the quilts I liked best in the show. There were lots of prettier ones but this one just caught my eye. All the other photos are where I played with the original photo with several of my phone apps.

It's been a while since I've taken time to get out and wander around to see wonderful things I could stumble upon. I'm glad I got to do it this weekend.

Breathe

My youngest daughter sent me a text with this photo she'd taken, saying I probably had a quote for it. The photo was a pretty heart shaped leaf with some very good light on it. I manipulated it a bit in one of my phone apps and had to wait a few days for the quote to arrive in an email from a friend. The words are good reminders.

I think I like the gold version the best. But that might be because I have a different set of words on the blue photo that I will be writing more about later.

I Really Should....

I'm going to try and live out this weekend with a sense of wonder. 

It feels like I have misplaced it somewhere.

I really haven't.

It's only temporarily hidden from me.

That much I know.

I try to love, as well as I know how.

I think I live gently.

But boy, 

do I struggle 

with

gracefully letting go

of things not meant for me.

(The quote in the second photo is from Buddha's Little Instruction Book)

Fun is Transformational

I took my big camera out this past weekend and walked on my trail ("my trail" is actually a fire line breaking up two pieces of property, the piece that is not ours is "company land" where timber is grown) this past weekend. My cousin had gone through with his tractor and cleared it out a bit. I was looking for things I could take blurry pictures of to use as layers in my "thangs." But I also got several good focused photos.

I love how the trees are reflected in the water in the photo above. The tree that is down makes me think of a body with long legs.

I really wanted to put a quote on the picture but I never could get it where you could read the quote well. I tried several different things and finally gave up on the idea (at least temporarily!).

Tonight I skipped my workout class and came straight home from work and took a nap. I was tired and didn't feel well. I got up a little while ago and thought I'd get all the photos off my memory card and onto my computer. That made me want to play a little bit. And the photo above is evidence of my play.

My blogging/writing tribe has been trying to write more on our blogs and we have been using prompts to help us do so. Our latest prompt was "fun." This is one of my ideas of fun.

And now that I have written this, I will hurry back to bed and hopefully will wake up rested and ready for another day.

Speaking of another day, the quote I wanted to use with the photo (in either form) was this:

Here dies another day
during which I have had
eyes, ears, hands
and the great world round me;
and with tomorrow begins another.

Why am I allowed two?

(GK Chesterton)