Giving Thanks all over the Place!!

My mother in law brought us this beautiful bouquet of leaves from the trees at her house, the colors are so fleeting and so attractive..beautiful!

Here is our little goose playing in the leaves downtown, the one second I could convince her to stay still!
I am so thankful to be here on this planet with all of my family and friends and I am thankful and hopefully more conscious everyday of our ability to start anew, begin again, make a new choice. Each day is truly ours to make decisions and changes for the better, the greater. Love and blessings to all.

Circles and Focus

Perhaps you're wondering "what's up with Megan?" What projects are happening? What's the story morning glory? I usually try to post on this blog at least once a month during the same time as I do my daughter's blog..but sometimes I am not sure what's happening. Once i hustle through my morning from 5:30-9:30 when I put the baby down I sit outside and drink my coffee and try not to spin too far from "The Next Step"...I am sure I've talked on here before about projects and general overwhelmedness and basically, walking in circles. How do we just put one foot in front of the other and do the Next Task at Hand? How do we overcome being overwhelmed by centering, focusing and I will also add- being a bit gentle with ourselves....?

We have a large garden project going on, I've started the other Etsy shop which has been going strong and really fun for me. Then there's always artwork to bring home from the gallery, jewelry to bring to the other gallery, laundry to wash, dinner to make...wait, see?
I 'm doing it right now..!!

I would love it if someone would leave a comment (it's been awhile peeps!).
Let me know if you yourself have pointers for not getting overwhelmed and staying present with your busy lives. Take care!!

CHALLENGE

The new year is always a good time to begin new things, abandon old ways that aren't working and to re-examine our day to day lives. I am doing a two fold challenge for January. No drinking alcohol (aw sweet nectar I miss you!) and a yoga challenge through Yoga Journal.
The yoga challenge is for 21 days to incorporate yoga as a daily practice. Already I am reaping benefits from both challenges and reflecting on habits, routines and our day to day-ness that can benefit us or become a detriment. I am a very routine minded person (even more so since having my daughter) and the main thing I have realized is we really can do whatever we put our mind to.
The time is now. The place is here. Dig deep kids, because this is all the life we've got.
Wishing everyone a productive and transformative year ahead!
(also we'll see when Feburary rolls around what I will really take from this months challenges and reflections!!)

Enjoyment, Appreciation and Privilege

As summer ebbs and autumn is on its way these are words that keep coming up for me.
Enjoyment: Having a baby leads us to hopefully fully engage and enjoy the snatches of moments we get to ourselves; morning coffee, a bath, reading.
I just finished Elizabeth Gilbert's recent book "Committed" which I read in a week and laughed out loud quite a few times. One of my favorite parts is her describing her partner Felipe's habit of never getting right American celebrities names such as "George Pitt" and "Brad Cruise"!!
(seriously, i thought this was the funniest thing ever)

Appreciation: Even when we know we can surely count our blessings, how often to we truly take a moment and recognize our lovely,full, bountiful lives?
If you haven't lately, I invite you to do so.

Privilege: This has been coming up for me in terms of my daughter and what a privilege it is to see someone's first anything, (let alone everything) and to see recognition, cognition and kindness develop in such a gorgeously sweet package.

All of these words are a positive way to view our crazy world, look for the silver lining so they say. Because, really, what is our other option? As my father says " I choose hope".

Bisbee Butter

Bisbee is known for its Bisbee Blue turquoise, and now it might be known for another alliterative title- "Bisbee Butter".

Apple Butter that is! The great place we stayed at had some amazing apple trees that we were told we could help ourselves to. Well you don't have to tell me twice!!

I am a big fan of free fruit, urban harvesting , etc.. AND these apples were deliciously tart and gorgeous as well. Hardly a worm was found!

All I've been doing for apple butter is cutting up the apples, (peels on) and putting them in the slow cooker with nutmeg and cinnamon- not even any sugar!
This batch turned out delicious and a very charming shade of burgundy.
I cooked the apples on low for about 7-10 hours.
And walla! Awesome Bisbee Butter!

......Bonus round... the first person to comment on this post receives a jar of the aforementioned butter...send me your address.....! fun!

Yes We Can!

Paul Hawken's commencement speech:

"There is invisible writing on the back of the diploma you will receive, and
in case you didn't bring lemon juice to decode it, I can tell you what it
says: YOU ARE BRILLIANT, AND THE EARTH IS HIRING. The earth couldn't
afford to send any recruiters or limos to your school. It sent you rain,
sunsets, ripe cherries, night blooming jasmine, and that unbelievably cute
person you are dating. Take the hint. And here's the deal: Forget that this
task of planet-saving is not possible in the time required. Don't be put off
by people who know what is not possible. Do what needs to be done, and
check to see if it was impossible only after you are done."

Saturday June 6th is our annual group show opening in Jerome at the Cooperative Gallery.
Our theme this year is "Yes We Can".
It's so easy to get overwhelmed and negative these days, I enjoyed the opportunity to make a new piece ( a close up of my Rosie the Riveter is above) and also to be reminded that against all odds, we are capable. Perhaps we are expecting outcomes and privileges instead of counting our limbs and our blessings.
I loved the above excerpt of the commencement address! Appreciation is key ya'll!
If anyone is interested in attending the opening with me, let me know!

Where I'm From

So, how was the trip? Well, it is always a mixed bag; depressed areas, old people getting older, Wal-Martization of the ma and pops...(in this case even Bashas is like a mom and pop compared to wal-mart)...




Also, open country, amazing sky, and an abundance of what I started referring to as
" Quality Rust".





We got to see family members on both sides who are making it, suffering, struggling, juggling, retiring, ....hoping, just as we all are everywhere.





We saw old cars everywhere, various piles of piles promising some rarely needed but indispensable tool. Who has saved all this junk? And who will eventually have to deal with it?






And then, after our rounds were made, our commitments satisfactorily taken care of, we saw our other reason for coming; our sense of strife and any sort of worry lifting as we turned the corner, to the "end of the road" and made it , back again, traveling six hours to get here...
to the river.

Now what day is this????

Good grief, so it's been a week since I last wrote and I'll tell ya- not much to show for that week! HA! I 'm not sure if I'm being lazy, I'm stressed out, I'm paralyzed....but somethings been, you know, ..... not quite right. However, I am fairly sick of the rut and/or doldrum or whatever I've been in, so starting with this post and my new Etsy listing from my shop, I am getting back on track. Seriously.

Goal of the week you ask???? Here it is " Get.Act.Together.For Reals.Seriously.Without a doubt.Totally." Okay you get the point. So there have been some highlights, some creativity, some getting ass off the couch-ness:

My parents came over and helped us prune our fruit trees!! Yeah! ( i won't mention here how the only way i seem to get any plant oriented stuff happening is when my mom is present)





I have some new pieces done- just need the wooden frames courtesy of Matt Dean.
And I believe I'll have perhaps something great and upbeat and inspiring for you next time. Which won't be a week away!!

And I almost forgot that Sadie tagged me to show my

6th picture from my 6th folder of pictures. I'm also supposed to tag 5 others, but don't have that many blogger friends yet! Here it is: