Change your life...

Archaic Torso of Apollo

We cannot know his legendary head
with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso
is still suffused with brilliance from inside,
like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low,

gleams in all its power. Otherwise
the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could
a smile run through the placid hips and thighs
to that dark center where procreation flared.

Otherwise this stone would seem defaced
beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders
and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur:

would not, from all the borders of itself,
burst like a star: for here there is no place
that does not see you. You must change your life. 

~ Rainer Maria Rilke 

I love this poem. I love the last line. It's what echoes in my head when I feel disconnected...I remind myself that my happiness, my glee, my light, is all in my hands.   

Prompt #42: Write a piece about changing your life.

Head in the Clouds...

...it's better to find
your center of gravity
and have it be the place
you radiate out from. ~ Ron Padgett

This past year has been a veritable roller coaster. monumental highs and lows.
and so I have this to say...what I said to a friend earlier:

Life changes. and it demands that we change with it or remain still. I've never been one to remain still. so I change too. some changes are just tougher to swallow than others.
but this is when we find out what we are really made of...

I am finding my center of gravity again...that place I radiate from.

Prompt #41: Where to you radiate from?

Sing a Song...Sing out loud...sing out strong...

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~ Aldous Huxley 

You are the music while the music lasts.  ~ T.S. Eliot 

I have a million favourite songs.

Growing up, I could often be found lying across my bed, ears pressed close to my radio, listening...

The first notes of a special tune would start playing and I would exclaim, "Oh my god! This is my FAVOURITE song!" My mother would always laugh and say, "Karen, EVERY song is your favourite song."

While not entirely true...I DO have a lot of faves.

Music makes me smile. it makes me cry. it takes me back in time. brings up loved ones, old friends, memories, places. Music moves me in ways that little else can...it re-charges my soul, lifts me out of dark places, allows me to wallow in a moment, and wraps me in a soft blanket of song.

Prompt #40: What is your "favourite" song. what feelings does it evoke in you?

Heat Wave...

33 degrees is warm!

Never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth, but after several weeks of low teens, single digits and negative temperatures, I've discovered the beauty of a 30+ heat wave. 

Now, really, 33 is still cold...but I'm handling this winter briskness with more verve than I would have believed possible. I've ventured out into the elements a few times to shoot the lovely snow-covered landscape and I'm planning to head to the ice skating rink (it's an indoor rink) on Wednesday for my first step on the ice in roughly 15 years.

I've learned that there is a HUGE difference between a wet cold and a dry cold, and I've discovered the true meaning of WIND CHILL FACTOR.

For the girl who grew up in the Southern California desert (it was usually a DRY heat) moving to the Midwest at the end of December was probably a bit on the crazy side. but here I am. powering through. layering. wearing hats and scarves and boots. and actually...surprisingly...embracing winter.

Prompt #39: In what ways have you surprised yourself?

Visually Speaking...So to Speak...

Prompt #38 - This week is visual prompt week. pick a photo and write. You can write from the perspective of the viewer...you can be the object in the photo...you can write about what the photo makes you think of, or how it makes you feel.  enjoy.

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright Scornphoto

photo copyright keg

photo copyright keg

photo copyright keg

The Silence of Snow...

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~ J.B. Priestly 

I am not a big fan of cold weather; I get goosebumps when the temperature drops below 72 degrees.

but. 

I love the way the land looks when swathed in fresh comforters of snow. I love the sparkly twinkle of the sun bouncing off mounds of white, like tiny bits of glittery sugar sprinkled over a perfectly iced cake. 

and.

I marvel at the stark white silence that seems to envelope each falling flake. 

There is a moment, when the snow is falling, when everything is pure...perfect...silence...

I love that moment. I crave that moment. I breathe in the silence, gather my thoughts, relax in the absolute quiet and purity of stark, perfect, snow. 

and then I realise I'm freezing my bum off and run inside to take a hot bath and relax with a steaming cup of coffee.

Prompt #37: Snow! write about the snow.

January Greys...

Happy New Year.

It's Monday, January 3rd, and January ugh is threatening...taunting me from its tight, dark, little corner.

If it knows what's good for it, it will just stay there, and shut its trap!

After the fast-paced frenzy of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Celebrations, I often find myself in the first week of January feeling...I don't know...subdued.

It's like there's a big holiday go.go.go. and then suddenly...halt!

It hits me every year.

If I allowed it, I could easily slump into the mucky, cold, icy ball of January sludge and simply wait to thaw out some time in March.

When I was younger, that's exactly what I would have done, but over the years, I've learned to combat that foggy, grey feeling through various creative outlets.
I write. I paint. I work on tedious or silly craft projects. I shoot photos. I concoct new cookie, cake and pie recipes and try them out on my "tasters" (friends and family who are more than happy to sample from my personal bakery.)

I've learned to wade through the greys with big fat boots of happy painted on my soles; the days are getting longer, we're moving closer to the sun and green days of spring are just around the corner!

Prompt #36: Write. Paint. Draw. Bake. Create. What is your outlet when the greys hit you?