Friday, April 12, 2013

Getting the juices flowing again

Blogging has taken a back seat to family and other issues for some time, but with the new life of spring, I'm feeling my blogging juices flow again.

My winter offered several crises giving me much spiritual "grist for the mill", as a good friend of mine calls it. I believe I have grown with the challenges I have faced and continue to face, though, and I am so glad for the change in the weather which has lightened my mood and given me new eyes for the events as they unfold.

I have spent much of this last week in the garden, weeding, moving trees and brambles to their new locations, and today putting in a bed of broccoli I had started in the greenhouse a month or so ago. The winter lettuce is lush and baby lettuce and greens are up. The winter greens have bolted and so the timing is working well.

The hoop houses were wonderful this year. Our winter harvest was the best yet. I need to work on a way to deal with the gales which played havoc with the plastic covers, but I have a few ideas which I'll fill you in on when I figure it all out.

Work in my studio has been spotty, too, with my attention in other directions, but I am working on a custom rug right now and have many projects planned for the coming months. It works well to do my garden chores in the cool mornings and evenings and then spend time in the studio during the heat of the day and I'm feeling excited and inspired about the upcoming work and play with my garden and my art.

I've mentioned before my friend, Kathleen O'Brien, who sparked the idea and set me on the path of trying to integrate my spiritual life, my gardening and my art, which are all interests we share. She suggested this blog as a way to work on that process.

Kathleen has been such an inspiration to me in many ways. I am so entranced with her art, which is filled with visions of nature and spiritual geometry of which I am also so connected. She also has been such a role model for me through the way she gets her art out into the world.

I'd like to tell you about her exhibit I am hoping to see this month. Realms of Wonder is Kathleen's solo exhibit at the MS Rezny Gallery in Lexington, which began on April 1st and will be open until the end of the month. If you can't make it to see the exhibit, Kathleen has a  3 minute video about it which she made last Saturday:  https://vimeo.com/63580055 . Maybe I'll see you there.

By the way, Kathleen also has a lovely web site and blog you might like to visit:

Thanks! Happy Spring!