bee creative

Time to get back to work!

My horoscope for last week suggests doing some smashing of beliefs and expectations I've held.  Hmm....that could hurt. 

I've actually been doing a lot of reflecting over the last month on what I feel is important, what I value.  Still trying to figure out how to express what I'm thinking.   

One thing I am sure of is that although I think we need to prepare for the future, for a different way of living as the resources available to us change, it's still important to live in the moment.

What's on the March bookshelf

I've been thinking about gathering together whatever I'm reading once a month in some way.  I think at least once a month I'm going to post a picture of my current stack of books and maybe a few of my favorite passages.   

The top of my pile is my book for the bus stop.  I'll probably be reading it for awhile.  It's The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett.  It's actually a perfect book for stopping and starting because there isn't much plot (at least not yet).  It seems to be mostly a character study.  There are many beautiful passages. 

Next up is  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.  There were many passages in the book that captured my imagination.  Here's one of them, which is really a quote from another author:

"Virginia Woolf wrote, 'Across the broad continent of a woman's life falls the shadow of a sword."  On one side of that sword, she said, there lies convention and tradition and order, where 'all is correct.'  But on the other side of that sword, if you're crazy enough to cross it and choose a life that does not follow convention, "all is confusion.  Nothing follows a regular course."  Her argument was that the crossing of the shadow of that sword may bring a far more interesting existence to a woman, but you can bet it will also be more perilous." 

Hmm...that leads to some interesting thinking.

And then there is In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.   I  really enjoyed the last part the best, which is about what he feels is best to eat and how to eat it.  The rest seems to be a continuation of Omnivore's Dilemma, which I really found interesting.  In general, Pollan's writing really confirms my desires to eat local, even over certified organic.  I've also become even more convinced that processed foods are not a healthy choice.  I loved his advice to not eat any foods that your great grandmother wouldn't recognize.  I'm happy to say I think everything in my 'fridge would be identified by my great grandmothers.   

The rest are what I checked out from the library.  Interesting things in all, but glad I checked them out rather than bought them....

 

Reflecting on the year to come

Went for a walk down by the bay with my Mom and Dad today.  A very nice way to start the new year!

I also spent some time thinking about resolutions.  I'm not one to think they only should be made in January, but rather whenever appropriate.  However, the change of the calendar year is a good marker for reflecting and thinking about where to go next. So I do have some goals.  And they are:

1.  To become more comfortable riding my bike.  This will help make my bus/walk commute shorter and I'll still get exercise.

2.  To lose another 20 pounds or go down another size. 

3.  To stop eating treats from the co-op that are wrapped in plastic.

4.  To use my library card rather than buy books (even used).

5.  To use up all my fabric scraps in some productive way and then to keep scraps more organized.

6.  To continue to find ways to be sustainable/regenerative in my life style.

And of course, to continue being creative rather than just thinking about it...

Happy New Year everyone! 

Blog Action Day-In Memory of my Grandfather


Blog Action Day is an invitation for Bloggers to write about the environment in whatever way is applicable to them.  Here is my response....


This quilt square is called "Peace and Plenty."  The soft blue is from one of my grandfather's shirts, the patterns from my scrap pile.  I've made this as the first square for a quilt in memory of my maternal grandfather. 

I spent a lot of time thinking about what quilt square I wanted to use for this quilt.  When I stumbled upon "Peace and Plenty,"  I decided there wasn't anything that would represent my grandfather better.  These two ideas represent him well, what I think he wanted for the world...a peaceful world to live in and plenty of food to go around. 

My square is not perfect, my seams never match and never will.  And this too seems appropriate.  Perfection is often too high a goal, and I think often costs too much. 
The concept of "The Great American Dream," has cost our environment too much.   

I've been working on reducing my use of resources to 90% of what the average American uses.  I'm making progress towards that goal, and write about my efforts here frequently.  I still have a lot of work to do in some areas (electricity and water- I'm only half way there).

Today I read that some scientists believe that  we need a 100% reduction to prevent global warming from becoming a really difficult problem.  Even if this isn't true, I think peace and plenty for all will be a difficult thing to achieve in the future ahead...I think I'm going to need this quilt.  And I think our hope lies in our ability to be creative, to adapt. 

I wanted to share part of a poem that I discovered almost 20 years ago:

"Because we live in the hardedged season,
where plastic brittle and gleaming shines
and in this space that is cornered and angled,
we do not notice wet, moist, the significant
drops falling in perfect spheres
that are the certain measures of our minds;
almost invisible , those tears,
soft as dew, fragile, that cling to leaves,
petals, roots, gentle and sure,
every morning."

From Kopis'Taya  (A gathering of Spirts)

Paula Gunn Allen

What's on my mind this morning...

The first blog I fell in love with was Keri Smith's Wish Journal.  I admire tremendously how she approaches life.  This morning I found an interview with her that summarizes so much of what appeals to me....  She talks about being creative and about how being artistic connects to her concerns about the environment. 

I added my favorite quote from the interview to my journal:
 

"There are many forms of creativity, many people have not given themselves the space to find other methods that might appeal to them."   Keri Smith

By "other" she means the technical ability to draw is not what it takes to be an artist, to be creative. 

She talks about the process of creating as being important.  This is one of the things that I work with everyday.  Part of my work with one year old children is often to explain to parents that children this age have no sense of product, that it is all about process...

I'm mulling over in my mind right now about how we are so product oriented in our culture now.  About how often success in our culture means having things.  Buy more, shop more, shopping as entertainment.  I suppose this is driven by marketing.  I'm guessing I'll be thinking more about these things.  Next up on my reading list is Deep Economy by Bill McKibben.

It's not a big leap in my mind to go from creativity to economy and consumption.  Because the answer for me about how to be less consumption driven is to be more creative.  Being creative is not just about art, but about how I want to approach life.  Because being involved in the process of what I need in my life is important to me.  I think being sustainable and being creative go hand in hand.

Lot's more for me to think about here....

Inspire Me Thursday-As Free as a Bird

A response to the Inspire Me Thursday  journal prompt.  This is an altered picture of a chickadee that I took.  My parents  have a bird feeder right outside their kitchen window.  It is so amazing to sit right in front of the window and be a foot from a bird, separated by glass and a window screen.

I'm also lucky at work.  I have a window right next to a tree where I've hung a bird feeder.  The one year olds I work with love watching the birds come. 

The text at the bottom is from a poem by Wendell Berry, one of my favorite poets:

"I go easy and silent, and the warblers
appear among the leaves of the willows,
Their flight like gold thread...." 

Art journal in progress

I'm working more and more on altering my old journal into my new art journal.  My journal spans a time frame from November 16, 1999 to May 31, 2004 and covers some of the biggest changes to my life.  I'm not a "write an entry every day" kind of person so sometimes there were large gaps in the time line.  It's  been fun to read back through this journal and decide what should be kept and what should be covered-altered in fact.

Because it is now a "new" journal, I decided to alter the cover this week.  When I bought this journal it was solid blue.  Right away I taped the dragonfly card to the front with some copper tape and add a bit of text from a favorite poem.  Today I added some more paint, ripped the paper a bit, and then added a bit more paint.  And lastly I added the prompt to "Bee Creative." 

Sustainability and art

Something that’s been on my mind a lot is the place and responsibilities of creating art, of embellishing our homes and lives and my environmental concerns.  I got more motivated to address this after reading a post at Simple Living this morning. 

I can satisfy a lot of my creative urges by doing useful crafts, for example knitting and sewing, to make useful things.  I can feel good about this in an environmental sense because I can use organic products, I’m avoiding sweatshop labor (well-I’m providing that part!), and I’m buying local materials or buying from local stores.  The other day I smiled to realize I had made everything I was wearing but my shoes and my underwear (working on that too).  But this doesn’t quite meet all my needs emotionally.

I can satisfy my need to garden and grow things with fruits, vegetables, herbs, and with flowers that attract bees and other beneficial insects and birds.   I’ve preserved a huge crop of raspberries from my garden this year, I’m making hard cider at the moment, and I’m going to make green tomato jam (green tomatoes are all I’m getting this year in any quantity, but that’s another story).  I just made a wonderful batch of herbal shampoo by adding an herbal infusion I made to some water and some Dr. Bonners.  I’ll be making some salve with some herbs soon too.  But I’m not quite happy unless I can some primroses in the garden.  Not just any primroses either, but some arriculuas. 

What it amounts to for me is that life isn’t complete if it’s just about feeling good about how I get around town, about the fact that I’m working on being responsible about my usage or resources, or that I grow as much of my food as I can and eat organic and local foods.  Life can’t be just about living life in a sustainable manner.  I think we also need to feed our souls.  I think it is part of our humanness to want to embellish our lives.  I think there is something inside most of us that craves having beauty in our lives.  The trick is how we do this.

I think the answer is to create art in responsible ways and to find better sources for our embellishments.  Reuse materials for example.   I’ve been working through my “Stash of trash” for materials.  This is a collection of stuff that I look at and think, “Hmm, this tin that tea came in could be reused for a diorama.”

Look for healthier materials to use.  Digital photography is a better environmental choice than traditional methods for example.  Buy local art rather than mass produced prints from stores that will remain unnamed. Or buy used art from a yard sale.  Buy a wood or glass hair clip from a local artist rather than a plastic one from the drug store chain. 

And know when you have enough.  I have 5 or 6 pairs of earrings that I wear.  Various local artists made them and I’ve had most of them for over 10 years.  I have a lot of pottery mugs.  One of my recent pledges is that I can’t buy any more unless I break one.  I have enough.

Maybe some of these things aren’t strictly necessary and there are better ways to spend money.  I certainly don’t want to promote mindless consuming.  But I do think that the reality of being human includes artistic expression and appreciation.  And that there is a place for it in a sustainable lifestyle.    

Ten things to do every day...

1.  Read something good for my heart and soul:  Okay, I admit I keep looking at this-Artful Blogging, published by Somerset Studio.  Lots of wonderful things in it.  I'm particularly fond of the feature on Inspire Me Thursday however!
2. Walk or do Yoga:  Lots of walking today.  Walked all the way down town this morning.  Went to the furthest bus stop I could.  That would be the one that the bus was detouring around.  Yep, I watched them turn the corner right in front of me.  I guess there was a sign that I didn't see. Sigh.  So I walked to where I could catch the next bus.  And then walked my usual 10 minute route from where I get off the bus to where I work.  Did it in 6 minutes.  Arriving with 2 minutes to spare!  Total walking time:  65 minutes. 
3.Eat good food:  Dinner tonight was a heirloom variety cantaloupe, a piece of the cheese I made last weekend, and some hazelnuts.  All local, all organic. 
4.  Find something beautiful in the day:  One of my coworkers let 4 of the children in her class paint with their feet.  The children were sliding on the paper.  They were giggling and laughing and having so much fun.  Pure joy....
5.  Journal!
6.  Connect with someone:  A very special call from my aunt this morning....
7.  Spend time with the dogs: I really need to take this off the list, it's such an automatic part of the day!
8.  Find a quiet space:  desperately needed by this afternoon, found in the break room.
9.  Take a picture, this Gerber Daisy really is making me smile.
10.  Create something:  I'm creating a new list and here it is:

10 ways to bee creative everyday:

1. Read something good for my heart and soul. 
2. Write or create art in response to what I’ve read.
3. Do yoga.
4. Connect with someone.
5. Eat good food.
6. Take a picture.
7. Alter my journal in some way.
8. Give something away. 
9. Find something beautiful in the day.
10. Find a quiet space.

Inspire Me Thursday-Dear diary....

My response to the creative prompt at Inspire Me Thursday (“Dear Diary”) and a response to the “Be inspired to Journal” prompt (why blog?):

This is a page from an old journal that I embellished, scanned into the computer and then applied a filter to.  I then added a bit more text.  I’ve been very intrigued by others that have been using books as “altered journals.”  I decided some time ago that I wanted to do this.  The current prompt from Inspire Me Thursday got me started! 

Do I see “bee creative” as a journal?  Sort of. While I was in college I had several classes where we were required to keep a journal on the books we were reading or as a response to discussions we were having in classes.  The instructor would read what we wrote and would comment on what we had written.  Blogging reminds me a lot of that process, just with a lot more commentators. 

I do see blogging as something bigger than journaling though, more as a conversation with a global community.   And that’s why I am blogging.  I want to be a part of that conversation….