Hey, y’all.  This summer has been fairly busy around here.

I canned some green beans - this is about half of what I canned.  Thank you to our friends the Stucki’s for bringing over a huge bag of green beans from their garden since they were going out of town.  Woo hoo!

Another small 5×5 painting.  The background is the wood panel with a layer or two of the translucent (clear) encaustic medium.  I will probably do some more of these as well.

The rest of my time has been taken up trying to figure out my school schedule, getting credits transferred, and AP credits applied, talking with advisors, applying to the art program, etc, etc!  I’m registered for 4 classes and on the wait list for one (I decided last-minute and got my registration in the LAST day).  If I get the one class, I’ll probably drop another one, because I’m not sure what the work load will be like.  I don’t want to over-extend myself… I still have to care for children (& their dad), help with homework, fix dinner and be a cauffer occasionally.  And yes, I still do design work!  I guess I’m going to have to sharpen my juggling skills.

Creativity Question:  Do you keep a notebook where you write your dreams?  What about a joy journal?
I have a joy journal, but I don’t use it as often as I should.  I do “morning pages” (which I’ve mentioned several times), and there I write my dreams, worries, thoughts, frustrations, hopes, joys and spill everything, work out ideas and spiritual insights.  I don’t think of it as a journal - I have a separate journal that I write for posterity - with the morning pages there are no rules, except that I shouldn’t think too much about what I’m writing, and that I usually write for about 20-30 minutes.  They aren’t meant to be read by anyone but me.  They aren’t a record of my life - they are just “brain drain”.   I’ve found that when I do this consistently, it really does help free up some of that cluttered space in the ol’ noggin.   When I don’t do it, I tend to stress out more easily and I have a harder time maintaining focus.  Three cheers for Morning Pages!!

You can find out more about Morning Pages in the book, “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity” by Julia Cameron.   I highly recommend it.  I got a copy at Half-Price Books for $6.

As promised, here are most of my photos from the 2009 ice storm out here in Louisville, KY. I managed to make them into a little slide show of sorts  Once you’re in, click to advance to the next photo.

As beautiful as it was destructive, I just couldn’t help myself.  I had to take some photos. I didn’t take as many as I’d like to have - I was rather distracted… when you don’t have the conveniences of electricity, you have to spend more time during the day preparing meals and getting things ready for the night time.

You know what I love?  I love that when the electricity was out, the kids’ favorite part was playing games at night by the light of the oil lamp.  Yeah, they complained a bit about the cold the next couple of days, but what they’ll remember is how they felt when we all played games in the lamp light.  That, I treasure.

**I will try to get the blog moved to its new home by my next posting.**

Creativity Question:  Do you trip over, or relish in a change of routine?

For me - it could go either way.  By nature, I am a bit of a routine type of gal.  I’m not super spontanious, and I kind of like the quiet life (when it actually *is* quiet around here).  I don’t like a lot of surprises - especially if they disrupt the “routine”. But, every now and then, I just really love a change… a nice surprise - and sometimes even a not-as-nice surprise (such as losing power for a couple of days in freezing weather).

Yes, you read right - I’m actually glad it happened.  I wanted it, to some degree (yes, I know I’m losing my mind). But, that kind of thing is really good for polishing one’s perspective a bit, spending quality time with the family without distractions, phone calls (although we actually got a LOT of phone calls from kind friends checking on us - quite comforting) or the constant humming of computers.  I loved it.  It was hard.  But I am glad.

And, it was a *great* opportunity to take some photos of the amazing scene and to refill the nature well, creative cup, idea garden - whatever you want to call it.

Ok, so I’m a bit late posting this, and I didn’t take a lot of photos of Thanksgiving - this is it, really. It’s difficult to play hostess and photographer simultaneously. Anyway, I did, at least have a little fun with the food. See?

Cherry pie - not with canned pie filling, mind you. I used frozen cherries. It was really tasty - I’d probably try a little less sugar next time, for that extra zip of tart.  I cut the swirly shapes with a knife, the leaves with a mini-cookie cutter.

Homemade cranberry sauce. I don’t know why I keep making it. It never gets devoured like everything else. I like it, though. Maybe I should just reduce the recipe next time. It has fresh cranberries, orange juice and zest, and sugar. It simmers together until the cranberries burst and it coagulates a bit. Yum. Way better than the canned stuff, in my opinion. I like to put it on my rolls instead of jelly.

No photos of these, but I was quite domestic this Thanksgiving. I also cooked a huge turkey. The roaster oven made it easy, and boy, did it cook quickly! Only two hours for the nearly 19 pound bird - I was astounded. Also: real mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, stuffing, homemade rolls, honey butter, broccoli slaw, sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the cherry pie, two pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, a french silk chocolate pie, which Hana decorated, but I neglected to take a photo of (grr), and non-dairy brown-rice pudding. Some of the guests brought a few other things, but those are what I made.

Whew! It was a lot of work, but it turned out so nicely, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Even me. And so, it’s worth it.

Creativity Question: Have you any creative Thanksgiving traditions? Meaning, something you make or create either yourself or as a family? Or something you did this year, if it’s not a tradition?

I didn’t do any crafts, and I don’t decorate for Thanksgiving, aside from the table and serving areas - my decor consisted of wired ribbon (I, the ribbon addict, already had it) in a deep burgundy color with gold accents, a few pine cones, some of them gold, and some other little earthy things I had in my stash - oh, and the 6 ears of Indian corn for 50 cents. It doesn’t take much to make it look nice. In the center, iron scroll-work with a white serving dish filled with rolls. The tablecloth was way too big, so I bunched up the parts that fell to the floor and billowed them a bit and pinned them around the four legs, then tied with ribbon. I was going for “I meant to do that” rather than “oops, the tablecloth is too long and I don’t want you to trip”. I think it worked. I suppose for Thanksgiving, my creativity tradition is homemade foods and inexpensive but nice table decor which I usually throw together last minute. BTW- eating on real plates was sooo nice! 

So tell me YOUR traditions - probably much more interesting than mine.