When one comes across a great quote, one must share it!
THE WORLD CALLS THEM ITS SINGERS AND POETS AND ARTISTS AND STORYTELLERS, BUT THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN THE WAY TO FAIRYLAND. – L. M. Montgomery
I have had an active imagination all my life, which has led me into being a creative person. Perhaps that has been my way to fairyland.
How about you? Do you have a specific way to remember, or to create a special place for yourself?
Be safe and be kind.
Thanks for visiting, and … Creative Musings! 🙂 – Lynn
How are you doing lately in this changing world? I’m not even going to mention the social and political upheaval, how about the climate?
Here in Canada, we had an abnormally dry spring which opened the way for fires that quickly got out of hand. Even here in Nova Scotia, starting in late May, there was a record loss due to forest fires. Canadians in several provinces were battling forest fires, and many people had to evacuate their homes – some losing everything. So tragic.
Now it is rain. So much rain. Not every day, but it sometimes seems like it. We went from too dry to too wet, so you can imagine what that is like for growers. Hot, humid, thunderstorms, rain; this is summer 2023.
On another note … I am still plodding along with building a website for my paintings. I’m sure it is simple for some, but not for me. I’d hoped to have it ready by now. If I don’t give up in exasperation I will let you know when you can visit it – if you are interested or curious.
Last topic: I found a couple of things that I enjoyed and thought you might, too.
DON’T LET ANYONE WHO HASN’T BEEN IN YOUR SHOES TELL YOU HOW TO TIE YOUR LACES.
And this African proverb for the writers among us …
UNTIL THE LION LEARNS TO WRITE, EVERY STORY WILL GLORIFY THE HUNTER.
What has the weather been like for you?
and, Can you relate to either of the above quotes?
In my last post I was expressing my frustration with trying to update my blog. I’d changed themes and colours, but my widgets on the right and left sides got shifted around and half were lost. Well, it took me awhile but I sorted out how to move the left ones from the right back over to their original place, and I also found the lost ones that had been located on the right and put them back where they belong. If that was confusing to you … be glad you didn’t have to watch me trying to fix the problem! 🙂
I’m unsure how to continue, but this much is done – not perfectly but good enough for now. I’ll wait until next week for a Happiness Engineer to assist me further, although I do have a painting draft started.
You know, it still seems strange to me that I am not dividing my time and life with caregiving. I don’t regret the experience, though; not one bit. It is realizing that I have freedom that I’ve never had before that I’m still getting hold of. From caring for children to caring for parents … now I have some time for my own interests in a broader sense. It’s quite an adjustment, believe it or not. And I have more time with my beloved husband now, a man who was very understanding through the past 11.5 years.
Having said that, I am usually available for our grandchildren when needed. Our older grandson is graduating this month!, so he won’t be getting off the school bus here anymore. We’ll certainly miss having him; the bus doesn’t travel to his house so our location worked well. We babysit our younger grandson (2 yr 8 mon) one day a week – and he LOVESbooks, which is fabulous. In fact, that’s the first thing we have to do when he arrives – “Gammie come read bookth”; so Grammie does. Under “books I read this year” you can see we are going through a great many picture books as I try to have several “new ones” from the library each time he arrives. It is fun for both of us. Also, for a few hours on some weekends we babysit our 5-month-old grandbaby girl who is beginning with board books, so there is potential there for many more reading times. Books are important.
My heart is full.
I hope you have someone to read to. A tip for anyone who is helping with the care of someone with dementia – picture books are great! Read them to your person, talk about the pictures, get your person to read some too, if possible. Picture books are the best.
What is your experience with updating websites and blogs? And with reading to/with others?
Thanks for reading, and … Creative Musings! – Lynn
Today my dad would have been 98! What’s amazing to me is that he lived only three years short of a century! Imagine all the changes he lived through during that time.
I spent most of the day painting at the studio. Now, here I am trying to update my site and finding it to be quite exasperating. I apologize for if you came looking for any information that was in my right side bar – which has disappeared, much to my dismay! Everything that was on the left is now on the right. Not what I’d intended. Yes, I have revealed myself to be a klutz at this. I’m sorry to say it took me hours to get it the way I wanted it before this update. Now I have to try to make it better again.
I sure hope you are having a better time on here than I am of late. The Happiness Engineers are good at what they do, although passing it on to me was not the best idea even with their instructions.
I’m not giving up yet; just feeling a good movie or time spent reading The Fellowship of the Ring is a better decision for the rest of this evening.
Please bear with me! It has got to get better, right?
It is amazing that we are into a new year and I didn’t post even once here in 2022, although I kept my books page updated. New Year, New Chance to do better.
I hope you fared better in 2022 than I did. It was a rough year, especially from summer onward. Late in July my husband suffered an at-home work accident – broken ankle in two places, and a broken tibia – fortunately on my week at home! Another good thing is that he didn’t require surgery as the bones were not moved out of place. Also, I was sick three different times, once with COVID in August. Several people in our family had COVID. How about you?
All year my dad was on the downhill slide, more than before. Alzheimer’s disease took its toll, and by summer we were dealing with marked changes which had rapidly increased. September 7 – with my sister, one of my daughters, and me beside him – at age 97, Dad passed from this world. What a change that has made for us, a difficult one to accept. I no longer live my life one week with him, then one week home, back and forth, which had been my life for 11.5 years, and I’m still finding it hard to adjust to the fact that I now live in only one house. My time is not rigidly divided. I can go through my days and weeks without planning everything around someone else’s care and well-being. It still feels strange and I sometimes have to remind myself that it’s my time. My husband and I are together a lot more, which is nice, but the sorrow creeps up on me unexpectedly, and I am finding it hard to sort out where I fit. I’m sure that will work out eventually. The photo below is of my dad and four-year-old me so long ago.
As for my writing, it is still on hold, but my reading is continuing almost every day. Oil painting is my outlet for creativity and I am considering posting photos of my paintings here … if you might be interested in seeing them? I’m thrilled to sell the occasional one, too. During the past year I didn’t get many pieces done but I hope that will pick up this year.
Last year I tried to complete the Goodreads reading challenge but missed my goal of 700, making it to 677. This year I have set my goal at 600. I have again decided to do the 52bookclub reading challenge, the idea being to read one book a week – or whatever you feel you can do. In 2022 I read 57 books for it, including some of the bonus mini-challenges, so I’m hoping I can manage this year’s new prompts. Anyone can join the group, by the way. Just go to Goodreads … community … groups, and type into the Search groups search bar “The 52 Book Club: 2023 Challenge.” Maybe I’ll see you there?
You may recall that we are grandparents of two boys. Our older grandson is 17 now, our younger one is 2, and we are expecting a little grandbaby girl this month! Yes, I am excited!
I hope to get used to posting on my blog somewhat regularly again, and I very much would love for you to leave comments and help me keep going. You are appreciated more than you realize. I’ve missed you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!
Thanks for reading, and … please, let’s get back in touch! Much love, Lynn
Polilla Writes 