Thankful {things I love} Thursday ...

~flowers in January~

♥

From December to March

there are

for many of us

three gardens

~ the garden outdoors

the garden of pots and bowls in the house

and the garden

of the mind's eye

~Katherine S White~

***

puddle wonderful ...

A teeny-tiny snowman sits on my kitchen window ledge

with seed eyes & sunflower nose.

Yesterday, we spotted both Mr & Mrs Cardinal in the garden

that splash of red in the snow ... stunning!

Soon afterwards a loud squawk was heard...

we were surprised to find not one but two

Blue Jays letting the Cardinals know that they had spent enough time at the feeders.

The Sparrows of course, always share ♥

It rained all through the night and it's been  sloshy - walking today.

Thinking of e.e. cummings words & preferring to think of it as "puddle wonderful" :-)

The world

is mud-luscious

and

puddle

wonderful

~e.e. cummings~

***

how much? ...

The very first time I made my grandson a 'dippy egg & toast soldiers' for breakfast

he looked at the toast soldiers and said

"Oh ... French fries" :-)

I laughed so hard, gave him a kiss and said

"How much do I love you?"

to which he replied,

"Much"

{he's got that right} :-D

How much?

is now a game we play ...

so when I started to make bunny egg cozies

{getting a jump start on Easter AND thinking of ways to use up minute amounts of wool}

I knew that at least one of the cozies had to ask the question  'how much'?

this much?

Take my love,

multiply it

by infinity

and take it

to the depths of forever ...

and you will still

have only a glimpse

of how I feel

for you

~unknown~

Thankful {things I love} Thursday ...

I love writing {and receiving} letters...

sending cards snail mail...

creating little sketches on envelopes...

pretty handwriting...

 

and I keep a years worth of handmade cards {and plenty of stamps}

in this little fabric envelope pouch

so I don't have to worry about running out to the stores to find

'the perfect' card.

Each in it's own little cellophane folder stamped with the month.

Each month has a 'theme'

like Winter White January ...

and sentimental phrases

~*~

What really matters ... is You ♥

charms that can be removed from the card and worn on a necklace ...

perfect for using up tiny bits of vintage papers ...

one for a friend who loves to sew ...

Remember

that everyone you meet is

afraid of something

loves something

and has

lost something

~H. Jackson Brown Jr~

fibres ...

slowly but surely ...

giving everything a good tidy up ...

and finding out that my 'Narnia like' craft cupboard

held much , much more than just paper, paints and pencils ...

One of the advantages

of being disorganized

is that one is always

having surprising

discoveries

~A.A. Milne ~

{Winnie-the-Pooh}

close to the heart ...

Sparrow Studio needed a good clean up.

It goes through an identity crisis every year through the months of November & December 

as Santa & Mrs. Claus need it for gift hiding space.

My large art table serves as the perfect gift wrapping station, and after a month of bringing out decorative stamps and scissors and all sorts of tapes, it was time to put each and every item back in it's own spot!

Of course, once I started, I got a bit side tracked which always happens when I get to pulling out pieces from  the very back of my storage cupboard.

Looking through really OLD pieces of art work & all the memories that are attached.

Some almost 30 years OLD.

I started to remember "my style" back then...

before my automobile accident which caused me to put away the pencils, paints and brushes.

So happy & grateful to be painting again xoxo

I found the tiniest pencil sketches of bunnies ...

and little water coloured owls...

lots of sketches of my daughter {I would sketch her as she played} ...

tiny doggies appeared in stories I wrote for my children when they were little...

and told them about my sweet little bunny Cinders who had a black smudge across his nose that looked like Cinder dust ...

Since my children had hamsters all through their childhood,

it was only fitting that I would turn all their quirky escapades into stories ...

like toast & raspberry jam loving hamsters :-)

this one was called

"Under the Sunflower trees"

when you are as tiny as a hamster,

sunflowers really do look like trees :-)

sketches of cuddles with my son  ...

when my daughter left for University, as well as daily phone calls, we would write letters to each other.  Every letter included a little something ... a 'just because' ♥

and always a quote I thought she would love.

time to get back to cleaning & organizing...

***

Our treasure

lies in the beehives

of our knowledge.

We are perpetually on our way thither,

being by nature winged insects

and honey gatherers of the mind.

The only thing that lies close to our heart

is the desire

to bring something home

to the hive.

~Friedrich Nietzsche~

my guiding word ~ twenty-fourteen ...

♥Nourish♥

What one relishes, nourishes ~Benjamin Franklin

***

As in past years, I like to begin January 1st with a 'guiding word'.

Usually around mid December, I start thinking about my Guiding Word, being aware of subtle hints of what it will be.  Somehow it always seems to appear over & over.

This year, the word that spoke to me when I was reading, watching television, having a conversation, spotting a quote was

 *Nourish*

Divine nourishment

 creativity,

 mind,

 body,

 soul,

 home

♥

You nourish your soul

by fulfilling

your destiny.

Our heart always leads us

to our destiny,

our soul

tells us

when we're there

~Harold Kushner~