A Blank Slate

Tomorrow is the first day of March, but I'm still in the wintertime purging and organizing mode that overcomes me each year in January. The heavy snows that fell this month have remained on the ground due to the very cold temperatures. The white snowscape has provided much-needed reflected light in the dark rooms of our circa 1846 home. Organizing and keeping things orderly is an ongoing struggle for me, so when bright light pours in our windows, I am cheered and tasks seem lighter than on the dark days we so often experience during the winter. The lake-effect clouds from Lake Erie are a reality here in WNY and when our yard is covered in bright white snow, or we experience the occasional sunny day, my energy soars.

In my studio, there are many small tools, notions, bits and bobs to keep track of. And since I like to make an occasional mixed media collage with found objects, I continually stash orphaned china, metal, glass, paper and textiles. If I don't take the time when I am working on a project to clean up after myself, or when I just drop things off on my work table and walk away, all those little things just pile up. Since I don't have an assistant, it's up to me to put things back in order. Where is my fairy godmother when I need her?

Blank Slate

This morning, as I erased the comments I'd written yesterday from our little blackboard in the kitchen, I started to think about the symbolism of the blank slate that was right there in front of me. In college, I learned about the concept of tabula rasa, (from the Latin phrase  meaning: scraped tablet), which can be traced back to Aristotle; but the philosopher John Locke is the person I remember for writing that the human mind is like a blank slate, that we are born without knowledge until we learn it by sensory or mental experiences. A better explanation than mine can be found here: 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/tabula-rasa

I am not relating the blank slate on our kitchen wall to humankind in this post. Instead I am stretching the philosophical concept a bit to fit my needs. The blank slate signifies to me a couple things. The first is that while blank, the slate has no impact on its own; but, secondly, it offers a new beginning for me. I can write ideas on it, my list of things I need to do, notes to my husband, our menu for the day, draw on it, or leave it blank. Walking past it when it is blank bothers me, so after I erase it in the morning, I always write on it. It might seem a little funny to other people, but it grounds me in a way that is much different than the long "to do" list in my planner.

Right now, March is a blank slate. When I turn the calendar page over tomorrow morning, I will hopefully see the potential that the new month holds. The days are open to me, like a blank slate, to fill as I decide. I want to make each day count . . . to organize, play, rest, reflect, and enjoy the ways I spend my days. It has been a bit of a struggle over the past year to make plans, but hopefully, that can be a part of what happens this March, too. March winds can bring about change and I hope that holds true for the blank slate that hangs on our kitchen wall. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. It is my hope that you and those you love are happy and healthy. Your comments are welcome here on my blog or on Facebook. I will read them and respond. And, as always, until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy

Thankful Morning

The morning sun lights up these glorious amaryllis blooms. 

As I walk through the house on this very frosty morning, I'm thankful. Walking from the kitchen, I cast my eyes over to the dining room window where the sun lights up one of my tall amaryllis plants with its huge red blooms. I walk down the hallway to the living room where I am flanked by tables filled with special little gifts I've saved from loved ones, antiques that were handed down to me by my parents and grandparents and some things that I have made with my own two hands. The ice crystals formed on the living room windows remind me of cold mornings on our farm.

Ice crystals on the living room window.
It was 12 degrees this morning!

When I was a little girl, I used to stare out the window over the kitchen sink, with its pattern of ice crystals, to watch for the the little yellow dot to the west that was the school bus approaching from up the road. My father would often look over my shoulder at the snow-covered fields and recite the lines from a poem that he learned as a boy in the one-room school house he attended.

The snow had begun in the gloaming,

And busily all the night

Had been heaping field and highway

With a silence deep and white.

-- Excerpted from 

"The First Snowfall"

by James Russell Lowell

If I close my eyes, I can picture the image of us together at the window and hear his voice. I was safe and warm and loved. That is how I feel this morning and I am thankful. I wrap my hands around my warm coffee cup and consider all that I have in my life for which I am grateful.

If you are interested in reading the poem in its entirety, and about the author, here are a couple sites to look at online. As with any research, I often fall down a rabbit hole, and finding this poem was no exception. It gave me insight into its true meaning and also how my father may have related to it as an adult. What I had always considered in my mind that is full of romantic notions was that it was about the beauty of the snow, but it has much more meaning. Read on, my friends . . . 

https://poets.org/poem/first-snowfall

https://prezi.com/xwxjq1qmlibc/the-first-snowfall/

Back to my amaryllis, or is it amarylli? For more rabbit hole fun, you might want to jump in here to read up on pluralizing a genus name:

https://www.courier-tribune.com/article/20131211/NEWS/312119820

While watching one of my favorite YouTube channels, I noticed the host had cut her amaryllis blooms and placed them in a vase on a window sill. I was fascinated by the image and I jumped down one of those rabbit holes again. I hopped from site to site garnering all kinds of information about amaryllises . . . another way to pluralize the word to take up precious space in my brain. This time, I took the plunge and used the information and (gasp here) I cut the long heavy stalks of my potted and overcrowded amaryllises and put them in vases. From what I read, this will give the cut flowers a longer bloom time than left in the pot, provided I cut them before they have fully opened. A little floral preservative (the kind you get with cut flowers at the grocery store) helps them stay fresh a bit longer. I always have a few packs at the bottom of my kitchen junk drawer.

Some photos of the cut blooms are below. I am glad I stumbled over this information because I can enjoy the vases of flowers throughout the house and I don't need to constantly stake the heavy flower stalks with dowels and pipecleaners. I have given myself permission to cut my own flowers.

These blooms were cut at just the right time.
They have emerged as a spectacular sight.

These were mis-labeled on the box as red.
However, their delicate white with pink flowers are a delightful surprise.

These were partially open when I cut them,
but they've opened up and have looked good for over a week.

Those buds pictured above have fully opened.
Spectacular is the only word I can use to describe them.

I am thankful for the beauty of these flowers and for the memories of my childhood . . . triggered by ice crystals on a window. With well over a foot of snow on the ground and cold temperatures, I am glad I can enjoy winter beauty from inside these walls.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Your comments are welcome here on my blog or on Facebook. I will read them and respond. It is my sincere hope that you and those you love are heathy and safe. And, as always, until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Emmy

The Color of the Month . . . RED!

A Valentine's Day wreath I made a few years ago.
I thought it was appropriate for todays' post.
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞

Go Red for Women®. Today is National Wear Red Day® to call attention to the number one health threat for women: Cardiovascular Disease. One in three women are dying from heart disease and stroke. This is a serious subject and in the times we are living, it isn't always pleasant to read about serious stuff. It is forced on us daily from every direction. And, in keeping with my theme, it ends up making us tense, elevating our heart rate and our blood pressure. So, where am I going with this? Please read on. It gets better. 💗

Here is a link to the American Heart Association where you can read about the steps you can take to help prevent heart disease and hopefully reverse this trend. Click here: goredforwomen.org  Both of my parents had symptoms of cardiovascular disease and lived into their 80's, but not without medicines to keep them going. If they both had earlier intervention, they might have had less severe symptoms and less tragic deaths. Watching someone you love decline due to their health is painful. Hopefully, with knowlege and action on our part, this will be turned around in our nation and in the world. 

We are encouraged to move more, practice deep breathing exercises, watch our diets and stress. It really isn't difficult. Well . . . maybe the stress part is harder because it often comes from without, not from within; and, of course, heredity plays a part in our health. We can't change that. But, in this time of shopping for groceries online, it is easier than ever to avoid the food danger zones at the supermarket. You know which ones I mean. Typically, they are in the last aisle we travel on our way to the checkout: doughnuts, oversized muffins, chips, dips, and ice cream to name a few. If these are on your shopping list, that's okay; but if they are purchased on impulse and not part of your food plan, I think you will agree that's not okay! By shopping for our groceries online, I have found that we have been able to avoid bringing home many of the "bad" choices and adding more fresh veggies and lower fat items to our grocery cart. Yes, it requires planning and even research to find recipes online. But if there can be one positive outcome of staying home day in and day out, it is learning to cook healthier food in healthier ways. Have cakes, pies, cookies and a few other goodies found their way into our menus these last 11 months? Of course. Those foods are special treats and I give myself a pass every once in a while! Every week when the grocery store flier is published online, we scour it for the BOGO's and sale items. We shop together online at two stores. We each work on our own list and then take a coffee break and decide together which things we need and where they are the best price. It takes some time, but it is a whole lot easier, in my opinion, than bundling up, going into the store, looking up and down the long aisles, packing the groceries into the cart, wheeling them over the bumpy snow-packed parking lot, unloading them into the trunk, getting home and unloading them, and so forth. I can shop in my jammies, have someone walk the aisles for me, communicate with me in real time chat about substitutions and all while I am safe in my home. I don't want to go to stores where there are other people who may not be following the CDC guildlines for Covid-19. Until this whole thing is over, and probably for the rest of my life, I will shop online and pick my groceries up curbside. It has been another of the positive outcomes of the pandemic. Since it is still unknown what lasting effects Covid-19 will have on people who have had it, I'd like to avoid it altogether, and that includes protecting my heart from possible damage. If you aren't already shopping for groceries online, I hope you will give it a try. Once in a while there are mistakes, but the stores are eager to make it right and will refund or credit your account. Driving up to a designated parking spot for curbside shopping is a blessing for which I am grateful. And protecting ourselves from Covid-19 exposure, from the possibility of falling on ice or snow and the general inconvenience of grocery shopping, makes it a win for us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. It is my sincere wish that you and those you love are happy and healthy. As always, your comments are welcome and can be left here on my blog or on facebook. I will read them and respond. And until we meet again, may the Lord hold you in the hollow of His hand. 

💗

Emmy