Old Fashioned Lifestyle

Our neighbor is a cattle rancher. He left town for a few days to visit family, so we are taking care of his cattle in the mean time. In exchange, he lets the kids skate on his pond. They had a fun morning skating with the cows!

I was listening to Creative Mom Podcast today as we were bumping our way down a dusty dirt road between Cabo San Lucas and La Paz, Mexico.  Amy mentions a tradition she has borrowed from someone.  The tradition of finding a word for the year. 

I started to reflect upon a potential word for me for this 2008.  But what actually bounced it’s way into my thoughts was an old dusty friend.  The elusive vision of Myself -  Living My Highest Life.  A picture that lives in my soul and dances in my subconscious.  Sometimes I can see it’s existence as a fuzzy haze in the periphery. 

Mostly, though, this vision remains hidden.  It resides under the bills on the desk, the voice messages on the phone, the running of a business, and the dishes in the sink.  During the particularly challenging time, the vision has been buried for so long that I have forgotten it’s existence.  Fortunately for me, the soul of this life remains strong even when I do not.  I thus endured all the worldly trials of my life.  Eventually the dust settles and a colorful haze returns to the corner. 

When I try to focus on how it looks and feels, it fades quickly.  But if I relax – I’ll catch the colors and textures.  I am at times even able to extract a few important words.  Words that can give a flavor of my illusion but fall short of a description.  Words like: 

Pottery Wheels, A knitting basket by a comfy chair, Books of all sorts,  Stimulating conversation,  A home filled with and made of our crafts and creations,  A dinner with conversation in Spanish, A day of painting, An evening of listening to someone read a book, A season of travel, Walls of Photography, Music, Homemade bread and homemade chickens, The pursuit of projects.

And so, this year is a pursuit of this vision.  A sail for freedom.  I will intentionally draw out and nurture these elements of that life that comes into focus just long enough for me to pluck out an idea and dance with it.

And so – my word for the year is

CREATE. 

I will create this year.

• My Home
• A Novel (NANOWRIMO)
• The Life of My Soul.  Project by Project.  Day by Day

I am not a creative person, nor do I play one on TV.  I steal ideas from books, magazines, and blogs.  The extent of my creativity is reading a book and imagining the scene.

When I woke up this morning, I found an email – an invitation to participate in the Carnival of Homeschool Graphic contest.

What?  Cough.  Cough.  You want ME to create a graphic?  Cough.  Cough.   I have always loved the idea of creating a graphic using the computer…  but (cough, cough) have no idea how to even start!   Anyway – I was inspired to give it a wirl.

So here you have it….  2 concepts created in Digital Image Pro.

Meanwhile, do you have some creative juices?  Join the contest!

Technorati Tags: Blogs and Online Fun