I meant to share this photo of my writing cottage earlier in the week, but the week has sort of gotten away from me. It’s been a half work, have play week — and when I’ve been working, I’ve really been hunkering down trying to tie up loose ends.
We got about 11 inches of snow Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning– our official first big snowstorm of the season and we really had no snow before this, which was so unusual for us.
So though we didn’t have a white Christmas, we are having a white New Year’s Eve with temps dipping into the teens tonight.
My writing cottage, “she shed,” is snug as a bug with a petite gas stove that keeps me and little Gidget warm while I write and work on putting touches on two workshops I’ll be offering early in 2016. Gidget meanwhile is snoring up a storm again.
But soon I shall head back inside to my house, put my dachshund jammies on, pop a bottle of champagne, play a couple rounds of Yahtzee with John, snuggle with the dogs, and boil some crab legs for dinner.
And yup, will be in bed way before midnight rolls around.
Looking so forward to the New Year and continuing my writing in my sweet little cottage and working on new projects.
I took this photo of this sweet, little bird yesterday about a half hour before the sun came up.
Today as I think about the New Year just a few hours away, resolutions are the furthest thing from my mind. They usually are. I don’t set them any longer.
But I did give thought about how I want my life to look like going forward. And I want to live more like my winged friends — the birds, butterflies and dragonflies.
I want to be more open to the flow of life — and not hanging on so tight to things and circumstances I don’t have control over.
A few weeks ago, a friend booked a private SoulCollage® workshop with me. She wanted to set her intentions for the New Year.
As we sat in my new Joyful Pause studio in the lower level of my home, I invited her to think about how she wants to feel in 2016.
While I think it’s great to set goals and intentions, I believe what’s really at the core of those intentions, is how we want to feel.
While she worked on her SoulCollage® card, I intuitively worked on mine without setting an intention really, but instead giving thought to how I want to feel.
As we perused the many images I have set up on tables, an image of a yellow butterfly tugged at my heart. I knew I needed to work with her in creating my card.
And this is my completed card below after working with several images before it felt right and I glued them down.
After my friend and I created our cards, we journaled with them also. This is what my card had to say to me:
I am one who wants to flow with ease along the path of faith and trust in what spirit has in store for me. I want to allow my path to unfold more organically, learning to let go of trying to control outcomes. By doing so, I will feel as light and free as a butterfly, enjoying the ride, and all the gifts that come with expanding my wings.
And that’s it really, I want to feel lighter in letting go of worries and accepting life as it is presented to me.
So while I don’t have resolutions really, I am making a mental note to myself, with my SoulCollage® card I call Freedom Butterfly as my visual reminder of how I want to feel starting right this moment…and gently and softly fly into the New Year.
I shall stop now and then to perch upon a safe place to land, and sit silence as a way of reminding myself to keep my wings open to what Spirit has in store for me.
Wishing you all the best in 2016 and may your heart fill to the top with all that makes your life meaningful for you!
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I’m really excited about facilitating a SoulCollage® workshop on January 16th in my new studio, Joyful Pause. I hope to encourage others to give thought to how they want to feel in the New Year, too.
If you are interested in joining me for this creative and fun workshop, please check out the details here or click on purple graphic on the left.
If it wasn’t for bug spray, a book about a dachshund in a wheelchair named Frankie, a young boy who loves dachshunds, and a best friend who had “connections” well, I’d have never met this wonderful family, the Thein’s.
As is their tradition, every year between Christmas and New Year’s, the Thein’s make the trek from their home state of Illinois to Wisconsin to stay at one of our local resorts here in Elkhart Lake.
Okay, so I live in Wisconsin and you are perhaps wondering why bug spray is involved in winter, right? Well, there was the time the Thein’s were here when it was warmer, and the skeeters were something fierce! And that is how this all began.
They wondered into the Feed Mill Market that once housed a grocery store and still has a retail shop and deli, looking for relief in a bottle of spray to keep the bugs away.
Instead of bug spray, young Cameron found my children’s book about my paralyzed dachshund Frankie. He was immediately drawn to her because of his love of doxie’s.
As he carried the book in his arms, the manager of the Feed Mill Market, Victoria, who is the best friend of the author of the Frankie book took notice. Oh, and I guess I might add, it would be me that is the author of said dachshund book (in case you are new here).
Victoria told young Cameron that she knew the author and Frankie, and she was pretty sure she could arrange for them to meet us. And yup, she was right. I was more than happy to make the short jaunt down to the market with Frankie after she called me.
And ever since then, most every year except for last year, when John and I went out of town after Christmas, I’ve gotten together to catch up with them.
The only thing missing the past three years though has been dear Frankie who passed away in the summer of 2012.
But each year when I spend a little time with the Thein family, I get this warm feeling inside that Frankie is wagging her tail in happiness that a friendship she helped to create continues to build memories.
Safe travels back home Thein’s and wishing you the best year ever in 2016!
