Growing with My Tree Goddess – A Curious Unfolding.

Posted by Barbara Techel
Growing with My Tree Goddess - A Curious Unfolding
My tree goddess painting in progress….

I didn’t plan to ever paint. Nor did I think I’d ever start painting and then perhaps want to write about the process.

And I don’t really know where this will all take me. Will I keep painting? Or will I only be interested for awhile and then stop?

I’m thinking I may keep going for at least a little while as now I keep seeing images for ideas of things I want to try and paint!

This has been the most curious unfolding on many levels.

One being that I’ve realized that when I’m painting my mind becomes very quiet.

This is so unusual (but welcoming) since I’m one who is always thinking otherwise (sometimes it can drive me crazy!) — and I think mostly around what I’m going to write about in the book I’m working on right now, future ideas, or what I’m going to write for my blog or weekly newsletter– along with all the many other thoughts that goes through one’s head in any given day.

But when I get out the paints and the brush hits the canvas, it’s like I melt into this silent world.

I painted for a few hours this morning but then the warm sunshine was too hard to ignore and I had to get outside and walk.

And guess who was on my walk with me?  Yup, my tree goddess.

I’ve been so intrigued lately by the goddess archetype and am learning to embrace and honor the goddess in me.

I love that I am more grounded now in my 50s, than when I was in my 20s and 30s. I enjoy that I consciously choose to live in more awareness especially with how nature, when out in it, is such a profound healer.

Like my tree goddess in progress, I too, am a goddess in progress. I’m learning to awaken on new levels each and every day and decade of my life.

I want to be that old oak goddess tree someday that stands strong with the test of time filled with much wisdom.

So I never thought I’d paint. But I’m not going to spend much time wondering why, but just enjoy the process.

I still have much to do on this tree goddess, but it’s fun watching her come to life. And I plan to do four of these which will hang side-by-side on the very long wall in my Joyful Pause Studio (nothing like jumping right in with four 24″x 48″paintings right away!).

But now I’m so curious to see what else this goddess and the other tree goddesses will reveal to me as I continue.

No Denying It… Kylie’s a Heart Dog

Posted by Barbara Techel
No Denying It... Kylie's a Heart Dog
Sweet Kylie

Now this is such a curious thing.  Kylie has a basket full of stuffed toys I keep in a wicker basket in the kitchen.

She has two that are her favorite. One is a well loved monkey (meaning the stuffing, part of an ear, and eyes are long gone) and a lime green lamb chop who is close to being just as well loved as Mr. Monkey.

The other toys? Well, they are sort of like the misfits on Misfit Island in the Rudolph Christmas tale. They just sit in the basket waiting and waiting for someone to love and play with them.

And then the most curious thing happened. Kylie dug to the bottom of the basket and pulled out the heart stuffed toy. She carried it proudly in her soft jowls into the bedroom and hopped up on the bed next to John.

Was she proclaiming her love for John? Does she know Valentine’s Day is around the corner?  Is she hinting at wanting biscuits (since dog’s can’t have chocolate as you know)?

Whatever the message may be we marveled at how adorable and sweet she looked with the red heart.

No doubt in our mind she is a heart dog… put perhaps she thought we forgot (of which we never would!) and it was her way of reminding us.

Oh, Kylie… how you make our hearts gush with love for you!

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Alex Makes the 50th Dog Helped with a Dog Wheelchair!

Posted by Barbara Techel
Alex Makes the 50th Dog Helped with a Dog Wheelchair!
Alex

We are doing a happy dance here at Joyful Paws headquarters!

Why?

Because Alex is the 50th dog the Frankie Wheelchair Fund has granted a wheelchair to!

Alex is currently with foster, Sandi, with Dachshund Rescue of South Florida. She sent me ths picture of Alex and said, “Here’s a pic of sweet n snugly Alex in his Eddie’s Wheels. He took to his wheels like a duck to water!”

Does not surprise me one bit. I’ve seen time and time again how these dogs get on with the joy of living life — now rolling through the grass, down the street, and over their human’s feet. Nothing stops them!

A very special thanks to Sarah of The Smoothe Store as the money she raised selling dog banandas last fall helped pay for Alex’s wheelchair which she donated to the Frankie Wheelchair Fund.

You can apply, donate, or learn more about the fund on our website, National Walk ‘N Roll Dog Day.

Alex’s wheelchair custom made by Eddie’s Wheels.

Keep on rolling Alex!

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