Winter Creativity

Having Julia home has been lots of fun, as she adds to the general creative air in the home, especially in winter when Adam and I tend to hunker down and let our minds wander along those creative paths. Julia and I worked on gourds together last week. Here's a video of what we did.

Hers is delightful with all its colored windows. Here's how mine turned out:

 There's a little door to put a tea light inside ... or for the fairies to welcome their guests.
Plus two windows with beaded curtains.

 Adam studies and writes a lot in winter. Whereas I churn out a children's book every couple of years in a slapdash sort of way, he's been writing and rewriting his book for about 25 year or so. It's called Tubalcain, and traces the family history of Adam and Eve's children and grandchildren.  My hubby's creative mind at work on the front porch (which gets a bit chilly in January):

 Working on Adam and Eve's family tree:

 He peruses various ancient texts to get cultural detail.

 Right now though, he and Julia are on the back porch. She's using a dremel tool to decorate a piece of bone.

 I ditched many of the books I was struggling to read with interest, and changed to an Elizabeth Goudge book (of course), The Rosemary Tree.

If I didn't already know and trust Goudge as an author, I'd never choose a paperback that looked so much like Grace Livingston Hill. Goudge writes massive tomes and slim children's books, but The Rosemary Tree is in the middle. And it's written so strongly in a 3rd person omniscient style that it nearly jolts me; Goudge leads me by the hand and dips my brain deep into the minds of one of her characters after another. Do you know the pensieve in the Harry Potter books? Imagine dipping your head into one pool after another until you fully understand each person in a story, in a village, and can then tie their lives together in the lightest of plots. I'm halfway through it, and we've covered one ordinary day in a family's life. 

In one paragraph I read last night, she switched seamlessly from the mind of one old lady to her great-nephew's mind. If I hadn't been looking for it, I might not have noticed. All that to say ... it's not heavy on plot, but the characters are very rich and compelling. I appreciate the challenge of reading chapter after chapter with limited dialogue, no 'action,' and subdued plot. I worry about how we're becoming addicted to action in stories. I want a mind that is patient in reading and still relishes the wait for the slow revelation of what the author has to say.

Speaking of story, Julia and I saw Mary Poppins Returns, and we absolutely loved it. I cried when she sang "Where the Lost Things Go." If you haven't seen the movie yet, please do go! I've never seen a new movie so beautifully parallel and embrace its elderly partner. Dick Van Dyke and Angela Landsbury make appearances too! It's delightful and feels like OLD Disney -- sweet and hopeful.

I take Julia back to college later this week. It's bittersweet for me. She is maturing into a different person and I'll miss her a lot. Life is painfully short and we have little time with those we love. My daddy left this life a year ago today, and I know I had not enough time with him. He's who I cried for during that movie, and I haven't cried much over his death -- I believe he's alive in Heaven and we're parted temporarily. I cry for myself, I think, as I traverse the rest of my years without him close. Well, now I've gotten distracted with Mary Poppins youtube videos (terrible confession!) Here's the song that made me cry.

Doings This Week

We remain busy. I told the Prayer Shawl ladies yesterday that I wish I could have some minor injury that would keep me in bed for a week, so I could stay in my pajamas, eat popcorn, and watch shows ... and slow down. One lady laughed and said, "One day would be enough. You'd be ready to be up again." She's right.

I made a (what do the British call it?) ... a pig's breakfast of this long scarf. I'll be messing with it for a while to make it work.

 But it's off the loom, that's what counts. 
Now I've moved on to a scarf weave with some pretty autumn colors. I love that Wool-Ease yarn. Such luscious colors. {{{Sigh}}} I love autumn. I know, I said that before, haha!

 I made a batch of soap: tea tree, vanilla, and warm cider scents.

 

And I've spent much time folding, stapling, signing, and mailing out "The Thanksgiving Mice" books. Quite fun! Thank you so much, all you readers out there! (Don't forget to send in your payment to get your book shipped to you!)

The dogs are snoozier and snoozier.

 Despite cute little mouse stories, we are at war with mice in this house, and we've pretty much won the war! We have safe poison traps scattered around, but Adam's carefully sealing up all their access points. Ha!

This little fellow died after nibbling one of my old Chopin albums.

Here's some of my homemade deodorant. I delivered it to a fellow who lives on a boat.

 I mentioned the storm damage to the Methodist church. Well, they threw a big fund-raising party on Wednesday, called a Mad Buffalo Party. It was delightful and so festive!

 A HUGE baked potato bar ~

 Hot chocolate with a stunning assortment of sprinkly things to add to your cup ~

 And fabulous desserts. I chose this one, a mixed apple pie baked in cast iron. Oh my ... so, so good.

 See the buffalo plaid? It was everywhere, a warm theme.
They set up a little Christmas Shop in a closet. It was so fun to finger ornaments, wreaths, Christmas nibbles in cellophane! And everything that wasn't nailed down was for sale.

 They even had a crackling fire on the screen overhead, plus cozy music playing.

I found some prizes at the thrift store this week. This skirt I wore to the Mad Buffalo Party.

 I found two panels of sheers that are a vast improvement over what I had (dark maroon).

 

Yesterday we had a sad loss; one of my chickens, Autumn, died. I didn't know she'd been ill -- some respiratory sickness. Bless her heart :(

I won't enlarge that photo, because who needs a bigger picture of a sick chicken? I'm now down to a rooster and five hens, and one of undetermined sex who I think will present himself as a rooster here soon. One doesn't need more than a single rooster, and sometimes even he is too much.

Today I'm weaving, knitting, writing and painting a bit, and preparing for the farmer's market tomorrow. I hope your Friday goes well and your weekend is lovely!

Making a Rich Creative Space

I love my little studio. Each day that I'm able to come here and work/create, I try to make this small space as appealing to the senses as I can, so I find it happy and inspiring. The five senses are key.

I keep it visually appealing to me. I sit in front of a big window that looks out onto the farm pasture. From here, birds, squirrels, chickens, dogs, trees, sky, and sometimes my dear husband are all in view. The studio itself, while cluttered, is also dear to look at; all my creative tools are close at hand. One thing I avoid visually is the screen. I don't keep screen-savers rolling or videos playing while I'm trying to write/paint/sketch/work with yarn or do my soap business. Screens are not visually enriching to me.

I burn nice incense for scent.
Pandora is playing beautiful music (Christmas at present) in the background.
I often have tea or some little nibble at my elbow.
All the creative work I do is very tactile, and I don't do any work that I don't love touching.

This pattern of sensory satisfaction just occurred to me a moment ago ... I think. If I've written about it before and have forgotten about it, please tell me, haha! My memory is not the best :)

So if you want to be creative, be sure to give yourself the best possible opportunity with a rich sensory space. Even if all you do is sit there and enjoy how it smells, feels, looks, sounds, and tastes for the first few days, you'll be well on your way.