Busy December Coming- Wonderful Opportunities Abound!

WOW is it December already? All things considered the last 3 years have been quite a journey of "letting go". God has shown me just how much I cling to what I think is mine in every aspect of my life. I have become a professed Lay Carmelite in a community in my church and am so blessed by this community of men and women dedicated to deeper daily prayer!  For a while I have been wandering a desert trying to find the path that I should be on... looking for water... seems like everything I touched or tried didn't quite work out as expected... so I came to a place where so many people come.... to nothingness without God "The Dark Night of the Soul".


For a couple of  months I have been working for the COPD Foundation helping to clean up  their call center database. I have enjoyed this immensely but the hours turned out to not be as much as I would have liked. As the economy gets worse for some and better for others... I prayed to God as to what I was supposed to be doing with my time. A few computer fix jobs came and went. I had applied for a job to a few other places but being 51 years old may not be a plus in this tight job market at least not for me.


My self confidence plummeted... mean while I was getting more and more offers, emails, opportunities offered to me back in my "old love"... ART. So one night after a particularly distressing bit of news. I finally gave up and cried and prayed to God.. "What is it that you want me to do? I am hard headed and semi-deaf in the right ear... Show me Lord-- drop it on my head for Pete's sake! I can't do this by myself anymore...etc" .....LOL!


 The next morning in my email was a e- newsletter from Linda Blondheim- a longtime friend and mentor to me (whether she knew it or not!).  She was looking for an artist to mentor! I took this as my answer from God.  I responded and just found out that I have been accepted along with Claudia Ballard-St Augustine, Harold Barrand-Gainesville, and Lynn Biddlecomb-Gainesville. I am sure that I will learn so much and I have given Linda  permission to kick my butte in gear this coming year-- I don't want to let her down! So you all will be seeing a lot more of me online in the art world and maybe out and about as well. The mentor-ship is once a month, on a Saturday, starting in January 2012.
I am continuing to work for the COPD Foundation part time. I love to be busy! Merry Christmas!

Trees

My favorite tree

With Hurricane Irene - there was a great loss of trees up north. I wonder how many of those were "favorite trees"? I have just a little tree as my favorite. It sits on the bank of the the pond at the 10th hole of the Rolling Hills Golf Club.  I see it everyday, sometimes more than once. I follow it through the seasons and even though this tree isn't a magnificent tree... it is just fine for me. The hawks land in it up top. The ducks lie underneath it and the Sandhill cranes peruse the soil for worms and bugs around it. It does look different every season - although there is no dramatic reds or golds in the fall or flowers in the spring-- the changes take place with subtleness-- almost not able to be noticed until... it is changed. You have to be a patient observer or you will miss the wonder and the gift of this little tree. I am starting a private  art diary/ journal. This tree is what I will put in first thing -- and as the seasons come and go I will comeback to it and draw and paint its looks from year to year, along with the spiritual thoughts that cross my mind, when I am contemplating this little tree. Do you have a favorite tree ...may be one from your childhood? What kind is it? Why is it your favorite?