Different Perspectives

I have always wanted to mention to you, that if you would like to listen to a different tune than the one I have chosen for a post...just scroll down to my playlist at the bottom of my blog, and play whatever song speaks to your heart.

Life Lessons...I love life lessons.

Yesterday I was taking a drive and I turned down a familiar road.  But, I usually am traveling from the opposite direction.

As I approached one of my favorite book shops called Bearly Read Books, I noticed a shop next door from the front entrance.  For some reason I thought the entrance was on the other side.

When I went inside, I asked the lovely shopkeeper if they had moved things around.  She said no, and I told her I had never noticed that there was a shop next door.

I found a wonderful treasure as always, and started for home.

I chose a different road to explore a bit, and much to my surprise it linked to the thoroughfare that would bring me closer to home.

By mistake, I turned right instead of left, and it wasn't until I saw a familiar church that I realized it was the road I needed for a quick trip home.

However, I needed to be going in the opposite direction. So, I turned around.

The curious thing is that I noticed things I had never noticed before.

The different direction had given me a completely new view.

Further up the road it struck me...The Life Lesson.  God was showing me that when we open our hearts just a squeak and allow ourselves to see a situation from a different point of view, we allow God's wisdom to enter into that circumstance.

If you are like me, you have gotten stuck in opinions that you might have been carrying around for quite sometime.  Perceptions that you might never have challenged.

Like an amazing inspirational talk called Different ways of knowing.

It's pretty terrific when God's life lesson shows you how you can add allot of His wisdom into almost any circumstance.

Adding that wisdom allows you to see things from someone else's perspective.

Life Lessons appear out of the blue, they are just one of those things that make life interesting.  I found a lovely video with lots of Life Lessons, if you would like a bit more inspiration.  It's called Lessons on Life.

The Windmills of Your Mind, I love these lyrics...

Round, like a circle in a spiral,

like a wheel within a wheel

never ending or beginning of an ever spinning wheel,

like a snowball down a mountain, or a carnival balloon...

Lessons of Light and Shadow

As a young woman living and working in Manhattan, I had the good fortune to live in walking distance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I visited there often and felt that I was coming home when I walked amongst the artists who memorized life. My favorite section was where the paintings of the great Impressionists were hung. I remember the awe I felt the first time I saw Renoir’s painting of a forest. The light and shadow danced within his painting of the wooded landscape. As such a young woman and artist, I had no idea how he could capture the morning sun reflected against the leaves.

I often wonder if digital photography had been invented when the great Impressionists lived, if perhaps they too would be confused as to which medium to use to memorize the moment. Would Monet have played with Photoshop to perhaps find just the right hue of purple to express his interpretation of the water lily and neglected his gifts of painting?

As I drove home this morning, I turned down a lovely road with wooded landscape on either side. The sun was bright against the fall scene, and the light seemed to glow on the orange and yellow leaves. The deep brown and gray of the bark was even more exaggerated having been wet from the morning shower. The rich contrast of the vivid light and shadows playing magic in the forest landscape brought me back to the memory of staring at Renoir’s paintings as a young woman.

The wisdom of years gone by and life lessons makes me analyze what beauty I see with a different perspective. Years of painting have taught me that If I approached a canvas with oils I would use the skill taught of layering paint to achieve the depth and to add light in the final stages of the painting. If I painted in watercolor the passages of white would be there first and washes and negative painting would add the necessary depth to express the landscape’s truth. Using my camera to memorize the morning might require a special lens to capture the light and perhaps after placing it on my computer require a digital enhancement or two.


There is much to be taught by the landscape of life, and the light and dark discernment is equally as valid as that of the technique used to paint the contrasts one observes. Sometimes it is the very darkness found in adversity that provokes the light within to shine. In Renoir’s painting the dark burnt umber was equally as important as the bright yellow and orange ocre paint used to highlight the the light that speckled the wooded scene. I was reminded of a great poem which sings a melody of lyric into our spirit and resonates in our hearts the truth of why our days are speckled with light and dark circumstances.


The Weaver

My life is but a weaving Between my Lord and me
I cannot choose the colors,
He worketh steadily.

Oft-times He weaveth sorrow,
And I, in foolish pride forget
He sees the upper,
And I the under side.

Not till the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful,
In the Weaver's skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern he has planned.

He knows, He loves, He cares
Nothing this truth can dim;
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.





I am living somewhere between being that innocent young woman who visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art instead of having lunch, and being an old woman who reflects back on her life’s canvas. Yet, the middle is a glorious place to be. I have learned to lean on God to paint His will for the rest of my life, though I take time to reflect with wonder on the blessings and bittersweet moments that He has used to create my landscape. I know for sure that it was not only the beauty I so easilly learned to love in life, but the adversity and dark circumstances that made the light within shine. I suppose it does not matter which medium we use to capture the beauty around us, but rather that we see it, memorize the blessings, see hope in the light, embrace the joy and give the glory to the Lord.



The song for Lessons of Light and Shadow is Seasons Change by Paula Arlich from her albumn named appropriately A Ray Of Hope.

Life Lessons, When you squeeze a lemon, you don't get orange juice

Life Lessons,  I went to the food store today.  I waited for a nice parking spot up front because it was raining.  As I pulled into the spot, I realized it was a tight squeeze.  I straightened the car out and checked to my left and then to my right.

Lemon Tree, a favorite song of mine.  

I thought I might be too close to the car on my right, but before I could back up again to center my car better, the owner of the car on my right approached.  I rolled down my window to ask if he could get into his car okay.

I called out but he didn't hear me at first, and then he threw his cane into his back seat.  I called again and asked if he could get into his car okay.  The man was in his early 80's and looked a bit mean.  He gave me a dirty look and barked at me "I'm okay and you're okay, NOW GO AWAY!!!!!!!"

As I walked into the food store, instead of being offended by this response, I thought he was obviously self-conscious about his handicap and assumed I was asking if he could get in his car okay because of the cane.

All through shopping I thought, so many times over my lifetime I have been offended when someone barked at me needlessly.  I wonder....I wonder if those people had been carrying a cane if I would not have been offended.

Life lesson, we can't always see why someone might be hurting enough to bark at us.  Their hurt might be pain physically, mentally or spiritually.

Just because we can't see why they might react badly, doesn't mean that they aren't in some kind of pain.

Truth be told normal, whole people do not bark at anyone needlessly.

People bark when their inward pain is leaking outward.

I cast my hurt feelings up, up and away like a hot air balloon.  I said a prayer for the man with the cane. When I returned to my car, I saw his wife.  A tiny lady about the same age.   I said two prayers for her and I drove away with my groceries and a life lesson in tow.

Have a beautiful day!

Bluebirds, Baskets & Ribbons

"It's the Blue Bird we were looking for! We have been miles and miles and miles and he was here all the time!..."




Many of my paintings are inspired by dreams. I recently had this beautiful dream of a tree in Springtime, with beautiful pink blossoms. Each branch held a basket secured to the branch with blue satin ribbons tied in a bow and the ends cascaded down and blew in the warm Spring breeze. Bluebirds covered the branches on the tree in abundance, and the vivid blue of the bluebird contrasted with the soft pink color in the blossoms in full bloom. When I awoke I carried this beautiful image with me all day. I started a watercolor painting of this image and it is a work in progress. Instead of trying to capture the entire tree, I decided to crop it to a single branch with two bluebirds, a basket hung from the branch and tied with blue satin ribbons. I only wish I could paint the vivid colors that I saw in this dream. The dream carried with it so much beauty and hope.

I collect old children's books, and one of my most treasured belongings is a book called The Bluebird for Children by Georgette LeBlanc (Madame Maurice Maeterlinck), written in 1913. This book was used by teachers to read in class, I own the teacher's copy. I always loved how our teacher's copy of our books were a bit thicker than our study version. When the teacher would gather us children around her, and she would read to us in class, I would stare at the large volume she would have in her lap. It was larger than ours beacuse it was the teacher's copy. I always wanted to hold the teacher's copy of a book because it held all the answers. The Children's Bluebird of Happiness holds a magical story and so many spiritual lessons. The teacher's copy explained those spiritual lessons and it did in fact house the answers to the questions.

The story is about a little girl Mytyl and little boy named Tyltyl they are poor and ashamed of their poverty. Tyltyl is the hero's name, he was ten years old, and Mytyl is his little sister who was only six. The story begins...
"Once upon a time, a woodcutter and his wife lived in their cottage on the edge of a large and ancient forest. They had two dear little children who met with a most wonderful adventure..."




They meet Light who takes them on a magical adventure and they meet up with all the things that we deal with on earth and they even visit heaven. Light takes them through lands of life and reveals the truth about what appears beautiful. When they have been exhausted by all the lands that they had visited they want to go home. When they return to the bird that they once thought was ugly and useless, they realize that it was a beautiful and valuable bluebird all along. They returned to their lot in life a bit wiser and gave their treasured bluebird to a little girl who was blind. They realized that to be thankful for the blessing we have in life is to truly treasure our bluebird of happiness and when we share what we have, this is the most valuable lesson of all. "Dear Light revealed nothing to the woodcutter's Children, but she showed them the road to happiness by teaching them to be good and kind and generous."


I love this story and felt so blessed to have found this treasure. I believe the reason I adore bluebirds is because of the wisdom that is in this book. We each have bluebirds in our life and sometimes it is when we lose them for a while that we come to treasure them the most.

From the book "We can only appreciate our bluebird in life if we are forever grateful for what we have been given...Our bluebird."

I love the dream that I was blessed with and each time I work on the painting I am reminded of it's beauty. The last line in the book The Children's Bluebird is:


"Each of us must seek our happiness for himself; and he has to take endless pains and undergo many a cruel disappointment before he learns to become happy by appreciating the simple and perfect pleasures that are always within easy reach of his mind and heart."
Such wisdom in this lovely story for children, perhaps the author meant the message to reach all the children...big and small. I know that I love the lessons in this book and I am reminded of it's wisdom every time I see a bluebird.

For those of you with little children, I found this delightful site for bluebird activities for children, with coloring pages, arts, crafts and games to play.

The song for this post is It's Blue Skies sung by old blue eyes, Frank Sinatra

Life Lessons Learned and Dementia

Recently, I have been spending a great deal of time with my Mom, who is now in a nursing home in Vermont.  She fell the week before Christmas and broke her hip and now has Dementia.  She turned 90 years old in June, and she was showing signs, but either they were slight or perhaps I was just in denial.

on Mom's 90th Birthday, Ashley, Brayden, my mom, Logan, RJ and Sarah

Since her fall, surgery, hospital stay and being placed first in rehabilitation and now a nursing home, I have been living in Vermont these months.

Daily I would walk the hall towards her room and pass numerous residents with varying levels of Dementia.  There were those who could barely keep themselves sitting upright in their wheelchairs. Other residents who could use a walker, but seemed lost anyway by the expression in their face. Some residents had no words, just a desperate look in their eyes.

I am back home for a few weeks to tend to family things.  Today I was slighted by a young girl, who often reacts to me  in an unkind way in front of others.  Unfortunately, she is part of the family so I cannot avoid her at family gatherings.  Yet it puzzles me why someone would enjoy being so hurtful.  Years ago this would not happen because back in my day a 20 something girl would never dream of making someone 68 years old feel uncomfortable.

first time meeting Logan

I thought about how all these months I purposely would never make my Mom feel slighted.  When she uses a wrong word, or tells a strange story, or often thinks she has moved again, I try to console her.  I bought her a pink princess phone.

at Sarah and Mike's wedding

When we talk and she feels that she has been moved, I remind her if she is talking on the pink phone she is in the right room.

It made me think of how differently that young girl who makes me uncomfortable, might think of acting, if she knew how she or a loved one might end up with Dementia someday.

at Ashley's baby shower

Actually all of us should spend more time being mindful, thoughtful, and thankful.  If we knew that we might lose our gifts someday I believe we would be thankful for every precious moment we are able to think, write, dress ourselves, live alone, walk, drive and the list goes on.

for 18 years while living at her residence she organized food donations for the local food shelf at Christmas

I thought about what a gift this painful experience has been watching my Mom, who was so independent walk into the path of Dementia.  A bittersweet gift because it has reminded me of her  adventures and what a wonderful life she has had.  A gift because for the rest of my life, I will cherish every moment of everyday being thankful for the things I once took for granted.

at Sarah's bridal shower me, my sister, Susan, my mom and my sister, Lynne

My mother always started everyday with a prayer to God.  "Thank you God for my strong body and my strong mind"  God responded by giving her 90 years of good health and wonderful experiences.

At 68, I know my life too has been filled with amazing adventures.  We never know who will be affected by Dementia someday.

recently at the nursing home, my mom can no longer dress herself bath, or walk with a walker

So, I want to hold onto all the good thoughts everyday.  I want to be thankful and appreciate the little things.

I want to work on not being offended by foolish people, instead fill my life with as many positive people that I can.  Enjoy my husband, wonderful daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren, sisters and closest friend, Joyce.