sparks are flying

it's going to be a great week. i can feel it. there's just something in the air. happy monday, one and all.

hello there monday morning

our weather has taken an autumnal turn, but it makes for gorgeous mornings. we've had such a good summer (the first one since i've been in denmark), that this year, i don't feel my usual impending sense of doom over the approach of autumn and our dark time of year. that's nice, as autumn was always my favorite, since it so often brought with it new books for new classes and cuddly warm clothes.

the farmers are busy, harvesting the fields. tractors rumble past our house out in the countryside all day long and well after dark. i love the golden stubble and the big bales dotting the landscape.

and the morning fog is wonderful. it lends such a quiet hush to the world and gets the day started at a pace a monday morning brain can comprehend.

happy monday, one and all.

feeling pretty zen for a monday

my morning started with the first installment of the latest oprah-deepak (shouldn't they have called it oprah-chopra?) meditation challenge. this one focuses on miraculous relationships. who couldn't use more of those? i struggle to quiet my mind enough to meditate, but find these 15-minute-ish sessions to be just about right as a beginning. couple this with my participation in the kylie's fortnight of self-adoration and i'm feeling about as zen as you can get on a monday morning. 

yesterday's spontaneous trip to the beach helped as well. several hours of wind and sun and sand and the north sea pounding in, surprisingly warm (i was actually playing in the waves with husband and sabin for a good hour) quite literally washed all my cares away.  a solitary wander down the beach while they continued to try to surf the waves, i gathered smooth stones. it was a kind of meditation in and of itself. as a result, i had a good night's sleep and have already knocked two big items and several little ones off my to do list. ahh, the tyranny of the list, i both love it and hate it, but am going to be quite zen about this week. 

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i want magical displays of books in my world.

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we need more pop-up design happening in denmark. *sigh*

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interesting, voyeuristic photos taken with homemade cameras.

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realizing zen through running?
i keep seeing articles like this and i fear the universe is trying to tell me something.

monday is a good day for a manifesto

i want light and laughter and love and moments of perfect clarity.
to float with the unbearable lightness of being.
to live in love and creativity and happiness and contentment.

to be full of ideas.
to share them.
to release them into the world
to become what they can become,
like children.

to be open.
not to judge.
to let people be who they are.
and realize it has nothing to do with me.
to release control.
to float free.
to not be tied down by negativity.
to be filled with boundless energy.
and abundance in every way.

to be kind to the planet.
to use its resources wisely.
consuming only my share.
and leaving it behind better than i found it.

to grow...inside, but also in the garden.
to change...inside, but also the world around me.
to embrace...myself and my faults, but also those around me.

to be wiser about who matters and who doesn't.
and when to say no.
and even more importantly, when to say yes.

to run headlong through this life, open and aware and alive.
basking in the unbearable lightness of being.

* with thanks to gillian, whose manifesto inspired and to kundera for the unbearable lightness of being, and also to me, for being open to change and a whole lot of other things.

be kind to yourself

reading a friend's facebook feed as she reported on the golden globes made me sad. she marveled at the glamour of the dresses and makeup, but actually said outright that it made her feel horrible about herself and her appearance. she's a gorgeous woman with no reason to allow some couture-clad hollywood starlet with stylist and make-up person to make her feel anything, let alone ugly or unworthy. of course those people look awesome as they walk up the red carpet. it's their job to do so.

women. why do we do this to ourselves? we are so hard on ourselves (and on each other for that matter). envy rears its ugly head and leaves us feeling shattered and insecure. what is it that keeps us from resting in ourselves, content with who we are and where we are? and why can't we see another beautiful woman without being consumed with envy and self-loathing? honestly, people, men don't do this to themselves or one another. and it's time we stopped too.

i say we practice being a little kinder to ourselves and the women around us this week. it's about time.

happy monday!

monday ephemera

you know what can totally make your monday? when someone starts it off by saying, "if you tell me to jump, i'll say how high." in fact, i think that's set the tone for my whole week - it's going to be a good one.

gold's curio store, sante fe

wouldn't you like to visit this place?
perhaps take in the monster show?

colorado, a pioneer merchant

this photo makes me think you don't have to have everything perfectly in order to be able to get started. you should just jump right in.
that's another motto for my week.

 these photos are from this fascinating collection of images of america from 1897 to 1924 by the detroit photographic company.

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last week, the voynich manuscript, this week, the book of kells.

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if you really love words and writing and even reading, read this.  

it will make you want to wake your verbs right up.

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the h boards on pinterest: hairy, halloween, helleristning, homesteading, house ideas (this was one of my first boards on pinterest), husband could make this (a personal favorite).

monday enthusiasm

i often wake up on monday morning, full of energy, ready to face the week head on. it generally helps if there is sunshine. but monday mornings, i am full of ideas and full of enthusiasm. i always make a list for the week. oddly, i seldom refer to it as the week progresses, but i do often complete the majority of the items on it - somehow the act of making the list hones my focus. and odin knows i need that.

i think my reading of crossing the unknown sea has me feeling especially empowered and enthusiastic this morning. the book is a deep philosophical musing on the nature of work and how it shapes our identity.  i think the writer i can most compare david whyte to is alain de botton and his musings on architecture and travel. his words leave me fortified and feeling brave.

"whenever we attempt something difficult there is always a sense that we have to wake some giant slumbering inside ourselves, some greater force as yet hidden from us. we look for better work by first looking for a better image of ourselves. we stir this inner giant to life in order to find the strength to live out the life we want for ourselves." 

"to wake the giant inside ourselves, we have to be faithful to our own eccentric nature and bring it out into conversation with the world." 

i mentioned this book the other day and how i felt i picked it up at precisely the time i needed the words contained within, and then whyte said that himself, "a time when paths cross at exactly the moment when both writer and reader are ready to know something of the territory through which they have passed and a glimpse of the unknown future which might lie ahead." 

on a sunny monday morning, i feel an incredible impatience and unbearable exuberance for whatever that unknown future holds. and the strength and the will to shape it myself.

skipping through my mind

distant friends.
fragments of ideas.
snippets of information.
snatches of inspiration.
questions, always questions.

beginning to make things again.

experimenting with photos and transfer glue and wax from our beehives.

why is making such a fleeting thing?

i feel it drift from me, just out of reach.

and then it drifts back.

i wonder how to make it stay?

pink and blue morning skies.
pink and blue felted stones.
we learned how to make them here.
ours are kind of lumpy and rather large.
but i learned a lot about wool quality.
no more cheap roving from the dollar store,
no matter how pretty the colors may be.
probably going to need some sheep.

monday loves

candles in the windowsill on a grey and rainy day.
a book that reminds me of the importance of being deep.

new pages in an old art journal.
writing in library books.
cozy new socks.

a fresh to-do list.

and a fresh week in which to accomplish it.

an abundance of raspberries from the garden.

the new j. peterman owner's manual.

unexpected sources of reason.
and some not so unexpected, but amusing nonetheless, mostly for the swearing.

happy monday, one and all.

monday has a bad reputation

people say bad stuff about mondays, but honestly, despite torrential rain, hydroplaning my way home, my business partner referring to me as margaret thatcher (due to my sleeping only three hours) and the possible loss (due to my absent-mindedly leaving it somewhere) of my nikon D300, i had a great monday.

the rain is over and the sun has come out. it's gorgeous and glistening outside.

here's hoping your monday was awesome too.

hello monday!

hello monday! so happy to see you! 

i know you're going to be the start of a very good week.

monday fizzies

you must go see what happened on the roaming gnome's first day in denmark.

and stay tuned for what happens next.

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speaking of happening, there seems to be a lot happening in ePublishing.

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speaking of self-published books - check out this delightful bobbaloo book by my friend pia!

bobbaloos, food, cake and coffee - what's not to like?

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have you noticed that if you sneak up on firefox, it freezes?

and by sneak up on it, i mean flip to it from another program, like iPhoto.

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loving this awesome idea.

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looking through my 365 tumblr makes me happy.

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here's hoping your monday was fizzy too...

eggcellent monday

you know it's going to be a good day when it begins with one perfect egg, still warm from the chicken.

the start of a great week

when you wake up with a cheerful morning song in your head that reminds you of someone who makes you laugh...

and husband brings you a vibrant and friendly new snail to use as a canvas...

and that snail keeps exploring while you paint it...

...bright like a rainbow...

you know it's going to be a great week.

happy monday, one and all.

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the sun is shining today, can you tell?