Waiting for Santa

Waiting For Santa

Peanut

Norman

The Other Reindeer

"Waiting for Santa", "Norman", "Peanut", "The Other Reindeer" - mixed media on cradled wood panel, each 12" x 6" x 1.5".  Ready to hang.  Available at The Salty Teacup.

In a wild pivot from Monday's painting, here's a little whimsy from the studio as the holiday season begins (already?) and sleigh bells echo in the distance.  These cuties are heading to The Salty Teacup in St. Johns to join in the good shenanigans which are a daily activity there. :)  

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I've spent more than a year with Mark Nepo's The One Life We're Given.  It's not that I'm a slow reader (I'm a known book gobbler), but this one is so densely packed with things my heart knows that it is almost too much to read.  I have cried onto the heavily underlined pages until the ink smeared.  I have dog-eared the edges and broken the spine. I have smiled into its folds.  It is my dear old friend. 

The next several posts will be the last from this book.  Fortunately, the universe plunked a couple new books in my lap to attempt replacement.  It will be hard to beat.
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"​When the tangle of the daily has us forget how precious life is, we tend to keep what matters from what needs to be done.  Somewhere in the press of our day, in the press of a conflict that we won't let go of, in the press of a fear that makes us forget the deeper order of things - suddenly there's this shift and we make what matters a reward for getting to the end of trouble.  But trouble never ends.  It comes and goes like clouds.  That is why what matters needs to come first." (Nepo)

I wonder if Mark Nepo knows how often he slaps me in the head with his words.

Recently, I've begun to reverse the priority of things.  What matters comes first.  The "tangle of the daily" comes after.  You might be wondering what this looks like....an often empty refrigerator, a pile of ironing waiting for attention, a hike before working, a snuggle before errands, chowder with my sister before art deadlines, a long phone call with a dear one instead of sleep, painting past meal times, porch sitting in the sun.  You get the idea.   The resulting mind shift is flabbergasting.  True, I don't get as much stuff done.  The old stuff, that is.  Instead, I get this other stuff, the stuff that matters, fully completed and stuffed in my joy pockets until the task list isn't even on my mind.  

For you, dear reader, this might be easy and done every day.  For me, the one who always focused on "getting to the end of trouble" before sitting in the preciousness of life, this is monumental.   I'll stay here awhile.  You know where to find me. :)
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