The Late, Great Pete Seeger

I grew up on folk songs.  I loved their message of hopefulness and their fearless pointing out of changes needed.  It didn't hurt that many songs were perfect for a neophyte guitar player.  So I discovered Pete Seeger early on and never stopped listening. 

Thanks, Pete, for "Where Have All The Young Girls Gone" and "If I Had A Hammer" and "Turn, Turn, Turn."  Thanks for taking a stand when you felt it was necessary.  Thanks for inspiring us and guiding us ever so gently to the "love between our brothers and our sisters all over this land."



 

Pete Seeger once said, "The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known."   His gentle soul will be missed but never, ever forgotten.  Requiem in pacem.

Be (INSPIRE)d,
 

My Guideposts -- Week99

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, 

concentrate the mind on the present moment.  

~Buddha

Be (INSPIRE)d,

 

Making a Chalkboard Printable--Success!

Not bad for my first try at chalkboard art (digital rather than actual).  It was so easy and fun that I know this Valentine's Day quote won't be the only time I create a virtual blackboard. Ideas are churning around in my brain--so many holidays, so many fonts, so many quotes--I'm in heaven!

Yep, I'm chalking another successful craft up to Pinterest!  That's where I found the link to Angela at atypicalenglishhome.  She has a nice tutorial and a helpful selection of fonts--best of all, she had the blackboard image to download that made it possible.

  Be (INSPIRE)d,

 

MLK

Rather than treating Monday as just a welcome extra day to the weekend, I thought I'd look up some quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.  I found a few lesser-known ones that resonated with me:

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. 

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

It's always heart-warming to watch the kindergartners reactions to the MLK biography we always read to them.  Through their eyes I've come to understand that love and empathy are innate; it's hatred and intolerance that are learned. 

Be (INSPIRE)d,
 

My Guideposts - Week98

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. 

 ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Be (INSPIRE)d,

 

My Guideposts--Week 97

Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason why it will. 

~Unknown

Let's just say the Guideposts were on hiatus.  I'm ready to focus on a specific goal each week again in this year's quest to Be(INSPIRE)d.
 

Reflections on Blogging in 2013

Thirty-three posts in 2013 isn't bad.

It's not great but it's much better than 2012 when my sweetie's health and chemo weekends occupied my time and energy and many posts were just my weekly guidepost quote.  Can I just say how grateful I am for clear CAT scans and minimal doctor visits?!  To relax into "normal" without that constant worry is a huge gift that I'm enjoying while I can.  I was nervously productive in waiting rooms and chemo suites--you should see how many yoyo's I sewed and the embroidery I stitched--but the joy wasn't there so I never blogged about any of it.

My non-blogging excuses in 2013 revolved around a malfunctioning camera; no one wants to see blurry photos.  Thankfully another camera appeared into my life (I apparently can't write without a photo to inspire me).  Since I killed the first camera by taking it to a foggy, windy, sandy beach you might think that Camera Numero Dos would be carefully shielded from the elements.  Heh, heh--maybe not. I took it with me last week so I could take photos of the grands on a winter beach.

Now I'm getting error message 6120 and soon will be delving into the mysteries of digital camera mechanics.  The photo above was totally worth it though!  Even though the camera whirs before giving me access and the lens cap only half works, it focuses.  I can live with that. 

 

I've done the SLR thing with a film camera and I'd rather not haul anything bulky so no expensive DSLR's are in my future. I'm happy with my simple cell to no smartphones either.  Point-and-shoots suit me.  And my almost-fully-functional camera will keep me blogging.

I've noticed that many bloggers have dropped off the blogoscope in the past couple years.  Have you seen that too or is it only my imagination? I know that as I read the "big bloggers" with their daily posts and amazing projects I get a little discouraged sometimes.  I can't compete with their readership or productivity.

Maybe you feel the same way, but you know what?  Most of them have good ideas but they don't feel like friends. You do.  I miss catching up regularly with my cherished online friends as they paint, build, re-arrange, glue gun, plant, harvest, decorate and share their lives.  I enjoy your comments and love to comment on your doings too.  It's a dialogue that just doesn't happen with mega-bloggers, as least for me.

Let's think of ourselves as filling a niche!  The friendship/inspiration/encouragement niche--it's far more important to me than catching up on the latest decorating trends.  Keep on blogging so I can keep on reading and commenting and loving you from afar.

I confesss that I've lagged in the blogging department because I'm so far behind the decorating curve that I feel out of it.  My style will never see me willingly live with a stainless steel fridge or paint one single thing in my house gray or decorate with chevrons.  Also, I lived through mid-century modern once and once was enough.  I like colorful interiors with plenty of art and furniture that tells a story.  I like cottage and country and flowers.  I might just be a few decades ahead of the latest trends in my hopeless enjoyment of unpainted oak, white appliances and brass.  I'm grateful that there are a few others out there who love the same cheery things I do. And happy some friends are showing me how to embrace just enough change and challenge myself.

Facebook and Pinterest have vacuumed up some of our precious blogging time.  It's soooo easy to make a short  Facebook entry to let family know what I'm doing.  I spend time on Pinterest regularly, but it's been solid inspiration rather than pipedreams.  I have a slew of projects that came right from my boards.  Finished projects, people!   

As I wrote this, I figured I should logically add a Pinterest button.  Now you can peek at my boards! 'Cause I figured out how to add one to my homepage...all by myself.  I totally rock.


There were twenty-three drafts in 2013 (as oppposed to forty-eight in 2012!) that never saw the light of a computer monitor. Subjects ranging from Mr. Roger's birthday to the truth about chickens.  No loss.

But there's a how-to draft showing my ever-improving velvet pumpkin skills.  A draft featuring a colorful new guest room quilt--my first quilt made for an actual bed (not a picnic or a wall hanging or a holiday pillow).  Also, helping to make my niece's dream wedding a reality was a highlight and I've barely shared it.  Especially since it sparked a long-dormant dream into the planning stages of creative and hopefully lucrative fun.  I definitely must turn some of the drafts into published posts.

So there you have it.  Looking back at what I did right--and what I could have done better--always helps me make my fresh starts more productive.  I really want to live my mantra for this year!

Be (INSPIRE)d,