bella beads

another remarkable Utah sunset

unique road signs

“It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are.” - Emma Watson

“I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were fine ladies instead of rational creatures. None of us want to be in calm waters all our lives.”
― Jane Austen, Persuasion

“A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.”
― Gloria Steinhem

“No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body.”
― Margaret Sanger

needing pink on a sunny, breezy day

roses in Vienna's Volksgarten, June 2013

needing pink on grey, snowy day

Poetzleinsdorfer Schloss Park in Vienna, May 2013

resistance is futile

Last weekend I popped into a Joann Fabrics that is said to be their largest store in the state of Utah.  Having read that the cutting counter line can be brutally long, I ventured out early.  Spoiled for choice doesn't begin to describe it.  I brought home these lovelies, and visions of pretty things danced in my head.     

snail mail

Sending and receiving handwritten letters and postcards is one of my greatest pleasures in life.  Who doesn't love opening their mailbox to find a friend has taken the time to pick out some stationery and send a longhand update on their life?  If you're anything like me, you enjoy writing just as much as reading, and you've got plenty of note cards and papers to do so.  Okay, maybe way past plenty - as in a stockpile.  Or a hoard.  A cache?

Eternally relevant

The words and actions of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the innumerable others who worked so hard alongside him to change this country are, to me, the standard of what sacrifice, integrity, and strength can attain.  The wisdom he gave the world is timeless, applicable to cultures and countries all over the globe.  If only we could say that what he envisaged - true equality, a world focused on giving, kindness, respect, and knowledge, a world free of war - was the norm.  I remain hopeful that the future he dreamed as possible will come to pass, for everyone's sake.

cows and wintry landscapes

“I must have flowers, always, and always.” ― Claude Monet

options

sometimes the bigger question is which necklace to wear rather than what pants to put on

rain, snow, sunshine, what have you

Awake since 5:30.  I've seen rain, snow, and now sunshine.  We may experience a thunderstorm later today.  Life in the desert during winter sure can be interesting.  Today is the type of day where hot cups of tea, reading, playing in the craft room, and some small measure of comfort food are in order.  

the view through our living room window this morning

books, tea, a quilt, and some soup = a perfect winter day in my house

wish it. dream it. do it.

There are lots of little decorative bowls and plates around our home.  In most of them you'll find heart shaped rocks, driftwood, small stones, acorns, dried leaves, feathers, seed pods, bark, rusty keys, tufts of bison fur, or more.  Bits and pieces found along the way.  I'm a meanderer.  I look up, down, and all around when I walk.  Seemingly everything catches my eye which is how I end up with pocketsful of debris and scads of photos.  Not everything comes home with me, much to Tim's relief.  Most of what does ends up in these bowls and plates.  On the reverse of the metal flower above are the brief sentences "wish it.  dream it.  do it."  Words to live by, I believe.

all things Yellowstone

Tim bought this tea cup and saucer for my birthday in November.  It's a 1950s souvenir he found on an antiques dealer's website.  It came all the way from Michigan intact and has become part of our Yellowstone memorabilia that includes plates, paintings, postcards both vintage and new, books, and framed prints.  The park is always present in my thoughts.  I don't need things to remind me of the fun times, hours spent enjoying the outdoors, or amazing people I've met there over the years, but I do take pleasure in our collection.  And I savor those finds that come unexpectedly (especially when they're cheap!). 

  

the heart is an unquiet house

Helianthus

Missing Montana today (okay....more like every day)

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag

batches of patches from my collection

cinta, ribbon, fjongo, ruban, ribín, rhuban, borði

stouthearted

People often give me journals as gifts.  I have loads of them on a bookshelf.  Some are chock full of my handwritten thoughts & musings along with magazine clippings, postcards, scraps of scribbled on paper, notes from Tim, poems I enjoy, and old letters.  A few are mostly empty pages, only the first third or so filled with my contemplations.  Others are wholly blank slates, even those I've owned for years and toted from place to place, home to home.  I suppose they are patiently waiting to be made useful.  

Sometimes I think about burning the oldest ones or the journals seemingly full of more bad than good.  I especially consider ridding myself of those that aren't truly reflective or useful in documenting my past.  But I don't.  So they're all still there.  Collecting dust, occasionally getting picked off the shelf to be looked through.  That's where I found this:

One cannot dwell in darkness and be mired in self-doubt while waiting to blossom.  It's not possible.  One has to step into the light and be seen.  Be vulnerable.  Be truthful.  Be brave.  Be honest.  And, above all, embrace the beauty & individualism that makes one unique.

Now I know this isn't a one-off thread or a particularly profound set of words strung together, but it kind of smacked me in the chest when I found it.  My guess is that I needed those words exactly right now.  While it might seem small to some, sharing them feels a little brave and a little vulnerable.  But it's a new year, and I've no interest in making 2017 a time where I shrink from being either of those things.  

Enough said