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.