Balm

Even as chronic illness lessens in ferocity, the remaining daily impact is wearing.

What balm there is in little things, like sunshine on skin, reading outdoors in January, quietly talking with the Father on a slow walk...

...and an evening of creating greeting cards out of scraps.

Begonias on a Winter Day

Watercolor Play: Fragrant Cloud Rose

Watercolor play from last Sunday.

Original rose photo from last autumn.

Making Friends

Landscapes and I aren't best friends, though I'd like them to be. Even so I can tell we are getting along a little better than a year ago when I made my first two attempts at painting this local prairie scene.

(Pictured newest to oldest.)

 

Hannah's Birthday Celebrations

I love birthdays. Showing the special one how special they really are. Breaking out the beautiful dishes. Cake. Specially selected gifts. A clean and festive house.

Equal in my affection for birthdays is the day after when we take a little extra rest, enjoy the gifts (watercolor supplies for Hannah this year), and have a night off from cooking while we eat a most delicious birthday-meal-round-two complete with cake, ice cream, and of course, quality black tea.

Happy Birthday, dear sister!

A Happy Break

Things I love:

- hand made lace

- pretty pins

- organic cotton pillow cases

- combining all of the above into a restful break from the ever pressing treatments and tasks of the day

02 MAY, 2021

- Online church with Hannah on our deck (multiple chemical sensitivities)

- Nature journaling wild plum blossoms

- 1.5 mile walk

- Allergy symptoms galore, including an all day, low grade fever (Where did all the energy come to do the above? A rare, special gift from my Father.)

Joseph Was Here

12/20/20

Celebrating Thirty-Five Years

Egg and grain free carrot cake

Sisters...

Maren (behind the camera), Hannah (right), me/the 35 year old (left)

July 28: Sand and Water Baby

Sunday Projects: Sketching Succulents and Crocheting Lace

 

Praire Drive

While Dad and Mom were vacationing in the Black Hills of South Dakota recently, Hannah and I were holding down the fort, catching up on some neglected to-do lists, and enjoying lots of audio book listening. To get a break from our tasks, we took a prairie drive one afternoon. Here are views a few miles from home.

Waterfowl production area

Straw bales with sprouting wheat

Ancient and highly attractive combine 

July 4: Independence Day

We had a smaller crowd at our annual lake celebration this year due to COVID-19, though a growing immediate family (aunts, uncles, cousins, cousin's children) makes for quite a crowd, even when several families are missing.

Joseph thoroughly enjoyed his first swim.

A Bouquet of Gladiolus

While Karen has provided an assortment of bouquets for church over the years, her lilac bouquet in spring and gladiolus arrangements come summer stand out in my memory for their impressive beauty. It has been a good while, thanks to multiple chemical sensitivities, since Hannah and I have been able to enjoy the bouquets at church, but Karen has been good at remembering us.  One Sunday in July she sent the first gladiolus bouquet home for Hannah and me. Considering that this year's storms have hit her plants hard, likely ruining much of her colorful crop, we feel well loved to receive them.

Palette Cleaning

Sky Over Cornfield

One Bouquet, Two Interpretations

Sketch Journaling

Plant Sketches

A Lily

Hannah and I got out our paints and reference photos again last evening. I worked on various studies including the two below. The process of transferring what I see to paint and paper still challenges and thrills me.

Value Study

Fast Study