Sunday, July 29, 2012

Garden In Progress: June & July

Garden shed in morning light


I have admitted here before that I am a recovering perfectionist. When I call myself that I don't mean that I used to do everything perfectly and now I don't. What I am talking about is my attachment to perfection and how that used to, and sometimes still does, keep me from achieving or even attempting to achieve my goals.

Take my garden for instance. The record breaking high temperatures and my other projects have not allowed me the time I would like to spend working on my garden right now. This means there are more weeds than I would like and a few other issues that can't be solved in one day. The perfectionist part of me is appalled by this, she feels that if we can't remedy the whole situation immediately and have a perfect garden, we might as well throw in the towel. Then there is this other part of me; this patient and confident presence that I like to call the muse of progress.

The muse of progress reminds me that if I just spend a little time each morning tending to my garden that my flowers will still bloom and my projects will eventually get done. She isn't blind to all the work ahead of me, but she helps me focus on just one tiny bit at a time and it is amazing to see how all those tiny bits slowly build up, well on their way to becoming huge accomplishments.

So here once again are some photos of the perfection in progress that is my garden.

Garden in late June

Summer Blooms

Cone Flowers (Echinacea)

Zinnias

Some friendly Fairy advice
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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Slave To The Should?


I admire Painters (capital P intentional). Among my favorite muses are people who really dedicated themselves to the single act of painting on a regular, if not daily basis. People like Georgia O'Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and many others who made capturing and creating something on canvas and all that entailed the central focus of their life. For much of my life I have looked to these shining examples as role models and aspired to be like them. What I have learned, however, is that I am not like them. This revelation has bothered me in the past but I have recently come to accept it and believe I am on my way to embracing it.

This doesn't mean I am giving up painting. It is still one of my favorite things to do ever but it is not the only thing I do and though I go through phases where I paint a lot, it is not always the focus of my life. I used to think this was because I lacked discipline or dedication but then I had an interesting conversation with my muse that made me look at things a little differently.

I have been doing a lot of projects around the house lately, such as the garden shed in my last post and a bathroom renovation I hope to complete and tell you about soon. It is very demanding work that has left me little time to do much else. I have had to let some other tasks go temporarily and I am fortunate that my lifestyle is flexible enough to allow me to do this. Still, I kept hearing this voice in my head that told me I SHOULD be painting. I thought this voice belonged to my muse but when I finally confronted her about it she was extremely insulted.

“Let me tell you something once and for all,” she began indignantly with her hands on her hips, “my voice is not the one that tells you that you SHOULD do something, my voice is the one that says you HAVE TO do it and because you know what's good for you, you have always heeded it.”

“Really?” I asked, wondering which one of us was delusional. Had I not been rebelling against her all this time?

“Really.” She confirmed, triumphantly gesturing to the newly tiled and painted bathroom we were standing in, “Who do you think got you to do all this?”

I thought back to the insane amount of hard work I had done over the last few weeks and why and realized it was true. She isn't the voice in my head telling me I should do things that I'm not doing. She is the one who plants the images in my head, the visions that haunt me until I have no choice but to realize them any way I can.

“So who keeps telling me I should be painting?” I wondered.

“Obviously someone with a lot less knowledge and wisdom than I have.” She replied with her usual confidence. “I wouldn't listen to them at all.”

And then she blinked out of sight. 

I found that very annoying but then I looked around at my bathroom that was starting to come together and I had to admit that woman knows what she is doing. I, however, am not the rebel I once thought I was, not because I have been doing my muse's bidding even more than I realized, but because I allowed that other voice, that “should” voice, to boss me around for far too long. I think I am done with that.

So, maybe I'm not going to be a Painter but that's okay, I already have a job, remember? It's called being a “Slave To The Muse” and it turns out that I'm actually pretty good at it.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

You can now follow my blog on Bloglovin.  Just click the above link to get started.
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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Big Dreams, Little Garden Shed


Browse Zazzle for a different pillow.

As a recovering perfectionist, I am the first to admit that sometimes I try to do too much.  However, sometimes when I lack motivation to perform a certain task or achieve a certain goal, it isn't because I am dreaming too big but because I am not dreaming big enough. 

Take my garden shed for example.  Once upon a time it looked like this:

My Garden Shed Before

Then, one day, evil fairies descended upon it and made it look like this:

My Garden Shed after Evil Fairy Attack

Okay, so maybe it wasn't the work of evil fairies.  Nevertheless it was a disorganized mess and I vowed I would clean it up and restore it to it's former perfectly adequate, even semi-charming state before Spring...in early Spring...definitely before Summer...but every time I opened the door to that shed I just felt deflated. 

Then, one day I was looking at some pretty fabric at Hobby Lobby and the light bulb over my head came on and the wheels in my head started turning and my muse started singing "The Impossible Dream" and I knew what I had to do.

And now my little garden shed looks like this:

My Garden Shed after I dreamed big



I'm really happy with how it all turned out and now I have a space  that is so much more useful, organized and cheerful than I ever thought it could be.  Not only that but by re-purposing some items and materials I already had, I was also able to get rid of some clutter in other parts of my home and garage.


This used to be a medicine cabinet in our former house,
Now it holds garden supplies.
In fact, practically my only expenses for this project were that of paint and fabric.  Though I did splurge a little on the pink bird cages.  I saw them after I had completed everything else and they were so perfect (and 50% off) that I couldn't resist.  I turned them both into light fixtures by adding a couple of battery operated LED lights.

Bird Cage Lights, by day and by dusk

So, there you have it.  All kinds of proof that the key to thwarting evil fairies (and just plain laziness) is to dream big.  I need to remember that as I move on to sprucing up my master bathroom.


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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Best Cat Dad Ever!

Best Cat Dad Ever T-shirts
Best Cat Dad Ever T-shirts by Victoreeah
Check out Spoiled T-Shirts online at zazzle

If you read my profile here, you will see that I am a (not crazy) cat lady. I specify “not crazy” because I am not fond of the term “crazy cat lady”, especially when it is used loosely or in jest. I know there are extreme cases where the title is warranted but I think compassion for animals in general is one of the most sane traits a human being can possess and should be respected. In fact, it is the people who don't love animals whose sanity I question.

Lucky for me, Hippie is a cat guy. He is just as much to blame as I am that we have taken in as many cats as we have over the years and he has always been as devoted, if not more, to their care and well being as I am. He has never once suggested that I was crazy for spoiling our “kids” with treats or toys or their own furniture and throw pillows. It seems perfectly sane to him that at times doing the right thing for our pets requires that we both make personal sacrifices. He may not express it as openly as I do, but he loves them as much as I do and they love him, some of them a little more than they love me (and who can blame them).

So, even though we don't have any human children, we will most definitely be celebrating Father's Day this year to honor my favorite (not crazy) cat dude and the Best Cat Dad Ever!

From The Cats Father's Day Card
From The Cats Father's Day Card by Victoreeah
Shop for Spoiled rotten cats Cards online at Zazzle.com


Spoiled Rotten Cats T-Shirt
Spoiled Rotten Cats T-Shirt by Victoreeah
Design a photo t-shirt online at zazzle.com

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Garden In Progress: May



Garden Blessing

I would really love to blog about something other than gardening but that is all I seem to be doing lately. You'd think my muse would be jealous but she seems to like the fact that I am a captive audience to her when I am in the garden. While I am toiling away weeding or planting she likes to rattle on about all the other creative projects I can do when I am done. If only she would pipe down and grab a shovel, I might actually have the time and energy to complete those things too.

Needless to say I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed. So today I decided to take a little time to change my perspective; to pull back the lens and see the bigger picture, to zoom in on what I have accomplished rather than on all that needs to be done, to focus on the blooms instead of the weeds.

I hope you enjoy these photos of the work in progress that is my garden.

In Bloom: Purple Spirea and Ballerina Roses

pops of color in a sea of green

Early bloomers

Garden overflowing

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Friday, May 4, 2012

Gardening With Claude & Frank

  
A few years ago, around the time when I first realized just how much work my yard and garden was going to be, Hippie and I watched the BBC mini series, “The Impressionists”. I enjoyed it very much and it renewed my interest in the impressionist painters, especially Claude Monet and the paintings he did of his garden in Giverny, France.

Shortly after that I was in my garden wrestling with some overgrown vine from hell when I realized I wasn't alone. Good old Claude was with me, encouraging me to put down my gardening tools and look up at the yellow irises that were glowing in the afternoon sun. From then on, Claude would accompany me on my gardening rounds and he taught me how to look at a garden as a work of art. He made me take notice of the dance of color, light and shadow that surrounded me and how it changed from minute to minute, hour to hour. He instilled in me an inner vision of what my garden could be and helped me see the work ahead of me as a creative process instead of mere drudgery.

I will always be grateful to Monsieur Monet for this but after awhile I started to notice the differences between us. Yes, I admit I was jealous that he was a much more successful artist than I am and could afford to hire people to help him achieve his artistic vision in the garden while I had to do all the work myself. Then there was the long distance thing, his garden was in the North of France and mine was here in the Midwest of the U.S.A.  Something had to give.

I must confess that eventually I found myself turning to someone else. Someone who was more low maintenance (at least his gardening philosophies were), who understood where I was at. His name was Frank Lloyd Wright. You may know him more as an architect but he was also an ingenious landscape designer. Frank was there for me when I needed to find a way to integrate my garden with my lifestyle. He helped me to see that I could work with nature to create not just a work of art but also a way of life that was in harmony with my environment.

Of course Mr. Wright and I didn't always agree on everything either and these days I feel that I am beginning to develop my own gardening vision and philosophies. Yet both Claude and Frank still visit me in my garden and remain among my most trusted mentors and muses.

Irises zazzle_print
Irises by time2see
Browse for more artwork prints
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