THE COUNTDOWN IS ON

 As the clock started ticking as soon as the turkey carcass was bare....holiday season is really warming up now.

I'm busy each weekend from Friday thru Sunday at the Sawdust Festival's Winter Fantasy. And what a joyous time it is. Children come all dressed up for their pics with Santa, the marionette show delights young and old, music sounds throughout the grounds that are decorated for the holidays...and of course there are the artists selling their personal magic. This is something not to be missed if you're in town. It is a great way to let the holidays in.

THE MUSE, MARY AND ME

 The feet and eyes are for me the most difficult to get right. So it may take me just a bit longer to get this final piece ready for Sawdust Art Festival's Winter Fantasy showing.

Meanwhile, I will continue to look for inspiration and solace in my muse and poet Mary Oliver.

Crisp mornings of sunshine or fog filled with birdsong...aren't we fortunate? I ponder the question of what it might be like not to be able to have these things. What must that mean to someone's life/

And this brings me to poet Mary Oliver and the questions she poses in her poem Gratitude:

What did you notice?

What did you hear?

What did you admire?

What astonished you?

What would you like to see again?

What was most tender?

What was most wonderful?

What did you think was happening?

i wonder how answering these questions, no matter our circumstances, might be likely to bring us to a state of gratitude. So take a deep breath. Listen to the birds, Feel the sun on your shoulders. Enjoy the soft caress of a breeze. Smile at a stranger in passing. Ask yourself these questions from the poem and see if there is even a slight shift in your thinking. Hopefully, you will be brought to gratitude.

Let me know.