I love walking through my garden several times a day. The Spring bulbs I planted in Autumn are beginning to bloom. This beautiful scilla, captured a bit of the blue sky in it’s blossoms. I decided it was pretty enough to be part of Cee’s Flower of the Day.
I had a surprise when I downloaded the photograph and spied a small insect of some type on the underside of the the Scilla leaf. Do you see it to the left of the uppermost bloom? It appears to be a sweat bee, ready to begin searching for pollen and nectar.
Why would this thrill me? I felt like it was sent from God to give my spirit a lift. You see, when I paint a floral watercolor, I always include a small inchworm somewhere in my painting. The sweat bee felt like God calling my attention to his artwork, and reminding me to stop all the never-ending upkeep of house and garden, and nurture myself a bit and paint.
It’s that time of year! Pussy Willow branches are available in the supermarket. This year the catkins were fully emerged when I bought them. Hooray! In past years they have been tightly covered and I’ve had to help the furry little catkins emerge by hand.
I must have come upon the branches soon after they were delivered to the store. When I cut the ends I saw that further up the branch there was still a touch of green, a good sign that the branches might root and continue to grow for weeks.
Pussy Willows in January make me smile and banish the winter blues! They help nurture me through the long winter days. This post is part of Nurturing Thursday.
Colds and Coughs are not the C-words you want to experience at Christmas. At this time of year we need to cultivate a bit of contentedness, rather than pushing through responsibilities, and even the fun times, oblivious to our own needs.
City Sonnet’s December Photo a Day Challenge is Start with C. Comfort is the c-word I’m hoping to bring to a loved one through Frankincense essential oil. He has come down with a cold during the busiest time of the year. I’m hoping to ease his stuffy nose with hot water and a few drops of Frankincense in a diffuser near the chair he is resting in. I was surprised to find this 100% pure essential oil available in my local drugstore. Frankincense packaged for aromatherapy is not to be taken internally. The fragrance reminds me a bit of Tea Tree Oil, another great choice for clogged sinuses.
“Frankincense is particularly effective if you’re dealing with a terrible cough, or any type of respiratory infection, for that matter. Breathing in frankincense essential oil (via a diffuser or hot steam) will help break up the mucus in your lungs, while simultaneously acting as an anti-inflammatory for your nasal passages.” ~ Elite Daily/Six essential oils for colds
My choice to use Frankincense is timely, a perfect reminder of the one of the gifts that the Magi brought to Jesus. This post and photo are part of the #timesquarechallenge hosted by The Life of B.
Another way to boost your mood on this Nurturing Thursday is to take a few moments to listen to good music. This, That and the Other’s 30 Day Song Challenge topic is A Song you Like from the 70’s’. I posted Aspenglow last year as a favorite, and I’m once again posting it. The beginning chime effect, John Denver’s voice, and the beautiful lyrics always have a calming effect on my inner spirit. Enjoy!
Another way to relax is to sit down and watch an old movie. Frankincense reminds me of one of the brother’s names in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, one of my favorites. Here’s the amazing Howard Keel singing about his future bride. This 1954 movie is a classic.
I’ve already been playing Christmas music and loving every minute of it. One of my very favorite CD’s is ‘A Walton’s Christmas – Together Again.’ This CD was given to me by my sister many years ago. Not only is it a perfect choice for Nurturing Thursday, the music and show are also an excellent selection for Throwback Thursday. It’s easy to see how well-loved and played the CD has been over the years by the battered state of the case. If like me, you are immediately uplifted by the opening chords of this song, enjoy listening to the Youtube video below. If you have never seen ‘The Waltons,’ try and find these reruns on your cable channels for enjoyable Christmas nostalgia.
I’m easy to please. I love stones…rocks…pebbles and consider them treasures. If I see one with promise I will pick it up. I once spent a week on Block Island beaches searching for hearts of stone. You can see the resultant video at the bottom of this post. I’ve shared it before, but as is the case with many posts, it is buried way back in the blog archives.
Have you ever attended a craft show and been entranced by a large bowl of polished stones? I love these stones and have bought them in the past always wishing I could polish stones too. Now, thanks to a rock polisher given to me by one of my sons on my 60th birthday, I polish my own. The stones in the photograph were collected from a creek near my home, Atlantic Ocean beaches, the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, and Cape May’s Diamond Beach.
It took me a few tumbles to figure out how to process the rocks, and every attempt was worth the finished products. They are not without flaws, the prettiest ones are hardest to get smooth as their stripes and mottled appearance means they have different levels of hardness within the stone. The flaws don’t bother me, I’m going to dab them with a bit of polish and consider them finished. Tumbling and polishing stones is one of the ways I nurture myself. My stones seem a perfect fit for the Nurturing Thursday Challenge hosted by Becca at ‘On Dragonfly Wings with Buttercup Tea.‘ It’s never too late to start a hobby you’ve always wanted to try to nurture yourself every now and then.
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” ~ C.S. Lewis
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 