Thank you!

Here's to all of you, my dear blogging friends.  May your step over the threshold from 2009 to 2010 be one marked with connection, joy, perhaps some quiet reflection, and anticipation of a healthy and happy year for yourself and all those you hold dear. 

Since we cannot celebrate the arrival of 2010 together, I have tried to create a little virtual New Year's Eve 'party' for us right here.  So raise your glass of sparkling water, wine or champagne - enjoy the fireworks - and beware, I am about to embrace you in a big bear hug!  There.  [[[ !! ]]].  Did you feel it?  A friendly hug full of respect and appreciation  for all you have contributed to my life in 2009.

Once in a blue moon!

Could this be a sign of good things to come?  We will have a New Year's Eve this year that we see only 'once in a blue moon'!!  This will be the second full moon in December, 2009 and it will happen on the 31st.  It is called a 'blue moon' when there is more than one full moon in a given month.  I have posted a little article from NASA below, giving more details about these rare 'blue moons'.  Now don't expect the moon to actually be the color blue.  It will just be full, miraculous and shining down on YOU! 


Have a safe New Year's Eve and a healthy, happy new year. And do enjoy this 'once in a blue moon' event!

(Computer enhanced full blue moon. Credit: Space Fellowship - Rob Goldsmith)

Blue Moon on New Year's Eve 


New Year's Eve Party planners take note. For the first time in almost twenty years, there’s going to be a Blue Moon on New Year’s Eve.


“I remember the last time this happened,” says professor Philip Hiscock of the Dept. of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. “December 1990 ended with a Blue Moon, and many New Year’s Eve parties were themed by the event. It was a lot of fun.”


"Most months have only one full Moon. The 29.5-day cadence of the lunar cycle matches up almost perfectly with the 28- to 31-day length of calendar months. Indeed, the word "month" comes from "Moon." Occasionally, however, the one-to-one correspondence breaks down when two full Moons squeeze into a single month. Dec. 2009 is such a month. The first full Moon appeared on Dec. 2nd; the second, a "Blue Moon," will come on Dec. 31st.  This definition of Blue Moon is relatively new.

If you told a person in Shakespeare's day that something happens "once in a Blue Moon" they would attach no astronomical meaning to the statement. Blue moon simply meant rare or absurd, like making a date for the Twelfth of Never. "But meaning is a slippery substance," says Hiscock. "The phrase 'Blue Moon' has been around for more than 400 years, and during that time its meaning has shifted."

The modern definition sprang up in the 1940s. In those days, the Farmer's Almanac of Maine offered a definition of Blue Moon so convoluted that even professional astronomers struggled to understand it. It involved factors such as the ecclesiastical dates of Easter and Lent, and the timing of seasons according to the dynamical mean sun. Aiming to explain blue moons to the layman, Sky & Telescope published an article in 1946 entitled "Once in a Blue Moon." The author James Hugh Pruett cited the 1937 Maine almanac and opined that the "second [full moon] in a month, so I interpret it, is called Blue Moon."


That was not correct, but at least it could be understood. And thus the modern Blue Moon was born.

Blue moon has other connotations, too. In music, it's often a symbol of melancholy. According to one Elvis tune, it means "without a love of my own." On the bright side, he croons in another song, a simple kiss can turn a Blue Moon pure gold.

The modern astronomical Blue Moon occurs in some month every 2.5 years, on average. A Blue Moon falling precisely on Dec. 31st, however, is much more unusual. The last time it happened was in 1990, and the next time won't be until 2028.

So cue up that old Elvis record and "enjoy the extra moonlight on New Year's Eve," says Hiscock. "It only happens once in a Blue Moon."

Author: Dr. Tony Phillips;  Credit: Science@NASA

(Photograph Credit: Rob Schumacher, Associated Press)

seven blunders to avoid in 2010

"Seven Blunders of the World"

1. Wealth without work

2. Pleasure without conscience

3. Knowledge without character

4. Commerce without morality

5. Science without humanity

6. Worship without sacrifice

7. Politics without principle

—Mahatma Gandhi

We would do well to follow Gandhi's suggestions re blunders to avoid in 2010!

 

Mahatma Gandhi

peace

Wishing each and every one of my blogging friends a joyous, fulfilling 2010.  May humankind find its way, in the new year, to be kind to all life, including our dear living, breathing planet, Earth.


(Background courtesy of Jerry Jones at ShadowHouse Creations)

ahhh...another day of life

"Today I live in the quiet joyous expectation of good."

~ Ernest Holmes~

Is it just me?

This is how I have been spending my last two mornings - trying to move hundreds of photographs of my paintings from where they are currently stored, into Photoshop Elements 8.  Thousands of photographs are waiting to be transferred to their new Photoshop home as well.  I've been procrastinating about this chore for weeks.

Since I have never been technically, electronically or digitally adept (being more of a right-brain, creative type than a left-brain, logical one), I find I am somewhat challenged by even the basic steps.   Grrrrrhhhh.  I really have to exercise persistence and patience to manoeuvre my way through all the instructions, steps, terminology, missteps, oopsies, accidental deletions, etc. etc. 

Sitting here doing this sort of work forces my brain into areas it prefers to leave dormant.  I just want to paint!  I don't want to catalogue my paintings!  I just want to take marvelous photographs!  I don't want to sort them into catalogues, albums, sub-albums!  I don't want to have to assign tags or labels and certainly not captions!  My musculature tenses in silent rebellion.  This is not my 'default modus operandi'!  I am an 'artiste'!  (That's a joke, peeps.)  I think I have raised my blood pressure with my mental and physical resistance to all this left-brain cataloguing.  I will be able to handle editing.  That is so much more creative.  Why editing is enjoyable and fun.  Creating order, files, lists, catalogues, catagories, tags, labels IS NOT.

I even purchased a 600 page manual to accompany me through this dark and dingy, foreign territory.....but it seems to be the actual hands-on doing, failing and retrying that is getting me where I want to go.  This is probably a very good exercise for my recalcitrant, resistant self........to be forced to use areas of my brain that prefer to sleep.  But my ornery self will not go quietly and seems to need a break to whine and complain.  Thank you for listening.  I think I feel better now.  (Not!  I still have many more miles to travel dragging all my creative works to their new abide.) 

Yes, I'd rather be painting.  In fact, given the choice I'd rather clean a bathroom.  Oh, what a good idea - I must clean a bathroom right now.  Organization, order, files, albums, categories, frustration and boredom will have to wait.  I know I can find a toilet to clean.  And then another....and another.  Why didn't I think of that before?  There's nothing orderly or left-brain about toilet cleaning.  Why I can squirt liquids, swirl brushes, make bubbles, splash, flush,  dance around and sing.....It's almost as good as painting!

...consider these questions...

50 Questions to Jump-Start New Year's Reflections:


This is the time of year that some of us like to stop, reflect, take account, clarify what matters - and determine what no longer fits.....  Sometimes asking the right question nudges our habit-loving mind to see things in a new light.  Perhaps one or some of these questions may help you take a fresh look at your life.  Regardless, it is a fun exercise to kick off 2010.  Let me know which question tickles your fancy.  #21 and #27 tickled mine...today.  Who knows which ones I will be tickled by tomorrow!  (BTW, there are no right or wrong answers.  This exercise is for you to discover YOUR answers.  It could be fun to compare answers or perspectives with family or friends...but remember everyone has their own way of looking at things at this moment in time.)


1.How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?


2.Which is worse, failing or never trying?


3.If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?


4.When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?


5.What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?


6.If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?


7.Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?


8.If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?


9.To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?


10.Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?


11.You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?


12.If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?


13.Would you break the law to save a loved one?


14.Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?


15.What’s something you know you do differently than most people?


16.How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?


17.What one thing have you NOT done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?


18.Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?


19.If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?


20.Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?


21.Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?


22.Why are you, you?


23.Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?


24.Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?


25.What are you most grateful for?


26.Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?


27.Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?


28.Has your greatest fear ever come true?


29.Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?


30.What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?


31.At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?


32.If not now, then when?


33.If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?


34.Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?


35.Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?


36.Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?


37.If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?


38.Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?


39.Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?


40.When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?


41.If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?


42.Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?


43.What is the difference between being alive and truly living?


44.When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?


45.If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?


46.What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?


47.When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?


48.What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?


49.In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?


50.Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?

P.S.  Just had to share part of this comment from Wanda at Moments of Mine.  I think she has a fabulous idea and I intend to do the same with these 50 questions - could make for some interesting conversation, especially when with members of other generations.  Here is her comment:You express so many life improving thoughts here. Your post of "50 questions" will be asked of each other, in a game played by my family on New Year's Eve! Thank you for the list, Bonnie!

(Borrowed from Practical Tips for Productive Living by Marc and Angel Hack Life.  Found on StumbleUpon.com)

...gratitude...

Today, "Boxing Day" in North America, is my DH's birthday.  It's a sad thing to be born on the 26th of December.  ;-)   Everyone is exhausted from the previous day's festivities.  Everyone just wants a bit of time to appreciate all the connections, wishes, memories.....but at our house.....despite DH's fervent protests, we get to have a birthday party!!  And we make sure that it is a good one....as we do not want him overlooked in all the excitement about Christmas and the New Year. 

So tomorrow I will sit down and follow the suggestion above....but for now....I have a cake to make, a card to write and ANOTHER present to wrap, a birthday present!  Tomorrow I will savour all the sweet gestures received this Christmas season, including all the kind, inspiring, soulful connections made with you wonderful, amazing fellow bloggers.....for which I am truly grateful.  Today, however, I celebrate the birth of another sweet son of God.

... to the world ...

O Christmas Tree......

Merry Christmas Dear Friends

Winter Solstice Sunset, 2009

Before the shades are drawn this night

the light puts on a show;

Like yuletide gifts wrapped up tight 

and christened with a bow.

Before stars begin to shine this night

heaven's color palette spills,

With ribbons daring, bold and bright

cresting over every hill.

As light regains its foothold

and darkness gives up its claim,

Sun sends its beams to waiting skies

declaring "Beauty" as its name.

Before eyes take their rest,
this night of solstice skies,

They glimpse a lacy woodland frame

humming limen* lullabyes.

(Photography and poetry by Bonnie MacEwan-Zieman, 2009.  The poem underwent a little work and editing, while the photographs did not.  The colors are exactly as they appeared tonight, Winter Solstice, 2009.) 

(* The word 'limen' means threshold - the point of crossing over - the point where you leave old and enter new space; the adjective is 'liminal', as in liminal space - neither here nor there, but teeming with potential.)

Merry Christmas to You!

...making gifts with photographs...

Some of the gifts I am giving this year are 2010 calendars made with my photographs and artwork.  While the sites that help you do this (Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc.) have templates that facilitate the process, it is still up to you to choose the layout, design, backgrounds, fonts, paper colours and textures, number of images per page, accompanying text, and so on.  It takes a fair bit of time to design a photo book or calendar, and you also have to allow for the time it takes to download all the images you want to use onto their site before you can begin your design work.  I would rather, however, spend my time doing that than shopping in cookie-cutter, look-alike stores that we find in malls.  Mind you, I could not totally avoid mall shopping, but the days I was working at home designing calendars and photo books, I was much happier and stress free.  Internet shopping is often a less stressful way to shop....if you allow adequate time for delivery.

Above are a few of the new 2010 calendars with my photographs.

 

More calendars.  I designed some (already wrapped) using my children's photographs of trips (Spain, for example). and others with photographs of beloved children for their parents.  You can design gifts that are relevant, specific and unique for the recipients.  Occasionally an image that looked great in the design on the computer screen does not measure up in print, but it is rare.  For example, the bottom left image in the red grouping above does not compare to what I saw on the screen.  I guess it is to be expected.

Above are photo books that can be made in several sizes, but I like to use and give them as coffee table books, so these are the biggest size available at the site I use.  (The photo books are quite a bit more expensive than the calendars.)

You can design each page differently.  So above you see one picture on the right that takes up the entire page, whereas on the left the picture is smaller and framed in a border. You can add text to accompany your images if you so choose.

Again above there are more coffee table photo books.  If you look closely you will see that you can put smaller inserts of smaller images over others.  There are dozens of variations in design available.  I'm sure many of you are doing this already.  If so, I would love to hear what site you use and your experience with it.  I originally started with Snapfish but have worked more with Shutterfly of late.  Too many errors with Snapfish Canada, but I have heard that Snapfish in the States is very good.  Shutterfly has given me excellent quality and service.

Then all you have to do is decide what goes to whom, wrap and deliver them.

...a snowy, winter's eve...

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

~Robert Frost~

The two photographs above were taken on the same snowy eve as photographs that have appeared in recent posts.  While similar, they are not the same photographs.  Hope you enjoy these ones too. 

With a big storm coming up the eastern seaboard, and Christmas right around the corner, I'm sure there are many of us who feel like we have "miles to go" before we can sleep.  So many places to go, people to see, friends to host, cards to send, cookies to bake, stockings to fill and presents to wrap . . . . miles to go. . . .

Quotes from Copenhagen

One tradition observed at U.N. Climate Change Conferences is that representatives from each of 193 countries in attendance get to give a five minute speech about their country's concerns.  Here are some highlights of a few leaders' speeches: 

We face a daunting choice. The nightmare of humanity becoming the species that dies out just as a parasite does that devours its host. Or the dream of a humanity that rises to the challenge of cooperation and solidarity to create a new deal with our planet. -- George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece

Each and every one of us here will be judged….On how we as individual women and men gathered at this great conference have responded to the scientific reality of climate change. And whether we have responded in conscience to the indisputable facts that science has put before us. And history will be a harsh judge of us all. – Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia

Belize is a country blessed with the largest barrier reef in the Western Hemisphere…thousands of beautiful coral islands, and abundant mangrove, broadleaf and pine forests. Unfortunately, we are not able to list our natural riches merely to extol them. Rather, it is to lament their destruction; to testify to the havoc that is being wrought on our environment and on our people by anthropogenic climate change. -- Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize

Without common action extreme temperatures will create a new generation of poor with climate change refugees driven from their homes by drought, climate change evacuees fleeing the threat of drowning, the climate change hungry desperate for food. – Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

I thought Prime Minister Papandreou's analogy comparing humanity to a parasite that is devouring its host and thereby condemning itself to die with it, was particularly apt and disturbing.  I also like how he urged the world to make a new deal with the planet.  How about a deal to treat it with love and respect?  Can these 'leaders' ever come to any intelligent agreement on the controls that must be set in place now???  What have we done?  What are we doing?

"pour yourself out like a fountain"

Part Two XII of Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke

Want the change. Be inspired by the flame

where everything shines as it disappears.

The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much

as the curve of the body as it turns away.

What locks itself in sameness has congealed.

Is it safer to be gray and numb?

What turns hard becomes rigid

and is easily shattered.

Pour yourself out like a fountain.

Flow into the knowledge that what you are seeking

finishes often at the start, and, with ending, begins.

Every happiness is the child of a separation

it did not think it could survive. And Daphne, becoming

... a laurel,

dares you to become the wind.

"Evening Mood", Adolph William Bouquereau

Rainer Maria Rilke (Wikepedia)
Born 4 December 1875(1875-12-04)
Prague, Bohemia, Austria–Hungary
Died 29 December 1926 (aged 51)
Montreux, Switzerland
Occupation:  poet, novelist
Nationality:  Austrian
Writing period:  1894 - 1925
Influences:  J. P. Jacobsen, Lou Andreas-Salomé, Auguste Rodin, Cézanne, Leopardi, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leconte de Lisle

(Rilke, circa 1900)

Rainer Maria Rilke (also Rainer Maria von Rilke) (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926) is considered one of the German language's greatest 20th-century poets. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety: themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.

(The above stanzas from Sonnets to Orpheus are taken from one of my favourite books, "In Praise of Mortality: Selections from Rainer Maria Rilke's Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus" by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy.)

He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. His two most famous verse sequences are the Sonnets to Orpheus and the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He also wrote more than 400 poems in French, dedicated to his homeland of choice, the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

works in progress

I had a couple of free days this week in which to work in my studio.  As you see, I have a little TV there to keep me company.  That is Kati Marton on the screen (wife of Richard Holbrooke, ex-wife of Peter Jennings) being interviewed by Charlie Rose.  Her latest book, Enemies of the People:  My Family's Journey to America, on the harrowing lives of her parents in Hungary during the second world war sounds like a good read.

On one of my work tables, you see a few paints gathered for current works in progress.  I work with acrylics and usually have quite a mess to clean up after each session.  I am self-taught, so I imagine even my work style does not conform to professional standards.  But it is my way, and it will have to do.

Below is a work in progress on a wood base designed to receive paint.  These wood pieces require no framing.  Since taking this photograph, the painting has evolved considerably.  Looking at it now, I wonder if I should have left it as it was.  One of my challenges is knowing when to stop.  I have ruined many a good piece, by thinking "oh, I'll just add a little....".

 

Below are a few empty canvases and frames waiting for my attention.

Below are a few more pieces in progress.  I have them propped up where I can look at them - hoping the muse will tell me what they may still need.  The muse speaks in the softest of whispers - and I often miss them.  I know, I know - turn off the TV!!  Often, I do.

Below is another work on wood.  It, too, has changed considerably from when I took this shot.  I will post the end results for you to see soon.  I love to do abstracts and am a fool for textures.  I also tend to prefer things that are quite monochromatic, whereas my husband who loves contrast walks by and says, "more colour, more colour!"  He is a trained artist, having attended the famous Ecole de Beaux Arts here in Montreal - so I feel a certain inner pressure to listen to his suggestions.  However, I think the work usually turns out better when I follow my own impulses.  It is wonderful, though, to have him to consult at any time.

 It is my intention to give some of these paintings as gifts to friends and family.  I much prefer to do this than spend my day in a mall looking for just the right manufactured gift.  This way, even if the painting is does not enthrall, they know it comes from my heart and was created by my hand.

...either/or...

We live in illusion

And the appearance of things.

There is a reality.

We are that reality.

When you understand this,

You see that you are nothing.

And being nothing,

You are everything.

That is all.

~Kalu Rinpoche~

Being nothing, I am free

Being everything, I am connected

Either/or

No preference

Whatever awareness arises

I accept.

Every thing

Changes to

No thing

And changes again...

Knowing this

I smile.

         

The opening phrase in green, "we live in illusion", seems to 'insist' on sitting apart from the rest of Rinpoche's words!  I tried again and again to get it to sit with its partners in poetry - I could not.  So I accept this and I smile.  :-) 

All words in mauve originate with me and the two photographs in this post were taken last summer of a buddha statue that sits gently shaded by a tree in my garden. 

...two words...

Edward Morgan (E.M.) Forster (1 January 1879 – 7 June 1970), was an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He is known for his well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy, and also the attitudes towards gender and homosexuality in early 20th-century British society (A Passage to India, A Room With a View, Howards End). Forster's humanistic impulse  may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End, where he says: "Only Connect".

I love Forster's two word exhortation.  It holds so many possibilities, so much meaning.  It is particularly apt during the holiday season...connecting to our loved ones and to people who may be alone or lonely.  Too many people roam around invisible, unnoticed, discounted, unattended to.......  It costs little to pay attention, to notice, to smile, to make eye contact, to connect, to reach out.  To pay attention and to connect are acts of compassion, acts of love......a gift.

(Textured background courtesy of Jerry Jones at Shadowhouse Creations)

...white blanket...

Look how Mother Nature is continuing to blanket us in white -- she must know that some of us are dreaming of a white Christmas.  How sweet of her to make our dreams come true!

The Snow Man

One must have a mind of winter

To regard the frost and the boughs

Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;

And have been cold a long time

To behold the junipers shagged with ice,

The spruces rough in the distant glitter

Of the January sun; and not to think

Of any misery in the sound of the wind,

In the sound of a few leaves,

Which is the sound of the land

Full of the same wind

That is blowing in the same bare place

For the listener, who listens in the snow,

And, nothing himself, beholds

Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

~Wallace Stevens~