Another month is already in the history books! How can this be so?
This blog space has been unusually quiet this month … and not because of any significant happenings in my world. I’ve just been living life as usual without the poking and prodding of my muse to write about it.
There has been the usual time spent with family, and excursions outdoors – both alone and with friends … all of which I treasure.
A hike on the Bruce Trail this month included a visit to Sherman Falls which Helen and I originally viewed in February 2013 during our end-to-end hike of this 900 km trail.
We were back for another peek – this time with video …
There has also been a significant amount of time spent cocooning this month.
I’ve been reading, cooking, and cleaning drawers and closets. I’m aware these activities are more suited to the cold days of February rather than balmy days in September, but I’ve been following the needs of my soul.
… and a big part of that need has been directed towards art.
It has been one of my goals this year to stretch my creative muscle through painting, and with newfound inspiration from the work of Indigenous artist Daphne Odjig, I’ve been painting with a passion.
I have so much to learn, but I’m having so much fun in the process.
Finally the month ended with another road trip with the Widow Badass. This time we were off to eastern Ontario to visit friend and (currently silent) blogger, Karen Hume. However this post would become much too long if I even started to talk about that weekend!
Let’s just say that if and when my muse returns from whatever vacation she is on, there will be stories to tell.
With the daylight hours getting shorter, there is no question that summer is over and the smell of autumn is in the air.
I’m hoping these mild fall temperatures last for many more weeks. I have so much winter prep work to do … and so little desire to get it done.
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Changing Seasons is a monthly photo feature hosted by Su Leslie at Zimmerbitch.
Love those stacked rocks
Strange how they’re actually nice rocks too
The kind at garden stores
Cheers!
🌅
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Yea for cocooning! Jealous, can’t wait to cocoon in December. 🙂
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Is there something special about December that you’re waiting? I can find reasons to cocoon just about any time 😉
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Ha. Yes, December is vacation time, time off, and I’m sooo looking forward to it. Cheers.
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Excellent! Let the countdown begin 🙂
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I like the way the different images you’ve chosen each represent a color… The Bruce trail, first in blue, then in white. The rocks by the lake are reds, the yellows reflecting on the trellis: beautiful!
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Thank you 🙂 Much appreciated!
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Wow…so natural…you are doing a Fab work…;!! Loved it…
Please go through mines too!! May be you also like mines…
http://healthfoodfonts.wordPress.com
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Oops, I forgot to say that I admire your passion to dig deeper into art. Keep going, keep learning!
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Thank you. These art projects are both scary and liberating at the same time. It’s a good sign that the more I do it, the more I want to do it.
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September went by sooooo fast, but perhaps it was a month to recharge and not worry too much about what didn’t get done. I’m glad you got out to enjoy some of the fall weather before the cold hits…although that never seems to keep you and the muse from hitting the trails.
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We live with too much winter. If we let the weather inhibit our activities all the time, we’d spend too much of our life indoors. That just wouldn’t be good!
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I know. I need to get outside and walk more often in the cold.
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Helen loves to remind me that there is no bad weather – just bad clothing choices – however I still resent having to dress like the Michelin Man 😉
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LOL, I feel resentful after yoga class in the winter…having to put my sweatiness under three layers of clothes, being cold walking to the car, then sweating more in the car on the way home. I give Helen a lot of credit for being a trooper in winter and you as well, for letting her drag you along.
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Before long, you will be that person too 🙂
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Following the needs of your soul is a marvelous thing to do. 🙂 I love seeing stacked rocks. They are so calming. My son has done some painting recently and it’s made me think that I should pull out some paintbrushes and give it a try myself. My daughter has been doing some drawing through “Ink-tober” prompts and I’m going to try to remember about it in the future since it seemed like an interesting way to spark some creativity. The change in the weather has become apparent here as well.
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Stacked rocks ‘talk’ to me too. Calming is a great way to describe it. I think of it as a simple greeting of ‘hello’ by whoever created it.
I just looked up Inktober and it looks really interesting. I haven’t been doing any painting lately. I’ve been sick and haven’t had much energy for anything. I hope I can shake off this cold and barking cough soon.
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I hope you feel better soon!
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Thanks. Slowly but surely!
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Great photos! I love the waterfall both ways, but I love the ice more! There’s one of those chairs somewhere in New England, too. A photo op for tourists. Actually, maybe there are a lot of those giant chairs and I’ve only seen mine and yours. Ya think?
I find as I get older, I get a little more moody about when I like to do what. There’s work, and teen support and sleep… A lot of my ‘free time’ activities are determined by the weather and how I feeeeeeel.
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I suspect you’re right about the giant chairs. There is something fun-loving about them that draws in even the adults.
This tends to be a busy time of year for everyone and I seem to be spending so much of my time doing stuff I really don’t want to be doing (yes, yard work I’m talking about you!)
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Beautiful photos, Joanne, and I like your painting. I understand the need to tend to things out of season, but when it makes sense to you. I look forward to the pictures when your writing starts to flow. The Bruce trail and the waterfall are really pretty. I love the last photo. The light is beautiful.
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Thanks Dan. Some months are so highly focused while others are just a gentle meander. I guess that’s what September felt like for me – a gentle meander 🙂
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The Bruce Trail looks amazing. I think I mentioned to you, Joanne, I have a friend that has a Bed and Breakfast somewhere on the Bruce Trail. She posts daily spectacular pictures on Instagram. Hmmmm, enticing. A different appearance in February. Nice to hear your voice:) Yes,” absolutely beautiful!” Stunning photos in general!
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I don’t remember you mentioning it before. Do you happen to remember where it is? Helen and I are hoping to take a 2-3 day trip back on the Bruce sometime before the end of November. We haven’t exactly targeted where we’re going to go but likely somewhere on the Peninsula between Tobermory and Owen Sound. We’re going to be looking for a place to stay.
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Good morning, Joanne, I just tagged you on one of their Instagram photos. I worked with Valerie many years ago. She is professional, meticulous, kind and fun. https://www.ontherocksguestinn.com
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Thank you so much! I just checked out their website and they are in a beautiful location. Unfortunately they have no availability before January!! They are popular!!
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So good to see a picture of Karen. I hope you write about your day out with her. I loved her blog and would like to hear how things are going with her.
Jude
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She is doing very well and I hope she’ll consider returning to blogging again some day.
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I love it how you know what you need and take it, how the maple crown fits you on the chair photo (have a look!) and what lovely art piece you made. ❤
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Thanks Manja 🙂 I’ve managed to find a nice life balance lately and it feels pretty good!
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Those falls are gorgeous! I would want to study them every season.
I love the Carins. I have a thing for rocks, but you might have had an inkling I do. 😀 I collect them all. the. time. Friends even find rocks for me.
I love that image of you three on the big chair. You look like you’re wearing a crown!
Art. Mine has been at a standstill, but I have signed up for a watercolor workshop with a local artist which starts next week. I’m excited and nervous, and that little voice that tells me to give up is already trying to get me to drop out, but I won’t. I want to paint! I yearn to paint, but I can’t draw and that my friend, holds me back.
You do what you need to do to feed your soul. I get it. xx
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Paint!! You, my friend, can draw! I’ve seen what you can do. Even if you couldn’t – like me – paint anyway. Paint for yourself. There are no rules. There is only the joy that you feel when you splash paint on paper 💕
I too have a thing for rocks and my little collection of rocks gets bigger. Mostly I resist the urge to bring them home with me 🙂
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Late to the party, Joanne, but here at last. This darn thing called work, ya know! (This week is especially intense.) Lovely recounting of your month. I love what you are doing with your art. Thank you for letting me into your studio and showing me what you have been working on! You gotta feed your soul, for sure. I can’t wait to write about our weekend adventures – hopefully later this week when my work schedule returns to normal.
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I knew your week was going to be chaotic at best. As this week winds down, I hope you are able to catch you breath and relax a bit.
My first post about our weekend together is just about ready to release. Stay tuned 🙂
I thank you so much for the encouragement and inspiration you have given me in the past year to spread my creative wings 💕
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Hi Joanne,
The temps and leaves are changing here in NH, too. I loved the phrase “I’ve been following the needs of my soul”. I don’t think there is a right or wrong time to do anything. Listen to that soul.
And, looking forward to hearing more about your continuing adventures with WBA…whenever your muse strikes.
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I think that sometimes we forget how to listen to that inside voice wanting attention. I’m happy to indulge it when I can.
A story is lined up about our weekend adventures 🙂
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[…] Joanne at My Life Lived Full […]
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Yay for making art again. It’s so cool that you have found new inspiration. Sounds like you had a pretty balanced month, and listening to your inner voice is no bad thing.
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I’m getting much better at listening to that inner voice – well, except for the bitchy one. Her I try to put on mute whenever possible 😁
It’s people like you, Su, who have encouraged me to play even if I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. For that I’m grateful!
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I’m always happy to fly the flag for making art: I see all around me the good it does.
And I really must try to find the mute button for my inner bitch! 🤨
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Speaking of inner bitches, yesterday I found a 1937 edition of “New Etiquette” in a used book store and spent the evening last night reading bits of it. It’s a wonder that I didn’t hurt myself with all the eye rolling I did 🙄
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😂😂
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Love the falls, love your painting, love the three of you and the chair (good to see Karen looking well), love the archway! I hope your muse comes back. I’ve always liked rock stacks, but now they are being discouraged here as damaging to wildlife (disturbing the critters living under the stones I suppose). In one National Trust place where rocks were taken from the beach onto the grass the stacks have all been dismantled, and certainly the grass looks terrible with lots of brown patches. I still like to see them, but I feel more doubtful about them now …
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hmmm – I wonder why they are considered damaging? I’ve never heard that before. Here it is not uncommon to see them in unlikely places. I like them!
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I do too, but I can see they do damage both the ground and the insect colonies so conflicted!
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Joanne I think it is always wise to listen to one’s inner voice especially when it comes to blogging. If it feels like a chore then best to wait until the muse returns. Happy October my friend.
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Happy October to you too, Sue. Wait … isn’t this birthday month for you?
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Oh good memory. 😊
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🎉🎂💕
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Is there anyone anywhere that doesn’t love a waterfall? If there is, I haven’t met them. 🙂 I cleaned out a couple of kitchen cabinets today myself and have two bags for Goodwill. Love the photo of the three bloggers because you can read the fun you were having in your smiles. Life is good! But, it is getting down to 34°F Friday night.
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I find waterfalls simply hypnotizing. I think you’re right. EVERYONE loves waterfalls!!
… and yes, we did have a great time. There was a lot of catching up to do!
The temperatures here have been dropping all day and we are forecasted to have a heavy frost by the weekend. Brrrr.
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Hey! You were just down the highway from me. Did you eat at Don’s Fish and Chips? My husband and a friend regularly take road trips to Brockville just to go to Don’s.
Look at your talent! Not just an engaging writer but a darn good painter.
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Awwww – thanks Susanne. I don’t know about the ‘good’ painter part, but I really do have fun with it.
We were only in Brockville for the morning to go to the Farmer’s Market and visit the underground railway tunnel. We were spending the weekend in Prescott. I’m aware we were actually quite close to Ottawa so I’m getting closer … 🙂
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Sounds like September was a wonderful mix of quiet and adventure. Love the Canadian crown over your head, planned or not!
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Finally! My royal blood is getting recognition! 😁
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I love when a blog sends me into deep Google rabbit holes (Daphne, rock stacking, etc.) Lovely post!
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omg – so I’m not the only one who does that!! 🙂
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The waterfall looks lovely but I would really like to scratch up that chair!!!!!!!!
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Kitties need a good scratching place and they know it when they see it 🙂
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That chair photo…is terrific. Looks like you girls are just having too much fun!
I really like both your color palette in your painting and the use and interplay of the positive and negative shapes. It does look like it has some Picasso influence / inspiration. I always enjoy seeing and stacking stones…it is an activity with such a meditative quality.
Peta
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That morning we had a lot of fun together and the picture reflected it. When the woman offered to take our photo, we scrabbled up there like 5-year-olds, laughing the whole way 🙂
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I love how you positioned the Maple Leaf over your head . . . like a crown! 😛
Thanks for a fun share. Hope your fall is a long and winding one.
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I’m going to have to pay more attention to the background when we have a photo taken. I hadn’t noticed the maple leaf until Deb posted the photo on FB. Then of course, everyone else noticed it too!
I can live with a crown. It could have been so much worse!
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You’re going to give Picasso a run for the money very soon, Joanne – you’re talented with a canvas and brushes in hand for sure!
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hahaha! I don’t know about the talent part, but I do enjoy it 🙂
… and I do love Picasso!!
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Hi, Joanne – Following the needs of our souls is a very wonderful thing to do. It looks as though this has led you to a very full month.
I love the waterfall video. Is that your voice on the recording or Helen’s?
Gorgeous painting!
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Thanks Donna. I have no delusions of becoming a great painter someday but some people have asked that I occasionally include some of my art endeavours, so I’ve indulged 🙂
I really do love my art time. I try to let go of that critical adult voice and embrace the inner child’s need to simply play and explore. Incredibly, it’s not easy!!
It is my voice on the video. I don’t often think to use video but I’m trying!
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Joanne, I’m gald to know that you’ve been enjoying life too much to be blogging. And that you’re still painting. I finally got all the necessary supplies to take it up again (for fun, not my walls!), but just haven’t found the time. Meanwhile Crystal is becoming an expert by watching painting videos with me. LOL. 🐱 Hugs on the wing!
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The problem I’ve found with watching videos is that they make it look really easy. I have pages and pages in my art book that prove it’s not true.
That’s why I call it playing – if I took it even a little bit seriously, it would make me crazy 😏
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I love that you followed your heart and did what you wanted. We need to do that more! May fall last a long time!
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Amen!! I’m thinking something like December 1st … and then spring arrives shortly after Christmas. I can dream 😉
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Give me some of whatever you are smoking!
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HAHAHAHA!!!
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Great photos and I agree, it looks like you are wearing a crown.
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My first thought, exactly! All Hail Queen Joanne! 😀
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At last. My real status is finally recognized! 😁
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I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve been called a princess … now I have the crown to prove it 😏
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I like the rocks all stacked up neatly. I like the waterfalls, too. Your art is cheerful. I’m pleased that you’re attending to your soul when it calls to you. There’s a lesson there for all of us.
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I seem to be learning with old age 🙂
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Aren’t we all? Well, all of us who want to keep on improving as we age.
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The needs of the soul trump everything. And who knows, sometime in the middle of a January blizzard, your soul may want you to go on a hike. I like your use of colors in the painting.
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Thanks Tippy. I’m discovering I have a preference for using bright colours. I am not a pastel 🙂
I actually like winter hiking. You get a very different perspective of the forest without leaves on the trees and if I’m really lucky, there is little or no snow.
Unfortunately the early long range forecasts are calling for another winter like the last one – very cold and lots of snow 😕
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Fun photo of you gals on the chair – you look like you are wearing a crown!
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That’s exactly what most people said when Deb posted it on FB 😆
I suppose that’s better than having a tree sprouting out of my head!
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there is nothing better than decluttering!!! also, that picture of the 3 of you is telling of how much fun you all had. 🙂
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There is still so much decluttering left to do. It amazes me how it seems to take on a life of its own when we aren’t looking 😉
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No kidding! I’m assuming you have watched Marie Kondo? I call my
BF Sean Kondo – he’s the American male version! 😂😂
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I couldn’t get through the first episode. It really disturbs me to see the chaos and clutter that some people live in.
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It is for sure, but the end result is sooo amazing. We watched maybe 3 episodes and then stopped…it became old hat quickly.
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Wow, so nice to see Karen (Hi, Karen!). September – as lovely as the weather usually is – has always made me feel like organizing and decluttering. Maybe it harkens back to beginning school that month, but I want to clear out the old to make way for the new. I love your picture of the arch in the sunrise.
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I too think it is a September go-back-to-school thing. I always get rather restless at this time of year. Now I get to channel it any way I want 🙂
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Winter prep work – ugh, me too! We had a cold snap this morning.
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It’s supposed to catch up with us today after a very warm day yesterday. It’s raining right now – another excuse to avoid yard work. I’m getting really good at this! 😉
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Very nice photos and art work, Joanne. I saw many similar rocks at the boardwalk in Parksville where I was there with Donna, Jude, and Ann.
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I don’t know what it is about rocks that makes people want to stack them … and I’m ok with it. I really like it 🙂
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Thanks for sharing your art. Keep it up. I love hearing that you’re passionate about it. I spent the weekend surrounded by art and I found it very mediative. Just what I need at this stressful time in my life.
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It IS mediative! I find that time seems to disappear when I’m painting.
Thank you for all the encouragement and inspiration you give me!! I think of it as my play time. It has no purpose at all except as play … something that as adults we are lacking in our lives.
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All photos were nice especially your painting but I liked the light on the arch.
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I’m usually out around mid-day, whether I’m running errands or off exploring. As a result, I rarely get to take advantage of that magical light early in the morning and later in the day … but I was shocked that it didn’t last for very long.
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I don’t know why, but I’m oddly impressed by the stacked rocks? That was probably human’s second act of “art”. First scratching in the sand — then piling up the rocks. Seems like we burned out stacking rocks about 4000 years ago in Egypt. But here’s a future pyramid builder starting over in Canada (of all places).
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Stacked rocks is something I see with some frequency. My eye seems to be attracted to them for some reason.
Do people not have a tendency to stack rocks where you are? We just have so many of them 🙂
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In Arizona people usually stack rocks as a marker on a trail. But I don’t see random rock piles.
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The origin of stacked rocks is the same here … but every once in while random rock piles show up.
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I also wanted to comment on the stacked rocks. Is there meaning behind rock stacking? Here in Korea it’s associated with sending up a prayer/making wishes.
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I believe stacked rocks were used to blaze a trail, showing the route to take.
After writing this post I read quite a bit about how rock stacking and how it damages the local environment. I didn’t realize that this is a major problem in some parks.
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Yes I found out about this issue too recently.
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