snow?

Now that's a 

what used to be the 

holiday view!

Minnesota lends itself stereo-typically to snow, ice-cycles & all things winter. Wrapping up the holidays with family, this is usually what I can expect to see...lots of snow & ice-cycles out my parents front window. For decades, there's almost always snow! This year? Well, let's put it this way...my brother stopped by on his Rat Rod Bike to let me know what a great day it was for a bike ride & I had the husband finish putting paint on the front of the garage. (He couldn't finish in mid November because of SNOW!)Ironic, huh.

ugh. I mean everything else was picture perfect Christmas! BUT, the lack of snow left me feeling somewhat melancholy. I'm one of those Minnesotans who LOVES WINTER!! And, like those who love summer, but hate the rainy days, I have been left lonesomely looking to the sky for overcast & flurries. For me, there's never too much snow for to long. Although I've been told to go live somewhere like New York, Upper Michigan or Alaska where there's a higher probability of large quantities & consistent amounts of snowfall per year. But, I love it here! I love living somewhere know as being the snow belt to Wisconsin! It's SE Minnesota is a wild card as far as precipitation. We are on a meteorological line. If it's snowing in Canon Falls, it's raining here and vice-a-versa. For me there's a serenity in each flake. So when I get to feeling ho-hum not having snow, I indulge in one of literature's my all time favorites...

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

BY ROBERT FROST

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.

Serenity for me with each flake...though I'm saddened looking out impatiently for the silence to come down...maybe it's just time to sleep.

Prose of Goat

I'm sitting in the midst of all my insanity projects & I think to myself, hhhhmmmmm...with a faint giggle...

I could sure use a goat right about now.

I've been determined to shovel out the office & studio for some six years now. Anyone who has had the sincere pleasure of spending any amount of time in these adjoined spaces KNOW it's a balancing act of papers & art supplies & this & that & oh i was going to give that to so and so and oh I forgot about that & where did that come from? And it's all important.. Ever single box, bag, container. Each overflowing, covered in dog hair & dust--YUK! It's all needed. It's all got a destination or final purpose. It's all just taking up my work space & there as a visual reminder of how distracting my life is.


When we're upstairs & suddenly hear a loud unfamiliar noise coming from the basement, we can pretty much conclude it's one of my many uncompleted, in-the-process, just getting to that, oh yeah, I never finished that pile, of projects, letting go of it place on the counter or chair or laundry basket.. A final shift in weight or a gentle nudge from Corona our cat. Either way, it just complicated an already filled space. It's a vicious cycle. But...what to do. Back to the goat.. Goats fix all kinds of problems! I'd heard of a goat lady...my neighbors might call the city & my children would tell everyone their mother has a goat cleaning out her office!

So, if I can't get the Goat Lady here to clean out the creative space,

I'll just think like a goat! Basic connect the crazy dots, huh!? 

Wha-La! As of this week, I have already shredded 14 garbage bags of sh*t!! Yes in deed...it's working! Be the goat.! All these years of start & stop, when I just needed to think like a goat...eat,eat, eat translated into shred, shred, shred. Life is strange and unusual isn't it.. See how associating out of the box results in unorthodox solutions?! Feeling pretty full of myself this week AND I have space to CREATE!!!!!! Maybe I'll recycle, re-purpose or re-used some of the trash & create an inspirational piece. I think I will title it ...

"Prose of  Goat....baaaa!"