This just blew my mind because I knew it ... but didn't 'know' it. I understood all but had no structure to support or examine it. No research, no way of putting it together.
If you're a creative person, or would like to be, then take a look.
Stepanka Ceramics
Last year, my daughter gifted me two of Stepanka Horalkova's beautiful ceramic mugs and I made a note to write of them, with photographs, but never felt satisfied with the photographs I had taken.
So I put it aside, knowing I would finish the job sooner or later ... but I didn't.
So much time has passed that I feel ashamed because I loved the gift of them and because I wanted to share the beauty of Stepanka's work with everyone.
Finally, here I am with the news.
You can buy Stepanka's work over on her Etsy store or visit her website to read more about her.
Fertal Lahcen, artist
Imagine, always traveling, meeting people ... hearing their stories.
Alex and Mina have their blog, ...sending postcards. Who could resist reading them: 'During the autumn of 2009, we sold our house, quit our jobs, and were married in the sun. We left our life-long home on the prairies of Canada to run away together and see the world. This travelogue was created to document our extended honeymoon - the often mundane, seldom peculiar, and sometimes extraordinary details.'
I found this artist over on their website. Turn the volume up when you watch Fertal describing the materials he uses to create his artworks.
Time ...
"Gradually my perspective on time had changed. In our culture, time can seem like an enemy: it chews us up and spits us out with appalling ease. But the monastic perspective welcomes time as a gift from God, and seeks to put it to good use rather than allowing us to be used up by it.
A friend who was educated by the Benedictines has told me that she owes to them her sanity with regard to time. "You'll never really finish anything in life," she says, "and while that's humbling, and frustrating, it's all right. The Benedictines, more than any other people I know, insist that there is time in each day for prayer, for work, for study, and for play.
" Liturgical time is essentially poetic time, oriented toward process rather than productivity, willing to wait attentively in stillness rather than always pushing to "get the job done."
Kathleen Norris, extract from The Cloister Walk.
The truly lovely Diana, introduced me to the blog of Sofie and I believe I may have found a delicious new blog to add to my google reader. I particularly enjoyed Sofie's post titled The Liturgy of My Hours ... oh yes.
Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time
I loved this. I had to share it.
Amy Turn Sharp, Poet
and sometimes we would dance in the stone street
sometimes I would put my head on his shoulder
and wonder what sadness there was in the world
when the sun could be so warm
when the island flowers could smell so summer strong
when people could dance with such grace
when my heart had a thousand chances left
Amy Turn Sharp, extract from #82 her series, a poem a day for a year.
I love this woman's poetry. There have been so many treasures so far. I'm looking forward to spending a year reading her.