Never has a new year had so much universal hope resting on it as 2021 it seems. Certainly not in my lifetime although perhaps war years have had similiar new years. I feel strangely drained with lots of it. When you work all hours, all days, there's a tendency to think "Well, it's just another day" of holidays. And in many respects, that is true. Nature goes on with her own cycles, regardless. But this new years eve, more than most, has people looking ahead with such hope and belief that we will have really turned a corner at the stroke of midnight. 

This morning I woke up to a lovely lull and hush. We had a few inches of snowfall yesterday morning and it still clung to trees and branches this morning. The sky was tinged pink and the softest baby blue and the just past full moon shone bright above my neighbour's house. Beautiful. And the whole day, despite some overwhelm on my part, has had a sweet softness to it. I feel hope with everyone else else although we have been extremely fortunate during the whole pandemic and haven't been as tragiclly struck as others. 

This is my haiku and picture for today. The picture doesn't do any justice to the moon (it's the faded out white spot just beside the treetop!) but it was pretty and breath taking. Instagram has changed its layout now so i can't split the pictures any more. So this is two photos now instead of one.

I have no wisdom and nothing too much to share except for a few photos. One is a nostalic haiku and photo of a little Christmas ornament that I gave Mam and Dad years ago and which i now possess. The other is a recent painting from Life Book 2021 Taster Sessions which i did and absolutely fell in love with: the end result and the process which was both freeing and controlling and spoke right to my soul.

Ending with another painting from a journal jam with the wonderfully inspiring Effy Wild. I put the word 'nurture' on it although the original word i chose to paint from was 'peace' which is still evident in the background. But nurture seemed more all-encompassing. Remember to always nurture yourself and your interestes--pursue what feeds your soul however you can and whenever you can. I believe this is how we build rich, fertile lives which pass love and joy onto others.

I wanted to end with this lovely snowperson who lives just around the corner of our street. Hopefully it will bring a smile to your face. It's fitting for January, for that time of looking forward and backwards, for year-end and also as a testament as to how crazy 2020 has been.

Wishing you all the happiest of new years! Stay true to your soul. 

I'm disappointed that this post is the 1st December and not 30th November but I completely forgot to post in November. Last night, tucked up in bed after a lovely bath with some new faerie breath bath melts from Mystic Gardens, I quickly checked emails on my phone as I sipped my cinnamon honeybush tea (tea of ancient wisdom!). I was pleased to find an email from my dear friend Louise. In it she mentioned looking forward to catching my blog done before midnight, My blog! As I read the email, the clock from downstairs chimed midnight. A total Cinderella moment! I laughed a little at the irony, especially as mid-month I thought of posting.

Oh well...here we are on a very emotional morning (oops, now afternoon). I think I had resisted acknowledging the beginning of December. Apart from never being ready for Christmas, I also felt weirdly disappointed that today for the first time in several years I wouldn't have a Jacquie Lawson calendar to open up. I have gifted them to friends and I hope everyone can open theirs. But this year the folks at Jacquie Lawson changed it to a download which my old prgramming doesn't support.  I also realise that today is the birthday of a dear school friend, Donna, who died a few years ago. the other day i opened a desk drawer and came across lots of old snail mail letters, many from family and friends who have passed on. I shed many tears. Donna was someone who totally got me. Our letters were somwhat infrequent but we understood each other well. When I was going through some very hard times in my life and felt full of shame, Donna was one of the few people I finally confided in. Not only did she understand and not judge but her reply letter was swift, accepting and full of compassion. It's that letter (along with one or two more from her) that I had kept and reread the other day.  This post is for Donna who believed that it's up to each one of us to speak our truth and fight for what we believe in while remaining as strong and postive as possible. Her unwavering light was a gift.

The above picture was from Journal Jam #23 with Effy Wild last week. It was delightful to work on for a few days and I was really pleased with it. I love the unpredictibility of Journal Jams and where they can go. Effy pulls art prompts and paints using them and we paint along. Usually our pictures all vary so much but they're always interesting and watching Effy paint live and make decisions about which way to take her art is magic. She started them as a reaction to the pandemic in April. Yesterday we had Journal Jam #24. I schedule them and adhere to them as much as i can as they feed my soul so much. 

Also feeding my soul at the moment is my daily haiku and picture, shared on Instagram. This was today's--a prettier sunrise than the photo shows.

And here are some more from the past several days. I hope you enjoy them. 

So how to shake my sadness, also a combination of world and city covid events: first I believe in acknowledging the feelings and going through them. I cried a tear or two or three.

Then I begin to count my many many many many blessings. I am extremely fortunate in so many ways. I had intended to start to list them here but even the direct ones from this morning alone became a neverending list. 

I pick a self-made Spotify playlist. Today the one I entitled Dance Dance Dance because it's full of hundreds of my favourite getup-and-dance, just-try-not-to songs. I have be-bopped my way through this post!

​I create (this blog and my haiku and photo) and share and hope I somehow touch another's soul.

I acknowledge what it is to come: planned  videochats with family and my good friend Bethe; a live Mindful Moment with my son-in-law Jonathan; free time to continue with my novel for LUNA next week (my terrific and supportive writing groups) or to sit and watch pretaped TV shows and movies; enough time and food to make a delicious soup for dinner for Rob and I; registering for the wonderful year long online art courses I enjoy (Moonshine and Life Book); petting and feeding Kaden and Spook, even giving Kaden his inslin; going to bed at nighttime and in my own comfortable bed. 

I have the photo below (sent to me by my cousin Jue) as wallpaper on my phone. It's from May, 1937 and shows my Granddad Boag (Mam's dad who died when Mam was 14) with his four children. Mam is the baby in his arms then my uncle Deric, Aunts Shelagh and Jean. Most of the time the photo makes me smile. So much love and happiness, just prewar. Sometimes it makes me wistful and sad, especially as Deric died from covid in Engalnd earlier this year. But I like having their innocence and sunny presence with me. As we say in Moonshine: 

What is remembered, lives.

Thank you for reading this far. And for being there for me in ways that you probably don't even realise. I wish I could upload a song or two to share the light and joy in great upbeat tunes for you to help brighten this post but maybe you'll just have to go and find your own happy tunes for darker days.

Share your light as much as you can. You never know who will benefit from it. Take good care and stay safe.
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Know that you are important and loved.