February's first blog Let There Be Joy!!!

This past year, I have just been so busy with painful things...troubled friends, grievous business, looming job loss, you know, things that press anxiety down on a heart. Life's yucky business! But , even though the yuck keeps me pretty worn out and uninspired to create, all around me lately, I see the beauty of nature. And it fills me with a greater joy than I get when i am inspired and paint up a little something that I actually like. I went skiing recently and it was a glorious day... the clear bright sky at the top of the local mountain here was one in a million. The trees, misshapen birches and pines, were covered with millions of diamonds glittering in the sun, and there was a vista miles and miles across the lakes and mountains of Vermont... The sky was this unspeakably gorgeous blue without a cloud and you could sense it's vast reaches...which made you breathless. The snow was white and blue and sparkling.

Life is good and difficult times can breed compassion and joy, instead of bitterness and depression. Here is a piece of a poem attached to a little watercolor I did, and then Photo shopped for fun ( i can never leave well enough alone!). It's written by Maltbie D. Babcock. In it's entirety:

The dark brown mould's upturned

By the sharp-pointed plow;

And I've a lesson learned.

My life is but a field,

Stretched out beneath God's sky,

some harvest rich to yield.

Where grows the golden grain?

Where faith? Where sympathy?

In a furrow cut by pain.