"Canned Goods" - Remember the Song?

Just looking at the things I've canned (photo below), or harvested in the past week makes me -- pleased, satisfied, happy that I have a little piece of ground to plant and tend; harvest and preserve for winter days.  Made me think of a song - so, here's the words to an old Greg Brown song "Canned Goods" where he talks about the produce his grandma put up for winter:  
"She cans the pickles, sweet & dill

She cans the songs of the whippoorwill

And the morning dew and the evening moon

'N' I really got to go see her pretty soon

'Cause these canned goods I buy at the store

Ain't got the summer in them anymore.
You bet, grandma, as sure as you're born

I'll take some more potatoes and a thunderstorm.
Peaches on the shelf

Potatoes in the bin

Supper's ready, everybody come on in, now

Taste a little of the summer, (3x)

My grandma put it all in jars.

Let those December winds bellow and blow,

I'm as warm as a July tomato.

Hope that made you smile.  (By the way - pretty cool apron my friend Lucy gave me last week!

Whistle Pig!

OK normally, if I discovered a Whistle Pig (ground hog) near my garden, I would not be --- pleased.   However, the other day this particular piggy was delighting on the apple scraps from my compost pile.  I could not help thinking he (perhaps she) was cute as it reached for apple bits and gobbled them up one by one.   So - taking my advice from a previous post, I quickly seized the moment and did a quick painting - posted here.

The first time I heard the words "whistle pig" I was attending Music on the Square in Jonesborough.  A very whimsical group from Asheville, NC sang a song about this creature.   Of course, I had to Goggle it when I got home. -- hahh - a ground hog or wood chuck.   Interesting.   I think whistle pig sounds much more interesting than ground hog. 

However amused I was, next time I throw something tasty into the compost, I'll be sure to bury it -- deep!

Some Things Won't Wait

A few days ago I got a bag of apples from some friends.   So crisp and sweet/tart.   The thing is, they needed to be dealt with quickly, as do so many other things in my garden.   Produce is not the least bit concerned about my "schedule".   The fast ripening fruit and veggies will not wait for me to find a convenient time to can, cook or freeze them.   If I to not make time to deal with these apples, they may spoil and that would be a shame.  

So it is with moments of creativity.   When an idea comes to me, sometimes it is fleeting.   I need to take a moment to sketch it out, or write it down, or record a melody so I can work on it later.   

Life lesson - don't let the little golden nuggets of life slip away.  There is always another moment to do the things that will wait.   Creativity is delicate!

Inspired by God's Creation

My watercolor painting "Highland Watch"

I was just thinking about a song entitled "Holy Now" written by Minnesota artist, Peter Mayer.  The last part of the song goes -- "This morning outside I stood, saw a little red winged bird, shining like a burning bush, singing like a scripture verse.   Made me want to bow my head .. everything is holy now."

Thank you Lord for your glorious creation that inspires, that makes my heart sing praises to You!

A Wind of Change

And so I begin - a BLOG - encouraged by friends and thinking myself that it is high time!  

I sense I am on the cusp of a change.  I've been in this place before; the feeling that a wind of change is blowing. It's good, it's exciting,  but I don't know the when or the where it will take me.  I do know that it is a change that is coming to my artwork.  Adding a variety of mediums to my paintings, allowing myself permission to follow my intuitions in the utter joy of expression, is already spinning in my head.  I'm excited to see where this will go and how BLOGGING will assist the process.