The Soul of a Peony

I miss you

New Love....meet Tippy

this is what it feels like

to be loved by a lamb.

Welcome home Tippy!

xo  milady

HELLO!!

Hello people!
can u believe it's been 5 months since my last post...whoa. where have i been?
well, for starters, that last post was during the holidays when i had a surgery. i haven't had a decent computer until now and life has thrown all kinds of curve balls. i've been running back and forth with my imaginary mitt trying to catch them!
As life has gotten busier, my time in front of the computer has shrunk considerably.  I've been using GOOGLE+ (although i have NO idea how to really use it, do you? do tell!) FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM & PINTEREST to stay in touch. That seems to work for me. Short and sweet.
I sure do love my new MAC and plan to get all my techy stuff streamlined soon. It's just getting all too complicated!
in the meantime...WELCOME BACK!

xo milady


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Advent December 13 :St Mary

St Mary

My recent hospitalization was at St Marys- an amazing hospital 2 hours from here- the only

place i'll go to when it comes to getting cut open.

This is the same hospital I was helicoptered in when my son was born so tiny and untimely and when my last son left us.

I would sit in the garden to get some fresh air and stare at her...

sweet St Mary

So when little motherless Blossom came into my life..i had that same feeling.....

That understanding of pure LOVE and the need to share it

My daughter felt it too

and still does...she came home from college she was the best mom to me during my surgery loopiness.

she took real good care of me

just like St Mary 

Advent December 13  St Mary

Blessing:  Love is everything

XO!

milady

Advent December 12 Home

Today was my surgery day
I was nervous of what they might find
and actually glad i had good reason
to cut me up.
it could've gone a few ways -  but ive been blessed with the better way
it's behind me now
and my black scarred up gallbladder out
best part was...my daughter was the best mom to me
she's home!
and i'm gonna be just fine :)

Advent December 12  Home
Blessing: Home is where it's at

xo milady

Advent December 11 The Tree

Every year for years now we have wandered off into the wilderness with our
little bright orange tree tags we buy from the forestry dept in search of the tree.
its a tradition that i adore
this year, because of all the balls in the air, we had to go BUY one in a tree lot.
I don't like perfect trees.
I like the ones with pinecones still attached, maybe a birds nest and dried bits of seasonal
debris.
I like the ones that stand 12' high and you can see the trunk.
I like the ones that look like the Charlie Brown Tree.
give them some love and voila...

(a charlie brown tree of christmas past)
the tree always looks about the same
same spot
same ornaments
but my! how the kids have grown!

Advent December 11  The Tree
Blessing: the ritual is what they will fondly remember

xo milady

Advent December 10: Master Juggler

You know when you have too many balls in the air
and you can't believe it's day, then another and another?
That's how i've been lately.
getting ready, tons of deadlines, not enough hours in the day to
do the to-do's.
My dad once called me the Master Juggler - and i like that image.
somehow i made it throught this week
too bad i didn't do it in such snappy style as this guy!

Advent December 10, The Master Juggler
Blessing: let the balls fall where they may

xo milady 

Drawing Challenge : GARLAND and a break in advent explanation

Tis the season my friends...

to adorn and drape all surfaces with boughs of garland

made from branches collected in my woods

entwined with lights and pinecones

the garlands surround us with the holiday spirit - as we sit down to sip cocoa and create handmade ornaments with friends

Garland, sweet garland...i'd have you up all year round if I could!

See Tiny Woolf for more garland goodness!

PS ADVENT UPDATE

my tech stuff is dying...scanner won't scan, camera won't take pics, computer sounds like an airplane trying

to take off....ADVENT 9- present will come when i am rested up. I suppose my computer is telling me to rest...i just had my gallbladder taken out and am recovering. as much as i wanted to upload my garland sketches and keep up with my advent...it is out of my hands. off to nap, again!

i'd love to hear from all of you!

xo milady

Advent December 6, 7 & 8

Advent December 6  BlueJay

I haven't seen him yet this year.
In fact, I'm not sure IF i'll see him at all.
Every year when the fall rain gives way to sleet and snow
I am notified of this change
by a lone bright blue bird
visible from my bed
out in the big bare boxwood elder outside my window.
The bird always lets me know...
It's gonna snow now
for a long long time.
His absence is ovbious and yet the snow has surely fallen
Where is he?
Then I remembered, the blue feathers scattered across the yard in the late fall.
a wing
some pale gray down
It will be a miraculous treat
to see  you again
i wait with anticipation.

Advent December 6th Blue Jay
Blessing: Notice the small gifts outside your window

Advent December 7th  The Buck

I have seen this magnificent scene before
a lone deer crossing the river
and always felt
it was just for me
A shaman told me once it is a powerful omen
a good good blessing.
The other day, as I was driving home from the grocery next town over
I was blessed again
To see that same river, with the setting rays kissing the icey water
a dreamy far away glowing mountain range
in the background with a gigantic buck and his family
walking towards me
in the river
as if it were a road.
I don't know what kind of medicine that is
but it's the kind I like

Advent December 7th The Buck
Blessing: See the spirit in everything. God is talking.

Advent December 8 :Wild Winter Berries

I love this time of year when all goes white, illuminating pops of holiday red berries
twisted around spent limbs of summer's bloom
revealing their secret life
now exposed and begging
for picking
My all time favorite foraging ritual includes
gathering these branches
remember this one?
how i miss the Christmas Lamb dog!

blessing: hidden jewels await their reveal

xo milady

Be back soon with Advent - in another town doing a holiday craft show!

Advent December 5 Crow Party

Advent

Crow Party (ongoing)

December 5th

We had an epic winter storm all day yesterday. A good 2 feet , unplowed roads -
delayed fed ex deliveries (yikes craft fair tomorrow! where are my new biz cards??)
It was nice to go in and stay inside. School will be delayed tomorrow and we can all sleep in a wee bit.

Woke up to a Blue Bird morning...Colorado has some of the world's bluest clear skies.
The storm left its mark covering every last inch of bare ground.  Branches, bushes, cows and birds were dusted with
magnificent sparkles. Their bodies still, as if actually frozen we laughed at how the cows looked like statues.

And then i saw some strange black shapes in the frosted limbs of cottonwoods by the river. I thought they might be
someone's black hat tossed up in the tree or perhaps a dead crow.
As I got closer I realized it was them...
the Crows
having another Crow Party.

"move over...i'm about to fall off this branch"

"i just want to keep warm ....c'mon!...."

"please sun...do your thing...."

"Ok...guys...the sun's up now - get your own branch!"

"Alright everybody, i'm calling to order this meeting..."

You see, ever since my Rosie was a wee one, whever we saw the crows gather anywhere, on telephone wires, on fenceposts, hay fields, road kill...we'd say " Oh look! They're having a Crow Party! "
We imagined how they talked and what in the world they were scheming at.
All our crow voices are men, from the Al Capone gangster genre.
Today they were all bunched up in a solid white glistening tree...
not too comfortable with snuggling eachother
but desperate to be warm.

Advent December 5th Crow Party
blessing/wisdom:  together we can do this thing and have a party doing it.

xo

milady

Advent December 4 Snow

Snow
it's falling
finally
school closed early
cars in the ditches
i myself did a donut on the hwy
but its beautiful
so beautiful
just go home it says
go home and be warm
and let me do my job
blanketing the valley and mountaintops
with the first layer of winter

Advent December 4   Snow
Blessing: let the environment tell you what you're doing with your time today

xo
milady

Advent December 3 The Owl

  The Owl

The mysterious beautiful Owl...i hear them at night and sometimes get a glimpse.  They whoo whoo from the dark air announcing their flight into the afterworld, waiting, gliding and occasionally visiting us here on earth.

December 3  The Owl
Blessing/wisdom:  with the light, falls the shadow

xo milady

Advent December 2 The Father

The Father

It hasn't snowed a ton around here yet - alot of icey crystal mists covering the spent hay and corn stalks.
The big game comes down to find the last bits of ground feed this time of year, families of deer & elk share
the fields with cattle around my house.  It is always exciting to spot the Father in the herd.  There can be more than one
but the grandest one stands out in a mythic way.
I saw one yesterday.
proud and providing
centering his clan.

December 2  The Father
Blessing/wisdom : have respect for the one who shoulders it all
xx

milady

Advent December 1 The Fox

The Fox

Welcome to my Advent as I seen through the eyes of an artist living
on a ranch at the base of a mountain
the creatures i see are real
and a big part of my world
i like to think they are guides
and appear especially for me
perhaps by showcasing them
i will better get to know
their blessings.

December 1....The Fox
this guy looked me square in the eye
almost posing
allowing me to fully admire his lush red coat
and snowy dipped snout.
Blessing: what's wild and untamed can be refined beyond belief.
trust your instinct!

xx
milady

Drawing Challenge: everyday objects

everyday objects abound in my kitchen!

(sheep art card by Katherine Dunn)

who so kindly mailed me a lovely replacement of my dearly missed everyday "object"

 and everyday i see this on my kitchen window sill

 reminding me of my girl who doesn't live here anymore

 but thank goodness i have Marie

i found her at a discount store and she whispered 

"i'll be your friend"

 so i put on her bubble wrap and buckled her in 

safety first!

she's a super good listener and will have to do.

daughter comes home soon

and before you know it 

it'll be spring ;)

Kristen @ Sunny Spot is the hostess with the mostest this week!

xo milady

ps not too fond of the chins in that photo!

Christmas Craftsaganza already?!

IT's here again, Christmas. WHAT? seriously, i don't know where the time has gone - it's speeding up, or i am blacking out or perhaps some universal mystery is playing tricks on me.  I love to make things and have lots and lots of ideas....i think i can pull off each and every one of them in extremely unrealistic time frames.
I go for it....and whatever gets made is what makes it to fair.
lots of exciting things are happening in my life - so busy , as you've all gathered, that i don't even post anymore! i've been off the farm more than ever - not here, at my desk, in the kitchen, wandering the countryside. i miss that but times a flyin' so i've got to strike while the iron is hot! Art shows in other towns, products created at other's studios...oh, and then those kids! ;) sports, sports, sports, homework, field trips, volunteering, meetings...yikes!
anyhoo, I miss communicating with you gals, across the ethers, my fine feathered kindred spirits.
come back, come back! xoxo

Show and Tell...Apifera Farm's Katherine Dunn

I have wanted to showcase this wonderful person for a while now but seeing that my spotty blogging has left my readers wandering for greener pastures, I hesitated.I am so moved by her animals, crazy for her art and inspired by her online presence! OH! how i wish I could be as organized! She feels like a kindred spirit to me. You know...i've always wanted a goat and a donkey to love ;) But I am inspired this very moment so here it goes....

not to mention I dreamt of Blossom again lastnight.

Katherine Dunn...Apifera Farm

There is a lady named Katherine Dunn who lives on a farm in Oregon. (hey, that rhymes! )

She bakes and gives to Man & Donkey alike

whilst creating and making with braids in flight

the young and the old are all worthy at the farm

living a safe and peaceful life...finally from harm. 

you can donate and help her help them

And help her publish her book here             
I've donated! 

There is so much here to love I could hardly focus! Please visit her world and her art for yourself.

Everything this woman does is an inspiration.

xo milady