Summer, Joy, Picking Flowers and the Giveaway Winner

Life continues to speed along. Here it is, the middle of August. Signs of fall are everywhere. The robins stopped singing weeks ago. Acorns are beginning to fall. The weather hasn't been summer-warm. The sun is setting earlier and earlier each day. Recently I found myself in a bit of a panic... wait, I haven't been truly enjoying summer, it can't be over...

One thing I haven't been doing much of this summer is cutting flowers to enjoy in the house (I guess I didn't learn). I've been "saving" them. The zinnias seem to be blooming one flower at a time and I've hardly had any flowers on my beloved nasturtiums (until the last couple days, that is). I hate to cut the only flower on a plant. But soon there will be no more flowers in the garden.

I noticed a book at the library the other day: If I Had My Life to Live Over I Would Pick More Daisies. That title has been resonating with me ever since. I didn't check out the book, a collection of essays, stories and poems, but later I looked up the phrase and found a couple versions of the poem here. Truly, just what I needed to hear. Sometimes I can be too serious. Too focused. Too careful.

And these lines:

More errors are made solemnly than in fun. The rubs of family life come in moments of intense seriousness rather that in moments of light-heartedness. If nations - to magnify my point - declared international carnivals instead of international war, how much better that would be!*

With the weight of continuous heartbreaking news, with the state of the world as it is and has been and seems to continue to become, I wish all of us a bit more fun, more joy, more beauty.

Over the weekend Matthias and I visited a farm planted with a maze of sunflowers. 

It was magical. The flowers went on and on and on.

You couldn't stand among the sunflowers and feel anything but joy. The weather was perfect. The bees were buzzing. It was good for my soul. (I posted a video of it on Instagram that you can see here).

I started thinking about how if we all could take time to feed our spirits with such beauty, such joy, such peace, then perhaps the world wouldn't be in the state it is.

I know that nothing is quite so simple. And yet, each act of kindness makes a difference. What a gift this field of sunflowers. The family whose farm it is charges no money for people to walk the maze, to cut a flower to bring home...

We all have our gifts to give. Maybe we aren't marching in protests. Perhaps our acts are different. Acts of kindness. Acts of love. Acts of beauty.

Kindness matters. Love matters. Beauty matters.

This post has gone in a different direction than I'd originally intended, but all of these things have been on my mind. In addition to putting the finishing touches on my studio. 

And filming and editing my next Skillshare class. 

And trying to savor and enjoy each fleeting day.

Thank you to each of you who entered my giveaway. I had 29 people comment on my blog and 54 people comment on Instagram, with some of you commenting in both places. I truly appreciate all of your kind words about my art.

I wrote all of your names on little scraps of paper and put them in this bowl.

The butterflies were by far the most popular design, but the winner, pulled out at random, loved the nasturtiums the best.

Congratulations, Carla From the River! Please send me your address and I'll mail out your package!

I'll share more about my studio, my garden, my art, next week. (And of course, there will be a Sketchbook Conversation later this week, too).

Wishing you a week with many chances to feed your spirit.

*from the poem "If I Had My Life Over, I'd Pick More Daisies" version by Don Herold found here