Watercolor 544

Santa Maria

I am back from a week away in the mountains. It wasn’t a vacation, and now I am doing a six day get-this-stuff-down-your throat cleanse, preparatory to even better stuff. But while we were away we had some free time, so I did a few watercolors from our daily hikes. There was no WiFi there, I had no iPad, so the trusty old camera was put to use again. I plan to share pictures, because it was a very scenic area. Here is a view of what one sees arriving up the mountain on the switchback roads, across high bridges spanning very deep gorges between very high mountains. 

There is actually a village of stone houses and cobblestone paths below that church and tower. You might wonder why anyone would put a village so high up the side of mountain. It has actually been settled from many centuries before the time of Christ. The ancient Celts and Etruscans had habitations there. Again, why? It was because ancient peoples were attuned to energetic places, and this place happens to have very energetic meridians crossing in the area and active springs of healing waters. In our modern and postmodern times people have been so focused on the material and physical that most have forgotten that we and all creation are energetic beings that need to be kept in tune. 

Winter

Welcome

Though we haven’t had much winter, we are getting some snow and cold this year, which is an improvement on other recent years.

On our Welcome sign, I put a seasonal filler, but needed one for Winter. So….

Using an old practice sheet that someone did for a “let’s do art” session…..

……I added this and that to make this.

Welcome Winter

Watercolor 543

From December 

BuJo Time Again - Thank You So Much ♥

Hm, I think I mentioned that I was going to share Christmas WIP stuff next time I put up a post, but in light of the End of this blog and new Beginnings, and because this material was more ready to go, we have decided instead to show the chaos that is schedules-and-lists-keeping for the year, a.k.a., my Bullet Journal.

I'm not sure what's up with the theme I chose for the year. It makes me think of a circus, but also...boho? Or maybe "dream catchers?" Either way, it's not entirely jiving with my tastes, so it hits kind of weird. And it took considerably longer to doodle with than I had intended, because I had to skip around to different pages carefully while the gel pen dried on others...haha... I spent almost all day putzing around with these pages (between housecleaning, going to the post office, and making an impressively horrendous failure of a lasagna), and while it was mostly fun and relaxing, my brain was also screaming about not doing something more productive or more important. I think I like last year's theme better, even though it was kind of simple. Not necessarily a bad thing.

I folded washi tape over the edges of the main pages as decoration and to help me flip back to them more easily through the year

won't be using the "LBC" abbreviation much more this year now... :(

 

  

Everything's messy and crooked, but I must not let it bother me XD

I really liked having the Expenses pages that I'd added last year, so doing that again. It keeps the pile of receipts in my wallet low to non-existent, because it prompts me to enter my purchases the day (or at least the week) that I've made them, so that I don't have a huge pile and get things too much out of order. Other than that, I've not seen much importance in having these. Granted, I haven't gone through last year's yet and tallied up the different categories like I'd meant to, so we'll see.

stars going for a walk

added extra yearly tracking pages this time, to have things more condensed and not scattered all over the months

I went ahead and made the spread for next week, even though I usually do those as needed, to see how it goes. (I have different themes for each month separate from the main theme so that I can try different things out throughout the year and I do not get supremely tired of the main theme.) This journal is smaller than my last, and I'm not sure about how little space each day has in comparison in the weekly spreads...

the previous year's day sections are longer and a little wider. (still using it for this week because I just got the new book - had trouble finding one last month, haha)

new boring index

The index was so much more fun to look at in the old one XD

Added a couple of scrapbook-like pages last year for notable trips and events - was one of my newer experiments with my bullet journalling in 2021, and something I'll probably incorporate again this year also.

I got an actual dotted journal for the first time for this year, and I'm not sure it's much of an improvement over the plain-sketchbook types of books I have used so far. More often I found the dotted grid distracting rather than helpful while making my sections and charts. We'll see. It might just take some getting used to. I think the attached ribbon bookmarks are cute and will be handy, tho! It also lays flat, which is always a fun feature. And I like the elastic band that holds it shut when the journal is closed. It will be easier to chuck into a bag when I take it on trips. XD

Well, I would like to thank each of you at Little Bird for the experiences we've had here, from amazing artwork, cool quilts, and fun travel posts, to technical difficulties that were almost as funny as they were annoying. Thank you for sharing, for encouraging, for being here. I will miss it a lot, but it is understandable. Very best wishes and blessings to you in your 2022 and beyond! ♥♥♥♥♥

 

That’s All, Folks

End and Beginning 

That little story was the last of this blog. It’s time for me to move on to some serious art and other projects. 

It’s been six-plus years and 2000-plus posts among us. 

I don’t know yet if I will occasionally use this site for pictures, if, for instance, one can go traveling again. But, I don’t plan to do nearly-daily Posts anymore. 

Thanks for coming along.

Blessed Epiphany.

A kings’ bread came in the mail…..

Epiphany!

Page 37

Then Evly, Snerdlum, the friends, and Mole snuggled into Evly’s little house in the hollow tree. 

Their lights were very, very bright. 

Mole closed her eyes. Mole blinked. 

“Open your eyes and look!” said Evly. 

Mole’s eyes opened and she could see the Light of the Special Day. 

And they all had mint tea and rose hip biscuits in the bright light. 

THE END

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

Page 36

“Come with us,” said Evly. “Your eyes can see in the Light.”

“Will it hurt?” asked Mole.

“Only for a moment,” said Evly. 

Eleventh Day of Christmas

Page 35

“ What did you see? asked Mole, from her dark hole.

“We saw the Special Day,” said the friends. 

“ My days are all the same in the dark,” said Mole.

“ Nothing is special. My eyes don’t see.”

Ninth Day of Christmas

Page 33

“What did you find,” asked Owl

“We found the Light,” said Evly. “Do you want some?”

“Thank you,” said Owl.

Tenth Day of Christmas

Page 34

“What did you do?” asked Squirrel, with one eye open.

“We found the Light,” said Evly. “ Do you want some?”

“When I wake up in the spring,” said Squirrel. 

It looks like yesterday’s did not publish, so this one comes after the owl one. Sigh……

Happy New Year 2022

May You Be Blessed

Every ending is a new beginning. Let us run our race with confidence to obtain our crown, even though we cannot see what is around each bend. We know where we are going and what is our end.

Eighth Day of Christmas

Page 32

The Beetles danced, but Snerdlum didn’t do it.

And Evly danced, too.