The Elephant And A Throwback

 Well, 

got the elephant ate.  

Wasn't too bad.  

Hilled the taters up some more and now I just need 

a cattle panel for the tomatoes to be tied to and 

old hay around all the squash and melons. 

This garden is about five acres away from our house so it was a long stroll 

with the tiller.  

Then I had part of the  other garden behind our house to do.  

It's much smaller though.  

Felt so good to get it done.  

 This afternoon I caught up on all my reading and art journaling. 

I finally started a new book for the saints.  

Last night I was reading in the hall of Faith of Hebrews...

it really increases my faith to read of those who've 

gone before us.  Their courage... and how steadfast they were.  

  It just gets me.  

I had alot of photos to print today, and 

also bought some printables  on etsy to use.  

This one I printed on  transparency to use in my art journal. 

Then I printed some of my flowers too.  

It looks cool to watercolor and journal all over pages and then 

washi tape these over the top.  

As I was reading in my Grams bible, 

 I just happened on this page.  

I didn't even know there was a listing of saints in her bible.  

 I've already found some to start with.  

 And started a sketch of St. Fiacre too .  

I don't even know what he really looked like but 

I think  he had to have smiled a lot.  

Throwback Thursday:

So today this photo of us on our motorcycle popped up.  

Funny coz just yesterday Mike asked me if I missed riding. 

  --He just sold this bike  a couple years ago.

 Riding  up in the mountains I'd have to say was 

one of my most favorite things to do.  I was not raised around motorcycles. 

My first experience on one  was when I was around 15 years old?

The person I rode with was super careful  and never tried to scare me.  Made 

me wear a helmet and I loved it.  

The next person I rode one with was reckless.  I seriously thought I was gonna die

and I'm shocked I ever got on one again.  But when Mike got his he  was really careful and 

we had nice helmets with an intercom in them and it was soooo enjoyable.  

There came a time though when he  just didn't feel good about it anymore.  He had friends  who had gotten in some bad wrecks and he said he started to worry 

what if something happened to me.  So it just seemed like the right time to sell it and do

something different for a hobby.   We are both really glad it was part of our story but it was 

just time for that chapter to end.  It was fun looking back on the memories though and writing 

about it all in my journal.  

Well I tried to put the video on that had mentioned.  

It even finally downloaded but when I tried to play it here...

it wouldn't do diddly.  I think if I try again I'll just upload  to youtube and 

use it from there.  Surely that would work.  

Alright I'm tuckered out.  

I sign off with a little bouquet of Gertrude Jekyll roses in an art deco 

holy water? bottle I found on a treasure hunt.  

We love because He first loved us. 

Til we meet again, 

<*))))><

#sharethelove 

That Dancing For Jesus Song

 A couple days ago,  I played catchup in my wanderlust class.  

A friend and I were messaging back and forth and I sent her a video of me in my little art porch with the praise and worship music playing  in the background.  

My mind was ... all over the place, (but she didn't know that) -because I was remembering my Momma.  

12 years to the day ... It was the morning I awoke to the phone ringing.

My stepdad was panicking... because Momma had gotten out of bed and 

wanted to "go home." 
Turned out to be the last day I spent with her. 
Back to chitchatting with my friend... out of all billion songs she
could bring up in the world... she mentioned Mercy Me's song
I Can Only Imagine. 
My Momma called it "that dancing for Jesus song." 
"Play me that dancing for Jesus song," she'd say.
She especially asked to hear it back and forth on our trips to chemo and radiation.
I can still remember glancing over and seeing her tears while she sang along.
Then that last day twelve years ago, I played it often. 
12 years to the day. 
So my journal page took that spin...
imagining and dancing ....
I was glad my friend shared what was on her mind/heart
and it reminded me that we never know what dot will connect.
As you can see ... lots of dots connected for me. 

It's only February but I've been so loving the weekly art lessons.  

  Especially doing simple doodle drawings.

My simple souls keep turning into angels, nuns and friars.  

I think I'm discovering more of my own style.  

We also painted paintbrushes and spoons.  

My first paintbrush is a Martha....

Imagine that.  

She turned into a scripture picture.
I know, I know... crazy right?  I'll be printing her
and adding it to my faith journal. 
If you like her... feel free to
print and share...

Alrighty friends, I have critter chores to do....
Thanks for stopping by and spending your precious time
with me. 
Have a wonderful day!  

Day 14 Gratitudes, Watercolor Play

 Hello friends,

So yesterday was the last day of prompts for my little Love Book.  

Valentines day seemed the perfect day for it and part of 

me doesn't want it to end.  

Good thing I have shelves of old books to start something new.   

 Yesterday's prompt was gratitude.  

As I think  of all the things I'm so grateful for..

the loves in my life- well; it makes me rather emotional.  

It was easy to just write ... and give thanks.  

This heart is very full.  

The night before Valentines day we went to our grand daughter's house

to leave her a valentine.  When we went inside she ran into my arms 

and clung to me so tight.  The love I felt was ... incredible to say the very least!  

When we had to leave she even cried.  Oh what a tug it was!  

I journal this memory with absolute gratitude.  

I need to write them in the book I keep for her as well.  

-- so all the prompts are finished now but I still have three or 

four pages left.  

What to do with them? ...

 I'd ordered this little set of watercolors called

Hopeless Romantic from Alchemy Soul Arts, 

and they came yesterday!  

This afternoon I got  to play with them.  

 This set will be great for skin tones for me.  

 I made some doodles and 

blew out the color.  I set them out to dry and 

this evening will add to them.  

  At the flea market, I recently found a couple vintage butterpats.  

They may find their way to Blake's mud kitchen this summer but

until then they work great for mixing.  

When I finish these little watercolors, I think I'll cut them apart and 

add to my final pages.  

Last but not least is this!!!!!!!!!! 

My sweet, dear friend Susie sent me the most amazing book of my childhood 

hometown.   She also made  a homemade

valentine! ...  The valentine and a copy of this  photo has to go 

into my book as well.  This is the old Catholic church and her Momma 

thinks the church was added onto.  It's where I was confirmed!

So while the church looked different when I was little... this old  church

may be within the walls.  Isn't that something?  

I have such strong feelings and memories about this place. 

The priest was very dear to me and I can still hear him singing

I've got that Joy joy joy joy down in my heart.  

I had no idea the seeds that were being planted inside of me then...

but I do now!  

So I will tuck this photo into my special book.  

 After this evening it will be finished.  

She's chunky and chock full of love.  

I leave yall with a new scripture picture.  

These are my valentine roses from Myguy and I'd love to share with you.  

Feel free to print them and share.  

Thanks for visiting me today!

Seeds of Thought

Hello friends,

I've vowed to not leave this chair until I post

at the olde shed today.  

I have friends in the North who say their ground is frozen like a brick-

so I had to share the first little buttercup bloomer in our garden.  

These little guys live under a Rose of Sharon and are all snug n cozy in  

a bed of English ivy.  

How cheered my heart was to discover this first flower this week!

Spring is really coming.   

I know we'll no doubt have very cold weather still;

but even the grass is greening up in places.  

Mary Jane had her calf and the rest we hope

we still start in late Spring to early Summer.  

Like many of you; 

we've been battling flu and colds.

Myguy got hit really hard and 

thankfully he finally went to the doctor and got antibiodics. 

So other than when we've just had to go places ...

we've spent a lot more time at home.  

There's nothin worse than havin a coughing fit in a public place.

Not to mention who wants your germs?  

And when I say your germs; I really mean mine.. and Muguy

Yeah we've been real germy lately.  

I know many of your families have been hit with the crud as well. 

The worst part for us here... is we've had to stay away from our grandgirl.

We both got to aching like crazy for her.  

We just couldn't bear to chance her catching any of this mess.  

 Good thing our furbabies never care what kinda shape we're in huh?

These olde friends just love no matter what.  

And were really happy to get out and go walkin together again.

Wish we could get out there again today but it is pouring cats and dogs here.

A Funny-  (sorry but it hit me after I'd written it.)  lol  

Heck; we'll just leave that right there.  

:)  

I snapped a photo of my devo this morning.  

It was so good and fits right in with  all my garden plans this year.

"The choices you make are the seeds you plant, and they determine the kind of crop you're going to harvest in the future."  

This is out of the In Touch Ministries if you're interested in daily devotionals. 

It asks three questions.  

What kind of life do I want to live?

What do I want my character to be like?

and What do I want to become years from now?

Three good questions to journal.  

By the end of the month I'll need to start my seeds to plant under grow lights.  

I can't tell you how torn I feel over all this.  

I love gardening; no surprise.  

But there are other things I want to do this Summer besides spending sunup to

long after sundown tending it all.  

Did I really just write that outloud?  

sigh

 I've been opening this handmade garden journal from my friend Jeanie

and trying to plan  it out ahead of time.  

 

Even by encouraging myself like this.  

-This is my note to self... 

and we'll see how it goes.  

Plant what you love

and can't imagine living without.  

And just because you love it and can't live without it doesn't mean

you need multiple rows of it.  

Sounds so simple doesn't it? 

The problem is...

When it comes down to it... 

there is always room for one more seed or bulb. 

Yall have seen those shows of hoarders on tv?  

That's my garden.  

You can't walk through it... for all the plants and flowers you gotta jump, hurdle,

or go around... and then around the next row coz it's all blocked with ... more flowers.  

It sounds like a beautiful problem but it gets then to that point where you shrug your shoulders

and close your eyes coz you can't manage none of it and keep bringing more plants home and planting more seeds and then next thing you know it's the garden of Weedin... 

The morning glory take over happens then and it's katybarthedoor.  

I still haven't figured it out yet.  

But the clocks tickin.  

Have you gardeners figured out what you're doing yet?

My main thing this summer is I want more time for art.  

Maybe I should put it like this... I want more time for art 

without the guilt of I should be weeding, watering, and picking.

 I'm kind of amazed how important art journaling has become in my walk.  

Often the prompts given...wind up  going  down a whole different road for me?

One prompt was about painting a castle and instead.. I found myself 

with my nose in the word reading about heaven and the walls and gates and 

streets of gold and jewels in the walls and my castle instead became my heavenly home.  

This past week's prompt in my journal turned  into the tomb where Joseph of Arimathea laid the 

body of Jesus after He was crucified.  

 I had a really cool thing happen today.  

I've shared before that when I read the word every morning I record a verse 

that stands out for me in this walk in faith book.  

Today Phil 4:8,9 returned.  

How many times has it in the past... a lot!  

I wrote it out in the space for the day and then after the Voice of God study and

Lent study; I knew I'd grab a flow paper magazine to maybe cut out some papers to use.

I saw a Daphne Magazine as well and knew I needed to look through it as well.  

Opening it I discovered an email from my friend and Mentor in life Cora 

who went to heaven two years ago.  I had at some point printed out the email and stuck the pages inside the Daphne magazine.  In it she wrote to me about my thoughts and wrote out 

Philippians 4:8-9.  The very verse I'd just written in my book.  

 Sharing it here... brings tears all over again.  

My friend and mentor was once again encouraging my heart and 

pointing me to Christ.  

She also wrote about two books I should read that I honestly don't even remember 

anything about so I found them on amazon and did a good bit of reading about them; 

putting them in my cart for one of these days soon.  

Talk about a hot lump in my throat.  -- shew... 

Very much a God thing.  

Ha... about -hot lumps...

I have to share this tea with yall.  

If you've not seen this... this tea is seriously awesome.  

For a good ten days I had such an awful sore throat.  

This is the only thing that really helped ... especially with the coughing.  

I discovered I like it super hot and with stevia... but give it a try if you wind up 

with a cold.  Eeek... it's  reminded me that growing  teas is yet another something I want to grow this Summer.  

See the struggles real! 

I sign off with a picture of my sweet n me.  

Babygirl's  growin like a spring weed.  

I just thank God I got to spend the day with her yesterday!!  

Also since I haven't shared a scripture picture in a while

I leave you with the verse my Mentor in life loved 

and spoke to me often. 

I know I've shared it before but ... 

May we stand at the crossroads and look,

and ask 

for the ancient paths

where the good way is-

And walk in it.

#sharethelove 

Leaon Mary

Tuesday The 30th

ab

Good morning friends,

-- Thanks for stopping by the shed today. 

Thought I'd jump on here and share a few things I've been doing lately.  

Mess... inkblobs and all.  

This is my walk in faith journal.  

It's a moleskine planner with this layout.  

A place to write in daily on the left.. and that blank page opposite of it.

For the most part; I write one scripture each day.  

Whatever verse jumps out at me during my daily reading.  

On Monday... I started to write one... and my twsbi fountain pen upchucked 

all over the page.  I had to laugh when I looked at it.  I've seen movies where some 

psychiatrist will show an ink blob and ask ... what do you see?  

I saw a butterfly in this one.  

I set it off to the side to dry... then came back later and added the words asking God to redeem my mess.  

No surprise my bible study later talked about not conforming but be transformed.  

Anyways, just thought I'd share that sometimes 

things get messy.  

Flipping back to the week before I see it wasn't the only ink issue.  

One thing I want to add is I have people tell me they'd like to art journal as well but they can't draw.

If that thought crosses your mind... toss it.  

Just toss it right out the window.  

If you can draw stick people... you can art journal.  

In fact I have one artist friend who in one of her journals; stick people is all she does on the pages 

and I can tell you it is so awesome!

So doodle, and journal away...

It's okay to be messy and have ink blobs happen...

 It doesn't have to cost a lot either.  

 

I have some really good paint sets... and often still grab  this one.

It's like five bucks at Michaels.  

Is it chalky... yeah... but I love that.  

Smudgy pencil too... In fact lately pencils 

are now what I'm loving more than anything.  

So I'm encouraging you today if you want to be creative... but 

don't think you're good enough.... 

Bite your tongue.  

Bite it right now... 

Don't compare yourself to anybody else.  

Coz you are you and you... are an original and 

anything you create is awesome.  

Remember when you were a little kid making something and when you finished

you'd run to Momma all proud of what you made?  

Let me be your  Momma today.  

I'm proud of you... good job!!!  

Let's hang your art on the fridge!

Since we are on a creative bent today... 

I thought I'd share my wanderlust class pages for this week.

 I'm excited to share this one coz it was soooo fun.  

We were to think about our past present and future self and 

make a poem about it ontop of a magazine collage.  

All the pictures I cut out of magazines here have a lot  meaning for me.

And the words that came ... were taken from a pile of words in my past present and future.  

I like how it turned out.  

The process was so much fun and incredibly heartfelt.  

The next lesson ... 

 Past, present, future... of my hand 

This was a meaningful lesson as well.

The background didn't turn out the way I wanted- 

In fact I may go back and rework it.  Because it has thick patterns under the black that I would 

like to pop off the page with another layer but... 

again... it is so meaningful to me.  

The symbols all mean something to me as well... mountains, valleys,

love... patience... infinity... eternal.. His eye on me.  Walking in the wilderness, our dots connecting.  Forget me nots.. the cross. Stars.  My ring with the word Walk.  

--When I look at this page; I love that my own hand was traced even though

in real life I look down right now and am NOT crazy how my real hands look.  

For a long time mine have appeared  thirty years older than they are.  They do.  I'm not even exaggerating.  

When my Momma was alive we would put our hands together and they looked identical.  

She was thirty years older than me.  

So right now as I look down... I'm looking at thin skin... tons upon tons of wrinkles.. and blue veins.

But they tell a story though.   They say I'm  a gardener and have baked in the sun..  They've done a  ton of dishes ..

they have scars... -hard work.  

There is probably no manicure that could ever pretty up my real hands.  

But... just like the ink blobs and mess of things.... This is the truth. 

These hands work hard... and they fold together and pray to God Almighty ...- they hold other hands, 

and love and praise and for that... I smile at all the thinning wrinkles and blue veins.

See how meaningful art journaling can be?  

How it gets you thinking?   

Try writing about your past present and future.  

See what happens.

 Last I thought I'd share this other album I started.

This is an album about My Family Trees.

I've had this  antique photo album sitting on a shelf for a long time now.  

And the green book up above and artist I follow inspired me to start documenting 

the special trees on our farm.  

 We have so many "special"  trees on our place and I thought it would be fun to 

document the story of each one.  

This is one  down in our woods that our two sons made a fort in and the ladder boards are still

there to this day.  

The boys would play Robin Hood and made this little hideout up in the olde cedar.

They plucked my chickens and made bows and arrows out of briar sticks and feathers.  

Their imaginations ran wild in this cedar tree and their Shetland pony Elvis would stand tied below it  in the shade.  I took a photo this week and pasted it on the page telling the story and I hope one day

someone will pick this album up and a piece of childhood will come back if even for a moment.

I hope these trees live... and continue to grow.   

 Well I could write all morning... but I'd best get to baby proofing the house.  

These old hands will soon get to hold and love some more.  

I leave you not with a scripture picture but a photo of  reminder.  

Feel free to use and share it if you like.  

Have a beautiful day!

Mustard Seed Faith

 Hello Friends!  

Thought I'd say howdy from the olde shed today and share

a few things since our paths last crossed.  

I feel like I've been in hibernation how bout yall?  

Must say I've been enjoying it though and getting to stay on the farm a lot. 

There's nothin better than a peaceful, plain olde ordinary day.  

One can always find beauty and joy in the smallest of  things.  

Like this donkey who wears her heart on her sleeve.  

You just gotta find the love.  

 Like cutting and splittin firewood with your very own  Prince Charming.  

 I saw it again in that smile of his  and twinkle when he's out feeding his cows.  

These ordinary days ... are gifts to treasure.  

So I document them and count them right into my books.  

Special moments ... 

and things I'm learning along the way.  

I can't remember if I shared with you here that I signed up for

Wanderlust 2018.  It's a year long art class that so far...

has been ... very... purposed it would seem for me.  The  theme paths and roads this month

sure has intersected my olw Walk.

You know that feeling you get when you know that you know.. something is happening

but you can't just put words yet to it all?  

Yeah; that thing has been happening.  

This past week was all on creating mandala blooms.  

The compass bloom - got me.  

Mostly because I've  never had any sense of direction.  

It's just not there- and yet...

I know my true North no matter where I ever am.

So even lost as a goose; I'm never really lost.  

The realizations ... are revelations

if you let them ... be. 

 You just keep walking it out.  

Moment to moment. 

 2018 is a year for Art to be a priority.  

Learning everything I can.

To even paint my garden.  

Weeds n all.  

And somewhere through it all... every step seems to be taking 

me one  breath closer to my greatest love. 

 I have no idea what's in store.  

But I have faith... like a mustard seed.  

It seemed important to share this today. 

Maybe you need encouragement. 

... may I encourage you to keep walking it out as well?  

To keep going.  

I don't know what you're going through...

But we all have something.  

A wise woman said that to me awhile back and I've thought of it 

over and over and over.  

It's so true.  

We all have something.  

So be encouraged.  

Have faith.  

Keep asking...

And do the next thing.  

You can do it in Him.