A thousand half-loves must be surrendered to take a whole heart home. -Rumi

May I have the courage Today

to live the life that I would love,

to postpone my dream no longer

but do at last what I came here for

and waste my heart on fear no more.----John O' Donohue

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ~Annie Dillard, The Writing Life


Today is a beautiful, "seize the day" time of year! I pray to be able to decide what ARE my "half-loves". Those things which I like, but perhaps are things which distract me from doing something with my whole heart! [I am indebted to my friend Macrina for this quote from Rumi, which was included on her e-mail!]

I realize, that to be an artist, I must spend the time painting, creating today...because this IS my life....(thank-you, Annie Dillard and Thoreau).

And thanks to the late John O'Donohue for the poem about postponing dreams no longer!

[Finally, thanks to Martha Stewart for the image of the woman in the open door!]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My good news- since listing more paintings on Etsy this week, I have had sales. And one painting now seems to be destined to be on a book's cover. Truly, neglecting dreams is not an option!

"Stop the words now, open the window in the middle of your chest and let the spirit move in and out."---Rumi

******************************************************************************I read the quote above on my friend Macrina's Facebook page this morning, right after opening as many windows in this house as I can. The morning air is cool and wonderful. Later we are expecting a heat wave..

********************************************************************

[Despite Rumi's advice, I shall have to resort to words for this post!]

I've been checking up and visiting friends from when I lived in Little Rock. A wonderful break from working on Mom's house!

My friend Sandra hosted me and the two blogging friends, Cindy and Vicki, who write "Stick Horse Cowgirls". What a lovely evening, enjoying conversation and food in the ambiance of artist Sandra's beautiful home! Thank-you ladies!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then I checked on a friend who had once given me a wonderful birthday party [think an evening with everyone we knew, her fabulous homemade Middle eastern food, music, dancing and "cake blindness" from all those candles!] .... my friend Sandy.

That is when I learned that life moves us on....or rather sometimes brings us "full circle". When I rang the doorbell where Sandy once lived, it was answered (this time, I had stopped by from time to time and no one was ever home....the phone # no longer reached them) by the husband, Joe, who had lived there with her. I could tell that things were different....(hmmm Joe is getting gray, aren't we all!!!)...

They are now divorced and each has remarried. They parted on friendly terms, the children are grown. Sandy is now married to her high school sweetheart from Panama. [He had been attending the Catholic boarding school in Arkansas, Subiaco. Sandy was a student, in those days, at Mount St. Mary's high school for girls here in Little Rock. They met at a Subiaco dance where the girls came by bus from Little Rock. ]

After graduation, he had returned to Panama, they lost contact, she married Joe....

Maybe I will hear from Sandy one day, and learn how she found her lost love...I left my e-mail....meanwhile I know she has a good life, being an open and adventurous spirit!