Inspired

Lens Us Together – week 4: Orange

Life Ring for the Queen of Cumberland – BC Ferries

I’ve been away for awhile…south of the border in the US…and then home again, but just long enough to grab some clean clothes before taking an inter island ferry to visit with my dear friend “E” for a few days.  My friend was tackling the job of decluttering a lifetime’s worth of possessions.  It can help to have someone who’s not emotionally attached when you decide to purge not only your own accumulations, but also those you’ve inherited from parents and other relatives who have passed on.  It’s a difficult and painful task to decide what to keep and what to let go of when every object holds a beautiful and priceless memory and seems like the  last “tie” to those who are gone.  I went through some of this myself when I packed up my home last spring and I know there will be more of it happening soon when I unpack in a house that’s almost half the size of the one I left. 

The photograph above of the life ring was taken on the boat when we stopped to unload and reload at Galiano Island.  The bright orange colour is the international colour of safety and visibility so it fits in perfectly with this week’s orange theme.  I’ve always believed that safety is an “inside job” and if we don’t feel safe deep within ourselves, no amount of locks, chains, guards or bolts will ever make us feel safe.

"Safety does not lie in contraction. Something has gone awry because you have believed that contraction could make you safe. Now practice the opposite. Start believing that it is expansion that will make you safe, and then be the observer. You can find a hundred ways to expand every day. Just try it. In the midst of something that looks frightening, start expanding with your breath. The natural act of filling your lungs with air will straighten your spine and extend your chest. Then you will be 'leading with the heart.' And the heart is where you feel the love."

"When you wake up every morning, plant this statement deeply inside your awareness: "As much as I am able this day, I will go within, ask and listen; and I am going to trust and risk by doing what I feel to be true. Thus, I will follow the response rather than the safety of my habitual patterns".

From the Heart of a Gentle Brother – Mary Margaret Moore

For more Orange inspiration, check out other posts at Lens Us Together.

Play well and be kind to one another.

When Life Gives you Lemons

…do you make a lemon meringue pie or a lemon tart or maybe a lemon cheesecake?  I’m leaning towards Lemon Snow myself.  I learned how to make this recipe in a grade seven home economics cooking class…lo these many years ago.  I loved it so much that I came home and made it four nights in a row!  My older and not so very sensitive brother, finally said “can’t you make anything else?” and the overly sensitive little sister was suitably crushed and never made it again for many years.

Over a week ago, I brought home a bag of bright, cheery lemons.  They’re sitting in a bowl on the kitchen table happily glowing in the fall sunshine.   I’ve taken pictures of them from every angle.  I’ve scratched their shiny skin numerous times and deeply inhaled the fresh citrus scent.  This small bag of lemons has nourished my senses on so many levels and now it’s time to enjoy their flavour…and I adore anything lemon!

Lemon Snow is an old fashioned dessert.  It’s not a recipe you’ll find in modern cookbooks or listed on any restaurant menu but I thought I’d share it with you here.  It’s light and fresh and when served with a dollop of creamy custard, it adds just a dash of richness. 

It’s a delicious walk down the dusty halls of my memory…I’m standing nervously in my hand stitched white pinafore apron with my name embroidered in red thread across the bib.  I’m furiously whipping egg whites with a hand turned egg beater and worrying over a custard sauce that’s threatening to turn lumpy while a prim looking teacher grimly walks between the cooking stations with clipboard in hand. But oh, it was so very worth it when I was finally able to spoon the light and heavenly lemon dessert into my mouth. 

LEMON SNOW PUDDING

1 env. (1 tbsp.) unflavored gelatin
1/4 c. cold water
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. lemon juice
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Soften gelatin in cold water about 3 minutes. Add boiling water and sugar. Stir until dissolved. Add lemon juice and cool quickly. When almost set, beat until frothy. Add stiffly beaten egg whites and continue beating until almost stiff enough to hold its shape. Pour into individual sherbets and chill until firm. Garnish with custard sauce.

CUSTARD SAUCE:

Beat egg yolk, cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup sugar together. Gradually stir in milk. Heat slowly, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and coats spoon. Add vanilla. Cool. (you can also easily make the quicker version with the never fail, almost instant Birds Eye Custard powder).  Serve over snow pudding. Great dessert after a big meal! 

Enjoy!

Play well and be kind to one another.

Shared Focus - Bicycles

Our theme this week over at Shared Focus, is Bicycles.  Find out here why we chose this topic and what we had to say about it!

Lens.Us.Together - week 03: Who I See

 

He's the one who laughs (a lot!)

and makes me laugh too

(even when I swear I won't).

He's the one who found me a half a world away

and left home,

and country

to be with me.

He's the one who loves music and movies

and boats and water and travel and people

and oh so many other things.

He's the one who throws a ball

to our obsessive, ball chasing, hairy friend

and

I'm thrilled to say,

he's the one who loves me

as much as I love him!

This weeks topic at Lens-Us-Together is Who I See and was hosted by Dani.  The photograph above of my husband and our "obsessive, ball chasing, hairy friend", otherwise known as Molly...was taken today at Ocean Shores in Washington State.  We're away for some rest and relaxation and other than walking on the beach, we're doing a whole lot of nothing and loving it!

Cyan Sea

I’ve  been having a lot of fun recently, layering my own digital paintings and collage into some of my photographs.  As you know if you’ve been visiting here for awhile, I love photography but there’s just something in me that can’t leave it at that.  I have to take it that one (or two or twenty) steps further.  The contrast of using a fairly intense block of colour on one portion of the canvas with black and white on the other, really interests me.  I’ve done a few more of these but they’re on my laptop which has gone to the computer spa for some R & R …

(in other words, it crashed!).

I’ve learned something interesting recently about the way I approach a creative project and it's come to light through the house building process…I don’t begin the process with a vision of the end product.  I create by taking one step, looking at it and then making a decision about the next step and so on.  It’s a “feeling” thing for me. Things evolve as I go along. 

Our builder, who also happens to be our son-in-law, creates by visualizing the end product and then working backwards to get that vision.  It’s been an interesting process for me to observe his style and I’m sure, a more frustrating experience for him to observe mine!  ;)

We're enjoying a beautiful fall weekend here and getting organized to take off for the better part of a week...a bit of a holiday, shopping for the house and visiting family...south of the border.  We are soooo looking forward to a break.  There have been some major hold ups with the house construction recently but we should be sailing into the home stretch by the end of next month if all goes well.  At any rate we're more than ready right now to take some time for fun!

Play well and be kind to one another.

lens-us-together…week 02 – Abandoned

The theme for week 02 at lens-us-together is abandoned and was suggested by Beth at Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Taken.  I love Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s beautiful little book Gift From the Sea and it’s theme of ebb and flow…of life’s changes and fluctuations…which she herself came to terms with while spending a week on her own by the ocean, away from her husband and five children. 

The sea abandons the shore every day and then returns.  When we understand the natural rhythms of nature it's somehow easier to come to terms with loss, change and even abandonment in our own lives.

afternoon sunlight at the sea’s edge

"For relationships, too, must be like islands. One must accept them for what they are here and now,

within their limits - islands surrounded and interrupted by the sea,

continuously visited and abandoned by the tides.

One must accept the serenity of the winged life,

of ebb and flow, of intermittency.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh"

Gifts From the Sea

 

Play well and be kind to one another,

Kate

.

An Avalanche of Kindness

 

Slippery slopes are not reserved for negativity.
Positive momentum can also happen
in a manner that feels much like barely controlled falling.
One kind move begins an avalanche.

I found the quote above on “Positively Present” and loved the upbeat take on the old negative phrase of “it’s a slippery slope”.

As you may know if you’ve been reading here for awhile, kindness and gratitude are my “thang”.  That doesn’t mean that I’m  never thoughtless or I never get stuck in negativity and forget to count my blessings, it just means that I really try not to go there and make an effort to catch myself as soon as I can if I do start down that slope! 

Dani at Positively Present lists several things that can be done to gain positive momentum in your life and they’re all great suggestions.  The one that jumped out at me was “do what you do best…a lot”.  If you ever needed permission to take time to create art, write, run…or whatever it is you love to do…here it is.  It’s good for you and if it’s good for you, it’s good for everyone around you.

So on this long weekend (in North America at least) take time to do what you love!

(the photograph of the dill plant above was taken at the community garden on Mayne Island)

lens.us.together - Where I Live

I’ve joined a new group of online photographers here at Lens.Us.Together.  The project will last for 52 weeks and there are about thirty of us participating.  Our first prompt was “Where I Live”.

Where I live,

the water is our highway.

I live on Vancouver Island...a ferry ride

from the mainland of Canada's west coast.

The ocean impacts our lives in so many

ways and to some extent, defines who we are.  We're

islanders and life is a little slower here

and more laid back than on the mainlaned.

Sometimes we're called "tree huggers" and "granola crunchers"

but really, we're just passionate about our beautiful island

...and no, Birkenstocks (with or without socks) do not live in my closet!

My heart loves it here,

and that says it all!

 

 

Play well

and be kind to one another