One Day at a Time — Day 6 — The Tree

 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2Corinthians 4:18

I like todays verse because it reminds me that there is more to “life” than just what we see.  If we only look at this life we have a very narrow field of vision for sure.  While I love my life and the people in it I would be very sad to believe that this is all there is.

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I have been playing in my sketchbook.  I love art — color, shapes, texture — I love nature although I like to observe it from afar — I will never be an outdoor enthusiast that does things like camp and hike. And, I love trees.  So, I sat down yesterday and decided to make another go of a tree.  Here is my attempt —

Yes, I realize it is crooked because I was sitting at an angle, I suppose.  I looks more like a Halloween tree than the one in my back yard but it is a decent attempt.  I have a feeling that this whole sketchbook is going to be filled with trees.  A strange thing happened while I was drawing it though — as I was working on the right side of the trunk a voice popped into my head — a male voice — and simply said “your lines are too straight”.  And he popped right out again.  It was clear as a bell and I know who the voice was.   That isn’t possible, is it?  Well, I took “his” advice, made my lines less straight and it all came together to be this.  Yes, it is crooked but I figure it has just spend eons with the wind blowing it that way.  I wonder what lives in the hole in the middle?  I think a nice little squirrel family.  I will continue to work on this tree and maybe there will be a story. 

Story writing is something I always enjoyed doing as well — it is also a form of art — painting pictures with words.  We did a lot of creative writing in high school and I was always very secretly proud of myself for having my work routinely used by the teacher in other venues like teacher conferences and things like that.  I still like to write stories but haven’t done so in awhile.  

Back about 42 years ago I signed up for one of those correspondence writing courses that you see in magazines — The Institute of Children’s Literature.  It was legit and I really enjoyed doing the assignments.  One thing I wrote was called “The Perils of Petie” about a parrot — an arrogant little thing — that learned some good life lessons.  My father mocked it up and was going to illustrate it for me but that never came to fruition.  I still have the mockup.  He always encouraged me.

Today I have some more cross stitch supplies coming.  Needlework or needlecrafts is another form of art for me, even if I am just following a pattern.  I received my new hoop and I have ordered some twill tape to wrap the bottom hoop with and a couple of other little notions — a seam ripper and a tape measure.  It will be here today and I can’t wait to get that hoop wrapped.  

I also ordered a new tote from Lands End. 

This will be my new cross stitch tote.  I bought the medium and figure it will probably be a little too large — we will see.  It was on a really good sale or I would not have purchased it — I only buy on sale. Right now I am using a knitting caddy to, well, tote everything around in, and, after many years the thing is pretty much collapsing on me and falling apart.  I need something new and less obtrusive.

So, hopefully the tote bag will get here soon and it will be an improvement.  

Not much has been happening on Noah’s Deck — there are still two foxes out there from time to time and a half dozen cats that wander through — not to mention the bobcat — but the one thing missing is Bam, my little favorite fox.  I don’t see any evidence that anything bad has happened to her so I am just hoping that, since it is mating season, she has found the love of her life and is out being her best self.  I am sad though because watching her was a highlight of my day.  I am hopeful though that she will be back.

So, I am off to do some chores.  I started walking yesterday and did increase my step count by quite a bit but not nearly what it should be.  However, in this case, I believe in “baby steps”.  We will see how it goes.

Have a wonderful day and do something exciting!