Majestic Iceland

Hi, all! Look what I found. Sometimes I have to spend two or three days in bed and I surf around or watch movies or read on my little netbook.

This is Iceland! Isn't it cool?

These photos are from that site. It says that this is the Skogafoss Waterfall, South Iceland.

And this beautiful spot is Sydri Fjanear Landmannalaugar.

The city of Reykjvik looks really neat too. Apparently they use geothermal energy so the air is much cleaner there. The site has lots of pictures and movies to browse if you have the time. Enjoy! 

New Growth

 One of the things I'm loving about this time of year is the way I see the hibernating plants awaken and grow even stronger and bigger than they were the year before.

We have a fairly small back garden that was planted last summer. It may not look like much at the moment and this isn't the best picture of it, but this is the desert and spring has only just begun.

 This is an olive tree. It's blooms are beautiful.

And just recently we're seeing new growth on it's branches. I can't wait to show you the masses of beautiful white blooms it will surely get if all goes well.

On one side our neighbor's tree bloomed pink and on the other side a different neighbor's tree bloomed yellow.

The girls seem to be enjoying the increase of birds and insects and new smells that they get from the window.

Pampered Kitties

The girls are loving these Catty Stacks from Cathousesystems. It's basically a cat tree made of cardboard boxes that you can configure in lots of different ways. 

Both Yum-Yum and Pitti-Sing were in on the building.

My brother and I put the boxes together. There's a video on their website that shows you how to do it.

You can see Pitti-Sing in the green one just as soon as we put it together.

At first it was exciting for them. Then the day after they weren't so keen on it, but after a few days it became a part of their environment and now they use it all the time. I used food treats to get them to go up and down through the boxes and through the tunnel. Pitti-Sing (the orange and white) is particularly fond of tunnels so once she got the hang of it she kept going back and forth.

My Near Future

I've been mostly housebound for about the last year-and-a-half, and just recently I've taken to enrolling in e-courses. First, there was Mondo Beyondo and Dream Lab, and then, there was Get Your Paint On.

I didn't do all the course assignments. I did just as much as I could do comfortably and still feel like I was getting something for my money.

Now I've enrolled in this course:

http://www.thewordcellar.com/online-course/
I think registration is still open.

It was a tough choice because there are actually a lot of really neat looking e-courses nowadays for painting, drawing, photography, writing, etc. I figured I could use some help with my writing, though, and not in the dry, grammar-precise way that some people teach.

This looks like it should be interesting, and I'm really looking forward to it, although I'm scared as well. I'm scared that I will have a relapse, or things will get crazy here and there will be too much to do, and I'll not be able to complete the assignments (although that fear is mitigated a bit by my 'only do as much as you comfortably can' approach).

I'm afraid I'll sound like an idiot when interacting with fellow students or commenting on their work. I took an online writing course over ten years ago and that was one of my problems. I had to comment on others work and I just didn't know what to say. Time and experience have helped me with this sort of thing. But, quite frankly, it would be odd if I didn't have these sort of fears. It wouldn't be me.

Though I'm still not sure that I'm ready for critical feedback. Part of me wants it because you can't get better if you don't know where you can improve. But part of me says that maybe right now I just need is a little pat on the back. We'll see. I don't even know yet how all that will be handled in this course.

Oh, and another reason for me wanting to take this course is the list of guest speakers, including Brene' Brown.

So, all in all, I'm really excited. {smile}

First Smoothie of the Year

Last summer I tried a raw food diet. Wish I could say it made a miraculous difference in my health, but that wasn't the point. Having food allergies, my diet is a lot better than the typical American diet anyway. I just wanted to add more veggies.

Winter came and I just got too cold. So this is the first smoothie of the year!

All I had was an organic banana, no fresh greens or anything like that. So armed with a banana, some brown rice protein, rice milk, ice cubes, and a sprinkle of cocao nibs, I had lunch! And just when I took the first sip I realized - you know what I forgot? Cinnamon! Oh, well. I have the rest of spring and summer, and possibly fall, to make more.

 I really like food so it probably seems odd that I could be so content and emotionally and physically satisfied with one of these things, but I am. It makes me want to smile.

Le Papillon

I just saw this really beautiful french movie, The Butterfly. 

Everything about this movie was beautifully done. I'm not very good at telling the gist of a story so that others get excited about it, but I'll do my best.

The little girl acted so real. She played an 8-year-old named Elsa who's neglected by her very young mother. The older gentleman who lives downstairs is a butterfly collector who's on the search for a very particular butterfly, the Isabelle, so that he can keep a special promise he made many years before.

Elsa is left alone all day and all night, so she runs away and manipulates the butterfly collector into taking her with him.

As they search for the butterfly, they learn more about each other and he becomes the grandfather-figure she never had. His old wounds begin to heal, and he gets more meaning in his life. He even becomes the mentor for the mother who's not a bad person; her parents neglected her too.

It made me think how important it is for older ones to take a wholesome interest in youths, especially nowadays when families are breaking down.

We've lived here a few years, but I just unpacked some pictures. This was one of them. My friend Lorraine, who was old enough to be my grandmother, bought this for me when I was ten-years-old. She and my mom and I were in the mall, and I remember gushing over these watercolors of old-fashioned women in Victorian/country homes. 

(The signature on the picture says it's by H. Downing Hunter.)

Then Lorraine suggested my mom and I go to another store ahead of her and when she joined us she had gotten me one of the watercolors and my mom a picture that she liked.

Years later I remember going to her house for Bible study. It was so calm and quiet and orderly. We would walk around in her garden. Sometimes she would take me out for frozen yogurt or we'd go for a drive or she'd take me on her errands. I remember those times fondly, especially when I look at the picture.

Elsita

I have a new artist to inspire me. Her name is Elsa Mora, aka Elsita.

I love that she has more than one artistic outlet, and those outlets aren't the usual illustration, painting, sculpting. I simply have to try papercutting one of these days. And I love the dolls and miniature books.

I read somewhere that learning one set of skills can increase your ability in completely different areas of life.

I believe that everyone is multi-talented. We don't all have the same talents, and we don't always have a chance to learn what all our talents are, but we all have lots of them.