little wonders

Today I've been struck by a series of little wonders ...

The word 'invigorating' magnified through the acrylic grip in the shower.

Before the big blast of snow hit on Friday, I made a mad dash out for bird seed and to quench a sudden need for greenery to adorn the new open corner of my worktable.  I bought a beautiful red-stemmed mini jade plant, a small ming aralia and a lovely pot with soon-to-be-blooming paperwhites.  On the way home I stopped at my favorite store and found perfect ceramic containers for my new table-top garden.

 Another little wonder is how fast the paperwhites are shooting up in my toasty environment.  

After the amazingly fast 10" accumulation on Friday night, we got a healthy dose of sleet, making for a very crusty blanket. The bird feeders have been a hub of activity and needed filling, so I ventured out into the still cold morning to discover more little wonders ... a tiny snow 'cave'

 

And, from where I had walked across the crusty layer, shards of snow remained.

I've been in a bit of a feng-shui frenzy, Friday and Saturday's task was clearing surfaces of 'decor' that now felt like clutter.  Asking myself, "what does this do for me?  Does it lift my energy or does my energy drop when I think about it or look at it?" (from Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui).  One of the bits of treasure I left was this small pit fired pinch pot filled with feathers.  The pot is one of mine from many years ago, the feathers collected beneath a nest tucked into the rafters of the old shed next to our former log cabin home ... hmmm, at least seven or eight years ago.  The feathers had gotten sort of packed down, so I fluffed them up and discovered the russet striped feather, a forgotten little wonder in the center of the mix.

The last week has been a challenge, I'm so easily distracted these days.  I kept hearing the squadron leader from the climactic battle scene in Star Wars, "stay on target, stay on target."  Easier said than done.  It's just so easy to zip over to this silly computer and look up little things, get side-tracked into looking at a few new sites, oh yes, I really would like another cup of tea, where was that magazine article, I absolutely must have something living on the corner of my worktable.  Okay, so the space clearing has been very satisfying and the blitz trip out before the snow yielded perfect results and I did come across this sweet bit of a film on an interesting style blog, Allure-Allure.  I'm a big fan of Tilda Swinton dating back to her leading role in Orlando back in '92.

SS10 Pringle of Scotland Tilda Swinton / Ryan McGinley Film from GlassmatesTV on Vimeo.

I'd say, all in all, a lovely start to the day and an appropriate continuation of my 'space clearing' efforts - mental as well as physical.

One more little thing.  After a bizarre saga of damaged and lost packages, I finally got the last book in my inspiration collection, 100 New Fashion Designers, a very very cool addition to my library.  A by-product of some of the craziness was the receipt of a book shipped in error, 100 years of Fashion Illustration.  The seller said to just keep it as a thank you for my patience, but it's not really something I love.  I thought I'd see if anyone out there would like to have it.  It cost me nothing and, if no one's interested, I'll send it back to the seller.  One way or the other, I'll pay for mailing it somewhere. 

And finally, I just remembered this song from my favorite Bowie Album ... can you guess?  Little Wonder from Earthling.  We saw this performance when it was broadcast live on the BBC - this is not a great copy, but a great version.  The official video version has my favorite Bowie 'look', but the visuals are a wee bit disturbing for this post.

That's all for now on this glorious sunfilled snowy day.
blessings - kvk

p.s. let me know if you're interested in the Fashion Illustration book