TIME OUT

I need a time out!

How about you?

Recently I had a shift of perceptions (again).  Like an everchanging sky and landscape and seascape and dreamscape (the great escapes).  

I pondered:  What is time?  Is time a gift?  How can we use available time to our best energetic or resting advantages?  



Unknown


The gift of time:
Time for?

Tai Chi and/or Yoga

Meditation

Contemplation

Recreation

Reading and Research  "R and R"

Entertainment

Music: quiet or peppy as needed

Sleep/Rest/Nap


And the Biggies:

Me Time...outreach or autopilot resting and daydreaming

Carving out Time for Creativity

Art/ Writing

Connecting with Family and Friends in person if possible



Windows and Doors Open:

Categories of thought and action

Organization and streamlining

Linking seemingly unrelated topics together to create or fashion something new.  Making order from chaos.

Vision Board: mind pictures 
Mental "Folders" of topics available for information storage and retrieval.  

Sensory Mapping

Creative process awakens

Today 

I took a time out for 45 minutes to watch an older short movie called * The Red Balloon: "Fantasy. A balloon with a life of its own follows a boy around Paris."  Remastered, the fine detail and precise color was stunning.  Stones and wood looked touchable and realistic.  Many neighborhoods were shown as the balloon followed the young boy down sharp rough  cobblestone narrow streets and alleyways. Old church spires scraped the sky, smokestacks touched clouds.

Near the end, a throng of balloons in many colors surrounded the boy and engulfed him.  He grabbed onto their tether strings and the balloons uplifted him "up up and away!"  

Flights of Fancy help reset our outlook to continue on with a playful feeling and happy heart.




Blogger search key word: Time

Related Posts:
The Reel World (ultra sharp detail in meditation)
All Alone Universe
Second Hand
Possibly Present
Life and Depth
Timely and Relevant
Time Castle

Resources:
* The Red Balloon, produced in France, TCM, Turner Classic Movies

Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor

Images by Dahlis:
Rainbow, Solid Light, photo
Take Your Time, collage 
Snail's Pace, ink brush 

MOLT DOWN

I remember brushing out my Collies long thick coats and watching the large and small tufts of soft downy under coat drift slowly to the floor.  *Some knitters collected the tufts of hair, washed them, dried and carded them and spun them into fine yarns for knitting a variety of warm winter garments and hats.  The sweater below was "easy" with store bought yarn! 

A Dog and His Boy

Seasonal molts are common to animals wild and tame, to thin down that thick coat for summer or prepare for growing a new winter coat.  We notice some thickening of new hair as early as August here, before the north winds blow.  

Here is Orange, raised in the desert SW climate, he came to us with no undercoat under his short sleek hair.  That winter we kept him inside untel spring to keep him warm enough.  Two years later, we noticed he has put on a soft orange undercoat some of which he shed on me today.

Orange and Green



And then there is our furry boy, Ruff, "The Mane Event."

Here Ruff, a Norwegian Forest Cat mix, sports his "Collie" winter Mane.  Lion-like he sits at the window and watches the snow fly.  He likes to shovel snow outside too, using his fur covered club shaped huge front paws like plows, he scoots forward, creating a path for himself through the drifts.  Ruff has a triple coat, guard hairs thick and wiry, middle layer, and soft downy undercoat next to his skin.  Texture of softness and waterproofing is combined.  A cat built for winter!

Ruff even found his own local groomer.  Sometimes he comes back inside with his feet and neck ruff already trimmed!  He enjoys brushing and, like a Collie, closes his eyes while I brush his mane.  Groomer Has It.



And then there is our Tom in long ago winters, a snow cat impervious to the cold.

Reptilian


Key Words Blog Search:  Cats, Collies

Related Posts
Stars and Snow Spirit of Phoebe
Winter Wolf
Thin Ice
Call to Colors

Resources:
*Collie Cues Magazine, Hayward, CA 1980, knitting with Collie Hair

Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor

Photos
 by Dahlis:
Rob and Sky
Orange and Green
Ruff, the Mane Event
Tom in Winter, photo by Paul, published with permission

I ASK MYSELF

*I Ask Myself, I Answer Myself

How important is it?

Usually, not very.

In choices during the daily round

That Higher Power you honor

may be impervious

to each simple, little choice you make.

Just use your head,

enlightened by your heart.

Sometimes, there is no right or wrong,

stark in contrast;

think in terms of gray,

not black and white, 

not wrong or right,

but simply, next best thing.

Do it now.

*Poem contributed by Isabel Brady Jackson, published with permission

What's Gnu?

Blog Search Key Words: poetry, creative writing

Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor

Images by Dahlis
Sancat studies shadows, photo

What's Gnu? pencil gesture drawing