MYSTICAL, WINTER ON THE LAKESHORE

Mystical, Winter on the Lakeshore

* Poem by Isabel Brady Jackson

Moon,

Is this the way your surface looks?

Ice crags and slopes

and floating alabaster craft

bizarrely shaped and silent

under a great white glow

casting blue shadows

of slowly moving figures?

I am in the moon and on it

yet in and of the earth:

a spell is fallen on me

and everything under the heavens;

enmity and unease have been dispelled

This majestic, magic moonlit night:

shaded, yet illuminated mystery, 

fixed in memory

Blog Search:  key words:  sky, moon, poems

Resources:

* Poem contributed by Isabel Brady Jackson, from Observations and Affirmations Little Book Of Poems, 2017.  Poem published with permission.

Dahlis Roy:  Visionary Artist, Author and Tai Chi Instructor

Photos by Rob published with permission

moonrise 

moonset

TODAY IS TOMORROW

Intending for today?

Planning for today?

What is/was today?

Enjoy Every Minute

Make Every Moment Count

Pick up that pen and sketch a few reindeer~

In the Zone with Pen and Paper

Semi realistic or stilted~

A few patchy snowflakes

Light and Airy

Antlers are a Challenge

Two Minute Focus

* Pick an object and stare at it for 2 minutes, a candle, a painting, a pet rock perhaps.  Clear your mind. Blinking your eyes is OK.  Bringing yourself into a state of calm helps you to achieve better health.  

Keep a calm reminder in every room.


"Today will be yesterday tomorrow...."



Blog Search Key Words:  Meditation, Creativity

Related Posts:
Catch the Wind
Possibly Present
On Beams of Light

Resources:

The Bullet Journal, help organize your life in analogue form in a fast paced digital age


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


Images by Dahlis:

On Beams of Light, flash photo into blank TV screen

Reindeer and Snowflakes, pen and ink sketches

Swirls of Sunlight, coffee cup,  photo

SILVER WHITE WINTERS

Here it is again....silver white wintertime....

Ice Patterns 

Frost through a sunny window became a painting a long time ago.  Looking at it "today" I see a multitude of animal forms and faces smiling back at me.

Now it is time to get out the "winter paintings" in all their blue and silver glory and put them "face first" around the house to enjoy and marvel.  



Our first snow of the season happened!  As if by magic, new forms appear.

Making Tracks

This photo almost looks like an ancient stone structure engulfed by silver and white.  Actually they are stepping stones down our back patio. 

Cosmic

Tom Remembers

He was a young cat then, romping in the snow, sporting full winter coat.  

It is time to get out the crayons and sketch and dream again.

Legend of the White Stag?

Perhaps....

* "Music is much more than notes on a page...."

** "Silver White Winters...."

Blogger Search Key Words:  winter, painting, drawing, animals

Related Posts:
Legend of the White Stag
Ice Patterns
A Strong Clear Vision
Deer Dreamer
Escape Artists

Resources:

* Quote by Mr. Holland, Music Teacher to student in movie Mr. Holland's Opus. 

** "Silver white winters that melt into spring.....these are a few of my favorite things....."  sung by Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music, movie.

Simon and Garfunkel, The Concert in Central Park, songs of the day: American Tune, Slip Sliding Away, New York

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

Images by Dahlis
Ice Patterns, oil painting 

Making Tracks, photo, bird tracks on snowy steps

Tom Remembers, photo

Tom Romping, photo

Magic Crayons, photo

Legend of the White Stag, oil painting (detail)

TIMELY AND RELEVANT

*  "The mystery of time is a mystery of spirit."

                Liquid Light



Times Past
Recently we watched some old movies filmed in black and white and shades of grey:
I Remember Mama, 1948
Rhapsody in Blue, 1945
The Glen Miller Story, 1953

Mama was about a family from Norway moving into San Francisco.  One of the daughters became a writer and told family stories.  Some songs and l were sung in Norwegian.  I remembered the TV show, based on the movie, from my early childhood where my Mom and I watched with rapt alertness on black and white TV.


Steady Attention


Rhapsody in Blue, the Music of George Gershwin stunned us with the development of a musical style and achievement of a personal dream "ahead of his time."  


Freedom from Distraction


The Glenn Miller Story is about a jazz trombonist who forms a band and creates his signature sound, ever persistant to pursue his goals.


Depth of Concentration


All of these movies showed unexpected twists of plot and depth of character development:  "timely and relevant" even in today's world.  More amazing, I watched every scene...riveted in place for the next event or song without wandering into a haze of daydreams.


Music Jogs Memory:
While Watching the American Music Awards 2017, I stopped stock still and listened: 
Pink and Kelly Clarkston sang Everybody Hurts.  I remembered REM and Michael Stipe's recording and video and live performances:
"Everybody Hurts, take comfort in your friends...."

"Transfixed"

I also recalled Pink Floyd's On the Turning Away and Comfortably Numb."



Jaw Drop



"What's that song?"

I felt time shifting simultaneously...fast time....slow time.....rewind...fast forward all the time.

** Singing songs or listening to music even 12 minutes a day or longer can enhance your life and improve mood and memory. 


"Where were you when you first heard your favorite songs?"

Frequency of Aum, art work Jay Van Shelt, published with permission




*** Climb your first mountain, maybe you hit a valley, a pause, a time of change?  Recharged "Climb your 2nd Mountain...."

Look through every window.

Blog Search Key words:  Time, Vision, Creativity

Related Posts:

Amazing Race

A Strong Clear Vision

Encounters with Michael, the Artist meets the Archangel

Stone and Glass

Building Blocks

A Firm Foundation

Resources:

*Deepak Chopra, M.D. 

*** David Brooks, investigative journalist

Memory: 

** Daniel Amen, M.D.  book Memory Rescue, 2017, help to improve memory and mood

Total Memory Makeover, Marilu Henner, actress, author:  sort, store, and file your memories

Music:
REM: Everybody Hurts, Night Swimming and others

Movies:

The Glenn Miller Story James Stewart and June Allyson 

Leonard Bernstein, conductor, Rhapsody in Blue, American in Paris and more music by Gershwin

Rhapsody In Blue, Warner Brothers, The life and music of George Gershwin, starring Robert Alda

I Remember Mama, 1948, a Norwegian Family settles into life in San Francisco

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

Images:

Liquid Light, photo by Dahlis

It's Time

Frequency of Aum, Art Work by Jay Van Shelt, Art from Sound, photo reprinted with permission of artist

Look Through Every Window, photo by Dahlis, what do you see?

LIFE AND DEPTH

Blue and Green Vibrations


"It's all random," I think to myself as I sort through stacks of written material and notes of moments past, bits and pieces that, as if by magic, fit together accented by embroideries of pictures, random pictures found in mysterious ways from files unlimited.  

Two intense movies presented themselves this week:  * How Green was my Valley (black and white 1941) and ** Field of Dreams (set in Iowa and released in 1989).

I took "time" to view both movies, all the way through.  How Green Was My Valley was a movie my mom liked.  I had never seen it.  It was about Welsh miners, their families and struggles. What I liked best was hearing songs sung in Welsh.  I suspect there is some genetic memory there....A casual view turned into a sit down and pay attention focused event.  The wanderer in me makes sitting still almost impossible...I even watched it the next day as it rolled by again.  "Imagine"

Field of Dreams Movie is always a dance between visible and invisible.  I love the pay and interplay of interdimensional experiences, emotions, and spontaneity.  I thought back to Iowa where we lived at the time Field of Dreams was released.  Again, I sat spellbound in the moments of familiar dialogue and character development.

Both movies has complex plot twists and surprises of all kinds, "pay attention."  I loved looking at the designs of houses and factories, stones and frame work, and farms and fields.  I saw old dishes and cooking utensils, chairs and tables  that were strangely familiar.  I relived ancient customs and traditions long forgotten. 

When I was a little child, I dreamed of living on a farm in Iowa!  I would raise Collies and Horses in ultimate joy and creativity.  How would I achieve this goal?  I had no idea....I never got the horses but was fortunate to have two Collie companions along the way.  One of my Collie's family tree was centered in Council Bluff's, Iowa with Steve Field and his Parader Collies.  I even met Steve Field when I was 12 years old!  He was the judge at the Collie Club of Western Pennsylvania specialty show. 

Pause, Breathe, Smile

"Just yesterday" arrived and shook me out of my daydream of living and reliving movie scenes and dialogue bits.  Finally I was on my way to write.  Autumn sunshine shimmering  across my paintings stopped me in my tracks.  I remembered to "linger" and enjoy the sunny moment as I often just run away and "work."  I remembered to put aside "plans" and watch the sunshine trail at as it tracked across the paintings.  This sunlit effect only happens a few afternoons in November each year.  Only then a light show plays with dancing color drifting and lighting up the autumn paintings. They are  brought into the living room for their time to shine in the  bright light of a fading November landscape.  I thought about Claude Monet and how important the play of light and shadows were to him, veiled in painted form.  Paintings are made to be touched with brushes of sunshine.

I remembered when we moved to this location, "sunlight flickered" across the paintings in the living room and lit them up beyond belief!  I sat and stared.  Then and now.

I remembered to meditate and breathe in the lesson of  *** "I play creatively in the field of time."

As I watched the play of light shift, I practiced a bit of Tai Chi.  Areas of the painting lit up in turn from left to right.  First the birch tree trunk became stark silver white.  Next the middle ground illuminated.  I saw shapes I'd never seen before.  In the antlers of the tall pine tree near the top appeared a small figure with head and wings, or was it a white butterfly with green stripes?  Or perhaps an open book, or maybe all three?  Below the pine trees in the orange leafy area I saw a leopard face. The nose, jaw and underjaw are very plain.  There are also other animal shapes and faces visible.  As the bright orange gold tree on the right lit up to full color, I was dazzled by the 3-D effect of the whole painting, much more discernable now as the light tumbled and swayed.

"Depth of Field"

And today it is cloudy.  "What if" I hadn't taken yesterday to stop and enjoy the view?

"It's About Time"



Key Words:  Time, Collies, Shirley MacLaine, Dreams, Claude Monet, Deepak Chopra

Related Posts
Out of Box Experience
Wander and Ponder
A Strong Clear Vision
Future Past
Time Travelers

Resources:

Movies:

* How Green Was My Valley (1941): 20th Century Fox, University of CA Film Archives, Los Angeles, CA

** Field of Dreams (1989):  Universal Studios, Set in Iowa, a farmer plows up corn to create a baseball field for "imaginary" players.

 Meditation

***Deepak Chopra, M.D.

Tai Chi
Dr. Paul Lam
Dr. Yang, Jwing-ming 

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

Images
Blue and Green Vibrations, photo by Dahlis from the TV

Laddie, photo of my first Collie by my father

Full Color Autumn oil painting by Dahlis  Chessie, our cat barely visible, walks to the right of the small green bush in the middle of the painting

NEON LANDSCAPE

Recently, in first light of dawn, my husband and I took a short excursion.  Before leaving the house, I noticed the first frost coating the dark green grass carpet.  

From the car window, I looked up  to greet old friends, Sirius and Orion.  Orion the Hunter and Canis Major, Wolf Dog companion, preparing to set in the velvet blue western sky still sprinkled with faint stars.  Around the bend and to the east, we viewed Jupiter rising, veiled in mists of early pre dawn clouds.  Ancient and modern, the myths and legends of our times...travel their celestial paths.  


* "Like a Poem Written [painted] in Landscape"

Later, after darkness had vanished, the morning sun rose shrouded in mist .  Sun brushed  leaves turned into a bit into autumn with flames and spikes of color while other trees remained totally green.  Some trees were multicolored, bits of green and gold or slashes of red and green.  As I thought of Claude Monet's impressionist paintings, like the view of the French River Seine above, I felt warm and peaceful in the chilly morning.  

Glancing around, candy pink fluffy cumulous clouds filled the horizon all around!  Recent heavy rains made mirror like reflections like so many sheets of glass and light.  Hues varied  in streaks from pale greens and blues, to soft lavenders and pinks.  Then I noticed the frost layer melting in the roadside grass and  lawns. The muted light had picked up the frost as a pale white-green, like a layer of "meringue" icing floating on the brighter green grass below.
"Not of Earth," a checkerboard of space and color shifts appears.

What?

Several days of grey followed, an impact on mood and inspiration.  All of a sudden today, the clear bright sun sparkled lifting the gray clouds and scooting them away.

"Just Like Magic"

  

Blog Search Key words:  Orion, Canis Major, Sirius, Autumn

Related Posts:

All Alone in the Universe
Sirius Blue
The Great Harvest
What Gives?
Our Christmas Puppy
Already Done
By an Unfaltering Trust
Recreate, Relax, Transform
Thanks For Giving

Resources:

* Quote from Rick Steves Europe, PBS broadcasting, segment, North Wales, feisty and poetic.

Monet's Palette, photos on Facebook celebrate Claude Monet, Impressionist Painter

Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey 21 Day Meditation Experience, Every Minute Counts new free online session begins Oct 30, 2107.  chopracentermeditation

Dr. Paul Lam, taichiforhealthinstitute  integrated exercise for all ages

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

Images:

Headlights, photo by Rob

Orion, sketch by Dahlis

Claude Monet, view of the Seine River, painting by Impressionist Claude Monet

Chasing Shadows, Rob and Dahlis, ink sketch by Dahlis

LIGHTEN UP

Flowers in the Rain

Clouds and Rain

"It's a 'going within' clouds day."

"What's that?"

"It's a rain day!  I remember when we were kids and we'd have a rain out of activities and the like.  We'd stay inside and have fun with music or paints or cooking," Rob added.  

"It's so green out, it looks like Ireland."

Cats are already dormant. 

The rain came in sheets of greyness, in sprinkles, in drum rolls of thunder, and sparks of lightening.  Strings of clouds, lighten up a for a bit of clearing then start the show all over again.  A play list of weather patterns lingers along for a day and a half of down time and reflection.

*  "Like a blue string tied to infinity intent is part of your recipe for creative awakening.  Pick up a pencil, ink, crayons, or paints and free associate your own journey dance with word-colors and light-speed."

Years ago I received a journal with a Blue Butterfly on the cover.  What will I write or draw in it?  My pristine journal is still blank!

** "Oh, what do I know of the dragon, it comes on wind and clouds?"

Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu

* The Blank Page, waiting to be filled~

Related Posts:

All Alone Universe

* The Blank Page

Flowers in the Rain

Going within Clouds

Resources:

** Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu

Tai Chi Exercise 

Dr. Paul Lam, Tai Chi for Health Institute

Dr. Yang, Jwing-ming, YMAA

Jou, Tsung Hwa, books, the Dao of Taijiquan, the Dao of Meditation

Music

Deuter, Wind and Mountain

Meditation

Deepak Chopra, chopracentermeditation

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

Photos:

Flowers in the Rain, Chessie Studies Flowers, photo by Paul

Clouds and Rain, photo by Rob

Inspiration, photo by Dahlis

STONE AND GLASS

Rock Solid

Liquid Color

The Sturdy and the Ephemeral, one can support the other, or can it?

*  "Like emptiness and harmony...."

Early Autumn and there is a hot humid atmosphere yet a faint chill, breezes blowing gently now will soon have a bite.  Green is the color of the moment.  Cats are suspicious, they know change is in the air.

"All is Process"
One step builds another, a diagram or sketch takes shape and gradually becomes a project in action.  

"Yesterday", when I was little, I had a wagon full of rocks and pebbles, I roamed in the yard  and the wagon went with me.  Today I spliced together words in a fun and random poetic fashion.


String of Pearls Poems:

STONE

A wagon full of memories

White/Black/Smokey

Crystalline 

Grainy/Banded 

Sediment/Sentiment

GLASS

Transparent

Translucent

Invisible

Mirror Image


*** "That's the great joy, creating something that wasn't there before," Tom Petty, musician

Chaos becomes Order: Rock Solid Project, tiny boxwood, original sandstone brick and mortar, river rocks with flagstone trim

In my imagination:

** I see Mt-St-Michel and St. Aubert's Abbey in Normandy

I see Chartres Cathedral in France, sculptures etched in stone with curtains of lace-like stained glass: "The Legendary Windows."

* "I see angels in the architecture, spinning in infinity...."  

Golden Angel Statue atop St. Aubert's Abbey, Normandy 

Related Posts
Stepping Stones
Firm Foundation
Building Blocks
Angels in the Architecture
Musical Architecture 
Eclipsed
Possibly Present

Resources

Music

* Paul Simon live concert, old favorites and new music including Sounds of Silence, Austin City Limits PBS TV, (2016). "Like emptiness and harmony" quote from song Homeward Bound and "Angels in the architecture..." quote from song Call Me Al.

Songs of the Day:  American Tune, Simon and Garfunkel, The Concert in Central Park and

Sounds of Silence, done very slowly here. Edgy yet relaxing music for writing.

*** Quote from Tom Petty, musician 1950-2017, from Charlie Rose Interview April 19, 1999. Charlie Rose, PBS and BTV

Book:  Mt-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Henry Adams, take a pilgrimage into time, "The Legendary Windows"

TV: My Little Pony cartoons, episodes Maud Pie and Rock Solid Friendship, DFCH Discovery Family Channel and other sources.  Maud Pie studies rocks and writes poems, "There're all about rocks, I have thousands of them."

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

Photos by Dahlis:

Rock Solid project begins

Stained Glass Candle Holder Glows in the Sunlight

River Rocks

Completed Project:  includes three tiny boxwoods in natural surroundings

Oil Painting by Dahlis: Sky Sea and Stone (detail)

St. Aubert's Abbey, 807 AD, appeared in a meditation and later gradually painted itself.  St. Aubert received three visions from St. Michael the Archangel to build Mt-Saint-Michel, fortress on the top peaks of this island off the Normandy Coast.

IRIDESCENT

As summer melts into early autumn,  the Birthday Girls come out to play:
Silver Butterfly Sept 23, 1985 and Blue Butterfly Sept 26, 2010

Iridescent Butterfly, how do you glow?

Behold, you were blue and now you are multicolored?  How did this happen?

Day and Light, you change and evolve.

Where will you be next? 


This necklace changed color from a blue butterfly pendant to various pearl tones and reflective prisms on March 17, 2017?  How did this happen?

Chuckling, I write down random titles for possible future posts?

Lighten Up

Crystal Clear

Mile-a-Minute Mind

Out of Order





Muted image of Silver Butterfly shows a bit of pink and lavender.  Out of a Dream You Came....

* "Attention Energizes, Intention Transforms."

Love is a mirror reflecting Infinity.



Happy Birthday Out of the Blue: 333 posts later and 7 happy years of writing experiments, my, how we have grown!

This Year the Top 5 Posts on Out of the Blue are:

Tonal Vision

Lavender Blue

Magic Numbers

Luminous Feather

Light Returning



Blogger Search Key Words:  Butterfly, Dream, Visions, Creativity

Resources:

* Chopra Center Meditation, 21 Day Meditation Experiences by Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, M.D., various topics.  Quote from Desire and Destiny, segment, Intentional Me, July 27, 2017

Blogger create your free blog with Google, it's easy and free

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

Images:

Blue Butterfly Logo Painting and Muted Image of Silver Butterfly Painting plus photo of necklace by Dahlis

Celebrate! Hand Made Cards by Linda published with permission