On August 22, 2011, my Facebook status update read, "Janean Baird has a quiet house. I was torn between wanting to write and needing To Do. So I wrote first and am Doing next. I think I'll start with lunch. Happy Monday!" That's the day that I wrote, "the naked ladies are bloomin'" before doing the dishes, and Other Mom Stuff.
Johanna, a woman who has known me since before I was born wrote, "I used to just sit and stare into space and daydream the first day or so after school started."
I replied, "Johanna, THANK YOU for telling me that tidbit about yourself. Makes me feel less like a slacker for doing just that today. Not to say I didn't get groceries, do some dishes, make the beds, pick some tomatoes, and throw in some laundry…it's just that I also wrote a poem and a little story and chit chatted with a friend or two in cyberspace. My mom and dad's cats have been tended to. My children are home now enjoying after school snacks and some cartoons. My oldest son has 4-H records to complete this week and hand in. My youngest son will be footloose and fancy free after I check over his math page for obvious errors or problems he forgot to do.
Kathryn Hall, an artist and writer added, "Excellent priorities Janean! A creative spark is a precious and sometimes fleeting, fragile thing. The fire MUST be fed in the moment. Other stuff will still be waiting when you have time." It was after reading and joining this conversation that Kathryn was prompted to share a poem she'd written ten years before.
I replied, "Thank you, Kathryn, for understanding not only the creative spark needing tending but that this creative woman's soul needed to soar for just a bit before coming back to the ground where The Stuff Needing Done is always waiting. I'm more prepared to do it now, feeling settled and mellow in a good way."
A few days later Kathryn wrote on her Facebook profile, "I loved this quote today: "Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan the flames." — Rumi……. Thanks to those of you who help set the smolderings ablaze."
Oh yes, she is A Good Woman for me to know. Showing me how to Live A Creative Life, and feed my artist's soul, while simultaneously being a wife, mother, daughter, sister, neighbor and friend. Even if it means, that some days, the dishes sit in the sink a little longer and the dust has time to settle in and make itself at home.
The day after Kathryn shared her poem with me, I returned home from taking my boys to school, and stopped by the kitchen sink for just a moment. I paused long enough to take a picture of the dirty dishes residing there, in the soft morning light, lookin' like a still life. Then I kept on walkin', to my favorite Writing Spot, and wrote, "lookin' for a rainbow" FIRST…and THEN I did the dishes.
"Kathryn's Poem"
http://my.opera.com/jbaird/blog/2011/08/26/kathryns-poem
© 2011 Kathryn Hall, hilARiTus
Posted at Turquoise Tangles with permission
"the naked ladies are bloomin'"
http://my.opera.com/jbaird/blog/2011/08/22/the-naked-ladies-are-bloomin
"lookin' for a rainbow"
http://my.opera.com/jbaird/blog/2011/08/24/lookin-for-a-rainbow
© 2011 Janean Baird, Turquoise Tangles
Turquoise Tangles 
Sweet experience of being life, dear.How are you?
Originally posted by ligan0510:
Thank you, Aidia. I am well. Mellow and calm at the moment. In A Good Way. Making art and writing soothes me from the inside out. How are you?
I try to reach equanimity day by day. Be happy all the time no matter what the surrounding do.
Originally posted by ligan0510:
That's a fine way to approach each day, Aidia. I admit, I had to google the definition. Thank you for teaching this wonderful word to me. Yes, that's what I strive for too. I've found that on days I create, whether writing or making visual art, my temperament is filled with much more equanimity. (Hoping I used my new word correctly in the previous sentence…)e·qua·nim·i·ty/ˌēkwəˈnimitē/Noun: Mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, esp. in a difficult situation.
🙂 I got that word when I went to Vipassana Meditation.
I like it!
My grandmother used to say something similar about house cleaning. "Cobwebs stop screaming, crumbs left on the plate. My Baby's crying, so cleaning can wait."I tend to be the most creative the first thing in the mornings, so I love getting up early so I can have time to write before my day starts.Right now, I am working on a soul-searching semi-biographical novel. Karen
Originally posted by KayFour:
Karen,LOVE your grandmother's quote! I wish I could remember verbatim more of what my grandmother's taught me. I do have some letters stashed here and there with no rhyme or reason. I'm just discovering and figuring out how to best channel the quiet time of morning and the abundance of works I wake up with in my head. EXCITING to hear about the novel you are working on. Another way to share a biography is as a memoir. That's the genre I'm thinking about exploring in book form. We shall see. Still need to move from The Thinking Stage to The Doing Stage. I look forward to hearing more about it and reading snippets or in its entirety when you call it, "DONE!"Janean