Scarecrows

one of the fun surprises of our trip to cambria was the scarecrow festival.  we started seeing these cool and unusual creatures all over town and found out that this goes on the entire month of october.  there are over 200 scarecrows of every conceivable type!

 some of the scarecrows have a theme to fit their particular shop or location and others are just wacky or fun. i wasn't able to capture as many as i wanted - after the rain, they were all covered with protective trash bags.

i missed michigan's artprize this year, but the scarecrows gave me a good dose of overflowing creativity at its best!!

 
hope its a happy and safe halloween for you and yours!!

It's all about YOU!!

 

 “your creativity is all about YOU”.  this is a concept i have been trying to stress in my creativity unleashed workshops.  in the words of dr. suess, “there is no one alive who is YOU-er than YOU.”

A little reminder card I gave to my students

maybe that seems a tad obvious, but the truth is, as creatives, we so often look at what everyone else is doing and creating and accomplishing, then hold it up as a comparison and find ourselves falling short.  or less than.  or not enough.

With my pals at Belmont Park last week

i need reminding of this all the time.  that what i need to create or write or express needs to come from within. from the bits and pieces of my very own life.  my experiences, my history, my relationships. my values.

Hard at work creating....

so we made a lot of lists in class.  lists that typify each individual and their very own unique qualities and life experiences.  because this is the fodder of creation.  these details are what will drive the creative engine and inform the creative dreams of me and you too!

Finished products

Wise Choice

our last afternoon in cambria.  we had done most of what we wanted to do.  since i had not had a chance to visit the shops we decided to split up for a few hours.  stu was heading out to do some hiking with bailey at the fiscalini ranch and i had the car.

 it was a beautiful afternoon.  true, i had not done any shopping, but i also felt i had not spent enough time at moonstone beach….. shopping….. or beach…..???

 probably most women would have made the opposite choice, but that beach was calling my name.  needless to say, i did not end up doing any shopping….

 it turned out to be a wise choice for me since these are some of my favorite photos EVER.  and i still got some souvenirs but i didn’t have to spend any $$.

Wanderlust

Cambria sunset

i've always wanted to see what’s around the next bend.  call it curiosity, inquisitiveness or wanderlust, it has spurred me forward on many a hike and prompted countless wild goose chases as well as extraordinary discoveries in the motorhome or in the car. 

Santa Cruz

Big Sur

as a child i was always exploring the open fiends in back of our house and this tendency has persisted.  i’m a total map freak – i adore studying maps to find points of interest, then scoping them out in person.

Cement ship in Aptos

Aptos morning

 both the recent class reunion and family reunion were in areas we had been before, but we used both trips as catalysts to explore new territories before and after the events.

A whole bunch of Waites!

 i strongly feel that once you have been in a place, it sneaks in under your skin and becomes a little part of you.  i’m so grateful to be carrying these pieces around with me.

Big Sur

Elephant seal love - Piedras Blancas

sometimes when i can’t sleep they pop up to the surface and i get to go there all over again!

Fireworks in Aptos

Gratitude

 

after all the worrying and complaining about my age… guess what, friends.  my birthday came and went and instead of being gripped by a sense of fear and negativity, on the day itself i was instead gripped by an extreme sense of gratitude.

it just washed over me like the waves and as i sat on the beach with my coffee and journal i started spontaneously writing down all the myriad things in my life that i was grateful for.

not only the big elements in my life like my health and family and friends and freedom, but the rocks, waves and sand.  all of it.

and it became so apparent to me, once again, that gratitude is everything.  everything.  as long as we have that, we are going to be OK!

 (i am so grateful as well for you, my blogger friends.  i know i have gotten behind between packing, unpacking, etc, blah, blah, blah..... i will be visiting soon!!)