Merry Christmas to one and all:



I wanted to keep this very simple as I have encountered someone just in the past week who was facing the prospect of being homeless over Christmas. I had met with him in the cafeteria of St. Peter's Abby just before I went to take many spectacular pictures outdoors. Carl called the following evening to ask me about a place to stay. I was not able to give him anything solid in the way of a place as we are leaving for a few days over Christmas. I did try to make a couple of suggestions and passed him, I believe, to the best possible resource in the community. I have no idea if contact was made. All I am able to do at this time is pray. I feel confident that is all required of me at this time.
Also the funeral of a dear friend of the pastor that will be doing the Christmas Eve service at our country Church tonight was held just this morning.
I have encountered a number of people who suffer from loneliness or trauma over the past months.

I give thanks for the many rich blessings granted to me, for the many angels around me.

Angels be with you at this Christmas time and through the coming years.
Wendy XO

welcome winter:
On this official first day of winter I cannot help but reflect on winters past as our daughter was growing and we held "welcome winter" parties. I got the idea from a book I read that was written by missionaries who wrote of Christmas celebrations in countries to which they had been missionaries. Certainly the commercial aspect was de-emphasized. Just a couple of things I remember them suggesting were the ideas of no toys that were violent in nature and no toys that were requiring batteries. Wow - practically impossible these days. For younger children it makes much better sense. I still go with the idea of letting them use their own imaginations.
The idea that really caught my attention was that of trying to spread out Christmas and the entire season and not making it into a one day celebration. Saint Nicolas day is celebrated in Humboldt typically with a visit and treat bags for the children. This year there was actually a parade. I have no idea how that turned out because the day was bitterly cold. Our very spoiled (I mean privileged) daughter received a gift from St. Nik for many years. I actually had something for her this year too but she happened to be in a really terrible mood after school so I chose to have St. Nik not visit this year. After all she is 16 years old. She was quite perturbed when I pointed out that it was St. Nik day and he had not left her anything.
The authours also wrote about celebrating the twelve days of Christmas referring to the days beginning on December 25, and after Christmas leading to Epiphany. One year we gave our daughter, Cat, little gifts for each of the 12 days of Christmas. We also for many years did advent candles, not in a wreath but in a basket.
The welcome winter party was suggested for the first day of winter, December 20. Because it is the shortest day of the year candles were recommended. We had great celebrations on these occasions. If the weather was decently warm we had the festivities outside. If it was very dreadfully cold or stormy we met inside. We had babies some years together with other ages . Games and popcorn were typical. Apple cider was frequently prepared. Seems to me one year we had about 30 people. Sigh. These days I shy from inviting one or two people at any time. But that's another story.
I nearly forgot to draw your attention also to this story written by my poet friend Tom Sketching. It fits so aptly with what I am trying to say: Christmas in the Yucatan.

In my tendency to look for time to be still and contemplate during this advent season, I took a little excursion yesterday to St. Pete's at Muenster. I was going to visit a friend but also took the opportunity to walk in the beautiful grounds. The trees are fabulous and the angels must have been with me because I'd planned the day about a week previously. Yesterday happened to be a most glorious sun drenched day while we have been blessed with much cloud and fog otherwise. It was also probably one of the most warm days in the past six- eight weeks. And so I snapped away. Especially peaceful moments came when the chickadees and a nuthatch or two came very close by. It is a favourite visiting place for many folk that love nature and the critters. The birds frequently are fed by the visitors. While I had run out of time to bring food along for them, I certainly encountered the birds. I was not really able to get photos however. They preferred to sit on my hat, the camera or the tripod. One seemed to want to give me a kiss. God was truly speaking to me yesterday.
Please enjoy some of the beauty I encountered while you watch this slideshow. Please click on "original view" in top right side.

Angels be with you,
Wendy

Let angels light the way:



As Christmas is drawing ever nearer I am tending to slow down, procrastinate, even more. I have the Christmas cards nearly done. As I have chosen to make many of them I need the extra pictures to be picked up and I need a new colour ink cartridge to print the backs of the cards.
I have a difficult letter to write also - one that I am required to do every year for the past fifteen.
I am having somewhat of an extra difficult time dealing with life as I am having very little time to be creative. I do have a whack of photos to show you, post, create another slideshow from, but alas I need to finish some of these other projects first. I also have a journal page started, but I must stay away from it as it is only one more way to procrastinate from that which needs doing.

And so I will pray for the angels to light the way, guide me, as I try to do those few things which I make myself do, for Christmas. I will also continue to take time for myself, to be still, listen for the voice of God as I treat myself with a massage, a time with Naomi, some time with my immediate family in a traditional overnight stay at the Travelodge, time for more photos and tea with a friend.

And so for you dear friends, may you let angels light the way at this time of advent, this time just before the equinox.

Waiting and watching, watching and waiting for the newborn King. As I prepare for the glorious birthday - the baby Jesus - I look about me at all the beauty, the preparations for His coming. I can't help but rejoice.
Please enjoy my Christmas dreams slide show. Remember to click on "original view" on the top right side.
Many of the pictures are from our local florist, gift shop, and greenhouse called Misty Gardens. It is one of my favourite places to visit in Humboldt.

Between concerts:



And just a few flat canvases on which I slapped a bit of paint. I hope to have a tiny bit more time for creating this week, between Christmas preparations that is. Yikes.

BRRRR.
It's been cold. It's been cloudy. It's been snowing.



I, well, I have been dragging my feet. I could be doing this and I could be doing that, but, sigh. I haven't been doing much of anything. I suppose if I took inventory I could think of a few things, but once again the grey skies would desire to pull me down.

That's alright. I love Christmas. I love creating.



Now that I've got my table and floors all spread out with supplies, I guess I'll trip over it if I try to go anywhere : ) And, I remember. I found the book in which I had done some gluing. It was under a stack of other books to weight it down. I had forgotten what was there. I lifted the books - tah-dah. YES! I can make a very unique - umm - surprise.

I'm still dreaming on, and investigating etsy. In the meantime I discovered this afternoon I've been blogged. That was very cool. My art on top of the writing seems to be catching. First one of my pages was chosen for the button of the flickr "journal junk" group. On the weekend I was asked if the same button could go on the new "journal junk" blog. Whoo-hoo. And now this new avenue. I love it. Thanks Isabella.

The weekend may not allow much time for creating as our St. Peter's Chorus concerts are tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon. This takes time and energy but is something I definitely love to do. Here are a couple of the numbers we'll be singing. We don't do them quite so well, but do very fine, considering.
Hosanna
Prayer of the children:



For now I must remember, remember to take time:

Another wonderful day and special reason to love life. Today is Greg's and my 25th wedding anniversary. The top picture is from last Saturday. The ones of Greg on the motorbike are from just before I met him.

You were “in pursuit”.
You were being teased, pushed.
You didn’t care.

I - well, I was quite naïve (I think).
I was in this little black number.
It had a lace back.
Naïve.
But I was basking in the attention.
Enjoying your being “pushed”.

Who was naïve?


Another Christmas party, another time with my friend.
Only thing - I was hardly with my friend. You
seemed “dark”, somewhat threatening, though dirty blond
and blue eyed. I had been overprotected, mostly unaware
of the world about me. Perhaps this was the time
for some excitement, a bit of “life on the edge”. Pursuit,
magnetism – it happened that night. I was thrilled.
I was the centre of attention.
The “little black number” probably helped. Though not
so long, my legs were, I guess, quite slim. I had overheard
some young lads another time commenting on my ankles.
Yes, my feet are narrow.
The magic – people noted for years after, that we liked
to hold hands. Future Christmas parties brought teasing,
we were usually the first ones to leave.
Restaurant appearances with friends, there was always
the question of whether we wanted a table to ourselves.
Our friends could sense the passion. Sometimes
we opted for the solitude of a table in a far off corner.

These scanned photos are from 25 years ago, our wedding.

If anyone were to ask how we've lasted through these years my first response, in one word, would be prayer. When I think about the challenges we've been through, the happy times, the difficult times, the exciting times, the boring times, the agreeable times and the not so, prayer has been always with us. I guess what helped me to realize this is when I paused to think of my father's words from Saturday when a group of us had gathered together to celebrate this special occasion. Greg's oldest brother, Nik, had said a few words to commemorate the event. He'd asked if there was anyone else wishing to speak. No one said anything. A bit later my father spoke up. I tensed. Dad has been struggling with memory difficulties in the past few years. In the past summer there was a space of time when I, youngest, was being not appreciated by my wonderful, learned father. It was a short lapse. Yet most of us wondered what my dad would say on this day. He had very kind words. He had wise words. His true self shone through. I felt all that love glowing within, the love which had always been there.
About prayer - I am told of the time when Dad was traveling with a pastor friend. He's had many wise, spiritual, knowledgeable friends, whose company helped him to be the scholar he was, even though he only had a grade eight education in the formal sense. On this particular occasion he was expressing concern of who his daughter might marry someday. When I hear this story I am reminded of all the many people who have included me, my family, my challenges in prayer. I am quite certain that were it not for the faith, the hope, which I hold and have been surrounded with all my life, I would not have been able to celebrate this wonderful marriage, this wonderful life. So if you have ever prayed for me and mine, I want to thank you. If you have ever sent angels or been an angel, as so many have, I want to thank you.



The above photo is from December 5, 1982. It was taken before we departed for our honeymoon in Hawaii.
On this day, Greg and I will not be doing anything terribly celebratory. We will continue to glow, however, in the light of our love. Know we would not be here without prayer. Prayer has been that which made our love grow, before we had even met and will continue through the coming years.

Angels be with you,
Wendy XO

"what a wonderful world":
I was cruising around on youtube and came across this Eva Cassidy version of a song I love very much. I thought it would be appropriate to include with my post for today.



I was able to complete the vintage Christmas stocking for my swap partner, besusans. It went into the mail yesterday. I had been getting somewhat panicky about the whole arrangement but truly I create better under pressure. I loved making treasures for Susan which I believe will be meaningful. I also purchased some gifts. I also love Christmas shopping, especially for folks who have similiar interests to my own. Vintage fabrics and ephemera are not so readily available where I live but I found a few pieces in my own stash which I thought might be appropriate. I am assured that Susan should be receiving her package in about 11 days so I'll try to keep in touch with Susan so that I might show more of my own photos of the items I made, after she has received the stocking ;-).

In the meantime I want to share just a couple of the reasons why I love the the above mentioned song. So often I feel so blessed with angels. I had received MY swap package from Mandy, pearl maple, a couple of weeks ago. I promised I would not open it until after I had Susan's package away in the mail. Last night I was very tired but it was the perfect time to be opening my surprise. Tears come easily to my spirit, but especially when I'm tired, especially when someone recognizes, surprises, touches me so closely. And so the tears were present as I found the beautiful angel filled, blue filled, ribbon filled, vintage filled, hope filled diamond treasure chest which Mandy had sent. The angels were on everything, it felt. I love the colours, the richness, the handcrafting and thoughtful choices. I felt so blessed Mandy. Thank you so very much. You have truly touched my spirit.

Another surprise also arrived yesterday. There is a very kind elf on flickr who has such a talent with words. He chose yesterday to write another of his poems for me. Tom is such a wise and kind elf. Thank you Tom.



When Angels Dance in Snow
© Thomas R. Farrell
A Poem for Windy Angels

Did you know
That black and white will marry ..…
Giving birth to blue
Whom they will rest here
In the shadows of their love!

Bushes and snow and lattice fence
Lost in yesterday's passing fall of snow,
Welcoming their sun to sit a while longer
As shadows praise their God
For this dress it wears so well.

Clouds I’m sure will come
In an hour or a day
Giving all a grayer cast
And muting songs from snow..

But for now, we have the music
And contrast beaming bright,
For now I hear the sound of songs
As angels dance about --
And I hear the sound of songs they sing,
Sweet foot prints in the snow.

Swaps and right brains: Yipes. They don't fit together. I had signed up for the vintage Christmas stocking swap hosted by the wonderful MaryAnn. I'm two weeks past the date for sending and I'mstill not quite ready. Hopefully everything will be ready tomorrow. My very right brained self is having an extremely difficult time completing anything for the swap.

Until I've any pictures to show I'll share this quotation from Inspiration Peak which I love:

When my daughter was about seven years old, she asked me one day what I did at work. I told her I worked at a college - that my job was to teach people how to draw. She stared at me, incredulous, and said, 'You mean they forget?'

Howard Ikemoto

Explanations, no apologies necessary:
I don't really know if anyone cares, but perhaps it will help me to put this here, for you to see. I have not been creating nearly as much art in the past months as I feel capable of, perhaps especially in the last weeks. I truly had hopes to have an open house here to show my art. I truly had hoped to have an etsy shop open and be mailing many of my creations to you. I truly had hoped to have much more available in the line of photographs to sell for my family and friends, any who might have been interested. There is not much interest locally in mixed media, at least not that I've had time to pursue. But remember that I am not apologizing. I am explaining. If you looked at my previous post about the kind of flower I am, it mentioned pride. That is truly what I'm feeling.
While I've not been noticeably ill, those that are my helpers, my therapists, tell me that I have been "working very hard". This has nothing to do with physical labour - absolutely very little to do with physical labour. I have been healing myself. That is much more an emotional, psychological, spiritual kind of work. I can see that for anyone that doesn't know me very well, for anyone that believes in the "protestant work ethic" and in fact this would include some Catholic friends (Humboldt is a very German Catholic community), or just generally those that do not understand, they would sweep away my explanation as quickly as the dust on the floor. Yet for one of my helpers to tell me recently that is something he admires of me, the "hard work", and for Naomi to be nodding her head up and down with a little (or maybe not so little) glow in her eye when I'm repeating that admiration to her, makes me feel even more proud of what I am doing, accomplishing. Other helpers have reiterated how much better I have been doing also.



November is an extremely difficult month for me but here I am telling you all about my hard work. There have been many trials in the past year, particularly months, but I have weathered them. I've even been involved in a "soap opera incident" as I will refer to it. It wasn't really pretty. I was drawn into it totally without my awareness. I am to forget about it but because I have this loyalty to friends it is being extremely difficult to walk away from. Also because of my diabetes and the swinging blood sugars that have always come with that, I tend to a vicious cycle of inferior thoughts, particularly with the high sugars. I have been weathering that. I have been flowing through it with an added height to my awareness, to my strength.
And so I have tried to keep this post positive. I have tried to explain rather than apologize. I will take a moment to say that some of you have noticed moments of huge creative energies. They tend, however, to be frequently interrupted with all this other hard work and I have had major difficulties in arranging the typical help which has been made available for our daughter. Normally at this time of year I've had much help with her. This year it has been interrupted to a large extent.
So I will continue to create, when I can. The creating needs to be more again for me as opposed to being for you. The etsy shop will open when it opens.
Angels be with you my friends. Thank you for all the angels you send to me,
Wendy

I am a Canna What Flower Are You?

"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."

More winter splendour: I actually love the snow. I just had Billy out for a late walk, as we frequently tend to do. There's freshly fallen soft snow. The sky is bright, with the full moon behind clouds. The air is calm and still. I could see the fairies zipping off to hide behind the trees, thinking they'd escape my sight. How could I possibly not feel them with all that floating fairy dust about me?

solitary tree

alone I stand
tall and free
while others
around
might gaze
in amazement
awe
and wonder

alone I stand
tall and free



rabbit tracks in the snow

True to November we are having many dull, grey days. Some of them have started sunny but it doesn't take long and the clouds dullen my brain AND the skies of course.
We are back to Saskatoon for an appointment AND I'm going to the Artisan's Craft Market. I thought it's about time I tried to investigate more the local scene. Hopefully I'll have a drop of time to tell you about it.
Meantime I'll show you quickly these couple of creations. You'll have to read about them at flickr as I'm on the run.





Angels be with you,
Wendy

wintery clematis:
I didn't quite have time to finish either of the projects I was working on today so will share one of the photographs I took.

Creating:



Sunday, later in the day was very productive for creating but today, well, just wasn't. The only creative things I've done today, which don't really count, are this blog post and singing at chorus practice. There were no new songs - just the same ones we've been practicing since the end of August for our Advent concerts, on December 7 and 9. Oh well, I think I did enough yesterday to make up for today.







I finished three art quilts for autumn richness and got some pictures of trees. I did a bit of photoshop with one too and added a couple of words but I won't be showing that until tomorrow.





I hadn't actually shown this one yet. The picture and scan are quite lacking in the richness. The black trim is velvety ribbon. If you want to see it for real you'll have to stop by for a visit. Please let me know when to expect you, LOL.
Hmm, maybe I'll fiddle around with my blog colours a bit yet. That would count for some creativity. I think it's getting too late to tell you much about the art quilts. Please click on the photos and see the tags at flickr for sizes and other information.
Till tomorrow ~ angels be with you,
Wendy

My dear, dear friend Suze is going through such a trial right now. If you know her or even if you don't please stop by and show your support.
Angels be with you dear friends,
Wendy

feeling dreadful while excited - near to the point of exhilarated:
I feel dreadful because I've not taken time, had time, to comment on so many friends blogs. But there has been so much happening. I am "this close" to being ready to open my etsy shop. I may not have lots in it to start with but I'll see how it goes. EVERYTHING takes so much time. YAAH, so what else is new Wendy!
I'm also near ecstatic because I finally felt comfortable to try doing something on canvas. I was terrified for the longest time. Fran said to me once it's not a big deal. Then I was very much the mixed -up media artist. I think I still am, but I'm finding much comfort in that place.
Between suziblu's inspiring videos and the creating in my journal I feel like I'm really finding my place. Now if some fairy, some fairy god-mother, any fairy, particularly my daughter, would decide to help a bit with the laundry, I'd be dancing my way to the stars. Wouldn't you think a 16 year old girl might like to do her own laundry? NOT this one - I guess we'll rationalize for her and say she has issues (which she really does) but that's not a suitable response LOL.
We'll proceed on the dance regardless.
This is a picture from Wednesday. It shows a couple of the canvases I'd splashed paint on. There are also a number of fabric pieces with pictures and words printed on them. Some day I might try to do a tiny tutorial on how I do that. I'd also printed parts from some of my poems which I'd translated to french with babel on some recycled paper. That would be the one that says confidential. tee- hee - really confidential. Actually I'll really miss all that recycle paper when it runs out, which it nearly has, WAHHHH!
These are some mini quilts in progress. The fabric with the gold is my own design done with permanent ink and the gold which is shiva paintstik. I love this fabric.
I'm also showing a flat canvas of 8x10 inches which I painted on and then applied some of those french words. Sometime if I remember I'll share the words as I wrote them. Don't hold your breath though.
I believe I forgot to show this journal quilt which I think I finished on Tuesday night.



In order to see the details of it, which you really must, please click on it and then do the view on black at my flickr.

I'm off to the big city again for some more tuning up.
Angels be with you dear angel friends,
Wendy

being creative everyday:
Participating in art everyday month is a different sort of challenge for me. It's not so much about actually being creative. It's more about trying to share with you what I all DO create in a day. Typically I do much creating. I often can do much writing in my mind. I am fortunate to remember, usually, what I've written in my mind. You can find some of the latest writing I've done at windyangelsandyou. I often write long hand now so I've backgrounds for my artjournal pages.
I was realizing that much of the time I create in larger numbers but don't necessarily complete much in a single day. Then suddenly it seems I've completed lots. It's like with the tags. I often work on them when I'm on a road trip with Greg. These were started one time when I was waiting at the hair stylists.



With sewing it works well because it makes sense when I'm using the machine to do more stitching at the same time as opposed to doing a couple of seams and then needing to sit down again another time. When I'm putting printer images onto fabric I work with more pieces at the same time also.
The flat canvases were kind of accidental. I have the tendency to put out far too much paint at one time. Then I run to get more surfaces on which to apply the paint. Some day I might learn.

Here's a journal page I completed last night. The words are here.



I've also put together another slideshow with the journal pages. They are so much fun to make - the slideshows and the journal pages. If you click on the show it will take you to a larger version. You need to click on "original", top right side. This show is dedicated to Suze.

yellow orchid:
taken in the conservatory at the Mendel art gallery in Saskatoon

journal quilt for autumn: This is the first of a number of these autumn quilts. I have so many photos to use and so much fabric, so many trims and so many ideas. I'll try to tell you more about it next week when I can get to it. I've shown it in very large size so you can see the details.

Oh yes, it might not be finished. The time is very late, almost time for Suze to be waking already in the UK LOL, so will be all for today. Not sure how much I'll be able to post over the next days for AEM - will see what I can do.

Thursday: At least I think it's Thursday. The days seem to blend together at times. I realized I would not be able to complete the journal page or the quilt. I'm trying to check enlargements of some of my photos. It's quite frightening. One of them turned out very well but Greg is picking up four more this evening. I was kind of upset when I realized the double rainbow picture did not quite cut it. Oh well.
I'm preparing a number of projects to take along to the farm for the long weekend. We have an extra day holiday because Sunday is Remembrance Day in Canada. Tomorrow we have to go to Saskatoon for appointments. That seems to use pretty much the whole day.
So I'll just show you this photo which I worked with on photoshop. I won't tell you what I have planned for it. That would spoil the surprise.That's all for AEM this day.

A quotation I've been wanting to share for awhile which arrived from Inspiration Peak:
"Anything you do from the soulful self will help lighten the burdens of
the world. Anything. You have no idea what the smallest word, the
tiniest generosity can cause to be set in motion. Be outrageous in
forgiving. Be dramatic in reconciling. Mistakes? Back up and make them
as right as you can, then move on. Be off the charts in kindness. In
whatever you are called to, strive to be devoted to it in all aspects
large and small. Fall short? Try again. Mastery is made in increments,
not in leaps. Be brave, be fierce, be visionary. Mend the parts of the
world that are within your reach. To strive to live this way is the most
dramatic gift you can ever give to the world."

Clarissa Pinkola Estes
American Author, Poet and Psychologist

Angels be with you,
Wendy

Art Everyday Month:
It's gotten very late. I'll just quickly show you this flat canvas I finished. It's 5x7 inches.
I also trimmed up this one postcard.
One of my journal quilts is nearly done - needs finishing touches. Hopefully I'll complete that and an art journal page tomorrow.
Angels be with you,
Wendy

Art Everyday Month:
I'd forgotten all about art everyday month until I found Suze had a picture posted on the flickr pool. I took a look and decided that because I'm doing so much art these days I should try to post some of what I'm doing for AEM V. I showed a couple of things in my last post - the digital images of the "strong, free, ME girl". Now I'll show a couple of pictures of the magnets I made on Sunday as well as some postcards with the same image. There are also postcards of my brother, and cousin Debbie who died when she was about 12 years old with complications of rheumatic heart disease. They are not quite complete.
I also did some self portraits and worked on one with photoshop. Below the picture I've included what I've written about the image. I included it in the "red for the people of Burma" group also.


A friend recently reminded of Annie Lennox. As I searched for her music I discovered this video.

It speaks clearly of my own passion for humanity, my rage about the people who do not care of whom they hurt, as they seek power, for themselves.

As I expect you are probably getting quite tired of the self portraits I'll say that I will be trying not to include so many of them here. They seem to be important for me as I continue the struggle with my self identity.

I also did some more with photoshop this evening on the picture of my brother and cousin. I'll probably make postcards using the image. I'll hope to have more time tomorrow and Thursday to work on the etsy. See you then.