Children

I started reading The Artist's Way and read about the basic tools. They include writing 3 pages first thing every morning. Three pages of whatever, stream of consciousness stuff. The author calls it a mind-dump, removing all that crappy thinking we all have before the day starts. This sounds like a really good idea. Then there is the artist's date. 2 to 3 hours just you and your artist self (kinda like you and your inner child) doing something the artist self wants to do and replenishing our creative resources. I already get to do this lately, but I thought some of the things the author counted as replenishing were interesting. She counts cooking and any regular, repetitive action, like knitting, as replenishing. I always thought baking bread was nurturing (even more so when it actually rises and is edible) but I did not think of it as nurturing my creativity.

This morning I saw snowflakes falling, although they melted before they hit the ground. I let the cats out this afternoon before it started raining again. They both usually roll around on the patio first, they roll one way, then back, then stand up and do it over again. Poor Cruiser, this afternoon he put his face down to roll, thought better of it since the cement is so cold, put his face down to roll again, thought better of it again, and finally just stood there so I could scratch him.

More rain is predicted tomorrow, then snow Sunday and Monday. Monday's low, 17 degrees, Tuesday's high 21 degrees, Tuesday's low 2 degrees. 2 degrees! That is really cold for November in Boise. At least by Wednesday the sun is supposed to come out. The cold doesn't bother me as much as no sun. Someone this afternoon said that Farmer's Almanac predicted that this Winter is going to be super cold with Boise under a foot and a half of snow. This is what Farmer's Almanac really says about the Intermountain region:

Winter temperatures will be above normal, especially in the south, with the coldest periods in late December, mid-January, and early February. Precipitation will be below normal, with near- to below-normal snowfall. The snowiest periods will occur in early and mid-December and early and late February.

I'm hoping the Farmer's Almanac is right, although they seem to have missed the super cold Thanksgiving week.

I am half-way through the next painting, which is going much faster and is bright colors. For the rest of winter I am only painting bright colors and sunny days.

The holidays are coming and I am missing my daughter, so I am picking my own enlightenment topic today, Children, with a piece from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran,

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

I can't say it better. I think it is interesting that my daughter and I used to do a lot of replenishing our creative resources things, like baking. We used to make bread shaped like a teddy bear (which always rose and tasted great) and every Thanksgiving we made an apple pie.