4/365- Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Not All Who Wander Are Lost- Part of the Get on the Road Series

“They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars—on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.”

Robert Frost; The Poetry of Robert Frost

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Oh, how deliciously true these words ring..."my own desert places."

Do you have desert places inside of you? I do.

Until tomorrow...

xo

Migrate to the Sea- Get on the Road Series 2

Migrate to the Sea- Get On the Road Series 2
Digital Painting/Pastel based on a public domain photograph by David Dalese on Pixabay

"I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;"

-John Masefield; Sea Fever 

The other day I had an interview for a publication that will be featuring my art. The process of being interviewed, while pleasant, was very unsettling. If you know me it is no secret that I like to be in control. I have, over the years with the help of therapy, gotten better with giving up control, but not being in control of telling my own story really unsettles me. I prefer a publication to ask me for a bio rather than be interviewed. I want control of telling my own story, not leave it in the hands of how well I convey and how well someone else interprets my answers.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my conversation with the author very much but it felt so informal, like I was talking to a friend, rather than an official interview. With my sometimes still difficult aphasia due to Lyme, I don't always say what I want to say clearly. Prior to the interview I had preconceived ideas about what question would be asked and about how the interview would go. It didn't turn out that way at all.

However, it was a special surprise when I felt so free and open with the interviewer. She was a lovely woman who connected with me on a deeper level than I was expecting and we had a lot in common. We even agree that we should meet for lunch sometime in September to talk some more on a personal level rather than a professional level. So, while I will be unsettled until I can see the final written product of the interview (which will be out October), I was pleasantly surprised at the level of connection and understanding I felt from the writer. That was the shining silver lining in this experience.

Have a fabulous Tuesday! Today is my last full day here in Florida. Brenna will be busy with orientation activities today, so I may see her during a lunch break and possibly this evening, but otherwise things are wrapping up for me here. I will miss her so much but she is ready to fly! And I am ready to get back to a new normal back at home. I miss the rest of my family and I miss my own bed.

Until tomorrow...

xo

Happy Camper- Get On the Road Series

Tracey Grumbach-Baltimore Area Artist
This digital painting is based off a photograph in the public domain by Karen Arnold.  

I LOVE Airstreams. I think they are adorable. I have a fantasy that when Brian and I retire, we will cruise the United States towing an Airstream trailer, setting up "home" near various National Parks, staying as long as we feel we need to fully explore the area and then moving on to the next. Instead of our children coming to us with the grand kids, we will come to them.

There is only one little problem. Brian isn't digging the Airstream idea. He is not opposed to RVing at all. As a matter of fact, he loves that idea. But he just doesn't like Airstreams. So, in celebration of the idea of freedom, wanderlust, and all things traveling, I've decided to add to several series I am doing right now (including Portrait of a Flower, a Bird Series, and a Hat series-which I have not posted yet), I am also doing a "Get On the Road" series about camping, VW's, Airstreams, and RVs. This is the first one, Happy Camper. And I love it. I may have to blow it up huge on one of may walls and maybe, just maybe, Brian will come around one day to the idea.


Brenna leaves in just 4 days for college. Last night she went to dinner and a movie with three of her closest friends and came home very sad at the realization that life for all of them is changing dramatically and that she will be so far away. As a parent it is difficult to watch these growing pains as she enters adulthood. I wish I could take away the sadness, apprehension, and fear of the unknown so she can only feel the good parts about choosing a college so far away. Transitions in life are never easy and almost never comfortable. I know it is good and healthy for her to feel these growing pains, to be homesick, and to conquer it becoming a stronger and more independent person in the process. Only, as a parent, it is not easy to watch and it breaks my heart when she is hurting.

Anyway, today I am focusing on being a Happy Camper- and will meditate on this digital painting when I feel the urge of wanderlust creeping in. Oh, to be free in a field of wild grass and wild flowers under a blue sky right this minute...

I hope you have a fabulous Tuesday.

xo