Helpful Friends Guest Post - Privet and Holly - Small Bites

Thank you Michelle from Emerald Cove for your wonderful guest post yesterday!!!

I'm am so lucky to have friends that are not only fun, pretty, smart, and caring, but also super talented! Suzanne of Privet and Holly is another one of those friends.  She has a way with words and has created a special guest post just for LTHS entitled Small Bites...enjoy!

What a treat to be

guest posting here

at Low Tide, High Style.

Thank you, Kat!

This dreamy arts and crafts studio is also a treat.
Found it here.

I've been thinking

a lot lately about

the balance between

my job as a home-

maker mom and my

wish to express myself

through my projects.

There never seems

to be enough time

to do it all, or at 

least, to do it all

well. 


But I've discovered a secret.

Before kids {BK}, I had 

a full time career,

commuted 40 minutes each way...

yet still had time to 

garden, can, sew, craft

 and go to flea markets

in addition to the normal chores 

of a young married professional, 

like errands, cooking, cleaning

and spoiling our dog.

Phew!

Even after kids {AK},

when they were very young,

I still pursued ways to fluff the

nest despite what the experts

advise….

Sleep when the baby sleeps!

Never listened.

I learned how to 

smock clothing

make lined curtains

stencil walls

weld garden sculptures

finish unpainted furniture

flood sugar cookies

and make every single 

birthday invitation

by hand.

Then, somewhere along the way,

{probably about the time the

chauffeur’s cap came out}

all of this get up and go….

got up and went!  

{Hey, isn’t 

that a song?} 

There goes my get up and go....bye-bye!

However, since discovering

blogs such as Kat’s, 

my dormant creative 
aspirations have been 
reawakened.....

Yes, I’m still wearing my 

driver’s cap, but I realized
that I can pursue imagination,
as long as it's in

 small bites….


That's the secret.
{Okay, maybe not so secret.}

Like photography

I took this in Washington State this summer.

I always have a camera
with me!

New recipes

Goat Cheese with Pistachios and Cranberries


Fast fast fast,
but they'll never know : )

{Simply….wonderful.}

Get it here

Home improvement

{This happened in small steps over two days.}

Fun upgrade to the 
door that leads from 
our garage into the house.

Find my muse here.

Crafts

I re-purposed a trug to hold my current projects.
It's being used for Christmas cards at the moment.

I was inspired here.

And dearest to me….

writing.

{And blogging!}

All

in

small

bites.

Are you able to

have delicious

long stretches to

create, or do you

work in short

sessions, like I do?

Found this lovely work room here.

And how do you keep

your get up and go….

going??? 

I {and I'm sure, Kat} 
would both
love to know!


You must not for one
instant give up the effort
to build new lives for yourselves.
Creativity means to push open
the heavy, groaning doorway to life.   
This is not an easy struggle.
Indeed, it may be the  most difficult
task in the world, for opening.


~Dais aku Ikeda,
Buddhist philosopher and peacebuilder




[images:]
2-3, 5, 7, 12 Flickr
{click for attribution}
4, 8, 10-11 Privet & Holly
6 Martha Stewart
9 Real Simple
1, 13 noted above

To read more of Suzanne's wonderfully poetic words of wisdom stop by her beautiful blog Privet and Holly.  Thank you Suzanne, from the bottom of my heart!

I'm Alive and Well

Today, the birds were out in force in my backyard. There were mostly Blue Birds, which are my favorite due to their happy nature and striking colors.

All the birds sounded more like they were singing about springtime, rather than autumn. And they flitted from tree to tree as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Even this Red Bellied Woodpecker (tucked behind the leaves in the center of the picture) was happy as a Lark. I wonder why people say that...happy as a Lark? I guess Larks are the optimists of the bird world and are always happy?!

I've always mistakenly called these birds Red Headed Woodpeckers...Google is a wonderful thing folks, and I learned something new today! I knew I would need to mind my P's and Q's for those of you who know your birdies.

As I watched these happy go lucky creatures who seemed so content just to be alive, it made me reflect on how fragile life really is. One day we can be fine and happy, and the next moment life can change on a dime.

Yesterday I read a post entitled Bye My Lovlies on A-M's beautiful blog The House That A-M Built and it made me very sad. She has decided to end her blog due to unforeseen circumstances. That phrase "unforeseen circumstances" conjures up so many things, none of which seem good for some reason. I'd like to think that she won the lottery, was offered a TV hosting position, or is now so busy designing her own line of lighting that she doesn't have time to blog, but the realist in me thinks it's something else. Whatever her reasons, and they are only hers to know, I wish her all the best and hope that she will be happy and healthy and that she will return to blogging when the time is right for her and her family. Please pop over and send her some well wishes and support, I know she would appreciate it.

Last night Mr. Tide returned home from a business trip, I'm always so happy to see him walk through the door!  We never really know what tomorrow will bring, but at this moment, I'm alive and well...and today, you know, that's good enough for me!

I hope you enjoy this little slide show I put together for you, it features one of my all time favorite songs and at the end of the song is a singer who I adore...Dave Matthews. I'll have to tell you my Dave Matthews story sometime...but I'll save that for another day! ;-)

Big Yellow Taxi

Well it's Monday again and we all know what that means...back to the grindstone!  I hope each of you enjoyed a little down time, I know my weekend gave me a much needed break.  You see, last Saturday was the three year anniversary of my father's death.  And although I know he's in a better place and no longer ill, those sorts of anniversaries always make me stop and reflect on how life used to be.

I recently had a friend who lost a family member and she shared with me the pain of not only losing that person, but also the pain of what might have been.  Things not resolved, missed opportunities, or harsh words exchanged.  Things we all deal with when someone we love leaves us.

That was the case with my own father.  We were very close, both geographically speaking and emotionally.  We were very much alike in many ways and for most of my life we had been as thick as thieves as my grandmother would have said.

After my mother's unexpected death things changed.  He met a woman who was not interested in him but in his money, and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker.  He was lonely, desperate in a way, and even though we tried to be everything for him, it wasn't enough.

When my mother was alive, we were like a Norman Rockwell painting.  Big family dinners at each holiday, a house filled with laughter, cousins playing, life was normal.  When my mother died, the glue that bound us together slowly dissolved, bit by bit, the crowd at the table got smaller.  And the information dissimenator (my mother) was no longer with us, so we all became a little less connected.

Ten months before his death, my father and I had words, things were said by both of us that needed to be said but should have never been said.  It was time, I had cracked and could not come to terms with how my father had become someone I didn't even recognize.  In my mind, he had chosen to walk away from everything he knew and loved for a perfect stranger.  The strange part is he made a choice, but we never asked him to.

Often times when families have problems, it seems like there is one person who bears the brunt, and I was the chosen one for some unknown reason.  Maybe it was because I look a lot like my mother, or maybe it was because I was the closest to my father in distance so he needed me out of the picture to pursue this relationship that he knew was toxic.  I'll never really know.

All I know is that it was a pain like no other, and one I hope to never inflict on my own children, but we can't predict the future any more than we can change the past can we? 

The years of stress, and ultimately not speaking to my father before he died (a choice I am still comfortable with today) came at a huge price.  I ended up with an adrenal gland and thyroid that gave up the ghost in response to everything.  And I've spent the last 3 years just trying to get my once healthy body back to some sort of level playing field again.

It's getting there, and I'm much better now.  But the point of my story isn't about woe is me, it's not about hanging on to the anger, the hurt, or even the pain.  It's about letting other people know that life is full of challenging relationships, difficult times, and hard decisions.  And it's what we do when faced with all of those things that really matters.

Although it's sometimes hard to bare your soul, sometimes it is that very act that frees us, and it can sometimes even help someone else in the process.

I like to say that my life went from Norman Rockwell to Jerry Springer in just 6 months time.  And although I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, the experience made me much stronger, more in touch with who I am and able to face almost anything and know I will come out on the other side a better person than I was the day before.

Life is full of choices, easy ones and tough ones, happy ones and sad ones, but the fact remains that they are our choices to make.  I have chosen to be happy, to move forward, and to remember the good instead of the bad.

If life is a sum of it's parts, then I'm on the plus side and for that I am grateful.  You see, my father was a good man, and I was a good daughter.  The cabin in the photos above was something he built for all of his grandchildren.  My mother helped him and filled it with things as though it was her only home.  Birthday dinners were held there, mine included.  Sleepovers filled with giggles, lanterns, and a hot breakfast made on a woodstove happened there.

When I walk this property that once belonged to my grandparents, I am transported back in time, back to when I was a child, learning to drive a tractor, picking vegetables in the garden, feeding the horses sugar cubes pilfered from church each Sunday...I think God would have approved!

It's a place where old machinery is never discarded but stacked in hopes of being useful again someday, to someone.

The carefully groomed fields which once had horses and cows roaming freely are now overgrown and a bit neglected.   We had to put a sign on the cabin and around the property line telling others to "Keep Out" and "No Trespassing!" 

Trails which used to be used to haul lumber and for hayrides in the snow now lay dormant and some are completely impassible.  And time waits for no one as the saying goes, with suburbia surrounding this once quiet place.

What you can't see in these pictures is how strip malls ring this beautiful property, and you can't hear the hustle and bustle of people living there in spite of its history.  Tranquility has given way to car noise and people now outnumber the deer, squirrels, and birds which once roamed the vast acreage that surrounded our little farm.

Yesterday, as I wandered around our farm, now owned by my siblings and myself, I realized that my grandfather wouldn't still be living there if he were alive.  He would have long since sold this land and moved to a place just like it, but way far out in the country, maybe even back in the Blue Ridge Mountains from which he came.

And I also realized that like this place, I had changed, that I too hadn't stood still and that I had moved on.  But like the giant oak trees that stand guard on this plot of land, a part of it will always live inside me.  It's burned on my heart, carved into my memory, and part of what makes me...ME!

One day, like everything around it, it will be a strip mall, a restaurant, or a movie theater.  And like the song says "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone, they paved paradise and put up a parking lot."  But in my heart, it will never change!

To my friend, and you know who you are, I hope you find comfort for the memories of the bad times, and pure joy in those of great happiness.   Choose to live without regret...by choosing to live out loud!

(I used several Flora Bella Textures on all of the photos above, including Ethereal, Memory, and Attache all in warm)

I am in a musical mood these days, so here's another little song for you to enjoy...

The Ocean

"My soul is full of longing
For the secret of the sea,
And the heart of the great ocean
Sends a thrilling pulse through me."
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach--waiting for a gift from the sea."
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea."
- e.e. cummings

 

 

 

 

 

"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."
- Jacques Cousteau

 

 

 

 

 

 "I could never stay long enough on the shore; the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought."
- Helen Keller

 

 

 

 

 

“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach”
- Henry Beston

 

 

 

 

 

"At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun."
- Anonymous

 

 

 

"When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

I hope that no matter where you live, these photos of the ocean and quotes about the sea will bring each of you a little bit of joy the way that each of your comments does for me every day!