Happy Pause

Happy Pause

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness

and

just be happy."

- Guillaume Apollinaire

Today... I wish you a good pause from your pursuits...

I wish you simple happiness.



Bake with Love

Morning Baking

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"...a simple act of creation and hospitality that any of us

can manage no matter what our cooking skills may be."

- Madeline Scherb from "A Taste of Heaven"

Mrs. Brady gave me a first-peek into the joy of attending culinary classes. At the time, I was all of eight years old and very pleased that Mrs. Brady took seriously my desire to learn to bake... her instruction was kind, patient and consistent. Mrs. Brady was only in our lives for a short time, but she lit a fire within me that has burned warmly throughout many years. To me, baking is as Madeline Scherb suggests, "a simple act of creation and hospitality" - and Mrs. Brady taught me that your love is the most important ingredient of all...

Cake for Mrs. Brady

Photo by: Karen Holmes

Small Silences

Weekend Rain

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"You must enter in

To the small silences between

The leaves..."

- John Moffitt from poem "To Look at Any Thing"

Rain is predicted for the whole weekend... last night's news reported that Southern California may even get snow in the valleys - not just on the mountaintops...

No snow that I can see this morning - only rainfall and an excuse to burrow more deeply into flannel sheets and indulge in a morning without alarms and schedules. I welcome this tucked-in rain reprieve and smile listening to the on-key chorus of birds happily taking their morning showers. And when I finally do look out the window, hot coffee cup in hand, the world is glazed over with tiny sparkles of freshness. I take the time to notice the "small silences between the leaves"... and welcome the peaceful offering.

Wishing you small silences and the cheerful song of spring's arrival...

By Instinct & Vision

By Instinct & Vision

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."

-C.G.Jung

Led only by instinct and a small "for sale" sign oddly-hung on an aged and splinted Canadian barn door, my grandmother would enter into the deeply-shadowed barn without reservation. Somehow her tiny frame would drag out into the bright sunshine a long-discarded, caked-with-dirt desk that had seemingly said good-bye to a productive life years before. Even in the barn's darkness, she was somehow able to see that there was more life to be had! As the worn-out desk made the journey to her studio workshop a vision of hope would grow. Under the care of my grandmother's skilled hands and love, once tossed away items were rejuvenated... the desk dazzled with a rich cherry stain polished to new life. My grandmother believed in the simplicity of fresh starts and healing... of recognition and restoration of something tempered by age and refreshed by love.

Today... I wish you the gift of seeing the world through my grandmother's kind and caring instincts and vision...

Bike Happy

Waiting Bikes

Photograph by: Karen Holmes

"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live."

- Mark Twain "Taming the Bicycle"

What is it about just seeing a bike off in the distance that pedals you right back to some of the best rides? I loved learning to ride my first bike - I can still remember the parent-release and moving my legs and grabbing the handlebars and feeling oh so proud and oh so free! I have done many miles of riding since then, and I always experience the very same sense of freedom and wind-in-your-face joy. I can walk into a bike shop and get happy just seeing all the great new designs and gear. I especially like the simplicity of the Cruiser bikes.

Maybe today you will think of all the places you have been on a bike...

 and all the places you can go....

Enjoy the ride!

Pink Bikes

Photograph by: Karen Holmes