Flowers are done, and life is awesome

Small is beautiful

Watercolour and marker on

Arches watercolour paper

6 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012

Hi everyone,

Here's another picture from the garden.
 I was looking through
my blog, and found this draft of a
 piece I never posted.  But I love the
sentiment in it, and the memory of both
 of these happenings made me happy.
So here's the piece.

I do this exercise with my students
sometimes that I call the Whoop exercise.
 I learned it from Mike Dooley who
writes the Notes from the Universe that
 he sends out in email five days a week.
(The universe takes the weekends off.)
Anyway the exercise involves putting
your hands in the air and whooping like
something over the top amazing has just
happened.  Every time I do it something
 wonderful happens.

I was driving home last week, and thought
 I have to have new pens to draw with,
because they make drawing such a pleasure.
Out of the side of my eye I saw a group of
Canada Geese making their way across the
parking lot.  What I didn't know was that out
 on the four lane street going into the mall
 about 100 geese had decided
 to cross the road... walking.  And may I add
 walking at a graceful, stately and sloooooow
 pace.  The mid-day drivers out on their errands
 in their giant, shiny, fast cars do not like
 interruptions.  This is a busy and frantic town.
  But you know what?  In both directions, drivers
 in four lanes stopped stock still until every last goose
 had crossed and was safely off the road and
that took about ten minutes.

On Thursday night Steven and I headed
out to Ikea for our usual little inexpensive
dinner.  Standing in front of us in the long line
was a couple with two  beautiful children in
 a shopping cart.  The older girl was standing
up and the baby -- about two sitting and fretting.
The father picked the baby boy up, and the
 baby and I played peekaboo until we reached
the point in the line where we were served.
To my surprise, later walking through the store
 finding this and that for the house, we met the
family again.  The little boy was with his Mom,
and when he saw me he ran across the store and
held his arms up in the universal baby language
for pick me up. So I did and hugged him.   His
 name was Grayson. I put him down, he
walked away, then ran back up to me for a second
 hug.  I was completely charmed.

That was it -- my draft.  When I notice the good,
something artists are lucky to be able to do, all
of life is amazing.
Finding this reminded me of that.

Have a noticing-small-miracles day