This month I have been keeping a gratitude art journal as well as dedicating Friday's post to things that I am grateful for.  It has been a wonderful experience and I am very confident that this will be just the beginning of keeping an art journal.  I love writing and painting in it each day.  It is also very interesting to go back through the weeks to read what meant the most to me each day.  The things that I am grateful for seem to be the same each week.  I am always grateful for the moments I can spend with my family and friends.  I am always grateful for the beautiful sights that nature has to offer.  I am always grateful for the simple yet special moments I experience each day.
 This week I have been thinking more and more about the importance of good health.  None at my age doesn't have some aches and pains.  But I am very lucky that I am able to do almost anything that I set my mind to do.  If you read my blog, you know that my husband has a severe lung problem.  He works very hard to do everything he is supposed to do so that he can breathe.  The doctor has just given him permission to exercise again and he is working with a trainer and a group of people who also have trouble breathing. When I go with him I realize how lucky I am that I can breathe freely and easily each day.  Breathing is something we do automatically without ever thinking about it - unless it a problem. Then you realize how important being able to take a deep breath really is.  This week I am so grateful that I am able to take a deep breath.  I am so grateful that my husband is continuuing to do all that he can do to be able to breathe.  It's not easy but we have found that with a positive attitude and lots of support the impossible becomes possible.  So I'd like to remind you to take a deep breath and enjoy every special moment that comes with being able to breathe without having to think or worry about it.  What are you grateful for this week? 

                          Happiness sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open.
                                                                                               John Barrymore
As someone who has been on a creative journey for several years, I realize how important it has become for me to do something creative each day.  I also realize that no matter what I am doing it can lead to a creative thought or experience.  This morning when I took the dogs out my mind began to wander.  When I brought myself back to the moment and took a second to really look at the trees, I noticed that the leaves had turned colors once again.  Although they were very different from yesterday, they were all still very beautiful.  A routine moment quickly became a special moment which then led to some creative thoughts and a door opened.  Today as you go through your normal routine, take a second, look around, and see all the beautiful things that are right in front of you.  Then, as I did, take a deep breath and enjoy every single aspect of the gift that has just been offered to you by the world!  I would love to know what special creative moment you have experienced today.

                                           Saying no can be the ultimate self-care.
                                                                                  Claudia Black      ( The Artist's Way Chapter Ten)
                               
 In order to be more creative this week, what do you want to say no to?   What I find most exciting about saying no is that it also means that I have the time to say yes to something I really want to do.  What is it that you would like to say yes to this week?  
                                       When you share your dreams with the world, magic happens! 

                                   Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons.
                                                                                               Ruth Ann Schabacker 

Each Friday I write about what I am grateful to have experienced throughout the week.  The colors of the trees have been beautiful this week.  Each morning I look out of my dining room window and the trees seem shimmer with color as the sun shines upon them.  There is nothing more inspiring than the beautiful fall colors unless it is the beautiful spring colors or waking up to a world covered in snow.  Today the temperatures began to drop and the wind began to blow in earnest but the rest of the days were a perfect temperature for riding with the top down something which really makes me smile.

Something else that made me smile this week was seeing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with my grandsons at Atlanta's Theater for Puppetry Arts.  There were four generations of us at the show (from eighty-eight to three) and all of us had a wonderful time.  It is not easy to entertain that wide of an age span but they did and I am so grateful that everyone got to be together and to see the show.

I am trying something new this week and hope to continue this practice for at least the rest of the month.  I will continue to post on Friday what I am grateful for but I am also keeping a daily gratitude journal.  I am going to try to sketch or paint something each day.  I am going to start the day with an intention.  Then I am going to sketch or paint and of course write something in my journal as well as end the day writing about what I am grateful to have experienced. I have always wanted to keep an art journal and I thought this would be the perfect month to start.  

                   I hope that you are having a wonderful week.  I would love to hear what you are grateful for today.
                                                                                                                                   Ginny

Today Jamie of Jamie Ridler Studios asked, "Who would you like to have tea with?"  This is an interesting question because just recently I did something that was totally out of character for me but it worked out well and I'd like to share the idea with you.  One day I decided that I would love to meet at least once a month with a group of women who would love to share their knowledge and creativity with others.  I invited eight women (some I did not know at all) to meet at a local tearoom for tea, lunch, and conversation.  Of the eight people I invited, seven responded favorably and we had a wonderful time getting to know all about each other and the creative paths our lives are taking.  This month will be the third meeting and my wish today is that this group will continue to meet and to grow.  I hope that we will be able to support each other in our hopes and our dreams and that we will be a group that flourishes beyond anyone's wildest imagination.  I know that this may seem like another crazy idea but we meet in Woodstock Georgia and if anyone is in this area and would like to join us, please let me know.  I'd  love to have you meet us for tea!

                                             Learning is movement from moment to moment.
                                                                                         J. Krishnamurti
I love how much I am learning about myself and the world around me by becoming a photographer.  I am seeing colors, shapes, and all types of interesting designs everywhere I go.  I used to go through my day going from point A to point B sometimes without really thinking about what I was doing or where I was going.  Now, I am looking, seeing, and appreciating all that is around me whether I have a camera with me or not.  Learning to become a photographer has opened my eyes and thus my world to all types of new things and exciting possibilities.  As you go through your day, I hope you will take time for yourself so that you too can enjoy the joy of learning and experiencing life in your own very unique and special way.

                                            When you share your dreams with the world, magic happens.
 

This has been another very special week.  It has been a week filled with many special moments shared with family. Having dinner with our grandsons on Halloween and sharing how excited they were to be going out all dressed up with their friends (and of course their dad following right behind) brought back so many memories not only of when I went trick or treating and my dad was following behind but when my son was trick or treating and his dad was following just a few feet away.  Although the world has changed dramatically since I was little, there are some things that have stayed the same. 

Yesterday, we picked up my eighty-eight year old father-in-law at the airport.  It is amazing to be around someone with so much vitality and a continous desire to learn.  Not only is he taking piano lessons but he has added voice lessons as well so that he can continue to contribute to his barbershop group. 

I continue to enjoy taking pictures and playing with them afterwards to make them a little sharper or a little straighter.  For some reason, I am really enjoying this and so I am grateful that I have found a new hobby that brings me such pleasuure.

I found this quote by Marianne Williamson which I really like.  "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."  Since I have started this gratitude practice I am reminded everyday just how good things really are.  What are you grateful for this week?

It is Wednesday which means it is time to wish with all Jamie Ridler's fellow wishcasters on Wishcasting Wednesday.  Today Jamie asked, "What do you wish to nourish?"  My answer is simple. I wish to nourish my budding love of photography.  For the past several months I have been taking classes online and I have really enjoyed them.  I wish to continue to see the world in a whole new way and to enjoy the process of learning about what it means to take pictures that speak to me and hopefully others in a very special way.