Happy?!!!!

Happy sounds like this to me.  Especially the chords these guys land on. Luv Luv the Jimmy Fallon version.  Have never watched the original.  My favourite is the guy on the left.  Just try to keep your head still while watching this.  Why do the words have to be so?  Trashy!

Nothing like a band squished into a dressing room groov'n with toy instruments.  Fun!  You rock Jimmy Fallon!

Psalm 91

Memorizing Bible verses was something I was taught when I was in my early twenty's.  The tools useful to keep my mind stayed in good and healthy places.  When I was a young girl I heard Psalm 121 read in the movie from 1959 'The Diary of Anne Frank' when the Frank family along with other Jews were hiding from the Nazi's above a factory.  It was one of the first times when I saw how it was to cling to hope and promise via a verse in very present trouble. I learned Ps 121 a long time ago and the thought has stayed with me all these years .  Today I am learning Psalm 91.  I am up to verse 11 today.  So many versions of this movie... I think I might watch this one with Ben Kingsley

My Refuge and My Fortress

Psalm 91

She who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will ifind refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

5 You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

8 You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—

the Most High, who is my refuge

10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

12 On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because she holds fast to me in love, I will deliver her;

I will protect her, because she knows my name.

15 When she calls to me, I will answer her;

I will be with her in trouble;

I will rescue her and honor her.

16 With long life I will satisfy her

and show her my salvation.”

 

 



Do the work

Last week my Swht and I were flying home from Saskatoon having moved our daughter and her little family there.  (sigh -- from Calgary so, further away from the West Coast and us).  Due to thunderstorms in Calgary we sat on the tarmac in Saskatoon waiting for clearance (maybe 20 minutes) and then again trying to get out of Calgary on the second leg of the flight.  So... what to do?  My Swht and I share the same Kindle account so whatever he buys also downloads on my iPad.  I cruised through the options.  'War of Art' was looking me in the face and I thought, what the heck. 

I settled in to an easy read.  And quickly found out that Steven Pressfield had somehow been in my head snooping around.  If you are a writer, visual artist, dancer, musician this book will speak to you.  It also may speak to athletes and business people but I'm not as connected there.  It spoke to where I was at.  I am not a book reviewer nor a writer but I am in a transition and in this space have been left alone for a spell with my creative outlets feeling guilty and compelled to let them fill my days as I look for work.  I connected with much that SP had to say and especially his statement and philosophy on 'do the work'.   

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”  ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles
 

my favourite quote...

“Someone once asked Somerset Maughham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.” ― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles

my summer mantra... "do the work" and while doing the work you are in the place with the highest potential that inspiration may strike. 

Under Cover

A couple of years ago these wrap images started popping up in the Vancouver area.  I wasn't super sure how I felt about them until I learned that they were graffiti proof.  Well, Ok.  A bit of a stretch for me on fake beautification preservation. 

Image from here

Other countries have their own variation.  This is what Brisbane (Australia) has done. They ran a competition and had original art work painted directly on and signed by local residents.  They have a total of 1000 boxes, having 100 painted each year starting in 2000.  Each one different. I prefer this look.


"Cell Fire" artist Penn Donovan

"The Sea on the Tide" artist Nicole Gaunt

"The Sea on the Tide" in context

Originally I was starting this post to mark how cities are trying to hide electronics.  The latest effort that makes me grin; LA's fake tree cell towers seen here as catalogued by Emily Shur naming her photography project "Nature Calls.".


Emily Shur

Emily Shur

Emily Shur

All on their way

Just finished a custom order stroller blanket for a woman who belongs to a dog walking club and wanted to make her co-walker something for her soon to be baby (sex unknown).  I was given permission to go free reign on this item except for the colours which are soft greys, creams, and yellows.  The customer also conveniently sent me a pix of the pup.  The next morning I woke up with this inspiration, imagining what a little person will see when they join their mommy on the dog walk experience.

Super loved doing this project!!!!

CJP All rights reserved

Drawing 
CJP All rights reserved

Painting
CJP All rights reserved

Stitching
CJP All rights reserved

 

Personalizing - copied from a pix of their dog
CJP All rights reserved

Add a little story line
CJP All rights reserved

A completed piece
CJP All rights reserved

ALL ON THEIR WAY

birdies flapping

puppies wagging

babies strolling

people walking

all on their way

 

                                   ~ constancejoyplett ~

 

Commissions on variations of this item are welcome.  Convo me you-me@telus.net if you are interested.  This quilt and artwork is an original design.  All rights reserved.  CJP constancejoyplett

Car Free Day Vancouver

Last February my artist daughter asked me if I wanted to try out selling at a craft fair.  She has many dreamy items that she has created with her original art and just can't seem to keep those creative juices couped up, so she's always making fabulous items and writing the most clever things and sometimes adding a cartoon which makes it clever sweet.  I'd never ever thought I'd be on the opposite side of a craft fair.  I have gone to a couple but not enough to think I knew what to do. 

After a couple of failed deadline attempts she signs us up for one with a company named Blim and since the craft fair is non juried so you are an automatic 'in' if you pay your peso's for your table on time.  I mildly procrastinated, not really landing on where I wanted to go with my items so I kept second guessing what I wanted to do until a week before the event and then I began to sew like a fiend.

Come June 16, we head out together with the help of a fabulous son-in-law find our designated space indicated by a 6 foot table with Rebekah Joy written on a piece of tape.  We set up our tent and begin to lay out our wares.  What an amazing introduction to behind the table.  Apparently the whole neighbourhood was invited along with their pets and babies in tow.

Craft Fair: 1st attempt has me thinking about another.  Just maybe.  It was such a good start.  Beautiful weather and people watching to die for!  Crowds and Crowds of people for miles.  It was 'A 21 block festival composed of several mini-festivals, over a dozen community supported stages with dozens of bands, a full kids zone and other kids activities throughout the site.'  And my artist and I were a teeny part of this huge party!  2013... Vancouver's 6th annual 'Car Free Day' event.  Who knew?  It's possible I've been in the suburbs far too long!

And the left overs from our sale?  Check out the new best seller item on the street now in the shop with more to come!

Mary, Mary how does your Garden Grow?

Last April there were a couple of wonderful days strung together.  So beautiful and sunny I headed out the door to my flower garden.  Thrilled with a head start I vowed I would keep it up.  Just the light weeding regularly should be very manageable.  The rains came and I'm a big baby so I didn't go out in the cold. 

It's an all white garden... do you see those nasty little buttercups secretly looking sweet and unassuming but weaving their way around my plants in their pythony way.  Grrrrrr.....  no yellow allowed!

I didn't think of my camera until I had already dug out the left quadrant
so you have to imagine yellowy specks suffocating the greenery

Three hours later

Caught this in the morning so the sun is just coming up on the right.
So much better don't you think?

White roses, white candy tuft, white foxgloves, white hydrangeas.  Each year I add just one more white.  A clean garden and mowed lawn always make me feel good.  A happy place.  So thankful for it.