Life Balance

Posts dedicated to achieving a life balance or just trying out new ideas to make life more of an adventure

Autumn Appreciation

Art, Life Balance, watercolor
Autumn Woodland 14”x20”

After an unexpected allergic reaction from a bald-faced hornet sting, I feel fortunate to experience another autumn season. As woodland creatures prepare for the winter by caching food and planning for shelter, I start to wonder if the old wives’ tales told to predict winter will prove true this time. If so, we might be in for a good one. And, by good I mean power outages and lots of shoveling. 

But now, the calm before the storm. A near autumn-peak woodland. Deciduous trees will soon lay down their leaves to reveal naked branches, as they curve and twist this way and that way. The decaying leaves will soon provide nourishment to the naked figures, and an insulated vessel for overwintering insects. The systems at work, even during what appears to be dormancy, are complex and wonderful.

Local Roads

Art, Life Balance, Outdoor Adventure, watercolor
County Rt 1A

We were driving home one evening on a “school night” *gasp*…the sky really captured my attention. At this time of the day, the greenery, barn, and road are sort of muted in color and tone, as the sky is lit up in the few remaining moments before the sun has set. And so, in this painting the sky becomes “the story” or the point of focus. There’s this feeling of calm at the end of the day… less to do (hopefully), maybe a cup of tea and less TV.

Moonlit Forest Watercolor Painting 14×20”

Art, Life Balance, watercolor

Moonlit forest w/c 14×20”

There’s something about winter that makes me want to paint night scenes. Probably because in the northern hemisphere there is more darkness this time of year. Night can be magical and mysterious, which is what I’m trying to convey in this painting with a dramatic sky and a full moon shining through the clouds. “Creatures” tend to become more active at night, though in the dead of winter, I’m not so sure. I bet most sensible animals slow their heart rate down and buckle down until warmer times. I like to think of ourselves as slowing down too, to take a breath and look around? Nah, of course not.

Into the Sun – Day 5

Life Balance, Outdoor Adventure

Adorned in light

Adorned in light

Well, the sun has set on our 5-day Into the Sun blog series. Thank you,  thank you.

It has actually been more than 5 days; I have skipped some days and the reasons vary – rain, laziness, too much work at work. But, when I did write, I found this little exercise very refreshing. It has helped me use a different part of my brain (or use the brain differently) – that is, the act of writing creatively. And, it has definitely helped me to notice and celebrate the sun during this season of change. However, no matter how mindful we try to be; it is inevitable that we get swept away by a wave of confusion, anxiety, and haste. Maybe this wave is a byproduct of the society that we’ve created, I don’t know. But, if we can bring ourselves back to noticing things and get out of the funk every now and then – bravo!

Lastly, I leave you with some fun facts about the sun (from https://space-facts.com/the-sun/). Cheers!

  • The sun is not a perfect sphere. It is imperfect by just 10km between the poles and the equator.
  • The sun is a yellow dwarf star (main-sequence G2V star).
  • The sun is 4.6 billion years young.
  • The sun is 70% Hydrogen, 28% Helium, and 2% other stuff.
  • Our planet can fit inside the sun a million times.

Hopefully, you are inspired to learn more about the sun or just to look up once in a while.

Into the Sun – Day 4

Life Balance, Office Humor

 

Sunny Greenwood Lake

Bellvale (Bearfort when in NJ) Mountain is where the sun likes to hide at the end of the day.

Hello, again. If you recall, in the initial “Into the Sun” post I pledged to be more aware of the sun (for 5 days, anyway). And, so far I have done nothing, but shower that big shining ball with praise – the star of aesthetics, the giver of life, yada yada…

I think it is time to be mindful of how irritating the sun can be, especially, when you’re driving home from work at 5:45pm. At this time, the sun (purposely of course) positions itself at precisely the perfect angle along the horizon, where it pierces your eyeballs and you struggle to correct your vehicle away from incoming traffic (protective eye wear is futile). Then, the police car on the side of the road starts to move, but hesitates and then remains in place. The eager law enforcer must have realized that I was not intoxicated yet, sensing that what made me swerve was the same thing that kept him concealed in plain blinding light. So, as the teaching goes: we aren’t always comfortable when we are aware, we are just there for whatever is.