Wordless Wednesday

Posted on July 3, 2024 by hafong

Thank God for Wordless Wednesdays! Today is super challenging and here I am, enrolled in all these volunteered challenges. For one thing, today feels super hot after endless grey, rainy and cool weather. I should be jumping up and down with joy BUT…I’m feeling lackadasical. I don’t think I can find myself out of a wet paper bag.

But I have to show up somehow. I mean, I can’t just fold up and hide away. Well, I suppose I could but what would that say about me? Hmmm. I muttered to myself and went out in the world anyways. What can I say when my mother asks me to get her 2 cans of chicken broth? I went and got her 2 cans of chicken broth and some other goodies. The outing did cheered me somewhat. And so did painting 2 little index cards for my Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge. They’re not great art but they are cheery.

Looks like I’m not wordless after all. The other challenge I have is much harder. It is getting rid of those damned creeping bellflowers that is all over my front year. And to think I did it to myself because someone said they’re good groundcover and have pretty blue flowers. The downside is they choke out everything and very, very hard to eliminate. Have a look. Some failures. Some success. Like everything in life. But this is the year. The first photo is of an area loaded with bellflowers. Subsequent photos of small areas I’ve cleared most of them. Of course they do come back, especially after a rain. I try to keep on top.

This bed is loaded with creeping bellflowers.

Well, this was very wordy. I guess I had to get it out.

UBC Day 14 & 15 – Wabi Sabi, Repeat

Posted on July 15, 2023 by hafong

I am here again, trying to stay afloat in this writing challenge. I’m feeling like Bill Murray in the movie, Groundhog Day, waking up to the same tune on the radio every morning and to the same morning over and over again. That was my take on the word repeat for the Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge. I figure it’s a good prompt to write on as well. When I am stuck, I’ll use anything for a springboard. Word(s) can paint a picture in my mind’s eye. Conversely, a picture can evoke a story. Word and photo prompts work for me.

I’m feeling I’m in some horror movie these days, waking up to the same cloudy and smokey morning. It was still dark at 6 am. It is only July 15th. Too early for fall. It stayed like that most of the day till now at almost 8 pm. The clouds and smoke are just lifting. There’s a weak display of sun. I had to go out and tap my kitchen window shut to keep the smoke out earlier in the day. It had shifted and I could not properly close it. The kitchen was quite smokey. I hope tomorrow brings better things – more sun, less smoke.

The world looks and feels apocalyptic. It’s either fire or flood somewhere in the world. I hear James Taylor singing his song:

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

In these weird climatic change times, it’s difficult for me to appreciate wabi sabi, the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and impermance. Wabi sabi is another prompt from my DYICAD challenge. I thought my parsnips made an excellent demonstration of the imperfect and impermanent. Having looked at their strange shapes for awhile, I have to confess they are rather beautiful with their tangles of long and curly roots. And they were delicious in my beef stew of many ingredients.

Since life is full of things that can’t be changed, it is helpful to adopt the wabi sabi outlook. It is much better to look for and study the beauty in the bleak, ugly and lonely that is our present world than being stuck in the muck. It would be a change instead of repeating over and over the same old that have not worked before.

JUNE – metamorphosis 2

Posted on June 14, 2023 by hafong

typewriter

June has been hot with thunderstorms. My metamorphosis has been a very slow process. Rather turning into a beautiful butterfly, I feel more like a slug or snail. Neither one is very attractive but they are appealing to me today. I like their speed. Maybe their lack of is a better term. I prefer the snail because it can crawl into its shell to get away from it all. That’s what I like to and shall do today – crawl into my shell to get a good rest.

I’ve developed some skill now through my sitting meditations with Mark Williams to close my eyes and let the outer world and all the sights and sounds all away. I can let my thoughts and emotions dissolve into nothingness. I’ve only discovered this ability yesterday, sitting in the quiet late evening heat. The A/C is turned off. The windows are wide opened with a bit of breeze drifting in. The sweat is still seeping into my eyes. I sit and breathe, in and out. I feel my heartbeat slowing down, thoughts and feelings leaving and my body relaxing. I understood at that moment what is meant by a no mind, no body.

June has been hotter and harder than I had anticipated. I can’t remember how long ago I had written the above. Now, almost in the middle of June, I’ve come back to finish what I had started. I hope I can finish. Finishing anything is the hardest task for me. I feel much like a bear at the moment – slow and sluggish. I would rather hibernate through the summer and emerge in the fall. I wonder if there’s a cool log nearby that I can crawl into. There goes my dream of turning into a beautiful butterfly. I should not give up hope yet. Summer is long and a silken cocoon sounds like a cool soft bed to loll, dream and spin magic in.

One thing that has been easy and fun in June is the DYICAD – Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge. It’s making tiny art on an index card daily. I have chosen the word prompt route and using pen and watercolour as my medium. It continues till July 31st. I will have 61 cards of art at the end. It does spark creativity besides fun. It’s good for my brain and heart. Here is a sampling of my favourites this year so far.

DAY 23 UBC – LIFE, WRITING AND CHALLENGES

Posted on October 23, 2020 by hafong

Life, Writing and Challenges

It’s another day of the October Ultimate Blog Challenge. Only 8 more days after today. Who’s counting, eh? I’m running late again. I’m busy. It’s not a bad thing. It means I’m living a full throttle life, despite the Covid. Today I made another run to Costco. This time I had no trouble finding my car on the way out. I parked in my usual area, near the disabled section. It’s stressful and exhausting shopping at big-box retailers. You have to run from one end of the warehouse to the other. It’s like being at the airport, searching for the right terminal. I’m hooked along with the rest of the people but at least I’m not a frequent flyer.

Now I’m sitting here frantically trying to find thoughts and words for this post. It would be easy to just give in and call it a month. But I won’t. I am stubborn. If I give in now, I could give in to so many other things. It could be a domino effect. An avalanche could occur. I have completed challenges before. I can do it again. My first one was called the 100 Day Challenge. It was the one that led me back to my art. Every day I would draw or paint something. I was surprised and elated at the end to find that I do have some talent. One of my favourite challenge is the Daisy Yellow Index Card a Day Challenge. Here are some of them from July 2019.