Hello 2018! New year! New start!
December was a lost month for my writing and blogging
My daily life crowded out any time and energy for creativity.
A whole lot happened.
Terry and I made some important, hopefully wise, decisions
during a hectic and stressful four weeks.
But it's all good, and I'm ready to return to what fulfills me.
I'm welcoming 2018 with wide open arms.
The Navajo Nation
Ganado, Arizona, USA
Nature never fails to lift my spirits.
New Year's Day, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
On New Years Day we left Surprise, Arizona
and headed home for Aurora, Colorado.
We made it by Tuesday evening,
and home has rarely looked so good.
Lots to Unpack
Aurora, Colorado USA
January 2, 2018
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
Yesterday was the first Wednesday of the month,
the day when members of the Insecure Writers Support Group
get together on-line to share posts and encouragement.
I haven't missed one first Wednesday
since I joined the group nearly three years ago.
That says a lot about how much the IWSG means to me.
Since I arrived home Tuesday evening
I've been mulling over what I want to accomplish this year,
while unpacking, getting groceries, doing laundry,
tackling that crate of mail, and cooking.
It's amazing how mundane chores free the mind.
I had been so worried about my blog and writing in December
that I was having nightmares about chucking it all in,
walking away from my memoir and blogging.
I was missing my blogging friends
and feeling badly about not connecting with them.
Then on Christmas Night I opened an unexpected gift from my sister Donnie
who said she had to get it for me because it was so me:
Standing Into Danger
Photographic Art by Kas Stone
Image from Taylor Head, Nova Scotia, Canada
October, 2010
The crashing waves, rocky shore, tuckamore, and dwarf shrubs
cleared my head and banished those unsettling nightmares.
December had me Standing into Danger,
but I was not going to founder.
Waiting in that crate of mail when I arrived home was a second piece of art,
very different, but every bit as uplifting.
Tender Hearts
by Stacy (Magic Love Crow)
2017
If you're familiar with her blog (Magic Love Crow),
you know how unique and inspiring her art and her life story are.
If I feel doubt and inadequacy growing inside me,
I can look at Stacy's special gift and beat them back.
One gift fills me with fortitude, the other with hope.
It's hard to top that combination.
I sorted out a lot as I restored some order to our home.
I don't like to tempt fate by laying out my plans.
I'll just say that I'll keep my two special gifts close by
for inspiration as I tackle my writing and blogging in 2018.
I'll be back next Friday with a new Northern post.
My Father's Words
Photo by Louise Barbour
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved
Till next time ~
Fundy Blue
On the Shore of the Annapolis Basin
Smith's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada
July 24, 2016
© M. Louise (MacBeath) Barbour/Fundy Blue
All Rights Reserved