No worries …

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Lauren Dimarco in Ireland2

All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way
Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a 
garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she 
must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and 
cried, ‘Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!’ That was all that passed between
them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always
know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.

J. M. Barrie from Peter Pan

I wish I could remember what it felt like to be carefree…

Lauren DiMarco in Ireland.

Tea Time…

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Navy teacup by Joan Currie

Teacup in acrylic © Joan Currie

The Tea Party

I had a little tea party
This afternoon at three.
‘Twas very small-
Three guests in all – 
Just I, myself and me.

Myself ate all the sandwiches,
While I drank up the tea;
‘Twas also I who ate the pie
And passed the cake to me.

By Jessica Nelson North (1891-1988)

A lovely cup of tea punctuates the day…

Another spring…

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Spring Nest by Joan Currie

Spring Nest © Joan Currie

Another Spring
If I might see another Spring,
I’d not plant summer flowers and wait:
I’d have my crocuses at once,
My leafless pink mezereons,
My chill-veined snow-drops, choicer yet
My white or azure violet,
Leaf-nested primrose; anything
To blow at once, not late.

If I might see another Spring
I’d listen to the daylight birds
That build their nests and pair and sing,
Nor wait for mateless nightingale;
I’d listen to the lusty herds,
The ewes with lambs as white as snow,
I’d find out music in the hail
And all the winds that blow.

If I might see another Spring –
Oh stinging comment on my past
That all my past results in “if” –
If I might see another Spring,
I’d laugh to-day, to-day is brief;
I would not wait for anything:
I’d use to-day that cannot last,
Be glad to-day and sing.

By Christina Rossetti

Savoring the signs of spring…

Designing a New Year …

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Lauren DiMarco - Happy New Year's

Design is love. Good design is love – it’s well-thought. Good design considers everybody. It considers your emotions, it considers the ecology. There’s beauty in it. Good design – there’s always some kind of elegance to it.
by Danielle LaPorte in an interview with Jonathan Fields

Designing a big, beauteous, beguiling, and bodacious New Year!

Model: Lauren DiMarco

Christmas in reflection…

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Lauren in Vancouver at Christmas

Lauren DiMarco in Vancouver © Joan Currie

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now
and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights
when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
from A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas (YouTube reading by the author)

I will have no trouble remembering this wonderful Christmas day!

A life worth living…

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Joan Currie Iris

African White Iris © Joan Currie

When Summer, lingering half-forlorn,
On Autumn loves to lean,
And fields of slowly yellowing corn
Are girt by woods still green;
When hazel-nuts wax brown and plump,
And apples rosy-red,
And the owlet hoots from hollow stump,
And the dormouse makes its bed;
from Is Life Worth Living? – by Alfred Austin

This poem brought me back to the delicious summers of my childhood…

RP-T-1948-88

A lasting fragrance…

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Party dress by Joan Currie

Party dress @ Joan Currie

Maiden, that read’st this simple rhyme, Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay; Enjoy the fragrance of thy prime, For oh, it is not always May!

from It Is Not Always May by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Sometimes it is hard not to lament the passing of time…

Getty image

Getty image

Beautiful Indomitable…

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The Waiting Season

© Dennis Renaissance – Model Lauren DiMarco

I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave…
lyrics from the song Brave by Sara Bareilles

Sometimes it is hard to be the person you need me to be…

Beautiful Things I Taught My Daughters…

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Voss typewriter by James Currie

© James Currie

Sometimes I wonder if what I taught my daughters over the years will adequately prepare them for going out into the world on their own.

This last weekend I made a list of some of the things I taught them (it made me feel better):

1. How to draw a face, mix colors, carve soap, blow bubbles, make a wish, and chalk a hopscotch board on the sidewalk.

2. How to ride a bike, drive a car and motorboat, sail a Laser, paddle a canoe, ride a horse, skate, toboggan, throw a ball, and use a tennis racquet.

3. How to write a thank you note, compose a poem, keep a journal, make a speech, say hello in five languages, read a map, and wrap a gift.

4. How to snuggle up with blankets to watch movies on the sofa, sing Broadway songs, play the piano and guitar, tap dance and waltz around the living room.

5. How to bake and decorate a cake, make a French pie crust, mega chocolate chip cookies, maple fudge, and butter tarts.

6. How to needlepoint a pillow, knit a scarf, sew a quilt, and draft a pattern.

7. How to spot constellations and satellites in the night sky and look for the green flash just before the sun sets.

8. How to use a hammer, screwdriver, saw, drill, and car jack.

9. How to use a camera, computer, iron, glue gun, vacuum cleaner, mixer, coffee machine, and hair flattener.

10. How to apply sunscreen, foundation, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, and nail polish.

11. How to do CPR, dress a wound, and prepare for an emergency.

12. How to make a bed, clean a floor, paint a room, and refinish small pieces of furniture.

13. How to wash the car, use duct tape, cut grass, plant bulbs, and make a flower arrangement.

14. How to make a budget, use coupons, recycle and upcycle, and roll change.

15. How to keep their word, obey the law, vote, volunteer, continually learn and discover, work, and pray.

Try making a list yourself – your child or children could help!