Blue Skies

These skies are unbelievable!!!!! 

I have my sweet husband and partner in crime with me.  Our children are in school, and my husband and I  begin to make sure we have the space here for our things.  We have begun our adventure together in the USA.

As my husband said today, it took 45 years to get a Vuyadinov  in America, but it has finally happened.  My father-in-law always wanted his family to live in the US, but chose to live in Canada because David was on the way and it would have taken another year to immigrate to the USA.  Tata wanted his family to live in the New World, so he took his family to Canada since he had an Australian passport, and could live in Canada.  That man had the most powerful dream to live on after his death.  We are doing as he always wanted, and for which he sacrificed.  I loved, love that man and am so honored to fulfill his dream.

It's blue skies.

My Creative Journey to Now

Four years ago, I was stressed out.  Ok, I'm still stressed out, but now I can find happiness.   Four years ago, my father  just had his first brain surgery and I had a six month old baby and a three year old to care for.  I was stressed and I felt like I was not living my life fully.  I had talents I wanted to use, but I was not doing it.  It's hard work being a mother of small boys.  It's the best work I have ever done, but I needed to have time for my own work.  Work that was just about me.  I realized what was missing was my need to create.  Strangely enough I thought I needed photography. I had enjoyed photography in college, but  loved clay.  From that moment, I began to move toward acquiring the things needed to make art.  In a few months, I found a program that taught people how to have their own business and paid them for several months to do that so that they could become self sufficient. For many reasons my ceramic studio did not take off.  I make beautiful ceramic pieces and I still have stock. What learned through that part of the journey is that as a mother, I can't work as a ceramic artist.  I can't devote that time to ceramics and still have time to raise my boys.  What I do now is photography.  I keep learning that the small clear voice we hear in the time of quiet has the right idea. Whatever camera I have with me when I am out with boys become my creative tool.  It's not necessarily the camera, but the eye behind it that creates the image. This image is from my new phone. My blog allows me to write.  I have written since I was six years old.  I have never liked academic writing, but I love to write what is on my mind.  I thank God that I live in a time where I can have a blog. I publish my work, even if it's on a small scale and my audience is limited-it does not matter.  I am living a full life.

August Without My Sweetheart

It's August and that means we have many important dates to celebrate.  I hate being so far from the man I love especially in August, a month filled with anniversaries and birthdays.  David and I started officially dating in August, although we were close friends for a long time and many at seminary thought we were dating long before August.  We celebrate the day we became a couple.  I have never looked back. This year it marks sixteen years together.  He hasever been my companion, one I would always choose to take with me on any and all journeys difficult or otherwise.  He makes me laugh.  Perhaps that is one of the most important qualities I have looked for in a mate.  He has made me laugh in some of the most difficult times we have shared together.  Even when we fight, and yes, we do fight for we are a fiery couple, I never have thought "This is the end."  I know we are just clearing the air.  I feel safe and alive with him.  He is a strong man and a man with vision.  I would choose no other man to be with me through life.  The last day of August will mark our fourteenth wedding anniversary and I expect him to be with me.  He might miss the opening of the month, and maybe my birthday, but I hope to have him with me on that date.

Home Again

So, I am home again.  It's odd what things I have missed.  The first week back, I turned on a classic rock station and my heart sang.  I was hearing good music without government interference.  Hard to explain unless you have ever lived under "Can Con" or Canadian Content where it is the law to have a certain percentage of Canadian Content played.  I believe it's 60%.   At any rate, it hinders free expression and choice.  I have never liked it.  Here, I talk to folks in the grocery store, and my sons asks who these people are.  In Ontario, people don't do that.  I know in other parts of Canada they do.  I also know when I moved to Ontario I had to learn fast that people don't talk to each other.  They keep their own space.  It's different in the US.  I like that about The States.  I feel cozy like were are all in this together. I like the spirit of America where everyone's ideas are important even if you don't agree.  I know in recent years we have become polarized and  I hope this changes.  I hope we can remember that everyone has a right to his or her opinion and that they are not stupid, but they hold different values on different aspects to an issue.  We have had many before us who have fought and died so that we can think and live freely.  Let us remember that.  We have no right to freedom, but it is a gift given to us by our those who came before us and it is our duty to live so that our children can know the same freedom we have enjoyed.