a long week

Samaya

Sinhala for 'Peace', spoken in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan dancers in traditional dress

Welcome!

My blogging has been a bit spotty lately - sorry! It was a long week.

But today is a new week,

a new day!

I have been working (and I do mean working!) on opening a new shop on etsy.

It's up and running!  I have listed 2 items:

www.collagpaperpainting.etsy.com

'M'Lady's canter' original collage paper painting by inkspired

  

I also have reserved a new domain name:

collagepaperpainting 

Whew!

While I think yahoo small business has some really nice features,

I have gone around and around trying to open this new domain name,

and a new web site.

No, the web site hasn't even begun to be formed yet,

but one thing at a time!!!

I did get to 'know' Jeff! He works in the call center for yahoo small businesses in Portland. They had a ton of snow last week.

:0)

snow air mail courtesy of www.vintageholidaycrafts.com

Hi Jeff!!!

Here are a couple of mandalas that I wish I had printed off last week.

I could have colored them in all the time I spent on

'your-call-is-being-answered-please-wait-for-the-next-customer-service-person'

or maybe I should have printed out some paper dolls-

after cutting them out (while on hold) I could have then played with them

(while on hold)!

Here is a charming "the Ginghams" winter set:

or, I could have done some beading:

Sorry, I don't know whose pattern this is.

It is for a double sided amulet purse, done in peyote or brick stitch.

Here is a medallion crocheted afghan that I have wanted to start for ages.

Perhaps you would like to make one!

It is copied from an old 'Decorating and Craft Ideas' magazine.

The pattern is by Sidney Melton.

Well, part of my long week and even longer weekend was a huge flare-up with my fibromyalgia. Ick. I hate taking pills - prescription or others.

But,

sometimes you just have to do what you can.

I really need to finish this blog so I can go take a shower.

One of the set-backs with fibro is I haven't been able to raise my arms.

Kinda' hard to wash your hair if you can't raise your arms....

We also have been having terrific winds -

and I don't mean that in a wonderful kind of terrific!

Later today I am going outside to check all around the house for wind damage.

It really has been ferocious.

That wreaks havoc with my migraines/headaches.

Did I mention Ick?

It was an over-the-top Winnie the Pooh

Blustery Day kind of day!

But if Pooh Bear and Rabbit can dance,

then so can I!

Enjoy the day!

Check out my new etsy store:

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

Play paperdolls with a friend!

Get out those scraps of yarn you have been saving for a some-day project!

and have fun!

inkspired

www.inkspired.esty.com

www.collagepaperpainting.etsy.com

www.myinkspired.com

The Language of Flowers - Water Lily

mambo

(Congo)

Today is Water Lily Day!

No, not official....but everything else seems to have a holiday....

so why not have Water Lily Day today?

http://www.wisdompaintings.com/

There are two flowers for the month of July.

The first is delphinium, or larkspur.

Check my older blogs in July for that feature.

The second flower is the water lily.



The water lily's 'discovery' by a white man

in the lagoons of South American jungles

made this beautiful flower known to the European world.

a pink water lily

Remains of tropical water lilies have been found in

European pre-Ice Age (according to Darwin fans) stratas.

Just a side note here:

Did you know that all the carbon testing, dating of ancient bones and objects, etc. is all based on Darwin's theories?

Very little of it can be proven as fact.

Mainstream scientists have started with a presumption,

and then made the data fit.

As anyone who has taken basic science classes,

we know that true scientific research starts

with no pre-conceived idea of an outcome.

A scientist needs to be non-biased to achieve true results.

oops.

That's not what happened with all this 'dating' of our history.

I LOVE God's sense of humor.

How He must chuckle when He reveals an archeologist's site,

and there is proof that Darwin got it all wrong!!

We can be so silly.

And so stubborn.

The South American natives had many names for this

water lily.

One of them is "Yrupe", which literally means

water platter.

A giant water lily, victorian amazonica, at Kew.

When the bushmen collected and opened the fruit of the water lily, it broke open with a cluster of hard, shiny seeds,

and a soft mealy flesh surrounding them within.

They called the seeds (which are considered a great delicacy)

water corn, or water maize.

a blue water lily

In the language of flowers,

Water Lily

means Eloquence

and

Purity of heart.

c.1902

Other plants in the Water Lily Family

Nymphaeaceae

(and no, don't ask be how to pronounce it!)

include Buttercups and Magnolias

and the Lotus Blossom.

"What loved little islands,

          twice seen in their lakes,

Can the wild water-lily restore."

- Thomas Campbell

"When you have only two pennies left in the world,

Buy a loaf of bread with one,

and a lily with the other."

- Chinese proverb

painting by a Chinese artist

Water lily flowers can be up to 15 inches wide,

opened at dusk,remain open all the night

and close after sunrise.

Grumpy: "A fine bunch of water lilies you turned out to be.

I'd like to see anybody make me wash,

if I didn't wanna."

- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, c.1937

"The slender water-lily

    Peeps dreamingly out of the lake;

         The moon, oppress'd with love's sorrow,

              Looks tenderly down for her sake."

by Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs-New Spring

The fragrance of a water lily

is somewhat like that of crushed pineapple.

'waterlilies' by Claude Monet, 1916

I just can't have a blog about water lilies

without mentioning Monet's series of

water lily paintings.

There are many.

Claude Monet, 83 years old, after his cataract surgery

c.1918

As someone who has had cataracts myself,

I find this very interesting in viewing Monet's work.

It is noted that his eyesight had been deteriorating for a long time.

Yes, he was considered the Founder of Impressionist Painting.

Yet,

his paintings look very much

like what 'I saw' when my cataracts were so bad.

'water lilies' by Claude Monet, 1906

'Nympheas' by Claude Monet, c.1914 - 1917

Just having fun speculation- draw your own conclusions.

This is definitely NOT an art history class!!

purple water lilies

"Now folds the lily all her sweetness up,

And slips into the bosom of the lake;

So fold thyself, my dearest thou, and slip

Into my bosom, and be lost in me."

Lord Alfred Tennyson, 'The Princess'

"The knowledge of the world

can only to be acquired

in the world,

and not in a closet."

- Lord Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield

lived 1694 - 1773

I bet he hated his parents when he went to school,

and had to fill out all those papers with his name!

Well, I think that covers water lilies pretty well!

I hope you enjoyed this little piece from the complex picture of

The Language of Flowers,

and

Flowers of the Month.

flower mandala

water lilies

'The Water Lily Pond 4' by Claude Monet

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Fresh Apple Muffins

hi!

Kate Greenaway illustration

Today's blog is kinda' late in the day,

so I thought I would just share a recipe,

a picture or two, and be brief.

If that's possible,

for me!

Fresh Apple Muffins

from "Nothin' but Muffins" cookbook

written by Cyndi Duncan and Georgie Patrick

winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award

from Publishers Marketing Association

nope, I don't know what that is!! but it's on the front cover!

3/4 Cup buttermilk

3/4 Cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg, beaten

1/4 Cup shortening, melted and cooled

2 Cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt (optional)

1 Cup apples, finely chopped

1/4 Cup raisins, optional

1/4 Cup nuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 400'. Grease muffin cups

2. Beat egg in small bowl. Add milk and shortening.

3. Measure and mix dry ingredients in large bowl.

4. Add egg mixture and stir just until moistened.

5. Fold in apples, raisins and nuts, as desired.

6. Fill each cup 2/3 full.

7. Bake at 400' for 20 - 25 minutes.

8. Makes 12 muffins.



http://www.fleurbonheur.etsy.com/

Here are two vintage folk boy and folk girl transfers.

Their flowers aren't really specific,

so make them any color you want!

a vintage 1920 French postcard

a flower mandala, courtesy of Dover Books

That's it for now.

Tomorrow we will be finishing up

the Flower of the month for June -

the Rose.

Here we come, Oklahoma!

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

http://www.inkspiredmusings.blogspot.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com