I'm doing the 12 week course in "The Artist's Way".  (Has anyone done this 12 week course?  What did you think? I would love to hear...)

Paying attention is one of the things Julia has talked about so far that has given me something to think about.  Julia Cameron writes, "The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight.  The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention."

I'm also reading, "A Return To Love."  I've only barely begun it.  It's given me new perspective on love and fear.  It's so easy for us to come from a place of fear in almost every aspect of our lives...relationships, career, taking a risky step, trusting yourself, and so many other ways.  Marianne suggests a change in perspective and coming to everything from a place of love instead of fear.  It's been making me see things about myself and my little world differently.  And that's a good thing.

I've been drawn to a few women photographers and I think it's because they embody the ideas in these books.  Sheye Rosemeyer, Elizabeth Messina, Melanie Mauer, and Stephanie Nielson also known as NieNie (I know that's she's not an official professional photographer...I'm awestruck by her anyway).

These women draw people to them because of their warmth, humanity, and their ability to pay attention, to see the beauty in people and the world, to see the simple as extraordinary, and to take refuge in love and it's ability to carry them in difficult times and into the hearts of others.  They pay attention and they seem to come from a place of love.

I've been inspired by what I've read and by these women and so I've started keeping a little Book of Love.  I want to pay attention.  In it, I'm keeping all of the things that I see...all of the things that I love.

Delight.

I'm on a quest.  If you're wondering where all of this is coming from...I'll share more about it...soon...

For now I'll leave a little list I've made.

I love...

*Fresh, red, ripe strawberries just pulled from the vine that have been warmed by the sun.

*The way the sky looks on a stormy day.  The clouds fluffy and gray and ominous while I drive in my car.  A couple of days ago there were fluffy white clouds and blue beautiful sky floating along lazily behind clouds that were stormy and dark and moving fast.  It was  such an odd and fascinating thing.  It was beautiful and I loved the contradiction...I've never before seen them like that, stormy with a gorgeous sky floating behind it, in the same piece of sky.

*An ice cold bottle (yes, bottle) of A&W Rootbeer after being in the sun.

*Tight hugs from Gracie that about pop my head from my neck, with deeply heartfelt "I love yous" whispered in my ear.

*My blue eyes.

*The wild chatter that goes on at the dinner table.

*The way each of the kids burst through the door at the end of a day at school.

*The quiet house in the morning just as everyone is very sleepily waking from dreaming.

*The sound of the rain starting to fall and hitting the leaves on all the trees in our backyard.  I love having the windows opens that I can hear it while I sit on the couch or when I'm at the sink in the kitchen or lying in bed.

*I love the way my kids find a newly washed pile of laundry irresistible for jumping in, cuddling in, and burying themselves in.