Nashville.....

....here we come! 

After a wonderful whirlwind visit with our dear friends....Paul and I quickly switched gears and are heading to Nashville this afternoon.  There are a couple of book promotion events over the next few days and it will be good to gather with the guys and their wives. I will try and post a joy nugget every day but my timing may be off....being fully present is my main goal.

George was the best man in our wedding....and he and his wife Celeste (on the right) were two of our recent guests along with Greg, Hedy, and Rick. We had a wonderful time together!

I smiled at this one...because even back in 1981 George had a camera in his hands.

George is a birder and I enjoyed watching him photograph the birds in my yard...and pretty much everywhere we went. I'm hoping to share some of his photos at some point. 

This is one of my favorite photos he's ever taken from a trip to the Mediterranean. 

See you soon from Nashville!

All Good

There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other's cooking & say it was good. Brian Andreas

We had five friends from college in town for a couple days...a few of them we've not seen for 40+ years. The seven of us did some touring around Portland today....but mostly we spent time around the table loving each other.....sharing stories and laughter and eating good food. It was all good.

Noticers

I'm always tickled to get photos from friends who are noticers. Patty noticed the fabulous dragon fruit in the grocery store...and the stunningly tall palm trees in Marina Del Ray while she's visiting family in Southern California. Lilly noticed the raindrops clinging to some branches and the lettuce-like lichen on a tree in Alaska. 

We all can be noticers....and noticing might be the most underrated form of creativity.

The opening line caught my attention in a post that floated across my Instagram feed a few weeks ago. I'm so glad I linked into it....it's so true! It's from @lovepipsticks and can be found here.

I have a theory about creative people. We're basically professional noticers. And I think noticing might be the most underrated form of creativity. 

We photograph the menu because it looks perfect next to the cover of the book we're reading. We keep the rice paper wrapper because it feels fragile. We appreciate the way the supermarket bundles their cardboard with such precision. we save red string because it feels classic. Creativity isn't always about making something new. sometimes it's just letting yourself notice, keep, and put things together. 

What's something ordinary that youn've noticed and been drawn to lately?

The Right Time

Subtitle: Sentimental Journey

The Winged Map of the World is done....and is most certainly in my top 10 favorite puzzles! I wish you could see it in person....the colors are a bit muted....but oh such a beautiful butterfly effect!

I start feeling a little sentimental this time of year....so bear with me as I reminisce the pieces and parts of a sentimental journey.

Almost exactly two years ago....Margie (my mother-in-law) put together this beautiful puzzle. It was a challenge....but she stuck with it....and it was the last puzzle she would ever do.  

Just few days later she had a fall and broke her hip. 

And just three weeks after that she passed away. It was all such a whirlwind of emotions and events....and it's all still pretty raw. Especially this time of year.

A week or so after Margie died I started this very puzzle. It was the right puzzle at the right time. I had a few issues along the way including dumping all the pieces...but just like Margie...I stuck with it. But in the end I was missing a piece and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to gift it knowing there was a missing piece. I loved all the responses I got in this post: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2024/11/would-you.html

A month later....the piece turned up in the most unusual place...and it's one of my favorite parts of the story. Spoiler in case you don't link to the post...I found the piece in one of Margie's shoes.  https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2024/12/a-good-laugh.html

I gifted the puzzle to my friend Becky with the newly found piece in the box. She had met Margie....and I knew she would appreciate the story.....and I always gift her a puzzle for the winter.

Low and behold several months later.....I was gifted the VERY same puzzle from Brenda...a mutual friend of both Becky's and mine. I was so appreciative...but I tucked it away knowing that I needed time and space before I tackled it again. 

For the second time...it's the right puzzle at the right time. Maybe on some level Brenda knew that I would want to do it again...and I'm grateful. I've already started sorting the pieces into my album boxes...but I won't actually start putting it together for another week. Paul and I have company coming tomorrow evening through Wednesday...then we leave on Thursday for a little trip. 

The time and space away will be good during this particular timeframe...and it will absolutely be the right time to start assembling this colorful puzzle when I get back. And I'll be thinking of Margie and our sentimental journey with her here in Maine the whole time I'm working on it! 

Too Easy?

Yes....but sometimes easy is a good thing. 

I love the tall grass around my condo in the fall when they bloom and turn golden yellow! 

I have them in several places!

I put together a little bundle of torn paper flower materials for Lily in Alaska. She's going to host a project with her art group...or maybe her quilting group....and wondered if I would help. Of course I would.

I assembled colorful papers...including greens for leaves and stems. Then I found a package of grassy napkins in my stash and thought they would make simple backgrounds....and they worked like a dream. Almost too easy.....but sometimes....simple and easy can be a good thing. 

After separating the ply....they became quite translucent when glued on with medium and I love how the words from this recycled greeting card comes right through. I do wish I could have added a more prominent stem for the flower. 

I included plenty of greens for making stems and leaves the old fashioned way...but also included a couple napkins for my easy shortcut. 

The bundle has almost all the makings for torn paper flowers....along with several inspiration tags. It's all now in the hands of the post office as it make its way from the coast of Maine....to the coast of Alaska. 

More grass in the front yard....simple and easy fall decoration!

Fan-Fall-Tastic!

You might be getting tired of my puzzle photos....but I'm including this one for a couple of reasons. 

1: If you zoom way in you see my warty gourd on the rock wall in the back yard. Yup....that brings me joy. 

2: I finished all the white flowers and leaves....all that's left is the ocean. 

3: I just like taking photos of this beautiful puzzle....it's that simple. 

The mostly white ocean pieces are all ordered in the album boxes...and they nearly placed themselves at the top! I'm going to take it sloooooow on the home stretch. I'm getting ready for guests...and a little trip. 

Tracie greeted me this morning with a photo of a rainbow fall wreath she's been working on! It looks like she has preserved the leaves....and I think it's Fan-Fall-Tastic! 

My latest tag was sitting on the puzzle table....and the gold splatters were glowing under my puzzle light....something you might not have noticed in the last post. 

The gold was my "flow" from the Angelina Fibers on the last tag....and I do love that its dots upon dots.

We've got nice color in the neighborhood....Fan-Fall-Tastic! 

Dotty's Dots

Paul and I took our annual field trip to Evergreen Cemetery to soak in the fall color. There is no way my photos did it justice....but it was October at its finest! 

I love dots. And I LOVED Dotty's dots on her blog this morning! Her heart wanted to paint tiny, bright, and playful. She nailed it. 

Inspired by Dotty's dots...I made a tag today. I'm not in love with it...but it was a fun little Dotty inspired project.

Just for fun I put "dots" in the search box in the top left corner of my blog. Dozens and dozens of posts came up...because like I said...I love dots. Here are just a few of my dot projects:

Gifted Object

My neighbor Dan was heading out just as I was starting an afternoon walk. We chatted for a few minutes before I saw it....and once I saw it I was smitten. There on the dash of his car was a teeny tiny cow. 

The very second I complimented it.....he handed it to me. I couldn't love it more. 

"Sometimes," said Pooh, "the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."

It joined tiny Jesus and the little squirrel on my puzzle table along with my Halloween decor. This teeny tiny cow is my new favorite found gifted object Thanks Dan!

Fun Little Tidbit

I had a couple of nice walks on this beautiful fall day....and I especially enjoyed the vibrant fall asters at the pond. 

I also spent a chunk of my day removing old caulk and cleaning my shower seams....and another chunk getting a mammogram. Neither of them very pleasant...but both worthwhile and important.

I'm lucky to have a shower to take care of.....and the ability to be proactive with my breast health. 

Craig....my brother-in-law...was enjoying a sunny fall day in his back yard in Minneapolis watching a swarm of bees buzzing around the salvia.  With the angle of the sun just right he swore he could see them peeing. My sister Nancy was skeptical...so looked it up and found this photo. 

Nectar is mostly water....so bees shoot out the excess water keeping then light enough to stay light enough to fly. Isn't that a fun little tidbit!  

Holding Onto Hope

Subtitle: Vote Early

Every morning when I read the newsletters I subscribe to...my heart sinks just a little deeper with constant barrage of corruption and hate.

Some days it's hard to put it aside....and focus on loving our neighbor and finding joy and magic in the everyday things of life.....but we have to. 

Joy is an act of resistance. 

On way to silence those who do nothing but sow seeds of violence and hate is to VOTE. And vote early is you can. 

Paul and I headed to downtown Portland to vote this morning. We both prefer to vote at our local polling station at a church just up the street on election day....but it seemed more important than ever to vote early this year. 

And there is something about the grandness of City Hall that helped make OUR voices seem louder than the haters. We are holding onto hope.

Now something just for fun. Patty sent me this photo this morning where at the Fryeburg Fair's tree felling competition...it's all about accuracy over speed. The goal is to hit the target exactly....and smash the pumpkin.  She noted that the stem looks strong...but what a waste of a good pumpkin. You can't make this stuff up! 

Connected by Butterflies

Cherie has a tall skinny pumpkin too....and her funky stem is looking fairly relaxed.

This warty pumpkin/gourd came home with me from a local farm store and found a home on the rock wall.

  

I love the tiny pop of orange...and I can see it from my puzzle table. 

Speaking of puzzle tables....I just finished assembling all the butterflies. With the foil accents...it's so pretty in person and I love that all the butterflies are connected. It's the whole world connected by butterflies. It reminds me of another butterfly puzzle I did that had such an impact on me. You can read that post here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2026/01/learning-from-butterflies.html 

Maybe we CAN learn something from Butterflies!

Time to move onto the background. I've got some ordering to do.