Meri's Musings

Bits of JOY. . . .   declarations of love   taking time for me  memories of fun with friends What gives you JOY this week? To play along 1. do a post that tells and shows what gives you joy. 2. capture the URL of the specific post and paste it into  the Mr. Linky box along with your info. 3. Then click the NEXT box (or the time) to choose an image  from the post to insert in Mr. Linky's list  so people get a sneak peek.  (And if you just can't get it to work,  email me and I'll try to link it for you.) 4. Visit other players and let their joy infect you. Leave them a comment because everyone  enJOYS getting positive feedback. Let's start an epidemic of JOY!

The sun sinks below the curve of the earth, bringing a romantic softness to the pastel sky that grows ever darker until the distant Moon rises and blesses us with her beneficent gaze. Night has fallen in paradise, The place that we are. Right here. Right now.  The perfect Paradise. Postcards from Paradise

arms around white clouds we float through layers of blue dreaminess, laughing *  *   * This week's Haiku My Heart offerings can be found at Rebecca's place .

Deb C asked for a tutorial on how to create altered digital images. It’s easy, really. Here’s a step by step guide. 1. Pick a photo and begin. I'll show you two originals --  one with lots of details, one that's pretty simple  and graphic so you can compare the filter effects. 2. O pen it in a program that has artistic filters.  The most popular ones are probably Adobe Photoshop  (I have CS 5), Photoshop Elements,  and Corel Painter (for a more painterly look).  My own favorite was Microsoft’s Digital Image Pro  but it’s no longer made.  It’s still loaded on my desktop,  though I have to hit “SAVE” often.  as the program is pretty unstable.  Since it’s 10 years old or more,  it was designed for older operating systems. 3. Once  you open the photo, go into the filters options  and give various ones a try until you find the look you want.  Let me...

It’s time for more joy. . . I found mine today in moving forward on the memoir, not only in knowing that I was engaging in the process, but in thinking about how I began to unleash my creativity as part of the journey of self-discovery after my 20+ (ok – that’s weird. . . I hit the plus key And the heart and arrow spontaneously appeared.) year marriage ended. All my life, I’d been subject to the limiting belief that I’m not enough (good enough, talented enough, worthy enough), which can really put a damper on creative expression. So I started with altered digital images,  feeling like my photography was a way around drawing and painting. I hadn’t been exposed to digitally layered pieces done by others and learning to alter, enhance, and use filters on my own photos was a purely trial and error process. Some of these works hang in my home, others found a place in other people's collections. Some h...

Creating has a lot to do with giving:  giving to yourself,  to your soul, giving to the world.     - Nancy Slonim Aronie (Writing from the Heart) 

There is sacred land a half-hour drive from where I live,     land that has been hallowed by the holy intent of those who come there to connect with the earth, to be reminded (in case they’d forgotten) that they are divine spirits embodied for this lifetime, whose purpose is to build a community of love and potential. My spiritual community meets monthly on this holy ground, singing, dancing, drumming, listening to the pipes, sharing wisdom. It’s a place where the arms of the trees reach out to caress you, Where all the stones sing stories of times that have passed and times yet to come.  Where peace -- like swinging from a star --  seems probable,  not merely possible. Pull up a chair and soak up the energy. POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE