Repose of the Soul

"We have all met her, that special woman who draws you into her orb with a radiant smile.  Her eyes light up as you tell her how you've been.  She attracts men, women, children, and animals, for her complete attention is soothing and hypnotic.  When you walk away from her you feel as if you have been bathed in a beautiful warm light."   --Sarah Ban Breathnach, "Simple Abundance"

When I read Sarah's description of the type of woman that makes you feel "bathed in a beautiful warm light" I immediately thought of Susan Branch.  I took this photo at a book signing in 2014 as the couple in front of me were getting their book signed by Susan.  As you can see, Susan had a big smile on her face.  I was the last in line and she'd been signing for over an hour!  When it was my turn she rose up out of her chair and hugged me when I told her my name because she recognized it from all the comments I've made on her web journal over the years. . . .

Bringing joy to her readers is one of Susan's hallmarks.  She has been someone I've aspired to be like, besides wanting to draw and paint as she does.  I practice my handwriting in hopes one day it will suddenly look like hers, but practicing her warmth does not come easily to me.   She does not profess to be an outgoing person, yet she gives you her full attention and makes you feel special while you are in her "orb."  So I was glad to read further in Sarah Ban Breathnach's "Simple Abundance" how I might acquire this ability. . . .

Sarah reminds me that if I will take the time to "step outside my own sphere to embrace others, [I] open [myself] up to the power of Spirit. "  She says, "We are suddenly lit up from inside, and this illumination can transform our looks more effectively than any fancy salon beauty makeover."  This, indeed, is repose of the soul.

P.S.  If you want to print out Sarah's quote with Susan's artwork, drag it to your computer desktop.

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Take Joy!

Grandma Moses Get-Together

Five members of the Take Joy Society gathered together today for a Grandma Moses Painting Party.   Anna Mary Robertson Moses, otherwise known as Grandma Moses was born in 1860 in Washington Co., New York.  She and her brothers would draw on the newsprint paper their father brought home on his trips into town.  Anna Mary would color her pictures using grape juice or berries.  She especially loved the color red.  After she married in 1887 she and her husband moved to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  She birthed 10 children there, but only five survived infancy.  In 1905 they moved back to New York and bought a farm they named Mt. Nebo.  The only painting she did in those years was decorative painting on furniture.   Because she liked to keep busy she took up embroidery and made "yarn pictures" in the 1930s when house and farm work became too strenuous for her.  Here is an example of her yarn pictures. . . .

Mt. Nebo on the Hill

March Celebrations

"The earth is stirring, and by some subtle osmosis, spring is rising in the human heart, too.  Country folks will be poking in the corners for signs--in a bare patch of ground under the shrubbery the white bells of the snowdrops and the yellow and blue tips of crocuses are showing color and will be open with a day of sun," writes Mary Mason Campbell in The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac, illustrated by Tasha Tudor.