At the centre of your being you have the answer, you know who you are and you know what you want ~ Lao Tzu

Tuesday, April 3

Virtual Coffee Tuesday - Ups and downs...



Tuesday again??? Oh my....

And it's Easter on Sunday... eeek!

How did we get here so quickly??? Only seems a couple of weeks since Christmas!!

Still, hopefully we can find a few minutes to catch our breath, and catch up...

And today, I can offer you some scrummy coffee and walnut birthday cake :)

It's my Dad's super birthday cake from Friday...


Now, does this lovely man look 70??? I think not...

My brother got the cake made depicting Dad's favourite aeroplane - a Vulcan (click on the image to see all the hand-iced detail) and coffee and walnut is his favourite variety of cake :)

We had a lovely family dinner at a local pub, which was my Dad's watering hole when he was stationed here at Spitalgate camp many moons ago... needless to say, it's been spruced up since then :)

I just love this picture... my daddy sharing a joke with my gorgeous boy while my beautiful daughter poses serenely...


Then on Saturday, Dad and E left - she's spending her first week of the Easter hols at Grandpa's - and I went to a follow-up appointment at the hospital... They found an anomaly during the diabetic screening in February, and the specialist confirmed it's a bleed in the left eye - again!! So I now await an appointment (at Boston hospital - an hour's drive away!!) to cauterize it by laser, as they did 3 years ago *sigh*

Sometimes, it's just a struggle...
~*~*~*~*~

But, as the new month dawned on Sunday, I decided to try and stay positive, and painted this for the week's IA Challenge 'Stormy Weather'...



You can see the post here...

I find it interesting that several people saw it as a galleon on the ocean... It's actually 'meant' to be a lone tree, with houses in the distance, as the stormclouds roll in...

Isn't art interesting?? Who's to say what the artist intended is more 'right' than what the viewer sees?? I'm a great believer in there being no 'right' or 'wrong' in art...

And to keep up the positive vibe, I painted this yesterday...


It's based on the quote that arrived in my email box yesterday from The Happiness Project... I get such upbeat quotes every day...

And while I cannot say I felt the slightest exuberance while I painted it (I'm still struggling with the hayfever...), clearly there's some part of me which connected with the quote...

Art therapy in action, I guess :)

And it got me thinking... when was the last time I felt exuberant? It's not a word I use, let alone feel... How about you??

I think children are naturally exuberant - as this pic of my babies from 14 years ago shows...


This photo's on the bookcase in the hallway, and always makes me smile... the sheer delight on E's face... Sam could always make her giggle.... :)

So how, why, do we lose this exuberance as we get older???

I guess 'LIFE' just gets in the way...

But, I hope, we can manage to keep our eyes open for glimmers of it... in our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, our pets, in spring blossoms...

And, I guess, this is what the age-old Easter message is about...

I hope you have a lovely, blessed Easter weekend, and we'll catch up again next Tuesday...

Much love xxxx


image copyright of www.allsouls.net.au


Joining up with Amy at...

<Photobucket




10 comments:

anca gray said...

what a beautiful family you have! may your week blossom with life and exuberance!

Rachel said...

Love this post Claire!
Your dad does NOT look 70! The cake sounds delicious. And so great that your kids were there to celebrate with him. I'm super close to my grandparents and can definitely appreciate that. I hope the surgery goes well and you have a fast recovery. Thanks for sharing!

Verena said...

Claire,
I saw a galleon, too. Art is so surprising! Happy Birthday to your dad. Indeed he looked so happy in those pics. Hope your health is improving and you get to enjoy a wonderful Easter. Happy Easter my friend

Lisa Richards said...

I KNEW it was a tree! Then I saw everyone calling it a galleon and thought maybe I was wrong. But I definitely see the houses in the background, though I guess they could be construed as waves...LOL! Your work is very impressionistic, therefore we can see many things. I'm lucky if you can see ONE thing, so you're doing well!
Beautiful family! I love the pic of baby and big brother!

Lisa Richards said...

I meant to say, "I'm lucky if you can see ONE thing in MY paintings!"

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

You are SO lucky to have two generations sharing that photo. Your dad looks like the birthday boy, too!

Thanks for stopping by today. I enjoyed sharing my once weekly tea with you. And I for one, did not think your watercolor was a ship. But art is so subjective and I like your point of view on the subject.

Hope to hear positive thoughts on your eye soon, too.

Jade @ Tasting Grace said...

Your dad is looking great! Happy Birthday to him! Sorry to hear about the bleed in the eye. Hope that gets all back to normal soon.

My brain registered "ocean" for sure, when I first glanced at the painting, and then I thought it might be one of those huge rocks in the ocean, but once you said tree, I totally could see what you meant. I suppose my brain just went first for ocean because of the mix of colors. But I like that it doesn't fit the cliche, that makes me engage with it more.

Hope you feel some exuberance again soon!

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday to your Dad, what a fantastic cake! Coffee & walnut always wins here.
I saw a tree first in the painting...love the colours in it. Have a good Easter
Love Gill :)

Sue Brown said...

Yay to Dad, family, and creativity, boo to eye problems. Hope all is soon hunky dory, and I'll be there for coffee & walnut cake for elevenses. If there's any left.

Jenny Woolf said...

The children look simply lovely, how great that you caught them like this.

I'm sorry about the bleed in the eye, that kind of thing can cast a cloud. I hope they fix it totally this time.

I thought the picture was a galleon, too.

And lovely pictures of your dad, who looks like a lovely, happy man. I bet his birthday was fun.