Life is peaceful here today at the farm (hah! It's not really a farm but my imagination is strong). I've finished up some projects that I'll be able to share later and I've worked more on teaching hand-outs. My friends have been nearby with suggestions and support; what good and reassuring friends they are. One phoned me this morning and emailed me her latest journal pages which I loved seeing. We admired them together as we conversed. What a great way to start the day.
So that is why I'm sharing my "garden-variety" journal pages with you. Not because they are special but instead because I love to look at the pages of others myself for all the personal idiosyncrasies they hold. Obviously I don't work from a template or central idea; I just let them grow as they choose. Some people have a style but mine I think are all over the place. 
Dear Hermanito had to have oral surgery this week. He is old, his gums are bad, he walks like his joints hurt and his kidneys are failing. I've written before about how his increasing fragility just makes me love him more. And more. And more.
We canned 20 quarts of tomatoes yesterday, aren't they beautiful? When I do the job alone it is all helter skelter (like I am in the studio) but when John mans the canner it's all by the book. I peeled tomatoes and then got out of his way. They are like jewels, shining down now from the pantry shelf.If only we could put other things in jars to enjoy later. I'd save a hot summer day, a perfect Cecile Brunner rosebud, the smell of the barbecue, the sound of crickets in the evening and the feeling I get when my heart is open. What would you save?
18 comments:
Thank you so much for sharing your journal pages. They inspire me. Your pages do have their own wonderful style. The ability to show-and-tell journal pages on the Internet has been such a blessing. Thanks for your contribution that makes my world a better place.
http://flickr.com/photos/tracyu/
The tomatoes do look like jewels. I just marvel over your journal pages and enjoy seeing them so much.
So, If I could, I would put hours in a quart jar. Maybe about 8 would fill it up. Sealed and saved for a rainy day. Yes that's it.
I will jar a bottle of this intense heat and humidity and release it in my house bit by bit this winter. And also your journal pages to be set loose in winter and read by the heat of my summer fire.
I have a can of pear preserves from my dearly departed Aunt Ola who wore a bonnet (born in 1910) that I will save forever. I like to open the cabinet and peer in at them there on the back shelf.
I'd jar a little bit of people's spirits and release them like little butterflies into the wind just to feel them brush my cheek as they fly by...
i am so enjoying all your stencil work, judy. i like the consistency of the pieces. they are so colorful and comforting to me. and your kitty is a beauty. i wish him comfort. now, those tomatoes! you better lock your door at night, that's all i'm saying! :0)
Your journal pages are wonderful. I like the fact you do not stick to a particular form or template. You are able to capture the energy of the moment through the randomness of script, color and image placement, which is forever impressed upon these pages. I think that is more precious and much more interesting than format, which is uniform and static.
I, too, am a canner and I love the magic of the process. I am a firm believer in kitchen witchery as there is nothing more magical than the transformation of individual elements into a beautiful blend for the senses. : D
I would save now. Crosby, Stills and Nash crooning softly in the background, soft lighting, a happy day behind me, family around me, inspiring blogs to read.
Love your bottles of red sunshine and I always enjoy looking at your journal pages.
I'd bottle the perfume of lilac, the sound of the ocean and the song of the sky lark.
Your dear Hermanito sounds like our Cleo, she's seventeen years old, has legs that are not like they used to be and her kidneys too aren't working the way they should, but she purrs when we hold her and is always at the bowl when meal time comes around, but we know she can't last much longer.
Ro
xo
Judy, you do have a journal style! And we love it!
Hmmm...what would I jar? Those tomatoes look mighty good and remind me of when we lived in Michigan and my mom did a lot of that. She did dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, tomatoes, you name it!
If I could jar anything, I think I'd jar the moment my dad was about to take me down the aisle at my wedding. I looked over at him and he was crying. And I loved him even more...
The smell of sagebrush after a summer rain. Puppy breath. The softness of a horse's nose. I'm doing Salsa this weekend....love the journal pages.
Your Hermanito is so handsome - it is such a risk to love fur people as much as we do, but such a reward too. Our handsome Cobweb looks like a patchwork quilt at the moment, after having surgery earlier this summer. Those growing-in-shaved-patches are such a sweet, soft, vulnerable thing.
You have a very specific style on your pages, I would recognize them in a crowd of other peoples pages! :-) I love it, and your cat is a darling. I truly understand how the low grows. I've recently moved and my cat is with me. I'm like a mom, worrying about how she is liking it here and if she is eating... :-)
i would save my daddy's contagious laugh, & the sounds of the ocean...(i'm in the heartland). the list could go on here...and on!
i am getting closer to starting a journal page...you've inspired me in this direction...in more ways than one....thank you!
Judy, I think I would can the way I feel when my daughter tells me ~ oh, thanks Mom ~ like she truly appreciates and loves me!
I would can the feeling I have sitting in a chair in the cool rushing water of a clear beautiful Texas river (namely the Frio).
I would can the way I feel after a strong productive yoga workout!
and, lastly, I wish I could have canned the moments I had watering with my granny schultz in her beautiful flower garden~I loved the smell of four o'clocks in the late afternoon time!
oh judy, i cherish the thought of being able to can things, feelings like you imagined. i would can the hug that my sweet daughter just gave me. i would have shelf after shelf of her hugs and kisses!
the tomatoes are indeed like jewels---you will love those this winter I am sure. next year i am putting canning on my list of things to do.
and i had to laugh because my husband is all neat and by the book, so precise and i am all willy nilly. maybe that is why we work. :)
and again i love the journal pages. thank you for sharing.
also---your hermanito looks so precious---please give him a hug for me!
So many things that I wish I could save...the sound of my daughter's laugh, and her little voice telling me "You're the best, Mom." I would save up some time to be released as needed...often!...and the sounds, sights, and smells of the ocean which is like healing salve to me. Eric's big wrap-me-up hugs, and well, the list could go on and on...
And you do have a style about your pages...they are yours! And they are beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing them with us!
My heart hurts for you and your little Hermanito...we risk our hearts every time we love one of those little bundles of fur...and yet we can't help ourselves!
Beautiful tomatoes!!
Yummmy yummmy yummy! The tomatoes, the pages and Herman!
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