Leanne Shawler, Artist

I had planned to write in more detail about this past week, especially the bee incident, but that's going to have to wait until later in the week. Here are the past week's gifts from God. The first six were written as part of a challenge in the group study of Emily Freeman's "grace for the good girl": 630. clean water 631. functioning appliances 632. a spare jeans patch 633. a patch that didn't take 634. food 635. discernment time 636. birds skimming over undulating grey ocean 637. sitting on the wrong side of the  train and not being able to see the ocean 638. writing 639. orange rocks 640. heart-shaped willow 641. chirping of baby swallows. Mama seemed to disappear right into the trunk. 642. woodpecker diving and swooping up 643. hummingbird hovering right in front of me 644. 10 maybe 11 bird species counted today 645. "The Big Year movie from last night giving awareness of so many different birds! ...

The multi-media painting has hit a wee bit of a dead-end, but hopefully will become clear when I add the photos. Meantime, here are some more self-portraits that I took (and liked). Two are more week 4-ish, and the two mirror reflections are from week 5. Don't you just love how blue the sky was that day? This is where I go after a session with my spiritual director. I usually see pelicans but not on that day. prayer nervous and excited about what lies ahead... This week is week 6 and my friend Helena has graciously agreed to tackle two prompts with me.

This week's gifts from God, as spotted by me. Which is not necessarily all the God-given gifts, because I should give thanks daily for my privileged place in this world (food, water, shelter, etc) but those that I spotted during the past week. 607. smooth ocean 608. finding out that vintage album I looked at two months ago still hadn't sold 609. "you are beautiful" sidewalk message 610. not an outdoor dog 611. transported by the gifts in "inner excavation" 612. spots of rain 613. unexpected conversation 614. cool evening breeze 615. learning descant to a piece my husband wrote [3 gifts musical] 616. tuberose blooming 617. sea salt caramel gelato 618. Facebook status: " heartbreak, heartbreak. If anything this time is giving me, is the cracking open, the breaking of my heart with testimony like this.. ."  619. black furry caterpillar 620. two quarters 621. found fabric 622. a/c 623. a husband who will deal with serv...

So here it is, week 4 and I thought I would share the photos I've taken as part of the photography prompts as well as part of a journal spread that I'm doing. I wanted to put feet into the image below, but couldn't swing the iPhone camera (I didn't have a camera with me), not to mention that I didn't want to get run over.... So there are two images. I actually got to know my camera a little better. I found out how to set the timer and take five continuous frames. I also did a lot of jumping to get just one hovering shot. I think last week and this week's photography prompts will be ongoing. (Hmm, if I take my camera to O.B. and jump around on the cliffs, would the neighbors think I'm being weird, or will they not even notice? Maybe one of the gardeners will come and take my temperature.) Mainly because the photography prompts are a ton of fun. Chapter 5 and Self-Portraits At the time of writing (Sunday) I just finished reading Cha...

If you are here for the Where Bloggers Create party , it's the next post down .  If you want to see what caught my eye this year (and in past years), I have a Pinterest board dedicated to such.  I seem to really like repurposed things. 585. yellow blossom rainfall 586. writing a difficult post with as much grace as I could muster 587. overhead fans 588. (mostly) following schedule 589. squawking of mockingbird 590. spilling white vinegar and detergent solution on kitchen counter 591. spilled hot French onion soup all over my hand - flung bowl and broke it 592. first tomato of summer 593. floppy dog ears 594. mushroom sauce pasta (I love pasta but don't like mushrooms, he loves mushrooms but doesn't like pasta) 595. learning how to use the self timer on the camera 596. catching dog licking grease off my  breakfast plate 597. cloudy day 598. orangutang swinging from a sling he'd made 599. 19-14 day old flamingo 600. sleeping in 601. meeting a se...

This is the third time I've participated in the Where Bloggers Create party  and I know I will be wasting a lot of time surfing the list and looking at people's creative spaces. This year will be the first time I'll be using Pinterest to save the photos that inspire, and if I can figure out how to link to that, I'll do so at the bottom of this post, as well as post it separately. As my room hasn't changed much, I thought I would share what it really looks like week to week, between cleanups. If you want to see it all pretty, you can look at last year's offering . If you want to see a space that's looks like it looks like until I can't find something, read (or look) on! the work table: not just an insane number of Glimmer Mists, but sundry templates, stamps,  inks,  washi tapes, bits and pieces of paper. This desk holds a lot! paper stuffed into the bookshelves at left, paper and fabric on the floor from when I  put  together  the Fu...

On re-reading these chapters, it almost feels like I  have to go back to chapters 11 and 12, and ignore my agonizing over scripture interpretation and just pick up from the bottom of page 132 and read it again, because it feels like I've somehow missed something. That perhaps, even though that I've experienced God's overwhelming love, I still don't quite believe it. I remember that morning on the mountaintop (which I will blog about some day if I haven't already). The extravagant love poured upon me. Extravagant only because I didn't believe it would ever come. And when for a while you believe that you'll never be worth God's love, it sticks. It's slowly getting unstuck, but there are days I forget. I trust in God more each day, and my actions, my worship, reflect that. On the days I'm trusting God, anyway. And I remember His love more and more when my trigger of worry and anxiety is fired off. Some days I'm surrendering that fear ...

I am now two weeks behind the rest of the class, and working on week 3 may end up taking me a little bit longer as I haven't started the mixed media piece yet, but that's okay. I thought I would share some photos from the ground (one of the exercises) and the poem notes that I wrote (another of the exercises). You can follow along at your own pace, for free, at Lisa Lamoreux's blog. It's been a long while since I've written poetry, so it's been fun doing this read-along and getting back to it. I hope to do more. "4th July" scorched blue sky seared skin solo anthem in silence bbq corn baby blue band all-american "in this moment" menacing music soap dramatic warm sofa scent of dog medicine and pee rested, retired lazy scribbling "color of morning" caramel and spices orange syrup dripping glow of tiny screen "nourishes" earl grey tea reading anything sweeps o...

"grace for the good girl" by Emily Freeman is a book I would heartily recommend to anybody who needs to please, who is a Martha rather than a Mary, who identifies with the prodigal son's brother more than the son. In fact, I finished reading the book and immediately handed it to a friend on retreat with me as I recognized that we shared some of the same "masks". Even so, I struggled through Emily's interpretation of two pieces of scripture. I even ended up emailing her to ask about it. (She very generously replied with some links.) I did find my way to the same point she reached, so I was able to finish the book. Also, I want to point out: this is two bits of scripture out of the many Emily refers to in this book. I don't recall any problems with the rest. If Emily's interpretation worked for you, you don't need to read on. I am not saying she is wrong. I'm saying that my theology (built via my background and study) couldn't ho...

566. blue lisianthus 567. canvas page too big for art journal 568. praying for one in surgery 569. first "not working" day 570. mythic family roots 571. "one of these things is not like the others". Driving up to Julian in our Prius surrounded by bikers. 572. white wing tips on a broad eagle span 573. total silence at the 4th of July parade in Julian as a high school senior sung the National Anthem. Total. Silence. 574. sunburn 575. flash of bright blue feathers (stellar jay) 576. rose-lavender sunset 577. hollyhocks 578. pre-dawn bird chatter 579. relaxing at home 580. searching for tape to match label makers 581. comfort food - spinach tortellini and alfredo sauce 582. singing with "vim and vigor" (as one parishioner commented to me during the peace) 583. dewy sweat on skin 584. whistling "The Andy Griffith Show" theme successfully Am linking this up to  Ann Voskamp's  "multitudes on Mondays" (or will...

Since I wrote that "Sabbatical Daily Schedule" (which was a couple of weeks ago as I started to get anxious about what exactly I would be doing in my soon-to-be copious spare time, but posted about last week, see link below), the bloggers I read have touched on this subject. In sort of the order I found them: Christianne Squires over at Still Forming has been blogging a whole series on Living a Rhythmed Life which I have been thoroughly enjoying; and then, just as I was wondering if I needed to totally redo my schedule, or just declare them guidelines for when I drift toward distractions instead of intentions, along comes Jennifer Lee at Getting Down with Jesus with her beautiful post and images on "...The Truth About Our Plans" which got me to finally articulate in writing what I'd been sharing in a few conversations here and there in " How To Make Time for God" And the blog posts just kept coming, even after I'd written the post (i...

For your viewing pleasure (in case you may have missed one): here are all the posts on the Prayer of St. Francis. Once again my deepest thanks to all who participated. Lord, make us instruments of your peace.  Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

As I mentioned in last week's Monday post, I put together a playlist of tunes to help me through this transition. I am leaving a job I like, and will no longer be working with people I like (although I am still planning on making the Thursday Chuao's trips ). And so, I put together a playlist to listen to and remind myself. I call it Leaving With Grace ... The Presence of the Lord is Here (Fran McKendree) Holy Spirit, Come Now (Jesse Manibusan) Use Me Up (John Tirro) Trust in Your Heart (from the musical "Paris" ) I Say Grace (Hayley Westenra) The Potter's Hand (Hillsong) This Journey Is My Own (Sara Groves) Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield) Compelled (Sara Groves) Lifesong (Casting Crowns) How Can I Tell (Sara Groves) Tacos, Enchiladas and Beans (Doris Day) Dog Days Are Over (Pentatonix) Shut Up and Let Me Go (The Ting-Tings) Hymn (Brooke Fraser) It Is Well (Sara Groves) Yeah, I diverged into a little bit of upbeat silliness, which has more t...

This past week was my last week at work and I was pretty happy right up until the moment I walked out of the office for the last time as an employee and the tears welled. I'll have a different life now, but it's important to acknowledge that I will miss the life I left behind. Chris called Friday my Good Friday and that Sunday I would be a resurrected Leanne, parishioner. It seems to have turned out that way, although I got teary at church announcements where they thanked me for my work and made the mistake of opening my gift once we were done singing the communion hymns. Then I cried. Ya know, it's nice to be loved and appreciated. This past week's gifts: 544. lectio 545. crazy fun with ink 546. white bird at the top of a tree, like a Christmas decoration 547. good training day 548. contentment 549. M. dies 550. Mother-in-law in hospital (joking about medical procedures) 551. another convert to Chuao's 552. mother-in-law home 553. time for bits of ...