Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

{addison rose}

May 26, 2009 By Kelle

meet addison rose.

…who i could have, very well, kept forever although her parents seemed pretty in love with her too.

i love the babies.

congratulations, anthony and abby.

~k

on isle of capri and the explanation to blogging

May 25, 2009 By Kelle

on our 45 minute drive to isle of capri yesterday morning, i slumped in the passenger seat, my feet propped up on the dash, chewing on my pen, lost in the words of brenda ueland, a sister recommendation (if you want to write: a book about art, independence and spirit). and as i read, i feverishly underlined. this is it, i thought. this is so why i blog, why i take pictures, why i string it all together and tell stories of our life. brilliant, her words.

she likens this whole writing, telling, etc. thing to art. to van gogh…

on creative impulse:

it is a feeling of love and enthusiasm for something, and in a direct, simple, passionate and true way, you try to show this beauty in things to others by drawing it. …and van gogh…was a work of art because he loved the sky and the frail lamppost against it so seriously that he made the drawing with the most exquisite conscientiousness and care. he made it as much like what he loved as he could.

and, oh i love this next part…

by painting the sky, van gogh was really able to see it and adore it better than if he had just looked at it.

i think there is something necessary and life-giving about ‘creative work.’ a state of excitement. and it is like a faucet: nothing comes unless you turn it on, and the more you turn it on, the more comes.

i learned…inspiriation does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes into us slowly and quietly and all the time, though we must regularly and every day give it a little chance to start flowing…i learned that you should feel when writing, not like lord byron on a mountaintop, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten–happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another.

and there you have it. that’s what i do…just happily putting my beads together, turning on a faucet, and “painting the sky” because it makes me love it more and delve for beauty that would, perhaps otherwise, go unnoticed.

and with all that said…a repeated post with yet another trip to isle of capri, but then again…van gogh did paint the same things over and over and yet every one looked different and beautiful.

a colorful day it was.

oh…and major excited about THIS summer plan!

mid-june…can’t wait.

summerness

May 24, 2009 By Kelle

it’s been a summery weekend, one that has me smiling thinking of what is to come.
in fact, it’s already here…the little joys of summer i so love.

like that first apprehensive dip into the pool…when little feet slowly tap the water and that little body reluctantly follows…gradually slithering a little deeper until her breath gets taken away, her smile gives way…and then anything’s fair game after.

the earthy smell of fresh-cut grass, the hum of lawn mowers, the newness of a cropped lawn and the thought that with just a few rainy afternoons, it will all repeat.

spending the afternoon skirted in a beach towel…and relishing in the kid-ishness of being clothed in nothing but a bathing suit and a bit of terry cloth for a good portion of the day.

popsicles. i like the twin ones because they’re prettier. and double the trouble. and i like her popsicle-stained lips especially when her hair’s a mess, her hands are sticky and her bathing suit is covered in mud stains from the puddle she just played in…because that’s just so…summer.

fresh-squeezed lemonade. all pulpy and zesty. my hands are raw and stinging still from wringing out sixteen waxy rinds yesterday. but the pitcher it bestowed would, i’m pretty sure, take first prize if there was a summer lemonade contest.

watching brett amid a cloud of smoke flipping burgers out on the lanai with a cute i’m-the-best-grillmaster-in-the-world smirk. and the way the guys stand by the grill all territorial-like, drinking their beer, talking about men-folk stuff. there’s something very testonerone-ish about a grill. …but i still love a good barbeque and the spontaneity of deciding last minute on a saturday that it’s a have-a-bunch-of-people-over night. the best kind.

oh, and the beauty of condiments. the contrasts of saturated reds and yellows and the summer aura they deliver. grandma cryderman, no matter how casual a meal, always served condiments in little dishes with miniature spoons. morning cream for coffee was poured into a little pitcher. jelly for toast was carefully spooned into one of her black laquer bowls. and yes…ketchup and mustard would never be displayed in heinz and french’s plastic. no, they too took on an art. i love what she taught us.