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Happy Memorial Weekend

Remembering all those who serve...

She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo

One of my favorite poems...

She had some horses.

She had horses who were bodies of sand.
She had horses who were maps drawn of blood.
She had horses who were skins of ocean water.
She had horses who were the blue air of sky.
She had horses who were fur and teeth.
She had horses who were clay and would break.
She had horses who were splintered red cliff.

She had some horses.

She had horses with eyes of trains.
She had horses with full, brown thighs.
She had horses who laughed too much.
She had horses who threw rocks at glass houses.
She had horses who licked razor blades.

She had some horses.

She had horses who danced in their mothers' arms.
She had horses who thought they were the sun and their
bodies shone and burned like stars.
She had horses who waltzed nightly on the moon.
She had horses who were much too shy, and kept quiet
in stalls of their own making.

She had some horses.

She had horses who liked Creek Stomp Dance songs.
She had horses who cried in their beer.
She had horses who spit at male queens who made
them afraid of themselves.
She had horses who said they weren't afraid.
She had horses who lied.
She had horses who told the truth, who were stripped
bare of their tongues.

She had some horses.

She had horses who called themselves, "horse".
She had horses who called themselves, "spirit", and kept
their voices secret and to themselves.
She had horses who had no names.
She had horses who had books of names.

She had some horses.

She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.
She had horses who screamed out of fear of the silence, who
carried knives to protect themselves from ghosts.
She had horses who waited for destruction.
She had horses who waited for resurrection.

She had some horses.

She had horses who got down on their knees for any saviour.
She had horses who thought their high price had saved them.
She had horses who tried to save her, who climbed in her
bed at night and prayed as they raped her.

She had some horses.

She had some horses she loved.
She had some horses she hated.

These were the same horses. 
By Joy Harjo

Quote: Marianne Williamson

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. 
We are all meant to shine, as children do. 
We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Marianne Williamson

A New Day

So today I wake up and usually I cringe when I reread a blog post, but today it's okay.  It's not perfect.  I could have chosen better words, constructed a better sentence, but there it is, it's out there and it feels okay.  In fact, it feels empowering and to prove it here are some imperfect photos that I took on my iPhone this morning before anyone else was up (except for the cat)...
Blurry close ups of my current WIP...
Thank you for looking :-)

My Art: Lotus Flowers and Splatters

My Art: Lotus Flowers and Splatters

My Art: Lotus Flowers and SplattersMy Art: Lotus Flowers and Splatters



A Perfectly Imperfect Return to Blogging

Yes, it's really a new post on the blog after er... em... nearly ten months!

I do apologise for abandoning my blog so abruptly.  I was forced to stop digiscrapping due to illness.  I was sad and very reluctant to let go of my teams and challenges they all meant so much to me, but my health just wouldn't let me continue, but that's another story that I won't bore you with on here.

Anyway, during my computer downtime I picked up a paint brush and made an attempt at real life painting.  This is something I'm still doing and hope to share with you sometime soon.  During my painting sessions my six year old son often helps out and the neighborhood kids have even popped in and splashed some paint around in between basket ball hoops and Bayblade battles.

And that's when I realised how much time and effort I had put into my digiscrapping.  I don't regret it for one minute but I also realised how much it took me away from my family.  I could be in the same room as my family but not really there - I was somewhere else buried deep in elements and layers and downloading and commenting...

So why am I back here on a digiscrapping blog?

Well, I created numerous other blogs all with the aim of being 'art' based blogs, but I couldn't settle on a name that I liked.  I wished I didn't have such a common name and could just use my own name for my blog.

Yes, I'm rather slow sometimes.

This blog is exactly that.  Although it's called 'I Like It Like That' at the top the url is karen-johnson@blogspot.com.  And who said the blog had to be soley about digiscrapping?  Why can't it evolve and become something different as I change and evolve?  I know, super-slow, huh?

Even after I realised all of this I still put-off posting.

Why?

Well, look at the blog - it's a digiscrapping blog.  It will take AGES to make all the necessary changes and get it just perfect for me to be able to blog about art and painting...

You will be pleased to know I have given myself a good talking to and have slowly, yes VERY slowly, come to realise I do not have to be perfect and this blog does not have to be perfect.  If I wait for perfect I will never do anything.  Did I not declare war on perfect after it was the reason for giving up art in the first place?

I can make a post here anytime I like, about any subject I like and it can be as imperfect as is possible and I will like it like that!

So I'm back and I hope here to stay as I have lots and lots to say.  It's an exciting time for me right now and I'm excited to share it with you all...

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!

Hugs,
Karen


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