Taking the Byways!

  With arthritis setting in on the poor, old hands and the eyesight dimming with age, I was beginning to think that my "artist" days are behind me.  If I do things now, it will have to be "large scale" projects and no longer the intricate detail work of days past.  That does not mean that I still do not get the urge to create.  Just the opposite is true.  I do, more so than ever.  Because my days are not filled with projects, does not mean that the mind is not filled with creative endeavors.  The mind still works somewhat!  The body just does not want to cooperate.  

  However, I still "see" art in everything from the kaleidoscopic displays of sunrises to the mundane, muted colors of a dead leaf.  All things are beautiful when one can view them with the right attitude.  Just today on my hike about the hillside, I found an intense beauty in the commonplace hickory nut.  A squirrel had gnawed the nut right in half and inside was the most delicate design!  The inner portion of the nut (sans the meat) formed almost a mirrored image of itself.  I was intrigued enough to sit and examine the nut while ignoring the billion or so mosquitoes that buzzed about my head.

  The half of hickory nut reminded me of a necklace that I had as a kid.  Granddad had carefully cut slivers off of a hickory nut and stained, then polished them until they sparkled!  The slices of nut were carefully threaded on some twine and then tied to form the necklace.  Not only was I so very proud that Granddad had taken the time to make a special necklace for me, I was enthralled by the design.  Thus, a love for nature and all things of beauty therein, was starting to grow inside me.  

  Now decades later, a single half-gnawed hickory nut brought back, not only a flood of memories of one of my best friends (Granddad) but, also, a renewed idea that perhaps I could still create.  I would just have to retrain my mind to accept boundaries and let the thoughts run wild in a different direction.  Life is good that way.  There are never-ending opportunities if we sort of take the byways instead of always traveling down the straight and narrow highways.  Thanks, Granddad.  Even though you have not been with me for decades, your lessons are still speaking loud and clear.  Geez!  I miss you!