Roses to all the frontline workers

Roses in a crystal jug

iPad drawing

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2012

Today I got my old iPad going, because I thought I might

be able to use the drawing program on that version. My
new iPad won't support my former drawing system.

So I opened the old one and found this drawing of
roses, which seems suitable for today.  I wish I could
give roses (or proper PPE) to every front line worker,
in hospitals and in every business keeping us going
in this hard, hard time.

More than 60,000 people have died in the United States
since this began.  If I have the numbers right there have
been 227,638 deaths worldwide.  In Toronto and in
Canada we are social distancing, staying home, and
staying safe, working from home, avoiding crowds
and trying to keep the numbers down.

Small businesses are suffering.  No one likes the
life we need to live to stay healthy and safe, but
we see that that's what's needed.

And we owe our health and the health of patients
with COVID-19 to the nurses and doctors
working hard to save lives.  So thank you front
line workers. Stay safe and stay healthy.

Have a staying safe and healthy day.

Thinking about New Year's Eve

New Year on my kitchen counter

iPad drawing

8 x 10 inches

Barbara Muir © 2013

It's been a very busy day today, and I'm still not finished
my long list.  Marking is part of the picture.  I'm trying to
get the one evening a week course I teach finished, so I
can start a new one next week.

I've been thinking a lot today about New Year's Eve
and New Year's Day 2020.  We had so much fun at
our annual party -- so much laughter, and music and
singing.  Wonderful food, lots of champagne, everyone
hugging.  Wow.  And we were all so hopeful.  Sometimes
now I can pull a memory out and savour it like
a visual, audio treat -- nothing like a Zoom call,
or video.  Real people who I love being around in
my life in real time.  Live from Toronto -- our life.

Here's what I wrote on New Year's Eve.  It still
holds true:

"For 2020 let's try to be happy! And if you can't be happy,
hugs, and the hope that you will be happy soon.  We have so many
big jobs ahead of us this year.  We need to try and
save the planet (job 1). I hope you have today to
relax and enjoy yourself, your family and friends.
Life is great, surprising and rewarding.  You make
my day every day with your posts, your art, your
thoughts, and your constant support and encouragement."

Have a loving the upside memories day.

Tired? Make that excited, happy, exhilirated

Clouds at play

iPad drawing

8 x 10

Barbara Muir © 2017

Okay.  I taught this stuff --  positive psych.  How you feel,
and perceive the world is heavily influenced by how you
talk to yourself.  What messages you say internally, over,
and over, either give you energy, or knock you flat on your
back, or leave you in limbo somewhere between the two.

Okay I pick feeling happy.  I pick feeling up, and excited
about the future.  Now there's a mental and emotional
challenge for this worldwide pandemic! On it. I was super
tired before I sat down to write to you.  My one evening
a week course, that ran all winter, ended yesterday.  And
there is a natural fatigue that sets in partially from the
recognition that that project is over, and partially from
a feeling of wanting a tiny break.

But there is so much to do!  A new term starts Monday.
So!  Let's opt for happy, empowered, blissful, hopeful,
joyful, even ecstatic.  Yes!  This drawing is an iPad
drawing I lost with 250 others when I upgraded my iPad.
(No wonder I am nervous about upgrades.)  I am not
a techie.  So I was so glad to find it survived through
my blog.  And it shows the classic kind of Nova Scotia
scene I love.

Have a picking the positive view day.

The best things about today

It's been a long day, and a busy one, so I am just putting
this nice band of paintings up and writing a list.

The Five best things about today:

1. Christopher (my son) and Megan (my daughter-in-law)
 came to visit with Alice and Madeline.  They sat far away
 from us in our yard in the brilliant sunlight and it was
 a beautiful visit.

2. It was the last day of my Monday night class and all
  of my students sent in their video presentations.  What
  a treat!  Bitter sweet because we had to finish the
  last half of the semester online, but wonderful to see.

3.  Our favourite restaurant opened again for take out and
we had delicious Thai food for dinner after my class finished
at 9:30.

4. The tulips in the kitchen look amazing.

5. We are well and it was a gorgeous day.

Have a loving the best things in your life day.

Dreaming of paradise

Untitled (work in progress)

Acrylic on canvas

12 x 12 inches

Barbara Muir © 2020

Do you remember paradise with all of its problems?
I used to think of paradise as Paris, New York City,
Florence, L.A.  Now I think of paradise as streets
without people wearing masks. What else?

* Being able to hug my children.  That would be
top of the list.  My children don't live with me, and
hugging them is not considered safe.

* Going to the grocery store and enjoying it.  Talking
to the staff, joking around -- having fun.

* Being able to meet a friend for coffee.  Sitting
down in a café, or restaurant and having a coffee together.

* Being able to invite friends over for coffee, or dinner.

* Going to our local neighbourhood coffee group on
Tuesday morning.

* Teaching live in the classroom.

* Going to art shows, and exhibiting in art shows.

* Freedom from worry about possibly getting sick
from someone without symptoms who is carrying the
virus.

* Freedom to go anywhere we wanted to and to know
it was safe.

The list is endless, and none of it matters compared to
the freedom of staying healthy, and not getting, or
spreading the virus.

We have been social distancing, and mostly staying home,
and I've been working from home for seven weeks now.
We have got the coping strategies we think we need
in place. I would not say it's the new normal, but it
is not as hard as it was at first in some ways.  Still
boy do I miss the "old" normal, and I miss all of you.

Have a remembering paradise day.

Meditate -- any way you can

Wonder Water Image Lilou Mace 

Acrylic on canvas

30 x 30 inches

Barbara Muir © 2014

I woke up this morning and saw on my Instagram that Deepak
Chopra had posted a live meditation with a wonderful British
guide, whose name I didn't get, and it's disappeared as things
do on Instagram. I haven't been meditating lately, and it's
such a good idea, because it sets your mind and body into
a different space, and puts you at ease.

So from the moment I got out of bed it was a wonderful day.
That's the power of being guided to tap into positive thought.
I used to do this every day for a couple of years after my
good artist friend in California, Janet Vanderhoof asked me
to join a challenge.  We were supposed to meditate once
a day, and email each other to say we had.  But after a
month we kept on going. Today I remembered what a difference
that made to the day.  And in these anxious times it makes even
more sense.

The painting tonight is of Lilou Mace, who graciously allowed
me to paint her in 2014 as part of my ocean series.  One of
her meditations was one of the earliest examples I found in
meditation videos that made me feel great.  Lilou lives
in France, and does many, many things now. At the
time video meditations was one of them.  I think the
painting shows her luminous approach to life, and I am
grateful to her, and to all the guides I've accessed through
meditation videos over the years.

Have a teaching yourself to relax day.

The animal family getting us through

A combination of images of my favourite three

animals in the world -- Timbah the cat, an iPad

drawing, Fiona the cat, acrylic portrait, on

cradled birch panel, Sally the dog,  acrylic 

portrait, on cradled birch panel
Barbara Muir © 2017

It's late and I was just getting together the animals' night
snack.  Our dog Sally was watching me, while our cat
Timbah (14) wailed on the other side of the basement door.
(I realize I didn't explain this well enough first go round. A couple
of years ago our cat Timbah walked under my feet and I
tripped and broke my wrist.  Since then I put him in the
basement if I'm preparing food.)

Sally watches like she knows every step of my routine.
First make sure the dishes are loaded, turn on the
dishwasher,  then open the can of tuna, and make sure
the cat food can is open. Then the treats get divided, I grab
a cookie for Sally. By now the cats are both wailing at the door.
Fiona, the siamese, has joined the chorus, and then a rush
down the stairs. The cats eat in the downstairs bathroom
with the door closed so that Sally can't steal their food.
(All of the animals sleep in the basement where they
have very comfy beds so that we get our sleep.)

Then I let the cats out, and we all watch a bit of TV,
I say goodnight.  They all go to their beds and go to
sleep.  They are wonderful.

Our animals are loving, observant, playful, affectionate
and definitely cheer us up during the time of social
isolation.

To all of the animals in families across the world who
are making their families happy -- thank you.