All kindsa new beginnings

I've never blogged before. Never. Never even commented to a blog. I am slow to cut into things like this. Nothing personal. I just never seem to have the time nor the inclination. However, I was pressed and pressed and here I am. A new blog and a new year.

Wanderings of a wild mind? Well, yeah, it is very wild, if anyone takes the time to look. Another reason I was slow to blog. I didn't figure that anyone was interested in what I might have to say. My life is very ordinary, and I didn't want it to just be a soapbox or a place to dump to. So...what makes me tick that might be of interest to the casual observer?

Well, this morning I was totally surprised and very pleased to hear coyotes yipping to each other. Why? Just because I've never heard it in real life before. I was walking from my car to the building. I work for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, which is located on a military reservation of a few thou acres, a great deal of which is still wooded and populated by lots of wildlife. It was dark and I was walking and I heard one call and another answer and then from another direction--and then they sounded like a chorus. I stopped to listen for a couple of minutes and I was totally charmed and excited by it. I could have listened more, but they stopped. Why so exciting? I don't know. I can't explain it, except that God's creation amazes me and I never stop examing it or being awed by it and Him who created it. Amazing.

The other thing that I'm so excited about this morning is that I finished a pastel of a phoenix. I'd seen a quilt last week of a bird, but the colors and pattern really grabbed my imagination and wouldn't let it go. The bird stretched his wings in a big arc over his head. I loved it. And coincidentally on the same day I re-read a story I wrote titled "Phoenix". The idea of a phoenix crossed with the beautiful quilt and I carried the idea in my head until the weekend, when I had time to sketch out my concept. I completely love how it turned out. The colors are great and I'm quite satisfied. It turned out even better than what I pictured in my mind. Accomplishment and creativeness. Yes, I'm content with the world this morning.