How important is creativity in your life?

Wow! 14 people have completed my survey – What does creativity mean to you? That is awesome, thank-you. If you have not taken the opportunity yet, please add your voice to the conversation! I am learning so much about what the creative experience feels like on a personal level.

When I was thinking of the questions for the survey, it was tricky to generate ideas which would prompt meaningful answers. Everyone is so different and lived experiences would likely run a full spectrum of possible responses. Yet, there seems to be some patterns developing which I had not thought of in my original assumptions. Interesting stuff. When my survey is complete, I’ll post the aggregate graphs so everyone can see the clusters.

The second question of the survey relates to how important creativity is. I think that even if there are differing opinions about what creativity means or what kinds of activities should be deemed creative, everyone seems to have a sense of it’s importance. In my answer choice for “important” I included the bit about “balance”. For me, the really creative things I want to do, must be balanced against a whole bunch of stuff I have to do. For example, cooking a new recipe at dinner is somewhat creative, but all the old favourites and the dishes are not so creative. Not to mention all the grocery shopping and recipe research which had to be done ahead of making dinner.

Maybe creativity will have greater importance in everyday situations if we place more value on it? Shelley Berc wrote a good piece entitled, “Creativity in everyday life“, on her blog called, “The Creativity Workshop”. I’d never given much thought to adding creativity into my everyday tasks, simply through perspective. It is worth a try.

I’ve always thought it was important to have a space in order to “be” creative. This was a priority for me, long before computers came on the scene. So I still keep a space, is only a desk for now. Maybe one day it will be a whole room again. But for now, even my desk is hard to claim as my own. I often end up on the couch or in my bedroom. Good thing I need very few supplies for writing!

Do you think of yourself as a creative person?

I’m curious. When someone says they self-identify as being creative, what do they mean? I think of myself as a creative person, I would use that label, or agree with it if someone asked me. I create all kinds of things and have creative thoughts. But, I was speaking with someone who I think is really creative and she hesitated to characterize herself in that way. She clarified that she considered herself “crafty”, but not creative. She thought the term “creative” applies mainly to artists.

That got me wondering, is the word creative only applicable to someone who has a certain set of skills? Do you have to be paid or commissioned for your efforts? Are some pursuits not serious or special enough to be considered creative? Is knitting less creative than painting?

I was reading a comment online from a woman in Scandinavia who said that you had to earn the right to call yourself creative. Since she had completed her schooling, (in photography), she was now “allowed” to use the term creative to describe herself, but she only did that in her professional work. Do people commonly have such limiting beliefs about the concept of creativity?

There have been many articles written which detail lists of common characteristics among creative people. While these are interesting reads, these traits are not unique to creative people alone. In fact, many smart people have these abilities. So maybe we are all creative, if we have attained a certain level of success? But there were so many highly creative artists who didn’t achieve any notoriety until after they died.

If we think back to childhood, everyone was creative. Children are creative beings. As a parent, I had the wonderful opportunity to relive that as I watched, played and created with my kids. And now I can see what happens to all that innate creativity. It gets schooled out. My children want to get rid of the lego, put away all those art supplies, cast off all those projects which once filled them with hours of joy.

I am not worried, they will come back to it, as I did. Hopefully it doesn’t take them as long as it took me.

This is the first, in a series of 10 questions about creativity. If you are interested in my survey, please follow this link. I would love to hear your thoughts, here or there.

This week in my kitchen

Hmmm – it’s been a good week. Tried some new ideas. Had a few nice quiet meals with my daughter. A time to catch my breath.

Check out the action on the blog hop hosted by Beauty That Moves.

Don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, replace dairy creamer with coconut milk creamer! So yummy.

My daughter really doesn’t know how lucky she is – this is carrot cake oatmeal for breakfast! No dairy, sugar and gluten free. She’s no dummy, however. It does not taste just like carrot cake. But for me it is a wonderful thing to have for breakfast.

Treasures from the White Rock farmer’s market.

A baked treat – chocolate cake, same properties as the carrot cake. My daughter thinks it isn’t sweet enough. I think it is heavenly.

Asian inspired dinner.

Local, wonderful.

My daughter can get anything down with ketchup!

 

This week in my kitchen

Taking a tour of my kitchen once again. Love this blog hop. A few words about each of the shots, just below.

Healthy water – just can’t keep enough made!

 

Roasted root vegetables, made into a salad.

Apple pie granola with coconut milk, (from a can) cream topping.

Veggie burgers.

Veggie tray – after work must have to munch on.

Beet, asparagus and broccoli salad with pickled garlic and beans.

Flowers from my garden.

This week in a kitchen

My kitchen this week has been limited to what I can forage. The Austrian spa hotel where I am staying has a fantastic kitchen, I am sure. The food has been great. But I miss my morning smoothies. I miss my reading and writing from the comfort of my bed with a big mug of coffee, prepared just the way I like, served in a tall, half litre size. That hour I get every morning to start my day is like a life saver. When I travel, I am forced to tread water, luckily I am fairly good at that.

However, I cannot complain. If you choose well, your time at this meeting can be wonderfully spent, both professionally and personally. Blocks have been built into the agenda to enjoy the spa, nearby skiing or whatever else you choose. Two luxurious mornings, back to back.

First night here, (I did not cook this in a kitchen), but it was wonderful. I’ve had fish every night and even the buffet quality has been nice.

Everyday this tray is re-filled with little sweet apples.

From home I picked up a few comforts while packing. Some Easter chocolates that were for the those who hid the eggs, and a piece of coral from the Baja. I find it important to visually remember some of my best days, even when I am far away from them.

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold on the second day. In order to sleep well and be present and attentive in the working day, I had to resort to the “scorched earth” policy. That meant gathering a variety of cold medications from North American attendees. This is a global meeting and you can end up with packages of stuff written in different languages. It is a walk on the wild side to treat yourself that way, (yes spoken from experience). On top of the heavy meds, I got a couple of different tonics. One standard vitamin C effervescent, (which I like and could drink every day), and the other a combination of herbs that I find strangely appealing. (Most other people have thought the smell very strange). I’ve been sipping the mystery herbs 2 to 3 times per day and I like it. Not sure exactly which combination was the trick, but I am slowly getting better. Or at least, I feel better under the influence of all this stuff. Will see if the cold is still roaring underneath.

I’ll be standing in my home kitchen Friday night, pretty jet lagged. My husband will likely have booked a dinner out, forces me to stay awake long enough to switch back to Vancouver time. If I get the chance to recline my body, I’m done for, fast asleep.

This Week in my Kitchen

Has been a good week in my kitchen, enjoy!

Join the blog hop hosted by Beauty That Moves….

 

 

 

This Week in My Kitchen

Blog Hop hosted by “Beauty That Moves”

 

 

This Week in my Kitchen

Thursday April 3, 2014

Bloghop

Gratitude practice

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~William Arthur Ward

This week my creative assignment is to photograph the moments of my life. Those everyday scenes that pass by, almost without notice. Those brief snaps of time which are easily overlooked. Almost taken for granted. And if they were snatched away by some tragedy, might bring us to our knees in loss.

Easy, right? At first, I thought so. I love photographs, everything about them. Taking them, staring at them, playing with them on the computer, just everything. I started to assemble some images which may end up in my journal later this week. Turns out, not so easy to capture the little bits of my life that are part of my routine and are also moments I feel grateful for.

For example, I took this photo of the rain outside my window on a dark and dreary Monday morning. Am I grateful for the rain, no. I am actually grateful for all of it. The rain that powers my electricity, waters my plants, sweeps away the streets, fills the drinking aquifers, keeps the trees green all winter and the startling contrast it provides for the sunny days. If my window view were gone, or if the rain no longer fell – I would be sad and scared. (When I vacation in the Baja and dream about living there, I always wonder about the lack of water).

That was an easy one. What about my most treasured family members. How to capture them in a way that shows what I am most grateful for? While I can easily talk about my feelings of gratitude for them, it is proving difficult to get the right photo’s. In part, it is due to my children’s programming of popping on a smile whenever a camera is near. Uncanny, really.

Then myself. What kind of photograph can I take which shows gratitude? This is why Brene Brown warned us, “this won’t be as easy as you think.” Darn.

Most importantly, this weeks lesson is about practice. Anything which is worth having will not come easily. Although, practicing something which moves me, happens to be fun as well. And the results are often great.

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~John F. Kennedy

Writing a book

“I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done.”   ~Steven Wright

“Write drunk; edit sober.”   ~Ernest Hemingway

Nothing fancy. I am a lot of things, but a proper author is probably not one of them. But, I love food. And photography. Cookbooks, too.

In fact, I have a bit of a cookbook buying problem. There are almost 9 linear feet of shelves in my dining room lined with cookbooks. Those are the ones that are neatly put away. There is usually a pile about 14 inches high in my kitchen with tabbed pages of “active” recipes. It is no wonder my husband asks why we can’t have the same thing twice. Simple answer would be,”I can’t find the recipe for a second appearance!”

Then I borrow cookbooks from the library. Add to all that, the loose sheets of recipes printed from the internet. There are neat piles of those all over my house.

As luck would have it, I have a reasonably good memory for food. It is a bit strange really. I can remember exact dates, who attended a particular business meeting, for example, because I relate it to a meal we shared at a great restaurant.

It is time to start making sense of all these bits and pieces. Some favourite food moments, recipes, photo’s and habits. The way we eat. If nothing else, I’d like to organize it all.

I turned to the internet for a quick, easy and free way to compile everything. A 3-ring binder would be the cheapest, but something that looks like a real book would be better. I found what I was looking for in a program called blurb. It is iPhoto meets comic life with great built-in templates. So far, I am loving it. I have 3 pages done in a test book.

Now, I run around taking pictures of all sorts of things. The guy re-stocking carrots at the market the other day probably thought I was a bit off. But they did look great.

The trick will be to condense the book into the most important pages, or it will be $100 per copy. But, for my purposes, the ultimate cookbook with page after page of my favourites, my thoughts and memories is easily worth that price.

Stay tuned.

May flowers

March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers.   English proverb 1886

It has always been difficult to plan activities based on the weather forecasts, here in Canada. Even old English proverbs only serve to remind us of the conditions to expect and then Mother nature will give us a show. And if you read about the history of this proverb, there could also be hail, sleet and snow.

The nice thing about Spring is the time frame. All bursts of weather are short-lived, but the general trend is warming. If you have a blanket of snow in May, it will be melted away in no time. Then to counteract that, as we saw this year, a super warm Easter in March. Patio furniture was out, BBQ’s were fired up and the clothing of winter dropped away. There were even a number of sunburns walking around town.

The only thing to do is take advantage of the place you find yourself. Rain jackets and umbrella’s, a sweater, a warm coat and warm boots are just some of the choices. On the other hand, wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses and sun screen are not to be forgotten as the sun shines more seriously.

But for now, it is still Spring. I like to dash out into the sun when she shines and catch a few of her rays whenever I can. Even if it is just for a 15 minute walk, read the newspaper or just sit and relax. Last evening I did just that and here are a few of the images from my journey through the yard.

Artichoke, (actually a flower)

Chives….almost a weed

Thyme – couldn’t live without it

Pansies – the most reliable beauty in the garden

White Lilac, (her scent is fantastic, too bad I have a cold right now, too hopped up on medication to smell anything)

Buttercup, (don’t be fooled by her – invasive weed that she is – parading around my backyard like a tramp)

Your lens

Keeping with the theme of photography, and in honour of the online course I am taking, I was thinking about how people view the world around them. Your lens, or your filter is an important part of how we experience life.

My course is called, eyesopen creative photography. I like the idea of keeping your eyes open. If you learn a few new skills and then keep your mind open, it is amazing what you can see. I think your mind puts a bunch of filters in place just by habit.

Sometimes it takes a catalyst to break everything open. If that happens, the view can be so amazing that you wish it had happened sooner.

Conversely, I think the people who view the world with rose-colored glasses, have an advantage. They maybe have a lens that lets the more unpleasant bits of life fall away from view.

Practically speaking, all I can do with the personality I have is to give my lens a good clean and frame my life with positive people and experiences.

The Sun

Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles

Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right

The sun finally came out today. There had been a small glimpse of it yesterday, but then a rain storm came through that was very strong for this time of year. The temperature dropped about 12 degrees C and the wind did some damage. But today, it was warm enough to put on some sun screen.

In anticipation of my photography e-course that starts tomorrow, I ran around taking some photo’s. And the light cooperated with my efforts. It was fun to get the creative juices going. Thinking about all the techniques that I sort of know like scale, proportion, depth of field, etc.

With all this rain, we have mushrooms growing in our grass. That is a common sight in December, but is very unusual in late June. Still, they are cute, I think.

So many of the plants are taking over. This is our front walkway and you can’t walk there now. When those hosta leaves are wet, it makes your whole leg look like you stepped in the ocean.

When I am walking around with a camera, I tend to notice very tiny things in the lens. It was really great to see this bee and to get confirmation that it is a native honey bee no less.

The beach towel hanging up on the end of the fence is from my daughters field trip to the beach this week. That was one fragrant towel, bringing home the smell of every, once living thing from this part of the Pacific Ocean.

And around the corner from this fence is our hot tub. Once the lid was off, the chemicals were topped up, it was time to have a quick soak with a book. Our chlorine floater is anchored to the edge of the tub with a fishing weight. That way it doesn’t sink itself into the filter basket.

We’re here for a good time – Trooper

We’re here for a good time
Not a long time (not a long time)
So have a good time
The sun can’t shine every day

The golden hour of the evening came. That brief period of time when you almost have to run around to get all the shots you might like to.

Bits of Islington

When my husband was finally able to spend some time with me in London, I didn’t want to have a typical visit. I wanted:

• a period hotel with old world charm
• close to the Globe Theatre
• walking distance to restaurants
• away from the crush of August tourists

I found all those things and more.

The hotel was situated on Peters Lane, just off Cowcross Street that was so small it might as well have been a lane. It looked like a private residence from the outside. And inside, it felt like you were staying with your fabulously wealthy long-lost relatives. Perfect.

On our first walk about we discovered The Smithfield Meat Market. Amazing architecture and a very juicy history. Some of the highlights are presented along the inner walls where you can take a self guided tour. But the best part is that this is a working market. And has been so for over 800 years.

I could not do justice to St Paul’s Cathedral in a photograph. But I kind of like this one, just a slice of the place, giving a small sense of the grandeur contained within.

Over one of the many bridges crossing the Thames, it was an easy walk to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. To take in a play at that iconic venue, was a most amazing experience. This photo was taken during the intermission of Anne Boleyn. I couldn’t believe they would let a camera in. And the food and drinks you could get were incredible. I was sipping Proseco!

Then back over the Thames, this time on the foot traffic only Millennium Bridge.

It was a great day. And if money were no object, I think it would be nice to have a place in London.