March 30, 2015 by Born To Organize

Monday Morning Musings

Sweet Pea

I really should be in bed, but instead I’m tapping away at my keyboard. It’s 12:21 am meaning it’s officially Monday here in San Jose, California. I’ve become much more aware of the time zones since blogging. Five minutes ago I had a brief exchange with Helen who is starting her day in England. On this side of the pond, I’m about to head to bed.

Blogging allows for an intimacy I never would have imagined. Unlike Facebook which can feel superficial, bloggers open themselves up with a genuine honesty and desire to connect. The very nature of blogging is about sharing of yourself and engaging with those who stop by to read and comment. Chances are you’ll go have a look at what they’re up to, and the exchanges that follow captivate, educate, entertain and enthrall.

In a few hours, my dear friend Kelly will board a plane to Washington, D.C. I’ll be joining her and others at the end of the week. We’re kindred spirits, soul sisters, and the best of friends. She’s the friend I didn’t know I was missing till we met. Now it feels that I’ve known her for a lifetime. Improbably, we met through blogging.

When I get off the plane Friday evening, Laurie, will be there to meet me. It will be the first time we meet in person, yet it feels completely natural that she’s picking me up and that we’ll all head to her place later in the week for a few day’s stay. I met her through blogging as well.

I’m counting the days till I can wrap my arms around Pauline. She’s flying all the way from New Zealand, a long and exhausting flight. We’ve had intimate conversations via Skype and look forward to long talks and even deeper understanding in our time together. Yep. She’s a blogger.

Julia’s life is about defeating despair. Her optimistic spirit carries her through some very dark days, yet she’s opened her home and her heart to us all. We share a mutual love of books as well as the joys and sorrows of raising children whose heart beats to a different drum. We all want to be understood for who we are and to be loved unconditionally just the same.

Just five more days and I’ll be descending on D. C. Extraordinary experiences await.

March 5, 2015 by Born To Organize

Blogging 101: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

It’s day four of Blogging University. Today’s assignment is two-fold. First we’re asked to identify our ideal audience as a way of honing our blogging skills. Second, we’re to include a new-to-you element on our blog.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink?

I like challenging myself, so I’ve learned how to embed photos, YouTube videos, a contact form and a poll. Today I’m embedding a Tweet for the first time.

https://twitter.com/BornToOrganize/status/573591726411005953

Nifty, eh?

You can learn how to embed all kinds of things on your blog via WordPress Support. I also love coaching people, so if there is something you are trying to do and can’t quite figure it out, I’m happy to help.

Gardening Nirvana

As spring approaches, nature does most of the heavy lifting. Birds nest, even without my help and perennials come back regardless of my pruning skills. A garden, untended will not necessarily die. Instead the garden crosses the boundaries of the walkways, climbs the fence, winds around a tree and meanders down the block like an untended toddler.

I’m having none of that. Just because Mother Nature is a well-worn cliché, doesn’t mean the parallels aren’t true. As a mom of two boys, I set limits early and often. Within those limits, the boys enjoyed free rein. They could explore the garden, create in their sand box and run through the sprinklers (pre-drought). My youngest son loved climbing the orange tree and played for hours in the dirt. As a toddler, my oldest son licked the shiny bottom of a snail, always exploring and curious. To my chagrin, he continuously snapped green cherry tomatoes from the vine before he understood the difference between red and green. We traveled for a week and when we returned, he was able to see the difference and why they should remain on the vine awhile longer.

Now teenagers, they’ve grown into well-mannered and respectful young men who understand limits but continue to soar.

Those same limits fall to the garden. Well-tended branches make for happier neighbors. Overgrown weeds do not inspire trust. I might fall in love with a beautiful shrub, but if the plant’s DNA will send it skyward, then it stays on the nursery shelf. I’ve stopped planting Stock, not because I don’t like it, but because the snails eat it to the quick. Reluctantly, but with a sure hand, I’m learning to garden like the Californian I’ve become instead of longing for the English-bred garden of my roots. Some days that’s still hard, but I know it’s for the best. There are days I mother my children, days I mother the garden and days I mother myself. All three are a work in progress.

The End?

If you reached the end of this post and find it resonated with you, then you’ve come to the right place. Welcome! If you’re yawning or distracted or perhaps you simply clicked the ‘like’ button in the Reader, I completely understand. It just means this particular blog isn’t for you. When you do find that perfect fit, you’ll know. As my friend Pauline says, “Thanks for coming by today. I love that you did.”

January 7, 2015 by Born To Organize

Freedom to Speak

Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.

-Salman Rushdie

The threat or fear of violence should not become an excuse or justification for restricting freedom of speech.

-Alan Dershowitz

Satire must always accompany any free society. It is an absolute necessity. Even in the most repressive medieval kingdoms, they understood the need for the court jester, the one soul allowed to tell the truth through laughter.

It is, in many ways, the most powerful form of free speech because it is aimed at those in power, or those whose ideas would spread hate. It is the canary in the coalmine, a cultural thermometer, and it always has to push, push, push the boundaries of society to see how much it’s grown. As Randazzo points out, Wednesday’s attack — if it was the work of religious extremists, which is not yet confirmed — actually proves that Charlie Hebdo’s satire worked. He wrote, “It so threatened its target, cut so deeply at the truth, that it resorted to the most cowardly, most offensive and despicable form of lashing out.”

-Joe Randozzo, former editor of The Onion and German Lopez, Vox

When we blog, we exercise our freedom of speech. We have the right to voice our opinions, even those that may differ from others. It’s a right most of us hold dear.

I’m wrapped in disbelief and sadness at the cruel and unfathomable hatred that lead to the Charlie Hebdo attack. Sending love and support to the people of France, and to upholders of free speech everywhere. I extend my hand and heart as well to those who’ve yet to understand or live the very freedoms we take for granted.

Of possible interest:

12 powerful political cartoons responding to the Charlie Hebdo attack.

France 24

Zietung Region: A brief history of freedom of speech

December 30, 2014 by Born To Organize

Word of the Year

I love the idea of choosing a word of the year. Unlike new year’s resolutions which seem doomed to failure, I like the transformative qualities of a single word.

This past year I chose serendipity, or serendipitously, the word chose me. You can read about that process here.
According to Wikipedia,

Serendipity means a “fortunate happenstance” or “pleasant surprise”. It was coined by Horace Walpole in 1754. In a letter he wrote to a friend Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made by reference to a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip. The princes, he told his correspondent, were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

As you know, once you focus on a word, theme or idea, you find examples of it everywhere. All year I noticed serendipity at play. It was energizing, so much so that I’ve decided to elevate it to word of the decade. I’m not letting that gem go!

2015 Word of the Year

I’ve chosen connections as my word of the year.

To connect is to:

bring together or into contact so that a real or notional link is established.

For my part, I like the idea of bringing people and ideas together in a positive way. The notion that a whole is more than the sum of its parts is appealing. The amazingly unexpected connections made through blogging gives me hope. Life is good. People are good. I will look for and make positive connections throughout the year.

How about you? Do you set your intentions for the new year? Do you choose a word or a mindset or a series of goals?

Please share in the comments below.

December 23, 2014 by Born To Organize

I Got It! I Got to Have a Gott!

If you follow Shelley Sackier’s weekly musings at Peak Perspective you’ll know why I’m excited. If you don’t, go take a peek. You’re in for a treat.

Shelley writes brilliant and entertaining prose with wit and charm.The equally talented Robin Gott provides the doodles. They collaborate across a continent, producing weekly gems that make you smile and think. I want to be like them when I grow up.

As readers, we voted each month for our favorite doodle. The best of the best made it into his 2015 calendar.

Robin Gott: The Clever Doodler

On November 22nd Shelley published Gotta Have a Gott announcing

“the grand unveiling of the crackerjack cartoon collection of Peak Perspective’s illustrator extraordinaire—Robin Gott. We’ve been ballyhooing this exciting event for ten months, and have decided that for this first year Rob will create and put FIFTY calendars up for sale.”

Gotta Have A Gott!!!

Rob studied art in London, but currently lives in Sweden. He says:

“I’ve more or less escaped from the production line process of animation, and I’m just having fun drawing for my own amusement.”

Lucky for us, I say!

Shelley’s bio includes this gem:

“My experiences are prolific, my hopes still abundant and my realizations wishfully profound. It is what we make it.”

She makes you glad you stopped by.

Happy places to visit:

Robin Gott: Doodles, Scribbles and the Alexander Technique

Shelley Sackier: Peak Perspective

Things to do when your calendar is through

July 22, 2014 by Born To Organize

To Blog, or Not to Blog?

What a silly question!

Today, however, I’ll be blogging in pictures. I’ll spend the time I save not writing, catching up on your thoughtful comments. I read them, love them, and have the best intentions of replying to all of them. Darn that busy life, eh?

I’ll see you shortly in BlogVille. Meanwhile, here are a few pics from the garden.

It’s the birds…

Hummingbird grooming near the magnolia tree

and the bees…

California Carpenter Bee

and the flowers…

Sunflowers

and the trees.

Beautiful Magnolia (not so beautiful scale)

Female Pumpkin Flower

Cherry tomatoes, self-seeded

Pumpkin vines wrapped around potted succulents

and a thing called [gardening] love.

May 19, 2014 by Born To Organize

Dedicating the Little Free Library

Warm temperatures and a cool breeze were a welcome gift Saturday during the Little Free Library dedication.

The idea for little libraries started in Wisconsin in 2009

Todd Bol built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher who loved reading. He filled it with books and put it in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away. Each one had a sign that said FREE BOOKS.

Little Free library.org is now a non-profit as well as a movement, spreading the love of reading around the world.

I dedicated The El Codo Way Little Free Library, to two of our local teachers, Debbie Hughes Judge and Carolyn Sullivan. Carolyn and Debbie (now retired) are highly regarded 2^nd grade teachers at Bagby Elementary School. They were instrumental in supporting the Books at Home program at Bagby that encouraged disadvantaged youth to read at home over the summer. They’ve both been a tremendous personal support to me as well.

Here are a few highlights of the day:

We served cookies and water on the lawn and deck. Attendees took home a bookmark made from a unique collection of Pixar Animation postcards. No two were alike.

Postcard bookmarks

Additional thanks to Candace Levers for donating Vision Literacy bookmarks to the LFL. You can read more about their mission at VisionLiteracy.org.

There has been such an outpouring of support for our library. It’s easy to see why they’ve caught on around the globe.

May 6, 2014 by Born To Organize

Bavarian Nirvana

I’m in Bavarian-Crochet-Knee-Rug-winning nirvana. (Try saying that fast three times).

Yours truly is the lucky winner of the Teddy and Tottie blog giveaway.

What did I win?

I won this breathtakingly beautiful, amazingly crafted Bavarian Knee Rug.

Bavarian Crochet Knee Rug

Gorgeous detail

The pattern has two distinct sides

I got the news two weeks ago at Teddy and Tottie land. The package arrived today, all the way from Australia. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I ran for the camera so I could document its arrival. A certain feline wondered if it was for him. After whispering in his ear that I was happy to share, he climbed off the box and I whisked it inside.

Cat-on-a-box

Getting a package in the mail is high on my list of joyous occasions. I like to imagine it traveling from place to place before arriving at my door. Pretty postage, custom forms and hand-stamps add to the thrill.

While scrutinizing all the details, I had to do a double take. I thought one of the custom stamps read “Security Screamed”. Well of course they did. I mean, who wouldn’t scream when they saw what was inside? The blurred ink actually read “Security Screened.” Ha!

The day I read the news that I’d won, I tried hard to temper my enthusiasm. My lucky win meant a lot of sad faces in the blogging community. Further, just a few months early, I won another lovely prize from The Contented Crafter. All this goodness after years of never winning a thing.

Thank you, Dani, from the bottom of my heart, for this lovely treasure, and for all the extra goodies you tucked inside. I love them all!

Please check out the goings on at Teddy and Tottie where Dani blogs about crochet, vintage home decor, pets, garden and home life in south-eastern Australia. You’ll fall in love immediately.

Dani also has an Etsy shop where you can buy her beautiful crochet work for your very own. She also offers vintage treasures.

You’re Invited

This is a personal invitation to the 109 entrants who did not win the prize. Please come visit any time. I’ll fluff up the pillows and put the kettle on and you can sit with the Bavarian knee rug across your lap. Feline companionship almost 100% guaranteed.

April 8, 2014 by Born To Organize

Blogging Nirvana

A few months ago, I updated my ‘About’ page to read:

I came for the writing and stayed for the friends. Who knew the blogging community was so rich and diverse?

On WordPress alone, bloggers produce over 44 million posts a month. My blog is a tiny minnow in a vast sea. Yet somewhere along the way, I’ve connected with a handful of remarkable people scattered across the globe. In many ways, blogging is the start of a conversation. Great things reside in the comments that follow. Like the oft-compared pen pals of our youth, we form relationships through the written word.

Without face-to-face exchanges, bloggers rely on words and pictures. When you’re first starting out, you hunger for comments. It’s a way to validate why you’re here and what you write about. In a short time, however, relationships are born. They grow and strengthen and before you know it, you’re logging on every day to connect with like-minded and interesting people.

For me, it all started with ‘Boomdee’. I can still remember the first blog that caught my eye, a beautiful transformation of her front porch. I love before-and-after pictures and I liked her style. A little exploration told me she had two rescue cats, and that she lived in Canada, my country of origin.

The connection could have ended there, but before long, we were exchanging multiple comments back and forth every day. Unbelievably, someone I didn’t know just a few years ago, became one of my closest, dearest friends.

Through that connection, I found other bloggers.

Dani, at Teddy and Tottie. She writes a slice-of-life blog from a small town in Australia.
Julia, at Defeat Despair, writes inspirational posts from her homes in Washington D.C. and Virginia
Laurie, at Life on the Bike, also lives in Virginia. She’s a fabulous photographer and a serious biker and she shares her experiences with both.
Pauline, at The Contented Crafter, blogs from New Zealand. Pauline blogs about her process of creating mixed-media art and crafts.

…and we all include our wonderful animals in our posts.

Yesterday, an amazing thing happened. Ms. Boomdee organized a global Skype Tea.She put together a schedule that accommodated five different time zones, then placed the call. We had a series of technical issues, but it added to the fun. Each of us read a pre-selected poem, wearing a hat and gloves of course. We enjoyed the novelty of hearing each other for the first time, and our diverse accents on the call. I can’t remember the last time I experienced something so unique and fun.

Special thanks, dear Boomdee, for making this all possible. Fellow bloggers, thank you for reading, writing, photo-sharing and commenting. My hat (and gloves) are off to you.

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Skype Tea Selfies

Skype cast of characters

March 3, 2014 by Born To Organize

Generous Spirits, Caring Hearts

The goodness of bloggers abounds.

Bloggers near and far filled my mailbox these past several weeks with treasures of hand-made goodness. I’ve never met the bloggers at In Search of it All or Garden Sunshine. Before blogging, I’d never meet Boomdeeadda either. Yet they all have one thing in common: a generous spirit and a sharing heart.

Once upon a time there were pen pals. You mailed letters to someone you didn’t know who lived on the other side of the world. If you were lucky, they wrote back. Now we blog.

Gardening Nirvana came to life as a place to write about the things I love. I never dreamed of the community that would gather around it. Who could imagine the connections, the learning, the support and the fun that blogging had in store? I came for the writing and stayed for the friends.

If you blog with regularity, you know what I mean. If you’re new to the medium, you have wonderful things to look forward to. Finally, if you’ve never blogged, start today. You’ll be glad you did.

In Search of it All

The lovely, lace embroidery, below was a ‘just because’ gift from Marlene Herself at In Search of It All. Isn’t it beautiful? Marlene blogs from the northern state of Oregon. She describes herself as “a young at heart senior citizen that still has more questions than answers.” She enjoys reading, sewing, quilting and of course writing. Pop on over to her blog to read her unique perspectives of the world. You’ll be glad you did.

Embroidered lace snowflake by Marlene Herself

More embroidered lace from Marlene

Garden Sunshine

Diane blogs from Ontario, Canada. She shares her gardening progress on 7+ acres of land at Garden Sunshine. Her photos and projects are stunning. Garden Sunshine sent the blue heart pin, cotton square and calendar, lovingly crafted while she waits for the sun to shine again. Apparently I’m her top commenter. Who knew? Thank you for the shower of gifts.

Stars and hearts pin crafted by Garden Sunshine

Hand-knit cotton square by Garden Sunshine

Garden Sunshine photo calendar and notebook

Boomdeeadda

For those of you familiar with the “Boom Room”, it will come as no surprise that this little treasure arrived from Edmonton, Canada via Boomdeeadda. Kelly describes herself as “living the dream with Mr Right and two rescue cats, Petals & Blossum. Life and Love is enhanced by the many on going projects. This is a Journal of these and other bits along the way.”

Through blogging we’ve formed a close friendship. We celebrate our kindred spirit, which extended beyond blogging into texting, phone calls, Skype sessions and in-person visits. Next stop, the Ellen Show. ;-)