life of a georgia Artist

                                               Photo by Nyana Stoica on Unsplash This coming week I am a bride at my own winter wedding. Georgia is a fickle pickle and what we thought was going to be a chilly wedding day will actually be 77 out. What we thought was going to be chilly will now be hot. We are packing shorts, and pants and dresses and dress shoes and flip flops, sweaters, and every other seasonal wear. We haven't a clue what is going to happen, but we are driving so we are packing everything except the kitchen sink. *that is mounted into the cabinets or I may try to bring that too* I am marrying a kind and loving man. He is quiet and gives his heart freely. We have known each other for some 20 plus years and have been together going on seven years now. Life is short and I plan on spending the rest of mine married to this amazing man. We have changed plans and are marrying in a park that we love in Savannah. We are going out for a seafood dinner, we are doing whatever

  Winter is filled with quiet nights snuggled up on the couch. It is staying warm under piles of blankets. It is dark by four pm and cocoa by the gallons to stay warm. It is game night, tv specials, and Christmas music playing on repeat. This year it is also my first grandbaby and my wedding. This year has been hard. So many of us have lost loved ones. It is the second year of a pandemic. It is trying to buy groceries and remain safe at the same time. It has been challenging at its best, devastating at its worse.  Winter is not my favorite season. It is usually mild in Georgia, but we still have those bitter days like today where the wind will whip through you. The cold seeps in every bone making everything ache. It is days like these that I wish this season did not exist, but yet it does. I make the best of tea and biscuits or make coffee slowly instead of using the machine. It is a time when I can sit and knit, sit and read, or just sit and game with my honey. Winter is a gift we are

 My apologies for being so late with this post. I am now a very proud grandma who got to spend the first five days of my granddaughter's life with her. I was able to help, but let us be clear, I was in it for the times I got to "help" by holding the baby for hours. This little one is so chill. I was so blessed to be there for days. The Christmas season is upon us. December 21 is the winter solstice, which means after that we are on our way back into the light. Shortly and slowly day by day we make it out of the long winter months. The candles of winter will be put away and forgotten till next year, the dreary long dark drives home from work will give way to some light as I drive. Little by little, we are reaching toward the light.  What is the winter solstice you ask? It is the first day of winter. It is the start of reaching for the light. It is a magical day, shorter than all the rest where you can sit outside, light the fire pit and enjoy the evening under the stars. W

 Greetings everyone. It is that time of year when time slips away. This past weekend I was decorating and it took a lot longer than I expected. I pray you are all well and safe.  This week as we approach the holidays I wanted to share something mental health-wise. As the seasons approach, I know deep melancholy washes over me. I also know seasonal depression is a real thing. My grandparents were the ones who made the holidays the holidays great, but they have long since left this earth, but each year around this time it hits me that again, they will not be with me. I have all their holiday decor out in my home and I am blessed to have it all. I see each piece and it makes me sad and happy at the same time. Missing loved ones' past is so hard at the holidays no matter when they passed.  Remember them fondly. Sit with your sadness and let it wash over you until it washes away. The seasons are full of the family we are not around daily, it is full of ups and downs constantly. It is a

  With the holidays barrelling down at us, we are starting to feel the stress of what all the seasons curtail.  We are frantically trying to find gifts for loved ones with a supply chain that is lacking all the things we feel we need, but do we? Maybe this is a gift we have been given. Perhaps this season we can focus on family, food, and spending time together. It is the season for sharing good times with family. Perhaps this is the year you buy books for all your family from a local book store. Maybe it's where you all cook together and share a special meal with the entire family at the table.  Think outside the box and come up with family scavenger hunts, hiking trails and see who can identify the most trees, who can find deer prints in the trail. I know I am guilty of wanting to buy buy buy at this time of year, but this year, after almost two years of this chaos known as covid, I've gotten smaller and smaller when it comes to presents. I want this year to give gifts that a

  So I am reading a book about leaving your day job to follow your passion. Jon Acuff's book quitter has opened my eyes to a lot of things about writing. I love my day job so was not ready to leave it to write, but Jon pointed out a few things that I did not have in place to leave a full-time job anyways. I knew I could not quit and write my heart out and pay my bills. I knew I wouldn't have insurance, money to pay the house, all of those things I love, you know like food. His book is titled Quitter and after reading three of his books, I have to say this one is my favorite.  Writing my heart out is a good hustle. Getting paid here or there for an article published is great, but it can cause my head to think, well then I do not need my day job and I would be wrong in saying so. I continue to write. I'm trying to republish my witch book. I submit to online and offline magazines, and I keep hustling, WHILE I stay at my day job. Jon mentioned that he was told numerous times to

  I went out to the woods today. Warner Robins, Ga is so darn slow to get fall and I needed to chase the colors. I drove north and only had to go about an hour before the orange and yellows and the warm autumn light was found. I grew up in NJ and we have a glorious fall there. Every fall there is a hot air balloon race, festivals around apples, acorns, and chestnuts. There are barns open with vendors selling their wares. Apple dunking with the kids wrapped in large black trash bags so they stay dry, and music playing in the background from a hired harpist.  In Georgia, the season comes and it is not heralded in with trumpets like in NJ, but it blows in like a soft whisper and gently sits itself down for an all to brief stay. It comes in and out without a trumpet being blown at all. Not even a harmonica. Having grown up with all four seasons I know that each one is to be treasured and enjoyed. Now living in Ga I see a colored leaf, red, gold, yellow, and I literally run into the woods s

  Today was my daughter's baby shower. She is due in December. While I was there though my mind wandered back to when I was carrying her. She has an older brother who blessed me with making me a momma. these two hold my heart. So as I sat there watching her open presents I thought about holding her when she was brand new with a full heard of jet black hair. This baby girl was delivered by C-section because she was too stubborn to turn and was trying to come out butt first. I pray her delivery is easy. That this baby is peaceful. That the life she is about to embark on, while treacherous, is worth every hour of sleep you miss, every day you stumble and the ones you do not shower on. With my son, I had such a hard delivery. He was stuck and they had to feed him oxygen and in the end, by the grace of God he made it into this world and ended in an oxygen tank-filled crib. My journey to bring this beautiful baby boy into the world was so difficult. I realize my daughter will have her ow

This week has been filled with a lot of crafting. I have fallen in love with peg dolls, dressing them, giving them eyes, and moving on to the next set. I have listed a bunch on my Etsy.  Felted Friends   I have loved watching others make them and each one sings a different song to me that I create a bunny, a fox, a reindeer, and on and on it does.  I have been enjoying making them for a few weeks now. Recently I ordered some wood mushrooms and the joy painting them gave me made my heart sing. Covid gave me such anxiety. I did not want to leave my home. I glared at everyone as if they were the ones who would get me sick. I turned inward to my art, but nothing has brought me such joy in years to create. These little guys and the bigger guys give me such joy. I hope that during this chaotic time you have also enjoyed finding out something new about yourself. Somehow that you found joy in whatever life has given you. This world was tricky at its best before this pandemic, but now, Lord now

  This week was my birthday. I turned another year older going around the sun. This photo I took at the fair last Thursday reminds me of how life keeps revolving around and around. I keep reaching higher and higher in life and somehow I am always amazed when I hit my goal, but why? I set out to reach it. I did the work. I invested the time, but for some reason, it seems to be a miracle when the outcome I wanted to reach, well is reached.  When we set goals, we set steps to achieve them. We put ourselves, our minds, our path out and then we walk it one step at a time. We set out to achieve something. I have been upping my game at work. I have been stepping up more. I have been testing the waters. My coworkers and boss have noticed. I have felt more confident. I have done the work, the research and set myself off, but once I achieved what I set out to do, again, I was still thinking well what a great miracle that way instead of, well this is so earned, I worked my butt off for it. I feel

  marchmeena29  Photographer Lately, I have been craving going back into coffee houses, but even if I go in to get a coffee, you are not welcome to stay and chat. The tables are marked do not sit. The staff is nervous you came in. They fear being exposed to covid and you are ushered right back out the door. I miss hearing strangers talking. I miss the community that this third place once held for us. We are currently without community and it has been hurting my heart for a while.  Is there a solution to us not meeting, to us not feeling safe to go out to eat. Some of us have been in the house for well over a year with outings to pick up the groceries with no contact with another person. You pop your trunk they place them in and you leave. Or you go through a drive-thru and your bag is waiting for you on the ledge or a tray and you do not see anyone else. this life seems fragmented at best. We are parts of this or that. We are missing connections, community and family, and friends. I ye

 In Georgia, the seasons are hot and hotter. Right now we are in the hot. It is where Autumn attempts to come, but visits and vanishes as quickly as it came. It is fleeting in the south. One wrong breeze and it is over. I am originally from NJ and our Autumn lasts a lot longer than it does down here. I miss the Autumn festival, the apple cider hot donuts, and the smells Autumn carries with it When I see any color change I grab that camera, I lace up my sneakers, and off I go. I love to capture fall, but doing so in Ga presents such a challenge. I need to drive a few hours away to see the color, but timing a trip is everything. Ga state parks has a website dedicated to the fall colors so you know when to go to a state park so you do not miss it. In Autumn the sun's intensity lessens and the light is swoon-worthy. I love to go hiking first thing in the morning when the dappled light leans on the trees. Where it is just peeking down. I yearn and love to be in nature. I go down paths a

 Living in the South it takes Autumn a little extra time to reach me. We watch our friends post photos of red, yellow, and orange colors. We are a bit jealous of the colors of the north. I grew up in NJ and fall was something to be enjoyed slowly. It lasted for a few brief months and we ate apples, went to festivals, watched as the hot air balloons blew over our heads, and fill our skies with wonderful colorful hot air balloons. Mr. Peanut was always last to blow on by.  Leaves begin their turning up north and make their way down south. The color is worth waiting for.                                                   Leaves on a pond in NJ. Orange and Yellows starting. A pastry shop full of mums from Autumn's palette.                                      Fishing in a river surrounded by the beginning of the Autumn season.  Autumn is my favorite season. It feels magical to me. I mean I know scientifically why the leaves change color, but I like to think of it as the season of magic

Photo by Alisa Anton on Unsplash My last post was a month ago. So much has been happening in my life. I have finished editing the book I have been working on for two years. I have taken classes on all sorts of things like letting myself off the hook for past things I have said to myself. I have worked on organizing my home so it is easier for my honey, who had a stroke last year, to navigate. All while I work full-time. Life has been full, to say the least, but while my life has been happening, Autumn has been trying to sneak in. Blankets are coming out of closets. Sweaters are making appearances. Cocoa is back in the house for hot cocoa and the feeling of cozy has returned.  Growing up in NJ we had four distinct seasons. Now living in Georgia for 21+ years I have really missed the NJ seasons. We live in two seasons, Hot & Hotter. We have a month maybe in January where it is a little cold, but other than that we sweat down here. You have to hunt to see the trees change color along

  As we move through this never-ending chaotic time called a pandemic, we are all struggling to just survive, somehow thrive and other times achieve. Each day throws more and more curveballs at us and we duck and dive to avoid them all. I have been battling exponentially anxiety. I have tried meds and they made me feel like I was in a fog. Other times I have tried art. Sometimes I  photo journal. Each day is a new chance for me to explore outlets that may or may not help. I have struggled with anxiety through different patches of my life, but lately, I struggle to go to work, to feel ok in my office. To deal with other drivers who try to take my life with their horrible driving. I am constantly on the defensive. Covid has been a game-changer for so many of us in so many ways. All we do is want to make it to the next day ok.  I have tried charcoal drawings ( I was very bad at them) I tried sketching, painting, knitting, crocheting, walking, and throwing myself into about anything else I

  Photo by Peter F on Unsplash This feeling of me being a color washed over me the other day and I wrote this: I am a cerulean blue, vibrant and bold, warm and encompassing. I am a magenta full of passion and bright, inviting you to see my boldness. I am a sunny yellow, blinding light, flicks of gold, like lightning bugs filling the night. I am a forest green, holding the magic of the woods, brilliant blending with nature day and night. I am firetruck red, full of heat and energy, a fire burning deep inside my heart.  I am a combination of then all, full of a big encompassing life. Sometimes the words flow, sometimes they are stuck in the recesses of our brains (called writer's block) I have had both, I have had ups and downs with writings. It has been an on-again-off-again affair with words. I hope your words are flowing. I hope you are in the grove and are ready to let it flow. What color are you? Happy Summer to you all. I pray you are well, safe, happy, and healthy. I do not k

                                                                                  Photo by Myself When Covid hit were all were instantly thrown into a world full of chaos. Literally one day it was full steam of head, but then the next was a screech and a halt, and life was done as we knew it. We were confined to our homes. We were forced to face our spouses or partners every day all day. Everything in our homes, our relationships, and co-workers was magnified for us to see and deal with, but from home. I am sure relationships were healed, broken, and all were tested. We now had to deal with someone we were ok with and are now not so ok with them. Any issue we had was magnified. Now we are with this person 24/7 and what was not bothering you, now bothers you. What you found to be a little quirk is now the most annoying sound you ever heard. Does your spouse not know how to put the towel on the hook, how to put a new roll of toilet paper on, or possibly not understand what the hamper is

                                        Photo by Navi Photography on Unsplash  I wake, slowly opening my eyes. I sit on the edge of the bed and stretch. Making my way to the kitchen I look forward to my one cup of hot strong coffee. Now with coffee in hand I make my way to my writing chair where I will plop my butt until my words fill the screen.  As my mind wakes with each sip of coffee the words that come to mind about my writing today fill my head: Love, honesty, sincerity. Then compassion, fulfilling float into my mind, and I wonder who or what I will be writing about today. With a deep breath in , then out, I let those words wash over me. I am a writer. Those words I realize speak my truest self. They will guide me today in my story telling. Here I sit now fully awake and I realize I am just waking up to my goals, my and my dreams at age fifty two. Words mater. I slowly glide my pen across the page. I prefer to write by hand. Soon my words will be on the page and ready for a read

 Recently I started  writing on Elephant Journal. Elephantjournal.com and as I strive to find my voice, to narrow it down to my passions, I noticed two things. Mental health awareness and rights for women. I just published me latest  Superman Story  . Being in this course is letting me narrow my focus. This is a short post as I only have one hand that is working right now(long story.)If you have a moment check out my story. Hope you are all ok and safe. Good bless, your storyteller Debbie xoxoxo

  Jon Sailer  photographer “ Jesus said , “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest . With the chaos of today’s world, we need Jesus more than ever. This past year has been a test for friends, family, loved ones, communities, businesses and more. We are weary, our burdens are heavy, but yet we continue to carry them. He says come to him, let him take our burdens, and let us rest. We press on because we think we got this, we can solve it, we can carry them, that is until we fall down from the weight of the burdens. This year has found me and my own family heavy with burden. My honey has suffered a stroke, my son has been in lock down and distrusts me and my decisions on how to move through this time. My children no longer talk to each other. My heart has been beaten and battered and yet I carry my burdens on, until recently. I moved away from the Lord to self righteousness and lost my way. Anxiety became my friend and stress is my sidekick A

  To say we are in troubled times I do believe is an understatement. When this all started people were signing out windows, working out together with a trainer on a roof while they stayed in their apartments, trumpets were literally played and people danced in their homes to the cacophony of sounds, but now, after months and months of dealing with this insanity known as Covid-19, it mutating, it threatening us more and more, we have stopped being so civil to each other and now our hearts are hardening. I feel if this keeps on our human spirit will be broken and we will not recover emotionally.  I say bring back the music!  My anxiety through this all has grown. I have struggled with feeling safe in my own home, at work, and in any food store I went to. I have struggled to breath on days I felt like life was done. This has not be an easy "new normal" for me. Also "new normal" is not a positive spin. This life right now is difficult to navigate at best. If we say that

  freestocks    Valentine's day is right around the corner, but is it really even needed? People have been debating if it is a made up holiday, something set up to prove you love someone, or perhaps just a day to celebrate love, no gifts needed. Whatever you believe it is coming up. For me I truly believe you should not need a day to celebrate love. To give yourself to someone wholly is a great gift. To be there through all the up and down days, to stand by your person/partners side is of benefit to you and the person you are there for. Each day is a struggle lately with covid, people saying it is here to stay, people stuck inside with snow and gray skies, we need to show love more now than ever before.  I will not debate if it is a holiday made up by a store to buy presents, because I believe that you are a present to the someone you love. You are a gift of grace and love. You my sweet friend are worth more then roses, candy, jewelry, and anything else that can be store bought. Yo