Tag: Fuddles

“Hope is the thing with feathers”—and so goes Fuddles, full of life and dreams.

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I’ve heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me. 

Emily Dickinson
a feather
The real life model for Fuddles.
HOPE – this seems a well-deserved topic and timely poem for many reasons right now.
  • It is a poem dear friends shared with me, and I think of often. It is a poem to remind me of both of them, and I love that.
  • It is a poem about a thing with feathers! Have you met up yet with Fuddles? Fuddles is my feather and is the Feather of Wonder and Awe. I’m not even sure how but somehow wonder, and awe, is tied into HOPE!? Fuddles is the main character of my up and coming first children’s picture book. I am getting closer to the “magic” that just may sprinkle some of its dust on me. That’s all I shall say for the time being-other than there is lot of HOPE right now around it.
  • Hope lives in our souls and speaks to a future with a promise. It is hope that not only sheds tears of despair, but can help us realize that things will somehow get a little bit brighter. Somewhere, somehow, a star will shine. I surely can’t say it better than Emily Dickenson so elegantly states …

“Hope…perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—”

  • Hope is that silent partner that at times keeps us going, trying, working, struggling, soaring, dreaming, and moving forward. Big choices and small, often it’s hard to keep hope at levels that don’t demand our  nervous systems, our minds, and our souls to do somersaults in our insides. If we are lucky, the metaphorical cartwheels manifest on the outside!

Dream on and keep your hopes alive, it keeps life interesting and much happier.

Nature is blasting – What’s your blast, do you use it?

Fuddles in the snow
Fuddles amongst the snow flakesI found this TEDTalk wonderful. Caroline McHugh is indeed talking about your personal blast.

The weather forecast for this weekend along the Eastern Seaboard is a bit dismal (unless you are a fan of big  nor’easter storms.) It’s true, perception, needs, attitudes, and consequences all come into play here. For me travel is in my plans, a big storm is not good news. However, nature does her blasting with no apologies; she does what she needs to and she lets it roar!

That brings me to letting your self “be” and do as you need to. Blasting your unique talents and views. Taking up your space in this big wide world. In my rambles around the internet and  TED Talks I stumbled upon the talk embedded below. She talks about seeing yourself in a true mirror – “where you look AT yourself,  you look for revelations not reassurance.”

She goes on to talk about folks who are “larger than life” and what makes them so? They take ALL the space the universe intended them to and so they “shine, glimmer, and glow, …it’s as if they swallowed the moon.” I love that statement! It’s all about INDIVIDUALITY! Your job is to be you. To be the best you can be, to do the best job you can at being you.  Caroline MCHugh is “dedicated to helping individuals and organisations be fully deployed, original versions of themselves.” (more)

BLAST out your individuality, your talents, your glimmer and let it shine!
(Even if its under a snow blanket this weekend!)

http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-Art-of-Being-Yourself-Carol

End of Year, an opening and a closing.

One door opens as another closes
One door opens as another closes

As so it fades… 2015 closes and 2016 opens up with new possibilities. Attitude must rule, for the magic of change and possibilities are only available when you first dream, then think, and follow with doing everything you can to start the engine and keep it running. Yes, I know, at times it is very hard to keep going, to keep the steam puffing, and even not to stand in front of it and block its way, but…we all know that does no good. I have to keep reminding myself,  I’ve got to at the very least keep chipping away at the big dreams, now and then take a big bold whack at it, close my eyes and JUMP. I suggest that to everyone, the choice to stay static or chisel and jump so… why not!?

As 2016 is peaking its head around the corner I am hopeful that this will be the year that my giant revisions of my book may be in the background and that finally I am on the right track. This book looks nothing like where I started and I’m ok with that, it’s a prosess I keep telling myself-Hope so! It is now a book for the “wee ones” of 2-6 years and it is called  Awesome (at least right now that is the title!) It still features Fuddles, the feather that spreads awe and wonder on planet Earth. That is who you see above but that is not an illustration from this upcoming book. The plan is that Fuddles will be on a farm in a sequence book. In the meantime, Fuddles is peaking out the doors into 2016. He does indeed look a bit shocked, maybe a wee bit scared, but time will tell the whole story.  Temporarily that’s all I will reveal. Partly, because it is very much still a working copy, and partly for I am just not ready to “put it out there” yet.

I am not one for resolutions, especially public ones, but I will proclaim my intent for this to be the year of my first book to finally come to be!

Meanwhile….Merry, Bright, Treats, and Joy …Happy New Years