14 on Friday: Good Things

I come down stairs and peek through the window to see 1) that particular blue of dawn. It’s enough to make me fall in love with blue forever. I have this idea and decide to write it down, and oh does it feel good to 2) be writing two days in a row. Raptor meows because he wants his 3) morning cuddles. This cat purrs nearly nonstop. 

On the kitchen table are 4) stacks of books from the library. 5) I’ve been studying pattern with borrowed books about tilework and mosaic. Many mornings, I’ll flip through the pages until an image stops me, then I’ll draw it in my notebook. Sometimes this is quick, sometimes I come back to it throughout the day. Sometimes I leave it an ink outline, but lately I’ve been daring to add color with watercolor or colored pencil. And honestly 6) I’m proud of myself for my efforts. 7) I like studying and drawing the old tiles the best because they’re hand-painted, with variations and inconsistencies. Time has left them chipped and smudged and weathered. I love their imperfections the most. Last weekend, 8) I realized I could walk to the library. There’s a pedestrian path away from the main road and the walk isn’t that long. It only took me two and a half years of living here to figure this out. 9) I’ve been walking slower lately. I’m trying to remember why I started doing this. I did listen to a podcast recently on walking, but I think it really started a few weeks ago with a discussion about the word dawdle. 

I’m writing this list in my notebook, next to a page with 10) paint and ink doodles. I need to write about my creative journaling practice because it has been game-changer for me the last month...but I feel like once I start writing about it, I won’t be able to stop. Am I ready for that? 

In the quiet of the house, I hear 11) birdsong. Did you know this is called the dawn chorus? I remember learning that while writing a poem. I’m 12) drinking coffee from a beautiful teal mug Matt made for me. Now that it's light, I can see out the front window 13) our growing peach tree. The branches are bare but for blossoms. Each day there are more pops of pink. I think about 14) noticing, which is where so much begins.