I acquired a new chair about 4 weeks ago. It’s a recliner/rocker and fits my posterior nicely. someone was throwing it away so I hauled it upstairs, bought some upholstery cleaner, scrubbed it down with a sponge, vacuumed it out and poof, we have a new chair for me. Looks like new! One of the things I miss about my condo back in Colorado was the bay window in my bedroom that faced southeast. I enjoyed spending my mornings sitting in a similar rocker with my latte, having quiet time, or reading, or writing and watching the sun come up. It’s a wonderful way to start my day.
Yep, some days are like this. The mind is blank, empty. No creative juices are flowing. What was in there yesterday has been moved out. Where’d it go? I have gone through those times when I needed to fill the empty garage with new tools. Give me more camera equipment, I shouted. Now I will admit a new tool can help stir up creativity but creativity by itself is not going to be found on those same shelves as our tools, it’s in another department. Well, those times in my life when my mind seems empty I have learned a few things that will help refill it.
Taking a walk in nature will fill with my camera will refresh me quickly.
Finding quite time for myself: meditation/prayer.
Journaling. Using a pen and paper to write will help me to slow down, gathering my thoughts.
Giving myself an assignment or maybe have someone give me an assignment.
Shooting with a fellow photographer.
Checking out another photographers portfolio.
Eating chocolate (Okay maybe it doesn’t help in creativity but there’s always time for chocolate.)
I also do some of these things to refill and refresh all aspects of my life. What are some things you do to refill the empty creative garage?
Hotel time. As with many who travel with their work, we can find ourselves spending some alone time in our hotel rooms. As I have written about before the desk in our rooms can be a place to relax, journal, read and find quiet time. On this trip I brought along my laptop because of my recurrent training and study.
Working as a flight attendant requires a lot of evenings in hotel rooms. Some people cannot live that sort of life style but prefer to have roots in a home. I seem to be able to live this life style. However, I am not one to stay locked in a hotel room but try to get out and see as much as possible of the area near the hotel. We look for trails to walk, parks to see, community events or maybe a walk to a restaurant. We’ve been known to take a bus or taxi to areas further away. Yet, we always will return to the hotel room.
When we spend 8-12 hours flying in a noisy aircraft and concerned with passenger safety, the quiet of a hotel room can be an oasis for me. And, in almost every hotel room is a desk where we can pull out our journal and write down a record of the of days events or we can write new thoughts rising within us from our time of quiet. So once the exploring is done and we return to our rooms I not only want a comfortable bed to rest in but I look for a desk.
Why am I blogging? Do I want to be a published writer? What will I gain from it? Will anyone read this blog? Will people comeback to read more, if there is more? A really good question is “who” will read my blog? I do not have answers to those questions but here is how this got started.
A fellow coffee shop patron, Peter McIan, back in Colorado mentioned one day he thought it would be interesting if I blogged about my travels while working as a flight attendant. I had no clue what blogging was about. I floundered around on the internet to try and grasp what it all entailed and just got confused. I checked out the available blogging software and decided I did not want to learn another application. When I get confused I’ve learned to stop and move on to other things then come back to it later. Admittedly, many times in the past I never come back to it, I would just quit. At this time in my life, I seem to be ready and explore this.
One reason for this blog is to have the ability to post my images on the internet. Ego? Possibly. However, I’ve been working on “right-sizing” this ego for the past few years so I feel it has more to do with wanting to share my photography. I know that some people will enjoy my images and others will not. Hopefully my images will show what I have seen through my eyes and where I’ve been.
I also have a few thoughts to share and when those rise to the surface I’ll post them. But, I primarily I hope this is a way to keep in touch with family and friends without filling their email boxes. My current work has me in Columbus, Ohio, so I’m not as close to family and friends. Whoever decides to follow my writing, my photography and my life can check out my blog whenever they feel inclined.
Since I’ve mentioned family, I decided to share an image of my oldest daughter, Christine. I took this image this past September while I was back home. She has blessed my life in ways she will never know nor will I be able to put them in words. I can say, I’m thankful she is a part of my life. She has also giving us all the gift of her own daughter, Abbie!
