Friends, I’m exhausted. I don’t think I realized how massive an endeavor this move would turn out to be.

“Autumn is the season to find contentment at home by paying attention to what we already have.”

—unknown

Today on my blog, I planned to share about the Winding Roads Art Tour, but as I was driving home on Sunday evening I realized I hadn’t taken a single photo all weekend.

Yesterday as a gentle rain tickled the windows, I cleaned and organized my studio and thought about what I wanted to write to you.

When’s the last time you noticed something that made you pause to look, to think, to wonder? A little moment seemingly outside of time?

Noticing beauty needn’t be limited to seeing it. Last week we focused on COLOR, something we experience with our eyesight, but this week I want you to awaken your other senses.

This year I’ve gone to more vet appointments than I can count. I guess I could count them, flip back through calendar pages and tally up appointments for tests and surgery and treatments and more tests.

I am filled with a swirl of thoughts and feelings. Maybe you are, too.

These days. They’re hard. This year has been hard. It continues to be hard.

I talk about JOY a lot. The word is up there in my logo. It write about JOY in my blog posts. I describe my paintings with the word and when you sign up for my newsletter I send you a set of Joy Lists as a thank you. On top of that, I call my newsletter a JOYLetter.

All week long I’ve been painting whirly birds.* That’s what I used to call maple seeds when I was young.

At this time of year when the seeds come helicoptering to the ground it’s hard not to feel a surge of childlike joy. I walk around with my eyes to the ground trying to find the most interesting ones.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts (in comments and email) after my questions about blogs in last week’s post. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking after reading what you wrote; your words brought about a few epiphanies for me.