I'm not sure if you are following my #handmademaker360 challenge over on Instagram (and that's *absolutely* okay if you aren't!) but the short story about it is that I haven't been keeping up on a daily basis, as I was hoping. And it's only the second month! Ohhh nooo, right? Well, I don't mind. I just wanted you to know this little bit of information. I don't mind.

I am old enough to know that even if I don't appear to be going in a single-minded straight and linear direction I am still going forward and that is what is most important. I am still working on, and thinking about, my Blooming Enamels almost all the time. It's just that there are other things to see and do too! So I say that I am still going forward in what I like to call - a curvilinear direction. It's a forward direction that allows for lots of scenic views along the way. :)

I have done a lot of independent traveling over the years and what I like most about it is the freedom to follow my plan but to also break it when needed so that I can see things that I never knew existed. How can I plan to see things that before stumbling upon them I never knew existed?! Some people call it distractions but I prefer the term - serendipity. Things I didn't plan for but am very lucky to have found.

So with my #handmademaker360 challenge I feel like my Cooper in the photo above. I'm facing forward, moving forward, but always aware of what else is around me and giving it a glance. I might take time to go off my path to see what it is that's around me, or I might not, but whatever I do, I am still moving forward and following along my path onto my bigger plan.

Smell So Good!

Mmmmm,the lilacs are in bloom! They smell so good. If I walk across the front yard I can't help but take in the sweet odor of the tiny flowers that pack a punch of an olafactory impact. Is there a lesson in here? Power can come in small packages maybe?

These lilacs are so delicate and feminine yet they accomplish their duty (of permeating the air with scent) better than most larger flowers. They don't deny their destiny and they also don't insist on it all year round. They have a very short and defined amount of time to do their thing. And they do it so well.

I have cut some branches and brought them inside. The house is full of lilac energy (competing with the even-more-delicate -- Lilies of the Valley -- but that's a story for another day). The energy in the house is good.

And if you didn't know -- lilacs are very hardy. You can cut them down and they will just keep on growing back. They will accomodate the space within which they are allowed to grow. They can grow tall or be kept low. They are easy-going, more concerned with their broad destiny that with little details. I like that.

Detour Without Grudge

When I look at this picture I feel a sense of kindness and forgiveness.

The small, pink, delicate flowers are regrowing after what was probably years of misuse. It was probably years of the meadowland serving as a foundation for the train and the advancement of industry and all the disregard to nature that came with it. During that time the meadowland likely could not grow and flourish as it was meant to since the oil and dirt and debris of the train rumbling over it kept it stunted and tamed.

Time has moved on though, and the train is no longer in use so that the small flowers are able to peak out again and, somewhat tentatively, regain their purpose. Slowly the flowers are finding their way up through the stones and are stretching in and around the rails to gently reform itself as a meadow.

The flowers don't seem to me to be angry or holding any grudge about the detour or lost years from their original purpose. Instead, it seems to me as if the flowers are simply, maybe even humbly, carrying on where they left off and are softly returning to the journey of their destiny.