Generations of Creativity

ROAD TRIP!!!

We're on a nearly two week, estimated 2200 mile driving adventure.

Departing sunny FL north thru Augusta, on to Annapolis and resting now in the Poconos we are headed to my two days of participation in "Reading is FUNdamental Festivities" in NY, before a quick heart-beat stop once we start heading south through Columbus for a do-not-pass-go hug fest before we then head on to the Tenn IRA Conference for my presentations there. Got it?

All of these miles give me an opportunity to reflect.

Today's reflection is on creativity.

This gem arrived in my brand-spanking new telephone-from-Mars. It's a capture of my grandson WonderBoy's Pirate-Gingerbread Kindergarten homework. (Haven't really figured out how to answer my phone or make calls, but its neat-o slick that the images show up all sparklie zip on this bigger screen!! Please be patient if you're calling me.)

My WonderBoy arrived to the Planet just under a month 'early' in an emergency scenario that was necessitated to save his mommy's life. He has been playing 'catch-up' ever since. Those early, treasured and significant toddler milestones of walking + talking were reached very d-e-l-i-b-e-r-a-t-e-l-y and with much support and cheering. So now he's in kindergarten and every adult who has ever worked with him is delighted to see his recent efforts!!!

Creativity requires time, materials and support.

As a LUVer of all things R-A-I-N-B-O-W, can you imagine how I felt to open an 'old-school' envelope, delivered cross country into my mail box?

 LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!!!

Love the focus. Love the concentration. Love the deliberate exploration of all of those different colors. LOVE it!!! Love my WonderBoy's process.

How do children tap into their innate creativity?

This road-trip is a unique opportunity to consider that very question!

Our six hour 'lay-over' in Augusta was designed to share a few precious moments with my parents. [I can't even believe that I didn't think to take some pictures.... we just had tooooooo much visiting to fit into such a short window of time.]

My mom gifted me with a photo journal she created of my ancsestery..... going back three generations photographically before my existence.... documenting the creativity of my fore-mothers. My mother is the gifted one with words. (Click here for that earlier tribute.) She is the keeper of the family story. She is our generational scribe. She is our historian and word smith.

Mom titled my journal gift, "Little Girls All Grown Up." This title references an earlier present. Previously she had given both my sister and moi a set of eight black and white photos representing five generations of us as young girls... including our own daughters. Each female photo was of us around kindergarten age. The first four pictures below are represented in the adulthood collage above. My mom is in the red dress with her heart shining, and that's me with big hair and earrings from the time capsule of a couple decades ago. Here we are again below in all of our innocence.

Creativity is nurtured by those who come before us.



From Augusta's lay-over we proceeded to the musical home of our youngest daughter and her talented husband just outside Annapolis. These two find their giftedness in the realm of all things music, particularly in the classical realm. Noelle is on target to wrap up her doctoral program this spring with a Doctor of Musical Arts, with her focus being on all things oboe. One does not get a doctoral degree over night.

Developing talent and exploring creativity requires patience, resolve and effort.

We had just walked in their back door from some errand running and I said, "What-ever happened to that idea of adorning your beam with some artistry? Why not now?" So in three clicks they assembled a brand new paintbrush and the perfect paint. Zip, zap, zowie!!!! Just like pixie-fairies, I 'decorated' their beam! Creativity starts with permission.

Not to focus any amount of time on the nature vs. nurture debate let me just do a quick recap.

• Creativity requires permission.
• Creativity requires time.
• Creativity requires materials 
• Creativity requires support.
• Creativity is nurtured by those who come before us.
• Developing talent requires patience, resolve & effort.

Debbie's half-a-dozen on creativity. 

There you have my reflections from the Poconos.

East Coast: First Stop

Adventure. Excitement. Planning. We started heading east with the end point of NYC as our final destination. Anytime anyone says anything about 'east-of-Ohio' I'm quite certain that involves a layover at our youngest' home. So off we went, landing in Bowie MD, which is just on the skirts of DC. We're always thrilled to land there in time for dinner to see what Zac can concoct. We arrived before Noelle had returned from her numerous responsibilities and had a quick tour to see the updates to their home. The jukebox is now operational & playing the golden oldies, all over again.

Voila. Great dinner being plated in the yellow kitchen. The pumpkin ravioli was scrumptious. Then we all curled up in the living room to get updated on all things new and make plans for the holidays ahead. Noelle is crocheting a blanket to keep warm for the long cold winter. Remember when they got snowed in by the blizzard?? She plans to be prepared this year! She's still got a lot more yarn..... no one knows how big this thing is gonna get. Zac is in charge of the designing the stripes. He reports that she's much more content to watch football if she can crochet during the games. Don't know what she'll do for next year, because she's gotten quite informed about football. Maybe she can make them as gifts for others? Let me know if you need one.

Univ of MD: Recital

Literally the minute after we (insert: Allen) had everything packed up from OAEYC we (insert Allen) started driving east. We stopped at the house to switch out my car for the UHaul and continued heading east toward Maryland. Noelle had selected the date for her doctoral recital based on my availability a million moons ago. Little did we know all those months back, what would transpire between then & now. All the more reason to appreciate this event.

For those of you readers who are not of the classical mindset or experience, the first picture is Noelle playing her oboe -- the initial, instrumental, love of her life. The second shot is her accompanist and good friend -- with a bit of a view of the stage area. The next is a shot of her with the English Horn, certainly not to be confused with a French Horn or a bassoon. It has a much deeper/fuller/lower sound. I really shouldn't allow my memory to report on how many years she's played the English Horn. I'll ask her for the specifics, but it is a relative new-comer in her career..... not like in the last year or two, but not forever either.

In any case the evening was both a delight and thrilling, if that's possible. The best part is that I am no longer the least bit 'nervous' for her and can listen with appreciation. Of course I report this from a completely unbiased vantage point, just that of a proud mama-bear. The program selections were diverse and amazing. IMHO. The final picture in this group is her dear professor and mentor, known to one and all as Prof. He 'discovered' her all those years ago, in a summer program & recruited her to U of MD. I think he's pretty proud, too.

Suzy-New-Homemaker

Even though yellow is MY favorite color. Even though yellow was the color of MY Ford Escape that I lovingly drove for over 100,000 miles. It was Noelle that drove it for an additional 95,000 miles or so. It was Noelle & Zac that selected the color yellow for their first kitchen. (AND I LOVE IT!!!!!) Anyhow, we had to stop at Office Depot to make some copies for my workshop and low-and-behold there was a TJ Maxx right beside it and that's where I found THE yellow hostess apron!!! What a great little house-warming smile. So we gave it to them -- it is Z that is the primary chef in their family-- after completing my fun day of presentations. How cute are we? Joe, the professional painter said he could see a family resemblance. What do you think?

My LITTLE Contribution

While the three of them were inside, sawing & hammering & drilling & nailing........ I decided to reclaim the little island of green space in their front yard. Zac had masterfully mowed the deep, deep grass for the first time and taken the weed-wacker to the little island surrounded by white stones. I cleared away the overgrowth and the inches of dry leaves. We made a committee decision to get a new little tree to anchor the space. Once you're in a lovely garden nursery, you are legally bound to purchase at least one hosta plant per visit. So now you get a view of their Stoneybrook domicile. They got carried away once the mulching got underway and in the greatest of Fiedler traditions -- continued the mulching until every bed around the entire house was basking with all of the new found TLC.

Bowie, MD Home

I just LOVE when my 'work' takes me to destinations where I have family and friends ready to hug me..... or put me to work on their newly 'closed' first home. Our Noelle and her Zac took possession of their first home just before our arrival in the general vicinity. Noelle had the brainstorm, that the 'only' thing their new abode was missing, was a walk-in-closet in their master bedroom. She had a flashback to when she was Allen's assistant when they finished the entire lower level of our Worthington home. All this project would require was 14 two-by-fours and six pieces of dry-wall and a bucket of glop. (That's not a professional term, just what holds it all in place.) They pulled it off again, with Zac amazed at the speed and efficiency of the whole project.

Blizzard Baby Birthday!!

 

My babyiest daughter is celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday today. How is that possible?? In honor of her arrival on planet Earth we hung some of her original artwork today in our home here. I 'snatched up' her painting a couple of years ago. She painted it the summer she played camp counselor at art camp. We've just been waiting for the right moment to get it up on the wall. It's our first N.D. Hollister. The frame is Ikea. So is the pillow.

Noelle was born during an enormous winter storm. After she had arrived safe & sound they closed the entire county down for the next five days, to all travel except emergency vehicles. So I had a long stay in the hospital. Right in the middle of my stay, the window right beside my bed blew in. It was replaced with sheets of plywood and I was moved to a new room. Memorable.

It seems only fitting that in honor of her 25th there would be storm after storm after storm pummeling their Annapolis-DC area, setting historic records for snow accumulation.

Birthday Blessings

Birthday brunch. Birthday box. Birthday beauty. Birthday breath-taker. Birthday bounty. Birthday bonanza. Birthday best. Birthday bauble. Birthday bling. Birthday benefits.

Imagine my surprise as Sarah presented me with a little box after our meal together. Lifting the lid on this fuzzy black jewelry parcel, my brain was imagining all the possibilities that could await inside. As many thoughts raced thru my mind, not once in those nano-seconds did I imagine what was in store for me as I opened the lid.

There cozied inside was a rose gold ribbon, complete with three shining pink saphires. Sarah had taken the lead on designing a custom made celebration, a custom designed victory marker. She explained that everyone had been involved with this gift...... that the three gleaming stones represented the three of us, mom and both daughters: Deborah, Sarah and Noelle.

What an amazing benefit comes from birthdays. The chance to reflect. The opportunity to count blessings. A unique platform to survey the journey behind and anticipate the adventure ahead. Birthdays: bring 'em on!

The three stones mean a lot of things to me: past, present and future. Beginning, middle and end. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Faith, hope and love. Mom and each unique daughter. And as I pause to enumerate the triads I'm also reminded by the three stones that I am headed for my third 'cancerversary' -- just around the next corner. I'm reminded of the miracles of this season. The miracles of family, friendship and faith. Faithandfifty is now faithandfiftyTHREE!! I always get choked up by the commercial from the American Cancer Society that intones 'the official sponsor of birthdays.'

Now I'll be getting choked up putting my choker round my neck in celebration of that very fact. (It will be the shining compliment to my new striped tights and my new pink & white striped high tops.... I've always told you that it's all in the details, it's all in the acessories.) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Wedding Flashbacks

It's been just over two months since my last post about the wedding...... have you been pacing the floor? I think I've shown a great deal of restraint. I'm sitting here by the twinkling light of our Christmas tree, reading Facebook birthday greetings and reflecting on what an amazing year it's been. Somehow that landed me right back in Annapolis in the midst of a fairy tale. I realized that Picasa still had images to share.

We had such fun pulling the details together. I thought you'd like to have a couple close-ups to reminisce and appreciate along with me. The cake was amazing, the flowers gorgous and the birdcage veil the crowning touch.

Santa IN the Aquarium!

MY personal favorite part of the entire Columbus Zoo is the Aquarium. Allen & I got separated from the rest of our tribe and got 'lost' following our delay to get a hot pretzel..... all of those colorful lights had us completely confused. So we wandered for a while in search of double-wide strollers. Eventually we caught up with our crew, who were engaged in watching the amazing sharks and bright tropical fish in their continuous cavort together.

Who would appear for our complete amazement? Santa himself!! With complete Santa suit and scuba tank -- to feed the fish and tickle the fancy of the throng in attendance. The fish swarmed him. Whatever he had to share the schools of fish were in holiday heaven.

I think that it's safe to say that McKenna was not as delighted by the gi-normous tree frog as her brothers. When she became increasingly more upset, her twinsie brother smacked the frog to back off. Interesting protective action. A memorable time was had by all. Fa-la-la-la-la.

Company for the Holiday

With Auntie Bean and Uncle Zac home for the Thanksgiving holiday, it's a great idea to head to the Columbus Zoo for their holiday festival of lights. We will out-number the children!! Where did this sudden dip in the thermometer come from? Seriously. It's a good thing that the zoo's gift shop was selling warm, fuzzy hats and gloves. Our southern family didn't bring their winter wear along.... but now they will be extra ready for the winter ahead.

One of the biggest hits of the night was the farm's barn with hug-able, brush-able miniature goats.