Tag: life

author moments, featured

Gratitude and Goodbye, 2020

2chicksandapen

Despite all the crappiness of 2020, I had a decent year. I learned a ton. I adventured some. I said hello to new friends. I watched as some friendships faded with COVID. I traveled a little stateside. I tried many new things. I hit some goals. I mapped out some new goals. Overall, a successful year in the books.

I am also grateful for my opportunity to write. From journals to picture books to blog posts and beyond. I truly get to enjoy my creative side in many ways through words, pictures and experiences. Many may dream of this life. Few will take the less traveled path. For me it’s part of the journey. 

The learning experience. The sharing of life’s ups and downs and all that is hidden in between. Sharing my lens view with the world from my digital device. Leaving a time capsule for my future grandkids. 

Chipping away at the 1095 Days project that has so much depth the cutting room floor will literally be covered. Years in the making amidst a pandemic of all odd things. So many twists and turns. Editing will not be for the weak at heart.

Thank you to all who follow this blog. Click through to our website. Like our posts. Share our stories. You are our inspiration. From a tiny town in small town USA to a high-tech suburb in Germany. You are appreciated. To all those new countries we reached this year, thank you for popping in to our virtual world.

I may not make it to your home country but hope you visit our site often. We can be virtual pals. It’s the cool thing of 2020. You never know what post is part of our bigger book projects or how we will flip a switch and cover some new topic you were not expecting. Some stories are about adventuring. Some hit on tough life paths. Some hit on the life of a parent. Some even cover emotional states. We offer depth. We over variety. We offer inspiration.

Our site is free to our readers. No ads. No big frills. Just 2 chicks writing their way. Today. Tomorrow. Into the future we go. Just like that. Keep following. A goal every year is to reach a larger audience. We continue down that path because of you. Just one forward. Just one repost. That’s all it takes to multiply our readership. Help us make 2021 a big reader year and share our stories if they touch you in a special way.

*The list of countries above is not all inclusive. However, it’s a snapshot of some of areas of growth in 2020. With travel restrictions limiting international travel it is great to know we virtually put our mark on at least some readers abroad. 

Wishing everyone a happy, sane and safe 2021.

perspective

Artistry

2chicksandapen

Capturing the beauty of a person, place or thing via a photo is amazing. I personally love looking at photos as well as taking them. Capturing true artistry in photos is another level of wow.

Recently I looked at some photos and noted the true artistry within the photos. The way an object was captured. The lighting. The magnification. The placement of surrounding items. The background. The fine details. They all collided.

I saw vision. I saw clarity. I saw depth. I understood the artistry of the photo. It didn’t happen just once. It involved multiple amazing shots. What I learned was how so many enjoy photography for not only its beauty but for its depth and artistry. For some a hobby. For others a professional career. For some it’s just capturing moments in time.

The ability to look through a lens and paint a picture for others who may not be able to live the moment. Through a camera lens one can allow others to share in the beauty of the person, place or thing. Sharing their artistry one photo at a time.

What I like to do is let my mind drift or wander through photos, through life, through experiences. How can I see the artistry of life through another lens. Maybe a picture. Maybe a painting. Maybe another’s eyes.

Oh the journeys we can take if we immerse ourselves in the beauty of the environment and allow artistry a chance. Look beyond the ordinary of today. The mundane of today.

Find the beauty of a fall leaf. The color in a butterfly’s wings. See if you can look at the beauty of your environment through a different lens. You may have looked at the same window view a thousand times and never see the glimmer of light that has hit a flower in a magical light at a certain hour each day. However the camera lens may have caught it. Another’s view of your ordinary.

There is a beauty in the lens of others. An artistry of life that can be observed by others when they are free in mind and spirit to enjoy. Soak in the beauty of today vs. the worries of tomorrow. 

We can all look at things in life and cast shadows or doubts. We can all look at the same things in life to see beauty. Choose wisely. Life doesn’t last forever.

friendship

Sunrise Yoga

2chicksandapen

I am so excited for sunrise yoga! I got an invite for a new kind of gathering this holiday season.

An invite from a beautiful and kind soul. The invite said:

This is a time to breathe together, pray together, meditate together, move together, laugh together and just be grateful to be together. As an added plus mimosas will be served!

Such a great idea to host such a special event around the holidays that will literally wipe away the woes of 2020. Ready, set, yoga!

After the stretching, an added bonus was relaxing in the hot tub. She really thought of all this details to make the group gathering special and relaxing.

News flash: And just like that the fun snatcher has arrived. The one and only Rona. Yep, that’s right Rona arrived the night before. Not even 12 hours to sunrise. Corona that is. The poor yoga instructor got COVID contact traced. Yup. Pop. Bam. Boom. Fizzle. Flap. Floop. Damn Corona just hanging out like flies on shit.

It’s really okay. We are tech savvy. Those not on quarantine will do makeshift yoga on the big screen and wash our woes away with mimosas and swap yet another shitty Rona story from 2020. Masks + mimosas + Internet + good friends = good times despite the Rona party crasher!

Rona just needs to go far away and stay there! Is 2021 here yet?

3Splitz Farm

Salad Days

2chicksandapen

Salad Days: “Salad days” is a Shakespearean idiomatic expression meaning a youthful time, accompanied by the inexperience, enthusiasm, idealism, innocence, or indiscretion that one associates with a young person (Wikipedia).

What makes a salad? If you grew up in my house, almost anything. All the veggies, sure, but in the 1980’s with the heyday of salad bars, for me it also sometimes meant cottage cheese with shredded cheese, ranch dressing and croutons on top. There’s ambrosia filled with marshmallows. Strawberry Pretzel Salad. Or the classic half of a canned pear with a dollop of mayo, shredded cheddar and half of a maraschino cherry. In looking for recipes, I even learned about Snickers salad. Salads can be a little bit of anything thrown together, it seems.

Salad. One of the most delightful parts of farming so far has been walking out to the field, seeing what might be ready, harvesting it, and making it into a salad. Most of what we’ve pulled out so far is lettuce. I made a huge salad with our tender buttercrunch lettuce, then topped it with extras from the grocery: fresh mozzarella pearls and pomegranate seeds. The lettuce was the star and so deeply satisfying to savor. A hint of bitterness. Little touches of wilt that I knew had come from that one night of hard freeze. Our history in a bowl and I ate it right up.

The next week, it was more of our buttercrunch lettuce topped with grocery goodies: celery, tomatoes, carrots, cheese, and dressing. Delicious.

The new challenge was the kale I cut. Looking around, I had to see what ingredients we had on hand that would match up with it. We were working from a limited stock, but I came up with a kale salad with fresh Georgia satsumas (purchased out of curiosity from the Peach Truck), mozzarella, and a lemon vinaigrette. It was good, but had me dreaming of what some sunflower seeds and goat cheese would have added.

It’s a shift in thinking from the grocery store to the garden, from the food mart to the farmer’s market. To trust what the earth will provide to lead what you eat, and build the rest of your food around it. We are transitioning to being more self-reliant and making do with what we have invested in the ground. Betting on ourselves nutritionally, little by little.

For a person who goes to the store with a list and has every ingredient on hand, it’s a lesson in adaptability. A beautiful one. One that appreciates what the earth can give back for our efforts.

Our youthful salad days of gardening, growing, and enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of our efforts have been sweet indeed. Figuring out which direction to grow next is the exciting challenge.

friendship

First Impressions

2chicksandapen

Picture it: Disney World, pandemic 2020. We had a lot of time together that day. When lines were longish, there were games and idle chatter. We had a few precious maskless minutes as we enjoyed a meal in a social distance sit down restaurant. Lunch was wrapping up.

Somehow the idea came up…let’s do impressions of each other. Wow. Immediately queasy.

This group has known each other for a while and let’s just say we’re pretty friendly. We’re farmily after all. So the ups and the downs were all on display. All the quirks. Things we say too often. The things we complain about. How someone always forgets their wallet. Take too many pics on insta. Little phrases we use. How my daughter always loves to shut me down with “It’s FINE Mom” whenever I am freaking out about something.

Finally the spotlight turned to me. Yikes.

My laugh is apparently a thing. I laugh loudly and hysterically. And I slap my hand on my leg when I do it. Yup, now that the light’s on it, I can’t deny.

Then, I burst into song all the time. Right in the middle of a song, in the middle of a conversation or an otherwise quiet moment. Yup, totally me. (Do they know I’ve been singing the whole time in my head and some finally just popped out?)

I have photos of everyone going back to the beginning of time. I take pictures way more than anyone likes. Need a pic of a game or an event or a moment 10 years ago? Give me a sec while I scroll. Yup, I have the 256g phone. Alllllll the pics (even though I never post any of them.)

I talk about my workouts. I talk about my watch rings. I’m a little too vocal about burpees. Yeah, ok, I’ll take that too.

I guess that’s about it. Could be worse, I guess. A giggling, singing, photo taking, fitness buff. I’ll take that.

We giggled. We gawked. We acted each other out. When you’re friends like us, it is what it is. No holds barred. For better or for worse.

What’s your latest impression?