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March 2021 Free Wallpaper and Playlist

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March is here friends. Since fall, I have been getting up early each weekday morning at 6 and taking a very chilly walk around our park. I make myself a cup of cinnamon tea and bundle up in all my layers. The last three months have been very dark and very cold. But this morning, for the first time, it was just a little bit light out when I left the house. And by the time I got back the sun was fully up and the birds were singing. A change is coming.

If you have been around me for a while, you probably know how I feel about March. I truly dread it every year because something terrible always seems to happen in March (it’s those darn ides…). But this time I plan on squaring my shoulders and facing whatever the pruning brings. I am going to do my best to search out spring even if it isn’t quite ready to find me.

Our theme for the month is “Song”. It is about finding those moments of beauty and poetry amidst the end of winter and singing. Love you friends. Keep on keeping on.

For the desktop, click on the image above to view the large size image

This month’s playlist is themed “Song”. It is full of Irish sea shanties, ballads, and songs that make you want to get up and dance. Enjoy!!

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different versions so that you can use what works best for your device.

September 2019 Desktop Wallpaper

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Happy September!

Welcome to September -a month filled to the brim with new energy for the season, an embarking on new endeavors, a month filled with learning, and full of the fruits of our gardens. I hope you have lots of fun and adventure to look forward to. I plan on visiting our local orchard to pick apples, pulling out all the fall decorations, lighting the autumn scented candles, and paying attention as the season begins to shift.

Much love to you,

Betony

  • For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the image you want. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen or both. I make a couple different ones so that you can use what works best for your device.

October Free Calendar Desktop and iPhone Wallpaper

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Happy October! Here is an October reflection  and some great October activities around the theme Lore. And, enjoy this new artwork for your screens!

For the desktop, click on the image below to view the large size image.

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the iphone images. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen.

High Resolution Desktop Wallpaper:

 

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iphone-october-2016_v2

“Monarch Migration” Painting Story and Process Photos

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Over the course of this month, we will be sharing some of the stories behind the paintings and songs in the Becoming series.
You can purchase prints of this piece here.

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“Monarch Migration”
15X30  mixed media on canvas

The farm I grew up on is in the heart of the prairie in Kansas. It is a 30 minute drive on dusty dirt roads to the nearest civilization. My parents apple orchard is surrounded by 180 acres of native prairie and forests. Their driveway is over a mile long – and because the county maintenance trucks won’t maintain driveways, it was usually in pretty rough shape – horribly muddy in the spring, treacherously icy in the winter, and full of sand pits in the summer. Our mailbox was at the end of the driveway and a daily ritual was to walk and get the mail.

On this particular day in September, when I was probably about 8 years old, I remember turning the corner at the mailbox and feeling like something was different. There was a quivering energy to the air. I looked up and noticed hundreds of monarchs in the sky above me. And then, as I looked closer at the trees lining the roadway, I gasped, because what I had first thought were leaves fluttering in the wind were actually wings. Thousands and thousands of wings. I had happened upon the migration of monarchs.

I’m not sure why the butterflies ended up in KS that year. It’s out of their normal migratory path. After I left home, my parents had them come through one other year. But I have never seen them again.

We are losing monarchs. There are less and less every year. Their main source of food, the milkweed plant is being displaced by fields and housing and mowers. The older I get, the more I am becoming aware of how fleeting everything around us is. How delicate the beauty of these tiny wings. How necessary it is to pause and notice the flutters hidden in the branches.

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October Calendar Free Desktop and iPhone Wallpaper

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October 2015 desktop
Last night we built a little bonfire and sat around it with hot cider and marshmallows and watched the sunset. The air is just starting to have that icy edge in the evenings that wakes up your lungs. We love October so much around here. This tree is from a little scrap of very old vintage fabric I found at a thrift store a long time ago. I have always loved it, but there was never enough to actually make much out of. I will happily look at it all month and I hope you enjoy it too.

For the iphone wallpaper, navigate to this page on your phone and then click and hold on the iphone images. Select ‘Save image to camera roll’. Then from your camera roll set your home screen/lock screen.

For the desktop, click on the small thumbnail below to view the large size image.

High Resolution Desktop Wallpaper:
October 2015 desktop

iPhone Wallpaper:

Two simple choices for iPhone wallpaper – 
iphone OCTOBER_blank_V2
iphone OCTOBER_blank

Table Altar for Thanks: The Tree of Life

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Artist and “space creator” Gregg Nordin was commissioned for our Almanac this month to provide directions on making a “Thanksgiving altar”!

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Thankfulness is a tricky one. Often we wait for moments of joy in order to have something to be thankful for. When things work in our favor, or when we get something we have been longing for. Some promotion, some purchase. We experience a momentary spike in joy and we are grateful. But all to soon the feeling can fade.

The truth is, gratitude and the practice of thanksgiving is what produces joy. Not the other way around. Thankfulness acts like new glasses that allow us to see the joy that is currently in our lives. Especially gratitude in the small things, the details; “Golden light of the morning sun,” “The feel of new socks.” “Warm Cookies”, “Harmony of birdsong outside my window.’

Thanksgiving slows us down and enables us to see. And when we can see… we no longer try to hustle for what we already have.

Purpose

The purpose of this interactive centerpiece is to provide a single gathering place for all the amazing things that bring our life to life. This exercise will not only remind us of the best parts of our existence but also allow us to share them with those around us.

Items needed

  • Colored Paper (preferably heavier weight like card stock)
  • Sticks / Branches 
  • Markers
  • Box or vase for base (fill with rocks or gravel for stability)
  • Small paper clips or clothes pins   

(You may want to assemble this interactive centerpiece early on in the month so you can daily add to it in preparation for Thanksgiving.)

The first part of assembly will require a short walk amongst some trees. Search for some fell branches that will work well with your table size and bring them home. Next you will need a base for the branches to rest in. Fill with rocks or sand to provide stability. Next take the your colored paper and with scissors cut out pieces shaped like leaves. Cut enough that everyone participating can use at least 2-3 per day. 

Every day take a moment or two to pause and think of the things you are grateful for. Everything from the big things like family and health. To the small things like the pools of melted butter on hot pancakes. Take those things and write them on a leaf. Give the leaf a small fold down the middle and then attach it to the tree. 

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Watch over the coming days as the centerpiece of dead branches comes to life. You may just notice a similar change in yourself as you become aware of all the things that fill you with joy.  Gratitude brings things to life.

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Gregg Nordin

Life_Spaces@icloud.com

“Branches” Online Art Show

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CREATE ART!

So, with the theme of “branches” and this exploration of how so many different things emulate the shape, how about we have an
online art show? (The writing I did that talks about why we’re doing the theme branches is here)

 

We will be taking submissions until the end of August. Betony and I will curate the pieces that are turned in under the theme of “BRANCHES” and will showcase the art online!

Would you like to submit a photograph? A painting? A mixed-media piece or even a sketched idea? If not you, do you know someone who’d love this idea? Invite them to get involved.

Post artwork submissions to the Giants & Pilgrims’ Facebook page or email directly to timthreshingfloor@hotmail.com.

Spread the word and look for the show online
(giantsandpilgrims.com) come the end of August.

 

Portfolio Items

Monarch Migration