Lilacs and green White Mountain ranges, a drive over and through the steep woods, stingrays and nibbling fish, and a family stroll through the land of fairy tales delighted us over the weekend. Having moved to the high hills and lakes, we read on and on. We happened upon a wooden house from one our recent reads and found a bed, a stone stove, little chairs, and skis. Heidi’s house in the Alps appeared atop a New Hampshire hill, overlooking her little town, with sprouting green ridges stretched out above in the near distance. I recalled walking along the Alps and looked about for the white cows and goats that graze in my memory. Mother Goose read to us in her lavender bonnet, we rowed with pirates and found more treasures, reminding me of Idlewild Park, a bit south, both parks having the Little Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe. No children but visitors on this yellow boot. Next door, alligators and jellyfish swam, though in very tight tanks. I’m not interested in zoos, as encapsulating wild ones is too sad. We tried first rides, and many other little firsts. We’re so proud, such big steps for our dear family.
Today, we’ll record details from this homeschool field trip. It was generally lovely, relaxed, and less crowded than parks for older kiddies, but the others’ babes were quite overtired, crying, and the tightly formed lines didn’t help. We’re extremely sensitive and outtings are difficult, but the appreciated prevention of smoke at this park made it possible for us to try it! It is a park for little cubs, after all. Conway was bustling with craft fair tents as we passed by on the lower road home, and we read out curious shop names to visit another day. We retreated back home, to de-mask and de-mitten, to rest feet and backs, and to unwind overstimulated senses with lasagna, recaps, and cuddles. Many questions were answered, for little darlings need help processing so much energy spent in one place and time. We all do, actually…
This morning, a peach pie sizzles in the oven. We’ll return to Storyland next spring, for this cool air went swimmingly with that funny pumpkin coach energy. We may even try Santa’s Village, for little elves here already know so much about the North Pole, and it would be fun to enjoy some of the perks of the job. Now, we’ll tuck into some new library books, and edit my tales, for getting to know characters lends such joy to one’s life.
Happy Summer Adventures! Take the best care. Love, ~Amor Milagre
…home again home again jiggity jig…
Storyland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Aquarium Photos by Amor MilagreStoryland NH Field trip, Aquarium, Photos by Amor MilagreAmor Milagre Peach Pie: Vegan Organic Sugar-Free
Amor Milagre Organic Broccoli Ravioli Handmade Pasta
Dinner tonight is a dish of baby’s handmade pillowy broccoli ravioli. So good! Our school lessons also include cooking, baking, laundry, budgeting, and cleaning. One needs to know how to take healthy care of hearth & home.
We’re also looking to summer, ready to build up skills with plans for a few new adventures. It’s the weekend already? Time for audiobooks, libraries, science projects, book editing, and delicious bakes. Hope you have a lovely one. It’s pretty and raining here. Love it! Everything is green.
Atelier Amor Milagre, Peaceful Protest, Art Gallery & Bookshop
Note about modern influences, business, and the state of things:
Art is not dead. Maybe the appreciation of the emotional value of art is asleep. I am still here. Art is alive. Real art, soul-made. There are many artists who are alive now. Did you know? We’re here…but not everyone is technically an artist, and that’s ok. These words give me chills-content creator. What? Why? We are here though, in the trees, and we wish we could escape all these people posing in little purple glasses with Camus. But, what do you know? Are you learning anything? About our art, us, or yourselves? You pose in front of ‘art’. Date at the painting zoo, where they put high prices on artists’ struggles and leave out most of the women. But, did you even sense what lies in your backgrounds? Someone’s life. Their day. Their ideas, timeline, family, reality. What do you feel? Anything? Anything? Is anything happening for you? Art cannot be a trend. Books are not trends. Book stylists? Stop pretending. Read our books. Write your own if you feel you need to. What are you doing? Influence yourself to live your life well, quietly from your own mind. What you’re doing cannot fulfill you. It is soulless. Fake. It’s all a perpetual commercial… everywhere…everyone has become a commercial. Gross. Sad. Very sad. Useless. Unplug. Go outside and admire some leaves above you, for you are small…a small PIECE of the universe. A spec. Unique. Not the center. A part of.
This is my site, so this journal is more about updates and leaving breadcrumbs. I don’t want to contribute to this global static. Having a business now is ridiculous. But, trust me…this non-marketing is not effective or planned to be effective. I could not do a fake promotion. Not possible. Cliches are started for a reason. Artists need to be valued though. Paid. Not stolen from. It’s impossible to steal a soul anyway. Don’t even try it. Currently, there is no room for real art. Just ads…ads…ads. Fluff. Nothingness.. just pollution. Artists cannot conform to the current standards for business. We need time to reflect and translate, it’s backbreaking work. Screens are not conducive to my work, and I cannot post everywhere daily about what I don’t have time to work on. Artistic work, in order to be appreciated, also requires that those who experience it have attention spans, some level of understanding on the most basic level. Collectively, our modern world is not using advancements wisely. This is obvious. What benefits are we experiencing? What are the side effects? Everyone is sick. Our ancestors would be appalled at how unsustainable and toxic our world has so quickly become.
Don’t miss out on the art of your generation. We have it. We know it. It helps us. Leave room for it. You’d like it. You’re missing it. Art enriches life. Do you have a favourite song?
Yes, I write books and paint when I feel help-less and wish I could PING some positive fairy magic over our desperate, painful world. It’s how I cope. It’s something, but definitely not enough. Those at the source of trouble have nothing to help them cope, except their own will. I know this from surviving on nothing but hope, love, and strength. When you have nothing, you use whatever you have to comfort you. Imagination. Stories. Poetry. Songs. Meditation. What can we all do to truly help? To change what is happening? Donating is good, but I wish we could create entirely new systems and get immediate help for everyone….NOW. PING. Done. Now, enjoy life, for it IS precious. All these childhoods…what are they made of? It can’t be war. It can’t be. Let them all have magic. Magic is there. Let them have it. Love, too. The healing magic of love.
I began this oil painting last year and have been delayed by illness and weather, as it is essentially an outdoor studio space, but I will finish it this year. It’s about how tragedy befalls entire countries and all people do is visit the news with a ‘Tsk tsk’ and post a quick nod of support to…someone… to show the world they know they are supposed to ‘care’. Now, I know that this painting is also the same thing -not enough. It’s not directly helping anyone. It’s only raising awareness, but the stage that comes after the awareness needs to grow. There are not enough positive actions or changes in response to this ongoing timeless monstrous global violence. Awareness is not enough. This may be why this initial ‘peaceful protest’ idea sits and waits to be finished. The rubble needs definition. Faces need you to feel…empathy. But, what can we each do in the meantime…while the paint dries? Many things. Many….positive actions. Wake up. Acknowledge it. Feel the violence…it is disgusting. Be proactive and preventative and healing. Take back our power to help build UP our world. This is where everyone can participate. There is an ART to being helpful. An art to living peacefully. In this way, everyone can be an artist. Be a help-ist, a help-er, a positive verb who contributes goodness. Everyone needs help. So help yourself. Don’t create more problems to solve. Help others. Rebuild communities. Vote ‘no’ to terrible people who disintegrate goodness and existence. Insist on positive change. Stop supporting villains. Do something good that lasts and grows. It can be….so many different things. Plant a garden. Invite people in. Talk. Plan. Change.
Share love. Clarity is there. Awaken. Prevent pollution and disasters. Heal.
This week, we’re adding the finishing lines and photos to this year’s homeschool portfolio. It is so very important, in this lazy digital age, to teach and learn naturally with your senses. Natural lighting and healthy routines nurture us in our unplugged schoolroom. Reading real pages, writing what you really think, and knowing how to think are vital skills. They build up an empowering way of learning which needs to be preserved. Every person has an entire world inside of them. Every person needs the tools to navigate and translate their inner world to keep themselves safe on the outside. Allowing tangible, and intangible, mediums of expression may heal a soul for a lifetime. Draw, paint, sing, cook, act, sand, cut and paste, sculpt, play, write. Allow learning to connect you to yourself. What you like today may surprise you later on when reading of this connection in an old journal. It’s all a part of you. Take the time to try it out. It’s an endless web, but not online. We’re all connected through story patterns and emotional dips and plateaus. Timeless lessons keep life interesting. Designing your own education allows you to learn so much more without pressure or fluff. Hydrate. Take real care. Sleep. Eat fresh, healthy foods. Breathe in fresh garden air. Move as needed. Explore freely. One may connect it all together to shape the truth that no one can know everything. And so, we learn more. Do you ask questions? Do you seek answers? Do you ask yourself questions? How can you find those answers? By trying…keep trying. There are no incorrect answers there…your own book may help someone else.
Thoughts are endless…allow them to help you heal the harm of our world. Studying yourself is an ongoing portfolio. Leave space in the back to grow and change. Learn. Love, ~ Amor Milagre
Listening to Ideas, Black and White Photography, Amor Milagre
Tonight’s story is about a portrait photographer. I’ll write it, with tea. Our homeschool photography lessons have reconvened, flooded with location lists. Photography is magic. A great love, here. We love doing family portraits, but haven’t done many. Too busy for fun? *Oh, come, let’s do some… Sometimes, we make short videos into silent films, B&W. It’s a cute, hilarious result to save and rewatch…with popcorn. Oh, how we age and grow. I love laugh lines…crinkle it up!
Cameras are eyes are memories are songs are feathers are tins of papers, with curled edges and splotches of inks of laughter, from that day when we sat on that rock and ate PB sandwiches…
*A gentle reminder: After you listen to your own idea, and you want to share it, you may need to remind those around you to… “Shh…listen…I want to tell you something.” (Sometimes, like with dreams, everyone gets too excited and wants to be in on it…the idea…but by pushing yours down into the mud, to be louder, to be heard. Sillies…why? Just listen. Shh…listen. This idea includes you. Listen to ideas…to gold..to silver…gelatin…to you.
“Now, I’ll listen to you. You were saying something lovely about…?”
Remember to remember. Love, ~Amor Milagre
P.S. Free idea…really great one…super possible…good-women’s-healthcare. Let’s do it! Yesterday…please. All the world is in a trance. Despite this designer’s sadness that long ago the fashion industry somehow trapped themselves on top of an old record…spinning on that loop…and the people all drag around in toxic lycra and fleece undergarments…it is imperative that the weary medical world re-awaken, perhaps for the first time. Work to help, not to widen the gap. We know you’re tired, but there needs to be a new wave to help you…down to the receptionists. Every role makes a huge difference. Make it positive. Make it work. Help. Women and children need help. Research anything. Help. Work.
Music of the Moment: The Calm Before, Matt Elliott
