Every so often, get up and walk around. Stretch.

Go outside and enjoy the weather and the natural light.

Have a cup of tea or coffee, or if you’re at home, a glass of wine.

Have a simple snack – cheese and crackers, ice cream, popcorn.

Savor the contrasts between what your previous activity and your break activity.

“I’m invincible” to “Sacrifice?”

Remember, you don’t have to use the written word to fill the gap!

It seems I can…. if I have a lot of help! Gary does most of the day-to-day work, like watering the plants, but I remember to check on them everyday to see how they’re doing and prune off any dead leaves.

We’ve got quite a collection growing in a small space now!

In the front yard, we have morning glories and moonflowers.  We just noticed the first two flowers on one of the morning glories today! We planted both flower types from seed and were hoping for just half of them to come up – every seed planted actually sprouted and now some of them are fighting for space on the trellis.

On the back porch we have one of those Topsy Turvy planters.  It’s a bit overfull since we planted cucumber, poblano peppers, Texas tarragon, basil, English thyme, lavender, and patcholi in it.  At the moment we have one good sized cucumber, 3 tomatoes, and two peppers that are doing very well.  There are several additional “babies” of each growing as well.   And the basil has gone crazy.  I’ve harvested good amounts off of it twice – in fact I’ve got about a cup of fresh pesto in my fridge! – and each time it seems to grow more!

I’ve stashed the pictures behind the cut so as not to take up the whole page with them!

Morning Glories and Moonflowers

More Morning Glories and Moonflowers

The Rosemary

Patcholi

Pretty Lavender

The First Cucumber

The First Poblano Pepper!

The First Tomato Ripens!

The Garden Protector!

Leftover wine?
Freeze and drop a few cubes into a stew, broth or soup to liven it up a bit.

Watery Drinks?
Freeze juices, Kool-Aid, lemonade, etc.. to add to a punch bowl or glasses instead of standard ice cubes.

Bugged?
Everyone’s heard of the plastic ice cube routine, so take it up a notch. Use plastic insects and drop them into your ice cube trays before freezing.

And remember, toothpicks, juices/Kool-Aid and ice trays make for some quick cool treats to beat the hot weather.

I spent most of February through May working for the government, which really messed up my schedule and resulted in no new posts getting written. It also resulted in some serious thinking about the future of Your Cre8tivity.

Reboot!

So here we are, back, with a reboot.  There are going to be some changes in the blog – hopefully ones that will make it more interesting to a wider readership and more helpful to more people.
During the last year or so, the emphasis has been on creative prompts. The prompts will return, though not as the main focus of the site.  Your Cre8tivity is going to become a true Creative Adventure that I’m hoping you will share with me.

I’ll be sharing the many projects that I have a hand in – too many probably to do as well as I’d like, but I’m innately curious and always wanting to try new things out.  I hope that you will share your projects and your thoughts on the projects I take on as well.

I’ve added a few site link to the right sidebar and will be adding more in the upcoming weeks.  I have a few other ideas too, but haven’t quite figured out how I want to implement them yet.

Recent Adventures

So, what have I been up to?  I’ve been reorganizing my creative space, crocheting reuseable grocery and produce bags, trying my hand at gardening, brewing  a little – you can find out about that at The Brew Mistress, working on NaNoEdMo, helping out a podcaster or two, and doing some volunteer work.   I’ll be posting a little about each of these soon and you can see my successes and not-so-successful efforts.

The Adventures to Come

I expect that it’ll take a few weeks for me to get up to speed with regular posting – and a return of the Creative Adventures podcast as well – but I’ve got new ideas and energy and plan to put them to good use. Expect more posts about my personal creative efforts and about the creative people whose work I admire.

Join the Adventure

Don’t sit on the sidelines – Join the adventure!  Take a journey to find and explore your own creativity along with me and others. Tell us where you find your inspiration and how you apply creativity to everyday situations.

Everyone needs – and deserves – a little creativity in their day! Share yours!

Can you complete the list without looking at an online database or newspaper? How many can your friends come up with? Which letter was the most difficult to find?

Which letters spawned mini-lists? How many do you watch? How many of the names evoke strong feelings for you?

So here’s the challenge: 70 word fiction in a flash. You never know what you might scratch out of your head.

Anyone interested in adding their own work can do so in the comment section. We look forward to seeing what each and every creative mind can come up with. The requirements are simple, all we ask for is a plot in only 70 words that includes the item(s) below, no more no less. And believe me, that’s not as easy as it sounds.

Here are your items: a loose thread and an heirloom run

The word is “Bamboo”

Here’s how it works:

1. Write the Break Away Word in the center of a paper (or if you’re lucky – a whiteboard).
2. Write/Draw the first thing that comes to mind when you look at the Break Away Word.
3. Write/Draw the next thing that comes to mind.
4. Continue the process for 10 minutes or until nothing new comes to mind

Let your pen or pencil find its own way, don’t try to force any associations into a pattern.

When you’re done, take a look at your paper/whiteboard. Where did you end up? Are there any connections that surprise you?

Do we really know anybody? Who does not wear one face to hide another?
– Frances Marion

• Find your name or its equivalent in as many languages as possible