Thursday, September 17, 2009

LIFE PURSUITS and FALLING FOR FALL



This post is in response to two writing prompts





"If you could only focus on three things in life and pursue them fully, leaving everything else, what would they be and why?"

and

“Your Fall Favorites”


"AUTUMN LIGHT" ©2009, C.J. Peiffer
(Click on image for larger view.)
To see prints, cards, postage, and T-shirts featuring this image click HERE.
(Watermark does not appear on actual products.)


LIFE PURSUITS
If I could pursue only three things in life, they would be:

1. Creating art work
2. Writing
3. Reading

Why? Because they are the most fun and personally-rewarding things I do.
Note that all three would also include blogging, because ---in case you haven't noticed ---most of this blog's posts are either my art (including photography) and my writing ---and of course, I read other blogs.
I might never use up all the art supplies I already have and I create a lot of images on the computer. I write on the computer and usually submit writing via email. And I have stopped buying books. I always borrow them from the library. So, as an added bonus, my favorite pursuits are not free, but very close to being so.


FALLING FOR FALL
I don't like cold weather, but neither do I enjoy heat. My favorite weather is what I call "sweatshirt weather."
I love fall clothes in my favorite shades ---a soft brown pullover, golden tan corduroy slacks, a cozy light-brown sweater with a colorful leaf design, heavy socks and taupe suede boots.
As an artist, I love the fall colors of nature, golden dried stalks of corn and yellow and red autumn leaves. I snap lots of photos so I can create drawings or paintings from them. (See image above.) We live just beyond the suburbs surrounded by farm land and wooded areas. The countryside will be beautiful around the third week of October.
I like autumn much better than I used to, now that I am retired from teaching. It wasn't so much the going back to school that I hated, but it was that I would be losing my freedom to spend lazy afternoons reading in my hammock and that all the things I had planned to do over the summer hadn't been completed ---probably due to those lazy afternoons in a hammock.
Now retired, on autumn days I can look forward to curling up with a good book and a cup of tea on the porch, if weather permits, or in a comfy spot in the house with a cat on my lap.

But there are also things that I don't like about fall. I would be happy if I never saw nor heard anything about football ever again. I miss the birds that gathered at our feeders all summer. Some still come, but most will be gone. I miss the bright flowers in our yard and the long daylight hours. I miss sleeping with the windows open. I know that cold weather is just around the corner, which will mean high heating bills, shoveling snow, driving on icy roads, and bone-chilling winds.
As soon as the crisp, colorful fall days disappear and turn into gray winter ones, I look forward to my other favorite season, spring, when everything will be green and bright and new again.
(©2009. C.J. Peiffer)

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Lazy afternoons reading in the hammock! Now that sounds like a perfect time. You wrote so well with the prompts. I love what you would do if you could. Artwork is fascinating. And a great way to make the world a more beautiful place.

junebug said...

I love that picture.
You reminded me of my favorite pair of courderoys. Yeah fall clothes.

My Life in Purple said...

I love the term "sweetheart weather", I may have to steal that. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Kara @ His, Hers and Ours said...

What a beautiful picture! You are so talented!!

My next favorite season is spring too. I love seeing the new colors after a bare winter.

Deb said...

-->I like weather that doesn't require extra clothes to walk outside.

www.WebSavyMom.com

Unknown said...

I like fall because it is the harbinger of so many changes: the oppressive summer heat is over, the toil of farming and harvest is nearing an end, the honking geese will soon fill the air, and last but not least, football is once more upon us.

I associate the winter with curling up in the armchair and reading - summer is too busy. Odd juxtaposition in our thoughts there.

KatBouska said...

Mmmm reading and writing and creating...if I could have a whole weekend of JUST doing that! Sounds heavenly!!

Panamamama said...

Ahh, the hammock days. I will miss the birds too.
I love to utilize the library too. Now ours has books you can download so you don't even have to go in if you don't want to, but I love the smell of a nice old book myself!