Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!
 

Pen and watercolor illustration for print. https://sandybock.com/

Though you may not be picking anything out of your home garden yet, no doubt you're outside playing in the dirt this weekend. I learned to love having a home garden from my parents and my extended family. 

As a kid, I remember always being barefoot, climbing trees, and purple stained hands from the long summer days picking elderberries. Yum! I think that's where I grew to appreciate and have compassion for all creatures. Bats in particular seemed to love sleeping in the elderberry bushes, but they also kept the insect population under control. 

As a mom, when my kids were just wee ones, I grew a small vegetable garden and had a couple raspberry bushes. Kids love picking raspberries! I know because it was, and still is, my favorite! As we went through many tough years, as so many of us have, the garden was less nostalgia, and more necessity. The DIY era we are in now has brought many of us back home and learning or relearning, those "domestic" skills. Social Media is now flowing with creative home energy from gardening, to canning, to making your own clothes. I am no different, and I am thankful I grew up in a DIY household back in the 70's and 80's.

So get outdoors this weekend! Go play in the dirt and appreciate all those new plants popping up in your gardens. Take a walk or hike at your community parks and have compassion for all those new creatures who just arrived. Take your shoes off, read a book, draw a picture with your kids, and blessings! 🍅🏡 (Please visit my new site!) https://sandybock.com/

The Bigger Picture

It has been a historic and turbulent week. Despite the turmoil, I still believe our diversity can find a common ground. I focus on the nooks and crannies of undisturbed peace, like the sweet boy in my painting here I did a few years back. Each of us has a part to play in the world and in our country and no part is too small or insignificant. All of us, including the critters, are vital. Take each step, keeping in mind the consequence of your actions but without the burden of perfection. Each stroke of paint you put down is a piece of a bigger picture. Never lose site of the bigger picture.