Easing into 2026

with words, colors, and hope.

When I started these words in my journal last week as the moon was waxing gibbous, the day was bright and sunny but oh, so cold! We had temperatures in the 80s for Christmas but as Georgia tends to do, we dropped back down to freezing temps over night and 40s during the day with gusty winds. Of course this only lasted a few days but it was enough to flare up the respiratory symptoms I’ve been struggling with since Thanksgiving. Now on this soggy Sunday morning after a full moon Saturday filled with random downpours, it is a mild 50 degrees and cloudy and my symptoms are receding again. Winters in Georgia are so random. According to the forecast, we’ll be back in the 70s and sunny again next week when I head back to my day job.

I want to write. I have cleaned out, organized, and brought life and light back into my little writing space here at the farm. I’m inspired by so many. I read December Dalliance by Church Goin Mule. Her words flow like a stream of love across and down the page and into my very soul. I wish I could get my words to flow forth onto the page so easily and fluidly as they seem to be when they’re spinning around and around in the whirlpool of my mind.

If you want to remember that despite these cold, blustery days, spring will return, check out A Break from the Brown Season by Sarah Kelsey. Her photos will bring a smile to your face and warmth to your heart and we all need to meet the juniper hairstreak. She’ll inspire you to look for places nearby to hike and become one with the natural world.

If, like me, you need to feel the significance of grounded renewal in living after experiencing letting go of another’s life, Keeping Vigil by Kimberly Carter will comfort your soul. Her blending of everyday chores on her horse farm, along with the critical work of holding vigil for her father as he transitions from this side of the veil, along with her prayerful hope for this new year will deepen your understanding of walking in grief balanced with hope.

I have wanted to post an essay for weeks but I haven’t posted since September. A pencil or paintbrush in my hand has felt far easier than a pen or typing on a keyboard. Alas, it is the beginning of a new year and I want to say something—to mark it. Acknowledge and thank 2025 for the tribulations which have only made me stronger—not broken me. I want to thank 2025 for the focus it has given me for 2026.

I need a motto for this new year. No resolutions, no lofty unachievable goals—just a motto that I can carry forward with me. A group of keywords who may or may not be related but who are relatable to me. Key things which will be my focus and everything else will have to fall in around them. Let’s try on a few. I think there should be at least three keywords:

Creativity, Hope, Boundaries

Creativity, Boundaries, Solitude

Creativity, Mental Fortitude, Physical Strength

Creativity, Resilience, Strength

Inspired, Resolute, Sturdy

Sparked, Resolute, Robust

ROUSED, RESOLUTE, & ROBUST in 2026! That’s it! That’s me! Let’s do this!

Currently, I’m painting and writing the 12 days of Christmas. I know everyone else is eager to tear down their decorations they’ve had up since before Thanksgiving but I never decorate before the Winter Solstice and this year I waited until Christmas Eve because I was working up until then, and deeply embedded in my “bah-humbugging” attitude.

Jane Pike made a note about the 12 days of Christmas and I made it my goal to paint, write, or both for the 12 days following Christmas since I was on leave from the demands of my day job until January 5th and I could accomplish this.

Works in my art journal are intuitive and whatever I am inspired by. This may prove to be a challenge to turn this intuitive creativity on for 12 consecutive days.

This is my progress through Day 9 of this personal challenge:

12 Days of Christmas Paintings

Things I’m looking forward to in this new year:

I will be writing in the New Year using the book, Journey In Place: A Field Guide to Belonging, which was a Substack challenge from Janisse Ray back in 2024 but is now in print. I will use this book to deepen my love for my little corner of the world by honoring the trees and animals, ancestors and current inhabitants. Weaving stories of our interconnectedness.

I am sure this book is the impetus for the theme of her annual nature journaling course. I am honored, humbled—and if I’m honest…wonderstruck—to be a presenter in this upcoming online workshop, Journaling Place with Janisse Ray and several others. It’s a 7-week mini course on nature journaling which meets on Sunday afternoons via Zoom. She invites us to journal our place and what better way to start the new year? Bring your journal, pen, colored pencils, watercolors and if you have them, water color pencils and markers—something new and fun I’ve been enjoying lately.

I’m easing into 2026 with a light in my heart and depth in my soul. I will take time to notice the little things to create perspective in the ongoing demands of life. If you see me staring off into the nothingness, leave me be, I’ll return shortly more focused and attentive. Taking these moments to honor my inner peace will become daily practice. Silence and solitude have become two of my best friends. I implore you to spend time with them as well. Time away from mindless scrolling and endless news cycles. Time away from making yourself into someone else for everyone else. Just be you or just be. Put color on paper. Put words on paper. Create intuitively for no one but yourself. Leave behind perfectionism and people-pleasing and step into yourself.

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And just like that—I’ve finally written something to post. It has taken me several days, but I hope I’ve cobbled together a few words that make sense and hopefully resonate with others. Thank you all for being here and supporting my work.

Happy New Year!

Blessings Always,

💜B💜