A Wonderful Journey Through Creativity.

                       Ah the joys of sitting at a desk, filling papers with all kinds of creations

stories or sketches poems and songs, all the beauty of creation every part of me loves it. Surrounded by boxes of paper colorful scraps and small sketches scattered here and there, bright pens and pencils in pots greet me every time I sit down to write, erasers and pads filled with dreams and thoughts call to me wanting to be finished. The beauty of a blank page, what will it be ? a princess a fairy or some far away place only seen in my dreams ? the skies the limit when a blank page sits before me.

With only my imagination to be my companion I start out on this journey this adventure full of wonder.
 I'm off  for another adventure.

Thoughts On Wuthering Heights.

  This week I have been living on the moors in Wuthering heights. Emily Bronte's tale of of passion and greed is a really different read for me, my usual reads end happy and perhaps for a time make me forget all but the characters in the story. It is a pity miss Bronte did not live long enough to write any more tales, I believe she and her sisters had a real genius for being authors. I have read a book from each of the sisters and they all were so good in their own way.
Wuthering heights is a tale of emotions, it more looks at the dark side of human nature, than the happy one on which we try and dwell. The characters are I hope exaggerated, I can't help hoping as I read that no real living person could feel all of these hateful feelings, wouldnt any living creature feel some remorse or regret to cause a life time of agonizing mental suffering and repent for the enjoyment they felt at watching that other person be tortured in pain.
Emily paints a cold picture of a heart void of love and in its place where beauty should blossom and make new a seed of hate born from passion and greed springs up like thorns and briars, constricting and suffocating any attempts the heart would dare to try and feel love or compassion finally giving in to the blackness that surrounds it. All the wile I read this I keep looking for some sign of true feeling between Catherine and Heathclif but again and again they torture each other with cruelty all because of there unrelenting anger born from love and turned to rot and blackened hate.
Could two people really love each other and then have these kinds of feelings toward that person of so dark a nature? I cant imagine the thoughts going through Emily's mind as she penned the words to this dark tale, I know I try and feel the emotions in my self before I place the burden of them on my own characters.
Herein the pages if you choose to read lies the dark side of the human heart, diabolical revenge spanning the the coarse of a lifetime and the ultimate ruin that can only result when a person is caught in that blackened trap of hate, revenge, and unbridled anger, not choosing to love the other person but rather treat them brutally as if they were worthless. The story portrays the demise of head strong obstinacy, and burning wounds hidden away to be thought on with grotesque hatred never allowed to heal.
I cant hate any of the characters in the novel but rather I pity them, all lost in there own desires unwilling to let them selves be free made hard by circumstance and blindly following the mistakes of others.
In the end though I believe Emily tried to make the point that change to a cold and lifeless heart could take place and be given warmth again, the change for them takes place after they are released from there self inflicted tortured lives here on this earth and can finally the hidden love they both shared is made free of the blackness there hearts felt in life and can finally have its way.
A truly interesting story perhaps not the most romantic or happy but there are many lessons to be learned from it.

Hope Mondays.

Hello all, we find our selves at the beginning of another week, another monday another chance to start off fresh. Heres part two of last weeks hope mondays if you haven't read part one I suggest you do you can read it Here. Last week we read verses three through seven today lets pick up all the way at verse eighteen
 v18 Day by day the Lord takes care of the blameless, or those who are perfect and they will receive a reward that lasts forever.
v19 They will survive in hard times they will have more than enough and be satisfied
v23 The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord, He delights in every detail of there lives
v 24 Though they stumble they will not fall for the Lord holds them by the hand.
How beautiful are these four verses ?
Our heavenly father takes care of His children those who are perfect and blameless, and we don't have to worry about being perfect in every thing we do, if we make a mistake we are free,  because our Father sees us through His perfect Son and His perfect completed work at the cross. We are forgiven for all time and everything we have ever done or will ever do, all we have to ever do is receive the free gift of Jesus blood washing away your and my sins, and receive a relationship with the Father. Because of this He takes care of us all our lives each and every day. I love that not once a week or sometimes once a week no, day by day. When we need Him He continually renews us and takes care of us like a Good Father would.
Have you ever felt insignificant to God, like He's to big and you are so unworthy to come to Him, do you feel like He's to busy to care ? STOP feeling that way right now ! Our father sees you just like He sees His Son perfect and blameless., and He delights in every detail of your lives WOW every detail, even down to what clothes you wear, what car you drive, your dreams, He delights in you! every part of you, take comfort in that, you are on the forefront of His mind. The next verse says He holds you by the hand, how encouraging He loves us so much, the greatness is to much to count.
v39 The Lord saves the righteous, He is there fortress in times of trouble.
v40 The lord helps them rescuing them from the wicked, He saves them and they find shelter in HIm.
What a great and mighty God we have, focus on Him delight in Him, trust Him and He will save, protect, love, sustain, carry, be our father, and our joy. Focus on Jesus read His word He loves you so much, take that love meditate on it , your life will never be the same I promise you.
Renew your hope by looking at Jesus and our Father, receive these promises there for you, let Him be your hope forevermore. You will lack no good thing ever.

One Autumn Night

Its dark out side, the air is still and clear with just the slightest hint of chill to make me shiver.,
I doubt if there were a light I would see my breath in great puffy clouds before me,
and yet the night surrounding me whispers of winter soon approaching.
Tonight I can hear nature yawn and stretch its weary self reading for a long and deep sleep.
From over head comes the lonely distant call of geese taking there long flight to the warmth they see 
across the horizon, calling to each other I can imagine them in great flocks splitting the sky in two great     black lines almost as if in a dance. 
My heart soars with them feeling there exhilaration and excitement, I draw in a breath at there marvelous cries almost wishing I could take wing and fly. But no I'm happy here where I stand watching this world as it turns a golden hue. I will enjoy the beauty whilst I can, before winter comes and nature changes again.

Copyright Rachel Hope 2011. 

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

                                                               Adieu summer,
                                                               Fare thee well,
                                                    you were not here for very long
                                                    but I will remember you forever. 

                                   Will you not hold on just a bit longer ?
                          I beg you don't let go so easily to the cold winter weather.
                                    I will wait for your long sunny days
                                        all through the frosty winter
                         I'll not forget the lazy days that we spent together
         or the dreams that danced before my eyes while wrapped in your colorful gaze
         or the breezes that sang to me drifting across the fields adorned in bright green.
                   when winter is long and I long for a bright summers day,
    I'll close my eyes and lay in a field with soft flower perfumes dancing about me
                  I'll hear the melodious harmony peaceful nature sings
           and be lulled by the chatter from the birds high in there trees.
               Yes I'll wait for you, so come again it wont be to soon
                                   Goodbye dear summer for now
                                                    I know I'll see

                                                         You soon.


Photographs from pintrest

Copyright Rachel Hope 2011. 

what I love wednesday

Today I thought I would post about one of my favorite illustrators, Arthur Rackham, I will be posting a lot about my favorite artists in the future, but I just had to start with Him. His art is some of my favorite fairy tail art I only wish I had a book with His illustrations, then I could cary them with me. His art is surreal he brought to life all the old and enchanting fairy tales I love in a beautiful slightly dark interesting way, fairy tales were made for him for sure.
Heres a bit of  background on this genius gentleman artiest.

Arthur Rackham was born in London as one of twelve children. He studied art at the Lambeth school of art, he took full advantage of the techniques of his day which resembled photographic reproduction; first sketching in an outline of his drawing, then lightly blocking in shapes and details, afterward he would add lines with pen and ink, removing the pencil traces after it had dried. With color he would then apply multiple washes of color until transparent tints were created. He would also go on to expand the use of silhouette cuts in illustration work. Essentially a graphic journalist in his early years, the young artist showed little of the imaginative genius that was to emerge later, he did develop an eye for detail and integrity of line that characterized his later work.

a selkie woman, I love how her dress looks like the waves, she looks so tormented, do you see the faces in the water ? 

  

This ones from the snow queen, if you wave ever read the fairy tail you will know this matches the story very well, its definitely how I imagined it.

an early sketch of alice, from alice in wonderland

                                                

This is my all time favorite living trees how imaginative! I love how the leaves look like fabric or clothing
I also love the expressions on the faces hers is a bit apprehensive but unafraid, and his is in raptures looking at her, I also love how there holding hands. I could stare at it for ever, makes me think of all kinds of stories.

I love how his art has movement and fluidity like a still life capture, notice the detail in the background.

very interesting, and creative 

I love the furry in this one.
In short Arthur Rackham is one of the best illustrators of the late 19th century and early 20th
I find all of his art very whimsical and as an artiest inspiring, because he possessed something I truly treasure in an artiest Imagination in the highest form, nothing was to dark to strange to simple or just plain childlike to be explored.
I hope someday I'll  have the imagination and talent to produce art like this.
What are you loving ?

Hope Mondays.

Psalm 37 Part 1.

I love love love psalm 37, its so packed full of beautiful promises, today I'm only going to pick out those that will give your and my hope a boost.

v3.
Trust in the Lord and do good.
then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

v4. Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.

v5. Commit every thing you do to the lord and He will help you.

v7. be still in the presence of the Lord trust and wait patiently for Him to act.

I was reading the first verse the other morning during my devotions time, and I was wondering how do we do good ? Its not hard to trust in the creator of the universe but how do we do good ? I asked the lord to help me understand and as I re read the first verse the words jumped of the page at me, trust in the Lord and do good, we can only be good by trusting in the Lord and His finished work that He completed at the cross and feed securely on His faithfulness. The next verse says to take delight in the Lord, well How do we do this ? The dictionary defines delight as a high degree of pleasure and joy, the word pleasure means an enjoyable emotion as that arising from gratification of good.
We take joy in the Lord knowing He has gratified us us through gracious pleasing. He is our gratifier through what Jesus did for us at the cross and we are joyful and thankful, thats the natural reaction when someone does something good for us, we take pleasure in that person we are thankful, we praise him and he gives us our hearts desires.
 I love verse five and seven. Our Father always has our good in mind, He doesn't send all the bad in our lives He sends the good, when we place everything in our hearts our dreams our plans our desire in His hands and trust in His strength and not our own, He makes us succeed, and when we wait on Him he will act in our lives on our behalf's.
Take today and enjoy the lords love for you, it doesn't matter what you see on the outside His love is strong enough to cary you through.
He loves you.
Keep hoping.

Lovely Photography.

    Flowers,
     Do they have a point ? in most ways no.
     Do they make you smile ? yes.
   I think God placed flowers here on this earth to remind us of how much care he takes in the small   seemingly pointless details, I think they herald His creativity and love of beauty. Every time I see   beautiful bunches of flowers I cant help but thank Him for the  exquisite details He put here for my enjoyment, then they really have a point don't they,
 
I will be entering my first photography contest, the challenge is flowers.
join here bellefluerphotography

this is one of my favorites 

Hope Mondays.

Sometimes we despair when we find our selves in the valleys of life

 but I want to challenge you today to rejoice when it gets dark and hard 

rejoice because, you have no need of light unless you have shadow.

                            You can only see how brightly Gods light can shine in your life when you have darkness

                 that surounds you.We live in a world that is dark, but we have no fear because our Father in           

Heaven in all his Love shields us from that darkness. What ever you are facing today don't despair don't lose Hope God IS WITH YOU, He loves you and is always with you. 

let that light of Gods word and his love fill up those dark times, and rejoice because your father 

has your every need in mind and can take your cares and carry you through. 

Keep hoping.                 

9/11 Ten Years Remembered

Any human alive on the planet ten years ago, who was old enough to remember will remember september the eleventh two thousand and one, every person has there own perspective a different story connected by this one major event of sadness. I have my own memories of that day. I was only eight years old and yet the impact will live within my memory forever, just like the footage watched around the world immortalized the faces and the emotions of those few hours and the days afterward, these memories and emotions will forever be alive for every human who experienced it in some way or another. being reminded of these makes me think how close we are all, how really alike the world in its own unique way, that when some tragedy occurs we all reach for the same things, hope and faith and sense of  security taken from the love of family and from a divine creator. what stands out in my memory is the footage of thousands flocking to the churches looking for relief and peace, answers and unmitigated love. Those pictures of people from different backgrounds and different races coming to one place, to the mercy seat for the same reason will stay with me forever. Let us not forget, which we are often apt to do those moments when race, religion, background or color of skin knew no bounds and all we saw was the most beautiful display of love from one human to another. The important part of remembering is to go to those moments and pull them to the present and see that we a a people always need these things faith, hope, the love of our father and the security that comes from a family, and remind us to treasure every day every moment regardless of the feelings we may be facing, and to treasure every human life that we may come in contact with. May we never forget these, and the people who lost there precious lives this day ten years ago.
Treasure every day.

Lovely Web Recipe.

Have you been on Heidi Swanson's lovely website 101 cookbooks ?
I found her website about a year ago whilst traversing the many online results for sorbet. Her site was a breath of fresh air amide all the results that didn't pertain to what I was looking for. I have been following her ever sense and thoroughly enjoying all the recipes she offers to us. Oh by the way My family loved the sorbet recipe I got from her, thought I would add that.
This is a recipe she posted yesterday, I have not tried it but I generally trust her recipes.

A Nice Berry Pie.



 














doesn't this look delicious ?  This is Heidi's recipe that follows

Flaky Rye Pie Crust

75 g / v. scant 2/3 cup rye flour
175g / 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
8 oz / 1 cup salted butter
1/4 - 1/3 cup / 60 - 80 ml cold water or beer

You can make the crust using the quick and popular food processor technique. BUT I always make it by hand, using the above ingredients, and this technique. If you like a super-puffy crust, do the folding in Pim's instructions 4x. I usually like mine less so, and fold & roll just 2 or 3 times, depending on how the dough is feeling. The pie in the photo was 3x.

Berry Pie Filling

2/3 cup / 3.5 oz / 100g natural cane or brown sugar
1/3 cup / 1.5 oz / 45 g flour (apf or wwp)
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 sprigs thyme (prefer. lemon thyme) ~ 1/2 t.
2 pounds of berries, (see head notes)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter

1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water, whisked

Large grain sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat your oven to 425F / 220C, with a rack in the bottom third. Roll out your pie crust - top and bottom - on a flour dusted counter. I tend to work the edges a bit first (particularly if I'm getting cracks) - roll and turn, roll and turn, dusting with flour when necessary. Flip once or twice. Work quickly and keep the dough moving. Place between unbleached parchment paper or Silpats, and refrigerate while you make the filling. If you're nervous about rolling out the crust, have a look at the second part of Melissa Clark's video. See how she's not super fussy? Channel some of that. If you need an extra confidence booster, read this. It's o.k. if your dough doesn't roll out into a perfect circle - you can patch and pinch later if needed. Just shoot for 11 or 12-inch inch rounds.

Make the filling by combining the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and thyme in large mixing bowl. Add the berries, and toss gently until well combined. Set aside.

Line a 9 or 10-inch pie plate with the bottom piece of pie dough. Guide it into place without stretching. You want about an inch of dough extending past the rim of the pie plate, trim a bit with scissors or a sharp knife if needed.

Fill the crust with the berries, drizzle with lemon juice, and dot with the butter. Brush the rim of the bottom crust with a bit of egg wash, then top with the other piece of pie crust. Trim the top crust a bit if needed, then press the top and bottom crusts together at the edges. Working around the rim, tuck the overhanging dough under itself, and crimp with a fork or flute using your fingers (see picture up above). Brush the crust with more of the egg wash and place in the oven for about 45 minutes - until the crust is deeply golden. Check your pie regularly after 25 minutes. If you need to foil the edges of the pie - pull it out and do so - this way the edges wont get too dark and dry. I don't have to foil in my oven for this pie, even at this temp, but your oven might be a bit different. I also sprinkle with large-grain sugar about 25 minutes in - for a little extra crunch and sweetness. Let cool a bit, slice and serve.

Serves 8.

Prep time: 90 min - Cook time: 45 min

Now you may think rye crust seems uncanny, but I assure you its not as strange as you may think, I think its sounds delicious and I'm sure at some point I will be trying it. I do hope you enjoy looking over all her wonderful recipes as much as I have. Heres her link.

101 cookbooks, A Nice Berry Pie. 

Enjoy Today.

this recipe is taken from Heidi Swanson's website 101 cookbooks.

The black arrow.

Here today I will attempt my first book review.
I have just completed Robert louis Stevenson's the Black arrow, A tale of the two roses. which I found vary interesting. I love all things middle ages and I thought this story was wonderful, though I have read some reviews that said it was not a true literary treasure and had nothing special about it, and the style it which it was written as hard to understand and the plot hard to follow. I can not disagree more I thought this story was written well, perhaps not as in depth as some of the other literary novels written at that time, but a wonderful adventure tale none the less.
set amide the conflicting alliances during England's war of the roses, we follow young Dick Shelton on an adventure to avenge his fathers murder, his world is turned topside when he discovers the man he thought was his friend the man who raised him since infancy is his one true enemy and is plotting to betray him. Our hero fleeing for his life joins a secret fellowship of outlaws band together to avenge the deaths of upright citizens known as the black arrow. Amide all this he finds true love with his enemies stolen ward Joan Sedley and sets out so save her from his clutches. We follow our hero as he is drawn deeper into the conspiracy of the times and must distinguish friend from foe and ultimately decide on which side of this age old conflict will he pledge his honor. we follow him as he finds the inner hero within him self, and learns that mercy is much more honor worthy that a battle scarred knight. and the perils of war and the hasty decisions made in them ultimately hurt more that you might expect.  Despite all the ridicule even some from the author himself I thought The black arrow was an exciting adventure novel, I hope this might compel you to give it a chance.