July 20, 2020
Hi y’all,
I hope you and your families are doing well. There are so many changes to adapt to it can be overwhelming. Stress levels are up for a multitude of reasons. My wish is that you find something of use in this blog post.
Recently, I learned gardening is being used as therapy in the UK and it’s helping people. If this interest’s you and you haven’t done it before. Start out small. Educate yourself in the area you’re interested in and have fun. Here’s a link if you’d like learn more about green therapy: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/may/13/green-therapy-gardening-helping-fight-depression
If you’ve always wanted to write books but keep putting it off, do it. Start with a short story. Find a group of writers. Want to write fiction and nonfiction? Lots of us do! I have a teatime cookbook and a journal both available on Amazon. Or, you might be interested in nonfiction such as memoirs. I have a friend, Joan Neubauer, who’s written a great book on this topic. You can find her book here: From Memories to Manuscript: the Five Step Method of Writing Your Life Story
The Scottish-English Texan: 56 Teatime Recipes
I create stories to entertain people, an opportunity to be transported to another place, or assist someone by looking at something in a way that gives them greater understanding, For my visual art, my goal is to bring beauty to the person looking through my portfolio.
Tambra’s Watercolour and Gouache tribute to Claude Monet
Having delicate health means every single day is a precious gift. I focus on what I can I do today: finish edits on my novella, tweak that short story for middle graders, try to sketch and paint a mermaid in ProCreate. From the time I was twelve years old, I knew I wanted to be a writer and artist. Of course, these are not optimum conditions, but my drive to continually be creative is an integral part of me. Not being able to create makes me physically sicker.
I challenge you left-brainers out there to be creative (in a positive way, please.) Colouring is a stress reducer. Cooking can be creative, building something from wood, woodburning, soap making, sewing, gardening, learn to play a musical instrument, recycling/upcycling items. If being creative is new to you don’t automatically say what you’ve done is a piece of crap. A new skill takes time to learn so give yourself a break and have fun.
Make the most of the time you have right now. What can you learn, create, and share with others? I believe I was given the gift of storytelling and writing as well as art. Not everyone will like my writing and art, but some will. Being creative reduces stress and stimulates areas of your brain that will help you think of out-of-the-box solutions in your life.
Smudge Alpin MacRuff
I hope you find a creative activity is fun, that you can share with family and friends.
Maybe we can take away something positive from 2020. A deeper understanding of how precious life is and how to make the most of it. Smudge Alpin MacRuff wants you to be kind and love one another.
Wishing you peace and love,
Tambra Nicole and Smudge
Tambra Nicole Kendall 
I’ve tried a mini garden, but I didn’t keep up with it. My green bean plant grew super fast and then died. But, it was fun trying it out. I’m a right brainer so making crafts comes natural to me, but it is a stress reliever. Thanks for sharing your post. Cute little dog (Smudge Alpin MacRuff).
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Hi Sonya,
I totally agree with you on being a right-brainer and how crafting comes naturally. I’d love to learn how to create digital papers for crafting. You have some beautiful digital projects at your blog. Y’all check out Sonya’s blog, she has some really nice projects.
I’ve been watching UK gardener, Monty Don and learning how people create gardens in small spaces.
Thank you for the compliment about Smudge. He loves everyone. He just wants everyone to pet him and pay attention to him. If someone has a cat or other dogs, Smudge doesn’t care. There’s a cat that lives down the street who is crotchety to the people that own him but he Smudge are friends.
I appreciate you stopping by!
Hugs and prayers,
Tambra
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Hi Sweetie, Enjoyed your post. We are working with flowers in the yard–not into veggies or edibles this year anyway, but are spending a lot of this Corona-time cooking and eating. We’ve both gained weight.
Hope this finds you and yours safe and relatively healthy.
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Rae! So good to hear from you. I want to start a container garden and learn to can vegetables. A small herb garden would be wonderful so I can their healing properties in salves, poultices and such. Hubby is being walked by Smudge most mornings. He gets in about 2 miles.
I’m doing edits for a novella and then I’ll be making contest prizes for readers.
Sending hugs and prayers!
Tambra
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Thanks for the update. I hope you appreciate how interesting your life is.
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