Filling in the Blanks

Finally spring has sprung in Western Canada! It was a busy weekend as hubby and I continued to tidy up and prepare our garden. We've been at it for a few weekends now. Living in the country means this is no small task but we are nearly done the big spring push. The veggies are in, the flowers are ready to go into the pots once that final threat of frost is over, and the fountain is finally set up.

One of the highlights for me is the week that my espaliered apple tree blooms. It is a little lopsided so far but in the foothills alive and blooming is a good start.

 

My reason for attempting this technique stemmed largely from needing to do something decorative with the large blank wall at the back of my garage. Later in the season the apple will be flanked by two clematis. It is shaping up nicely and actually wasn't that hard to do.

I started with an inexpensive hardy apple that I purchased at Canadian Tire. I chose this particular one because it already had two sets of branches that were directly across from one another. I guess I cheated but it worked for me. After that it has just been a matter of pruning and training it onto wires bolted into the wall.

I'm pretty pleased with it and would encourage anyone with one of these big blank spaces to give it a go. Now if I just had some great tips for controlling the dandelions....

Hanging Art Without Getting Hung Up

My parents have recently moved into a new house and are rapidly moving toward making it their new home. Since my Mom doesn't really have an artistic bone in her body she asked me to come and help her hang up her many artworks. Since I'm pretty good at this, in just a few hours we were one step closer to making their house a home.

Here are a few tips for hanging art:

Many people hang their art too high. Remember that art will be viewed at different heights depending on the function of the room. In a living or dining room art will be viewed from a seated position and should be hung only a few inches above sofa height. In a hallway art can be hung a bit higher as it will be viewed from a standing position.

These three tiles are both grouped and hung very low to relate to the scale of the meditation chair.

 

If it is a large wall group items. Create a gallery by grouping items that are similar. This could be similar subjects, similar frames, or similar colors. There needs to be something that makes them family.

If you aren't sure about how to make a balanced grouping cut paper rectangles in the size of the frames and tape them to the wall until you like the arrangement. If you are using new frames you can just use the paper backing that comes in the frame. 

This painting (by yours truly) is about 2/3 the size of the wall space.

Choose a wall that is appropriate to the size of the artwork. Nothing looks more lonely than a single piece of small art on a huge wall. A good rule of thumb is the rule of thirds, the art should take up about 2/3 of the wall space.

Tucking this painting in close to the bookshelf means it is not hanging out all by itself.

Tuck it in. Artwork does not have to hang right in the center of a wall. If you have a smaller piece, or a large wall, you can tuck it closer to an arrangement of furniture so that it is not left hanging out in space.

Choose art you love! If it doesn't uplift you, don't own it!

Obsessed with Orchids

As spring takes its own sweet time to arrive here in Alberta I am finding myself craving the lovely vibration of orchids.

I have several of these beauties in my home and I think I could develop a serious addiction to them. They brighten my living room, dining room, and one of my bathrooms and keep me from going insane during the long winters.

Here are five reasons to give orchids a try;

1. They are as cheap as a bouquet of flowers but last longer. Orchids used to be very expensive, but are now so widely grown that for about $15 you can find one to fill every empty corner. This price tag means you can either keep them and see if they will re-bloom, or toss them and buy another. The one pictured here has bloomed for me twice a year for about 4 or 5 years, now that was $20 well spent!
2. They are easy to care for. Water once a week (I use rainwater on all of my indoor plants), make sure their roots get air (pots should have holes to let excess water escape), let them be cool at night, about 16 degrees Celsius is perfect.
3. They are said to have a very high vibratory quality and will raise the chi in your home. If they don't do well, you might want to do a little chi check.
4. They soften and smooth the energy in a space and are a great cure for attracting a refined mate.
5. They come in a huge variety of colors, sizes and styles. You can find one that will enhance any decor or fit into any space. Grouping smaller ones into a larger bunch makes for a really dramatic display.

You can find orchids everywhere from specialty florists to your local supermarket. The trick that I have found is to buy them when they first come in and look super fresh. This is especially important if you buy them at big box stores. You gotta get 'em before they are over watered or ignored to death.

Need a little chi boost? Try an orchid.

A Trend I Can Do Without

Recently I was in a popular home furnishings store, browsing with a friend, for nothing in particular, when I came across a display which made my 'Feng Shui Eyes' pop open in disbelief. Sitting perched prominently upon an interestingly appointed bed were two toss pillows which made me stop to take a second look.

Seriously! I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and more importantly, what I was feeling. Now, I am all for embracing a trend, and these kind of word graphics have been around for a while now, but this one makes me shake my head.

For whom would one want to leave this message? Particularly in a bedroom! Your partner? How would you feel if your partner left this message for you?

I felt assaulted by this cushion, and I was just walking by it in a showroom.

www.ourfifthhouse.com

Then yesterday I found another example of this typographic art online. www.ourfifthhouse.com blogger, Carmel, loved this graphic and felt that it represented her family's sarcastic sense of humor perfectly, employing it when she went to decorate her foyer. I must admit that the feeling it gave me was not quite so offensive, perhaps because I also have a bit of a sardonic streak.

Ultimately though, I believe that the images and items in our homes have an effect on us and on those whom we allow to enter them. I think that with all of the fear based, negative messages we are bombarded with daily, adding them to our living spaces is just too much.

This, for me, for now, is a trend that I can do without.

Sharing the Feng Shui Love

2011 has been a crazy year so far. As if my Feng Shui consulting business has not kept me busy enough, I have also been working hard on establishing a Feng Shui Practitioner training program to share my love of feng shui with others looking to get started in this fascinating art. (Hence the lack of blogging activity)

A few years ago I read the 'Conversations with God' series of books by Neale Donald Walsh. In the books Mr. Walsh asks the reader to imagine the 'greatest vision of the grandest version' of themselves. I remember thinking "what would that be for me?"

Teacher. That was the word which immediately popped into my head. However, I had no idea at the time what I was being asked to teach. I have always felt like something of a teacher, even offering neighboring kids art lessons in my basement in early childhood. I love to learn and part of me wonders what the point of all that learning is if you have no one to share it with? So when I fell in love with the artistry and magic of BTB Feng Shui it felt natural to want not only to practice, but to share by teaching.

This tiny seed of a thought germinated for a while, was nurtured by my imagination and has now bloomed into the Sacred Lotus School of Feng Shui. With my two partners, Janelle and Kelly, we have created what we intend to be the premier BTB Feng Shui Certification course in Canada (we have the honor of being recognized as a Gold Member School of the International Feng Shui Guild). The learning curve has been enormous but so has the satisfaction of creating something from nothing.

Thoughts become things! Get your thinking cap on : )

(Sacred Lotus School offers Practitioner Certifications, Introductory classes, Advanced BTB classes and dowsing courses)

Spring Aready?!

Wow, I can't believe I have not written anything on these pages for over 3 months. Clearly I can not call myself a serious blogger : ) The Mayan calendar time is becoming more condensed, making everything seems so much quicker and I, for one, certainly feel like it has just passed so quickly! I am almost embarrassed.

The time since Christmas has just flown as my partners and I have been busy creating our upcoming BTB Certification courses, both for Red Deer College and for our on site courses here in Calgary, Alberta. We are working on creating a fantastic class which will give students a great foundation in feng shui as well as teaching, as best we can, the theories brought to life by our former teacher Professor Lin Yun.

I have to go now, so I can get the manual finished in time but I will try not to let the time between posts drag on so long. If you are interested in receiving my newsletter, which I do manage to write each and every month, do sign up at this page!

The Advent of Yin Day 16: Silent

"Silent night, holy night; all is calm, all is bright"....Yin, yang, yin, yang. The Christmas story, and likely every story can be a study in the movement of yin and yang.

It is notable that in this most yin part of the year we celebrate the story of the birth of Christ. Heaven come down upon the earth. A bright star punctuated the blackened sky to announce the birth of Jesus. It is a visual not unlike the most full black part of the tai chi symbol and it's symbolism is shared amongst many traditions besides Christianity. Within the deepest of yin, there is a seed of yang. Within the darkest part of humanity's soul resides the light.

Allow yourself the luxury to turn off the Christmas clatter and enjoy a silent night.

Silent is my final yin word, as the solstice is upon us.