See, these carvings - well, I wasn't trying to apply 'live your dreams' I just sort of was trying to clean my backyard - you see, we had this fire in '97 and these burnt logs which were foundation beams were just junked outside our yard and I thought of cleaning up after all these years. So, what I did, I cut up one beam into 3 and tried my hand at carving - and after chiseling, hammering and sanding - voila - a face appears- so I'm telling you - you never know what you can do. - there could be an interest or talent that you don't know might just emerge -and you'll be surprised - as I was -
Find the inner artist in you - or go for painting lessons, etc.
Okay., you might say, eh, talagang artistic naman talaga si Sheila - okay, then try singing.. buy a magic mike (which I am selling) and you the frustrated singer will become the singer that you always wanted to be.
Okay - if singing is not for you - try this - create a garden - a secret garden, a zen garden, a meadow-garden - etc. Gardening is so fulfilling - so peaceful to be in a garden - create your own.
Go cross-country driving or amtrak cross countrying - actually that's what me and Susan have planned to do in 2004 - anybody interested? we can go state hopping and visit friends along the way- Let's do it.
Write a book - it's everyone's dream to write your own life story - don't know where and how to start - encapsulate your lifetime by decades and target each month to write your first decade of life - and so on, until you finish it - just go and do it and be your own publsiher.
Go study line dancing - it's a lot of fun and it's a good exercise - magiging sikat ka pa sa dance floor- I heard Ime, is a dance instructor - good for you - now you have to teach us.
Start a family tradition - you know I have started in 1996 - making family highlights - and some of you may have received it - anyway, instead of sending christmas cards - I list all the significant events of the previous year and make a highlight and send it out in lieue of christmas cards- Now, as Martha Stewart says - 'it's a good thing' - it is a good thing. Carol Ojeda a former Bridgetine herself and a mutual friend of me and Susan started me on this and I picked it up as it is a real 'good thing' - as a keepsake - your children can keep it as records - and with time just swiftly fleeting by -and threatening old age dementia - this is defintely 'a good thing'
Go pick up flowers and leaves and try pressing them - it's a lot of fun.
O ano pa... throw in some of your dreams and we'll work on it - just keep on dreaming and work on it.
(there are only a few leaves that can be veined - this one is the Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa) - which you will find a lot in QC . In the US - I have tried the astilbe which came out nicely too.
Procedure is very simple - just soak leaves in water for a whole month - tthen, run through water gently and there you are - a skeletonized leaf. The smell is a bomber though.