Where Do You Find Your Inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes you have it and sometimes you don't.  I've been thinking in the last few days that a muse would not be such a bad thing. It's been really hard to find inspiration in the last little while. Sometimes I think that I live a somewhat limited lifestyle... especially in the winter. Summer time is great and I go out as much as I can but in the wintertime, I stay close to home mostly because I can't afford to slip on the ice and damage my back any more than it already is.  Recently its been quite icy, which means that I'm not getting out as much as I would like and certainly not finding the all illusive inspiration.

Nothing inspires me like the great outdoors. Nothing inspires me like paddling down a lake or a river with my paddle dipping quietly in and out of the water.  I usually do that in spring summer or fall, but what I really want to do is take a canoeing trip in the winter.... no I do not want to camp in the winter but yes I do want to paddle down the river when snow is falling and while the banks are showing white and frosty. I want it to be cold enough that the snow that falls is not wet snow but warm enough that we're not freezing our buns off. I want to be able to pull out my camera and take pictures of the pristine silence of winter.  Inspiration?.... I think so.

Nothing inspires me like new experiences. I'd like to do something I've never done before.... and while paddling in the winter would meet that criteria, I can think of other things I'd like to do too. I'd like to go for a horse and sled ride... a real horse and sled ride. Not these modern concocted things that lots of places put off for Christmas that are so slow moving that when you get off the cart at the end of the ride you are surprised to look in a mirror and realize that your hair hasn't turned any greyer than it was when you first got on earlier in the afternoon (at least that was my experience). I remember reading in my Little House On The Prairie books when Laura (the main character), spends a wonderful afternoon with Almanzo, (her future husband), going up and down the main road in a fast moving small cutter singing Christmas carols. They would whip down the road and well out onto the prairie before making a wide arc and turning back onto the main road again. I can only imagine how much fun that must be and since reading that I've always wanted to do it.  How inspirational that would be! You'd feel charged for months.

Nothing inspires me like good music... and I love the symphony.  It's been so long since I've been to a concert with a symphony. Over 20 years.  When I was growing up, my mom, who also loves the symphony orchestra, would buy tickets to the Saint John's symphony... (I don't even think there is such a thing any more) and we would go together for an evening of beautiful music that transported you to another time and another place. I try to get the same affect from time to time by playing some of the classical music CDs that I have here. It's not the same though. Somehow you cannot replace the thrill of the drums that raise to a crescendo and as it does so you can feel it all through your body. Somehow you cannot replace the movement of all the violin bows moving in unison or the harps trilling. I miss that.

What is it that inspires you?  When Teapot asks me what I want for Christmas it is this that I know must be my response.... I will say, " Dear, all I want for Christmas is a little inspiration!"

I wonder if I will get it.