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Tag Archives: reminders

December 13, 2022
by kerrisherwood11 1 Comment

little snowman. [two artists tuesday]

“it was so romantic. i will never forget,” she texted.

reminders are good. we all get lost in the shuffle of life and all its challenges that we sometimes forget the tiny details that add up to the big stuff.

each day – this advent – we open one tiny door of twenty-four on the big box that was delivered to us from dear friends. we take out a small glass bottle and pour two glasses of wine. we clink and, one by one – back and forth – we speak aloud gratitudes for the day. but sometimes…sometimes it is still hard to remember.

this little snowman was wrapped and hanging on our front door, “you had me at merlot,” its message.

in this time of uncertainty, it was perfect timing.

our roadtrip together started with almost six months of daily emails…back and forth…stories and questions and yearnings and news of our every day taking place across the country from each other. it progressed to photographs of coffee mugs texted back and forth and talk of merlot and a raising of the glass to the other. all before we met in person. a foundation, solid, like the snowball base of a snowman. we read parts of this story – our roadtrip – at our wedding years ago, wanting to share our story with all the beloveds gathered there with us.

and she remembered.

so the snowman will sit on the windowsill by the kitchen sink between the small silver tree and a cairn of long island and colorado rocks. the snowman…a nudge for us also to not-forget, to not get lost in the worry, but, instead, to immerse in the magic of our own story and the angels who remind us.

“about love…in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass…” (desiderata)

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

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Categories: art, artist, home, kerri sherwood, life, love, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: advent calendar, angels, angels and presents, artists, bloggers, cartoonists, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, desiderata, don't forget, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, foundation, gift, gratitudes, holiday, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, life, love, love story, our roadtrip, painter, perfect timing, pianist, present, recording artist, reminders, romance, singer-songwriter, snowman, story, the roadtrip, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists married, two artists on a roadtrip, two artists tuesday, uncertainty, wine advent calendar, writers, yamaha artist, yamaha recording artist, you had me at merlot | Permalink.

November 2, 2022
by kerrisherwood11 1 Comment

a smidge of flipped. [not-so-flawed wednesday]

it’s like a romper room book – from the back but not turned over. upside down.

or like i had stood on my head to click. which, of course, i didn’t.

a tree – full of leaves reaching, reaching. no shedding here. no drooping. no waning into the pull of autumn. instead, golden leaves – almost brilliant orange – standing on their stems, stretching, dancing.

perspective rearrange. it took me by surprise skimming through the photographs i had taken. a close-up of the leaves – just one other photo – was also flipped.

perhaps there were just a few minutes there – out in the forest – when the world turned upside down.

maybe we just don’t know. maybe that happens all the time…little smidges of time when all is flipped. maybe that’s good. especially when right side up is pokin’ at us a little. reminders to stand tall. reminders to stretch. reminders to dance.

i cannot get diana ross’ fabulous voice out of my head, “upside down, boy, you turn me inside out and ’round and ’round…”

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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Categories: art, artist, kerri sherwood, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, Uncategorized | Tags: artists, autumn leaves, bloggers, camera, cartoonists, composer, dancing, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, flipped, golden leaves, in the woods, invert, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, painter, photography, recording artist, reminders, right side up, romper room, singer-songwriter, smidges of time, story, stretching, two artists, upside down, world turned upside down, writers, yamaha artist | Permalink.

July 27, 2022
by kerrisherwood11 1 Comment

kitsch. [not-so-flawed wednesday]

i suppose if i opened my 1977 john h. glenn high school yearbook i would find these words. in fact, i am almost positive i would find them. scrawled in pen by more than one friend, on the big white space of the inside hard-cover or the inside back-cover, maybe across the page for the art and literary magazine. there would be other sage phrases too…like “life is a journey, not a destination”…as if there was a what-to-write-in-a-yearbook handbook or maybe taken directly from the blue mountain arts meaningful-phrases calendars of the time. my personal favorites were the susan polis schutz/stephen schutz calendars, books, bookmarks…the colors and shapes of the seventies. pause for a sigh…

hiking on our trail, i am whipping my camera left to right, capturing the gorgeousness of the underbrush, trees in their green glory, a very-blue sky.

the litter almost under my footfall gets my attention. it’s not just paper.

this time, it’s a succinct message – kitschy as heck – but, alas, to the point. “cherish yesterday. live for today. dream of tomorrow.”

i don’t know what to do.

i photograph the torn positivity mantra. richard bach’s words in “jonathan livingston seagull“, rearranged.

i try to decide. do i pick it up, as litter? do i leave it for someone else to read?

because i have been privy to the wisdom of the 1970s – in print form, not just IGs or memes or jpgs, i left it. i thought that someone might need to pick it up, tuck it into their pocket, keep it on their bedside table or tape it to their mirror.

who doesn’t need a reminder to truly cherish yesterday? who doesn’t need a reminder to truly live for today? who doesn’t need a reminder to truly dream of tomorrow?

kitsch has its place, after all.

*****

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

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Categories: art, artist, kerri sherwood, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, Uncategorized | Tags: artists, bloggers, cartoonists, composer, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, hiking, itunes: kerri sherwood, john h glenn high school, jonathan livingston seagull, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, kitsch, kitschy, life, litter, mantra, not-so-flawed wednesday, notice, painter, pay attention, positivity, recording artist, reminders, richard bach, sage words, singer-songwriter, story, susan polis schutz, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, wisdom, wisdoms, writers, yearbooks | Permalink.

December 3, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

reminders. [two artists tuesday]

heart leaf

i stopped and went back.  i had to take this picture.  reminders are everywhere and right now, although, truly, as always,  i knew i wanted to capture as many as possible.

it feels as if we are surrounded by whirling hypocrisy.  those people who proclaim one thing and treat people in an extraordinarily different way.  i’ve been stunned into i-don’t-even-know-what-to-say-silence more than once lately.  people who demand respect but don’t give it, people who are unnecessarily controlling, people who go behind your back, people who list toward cruelty, people who declare appreciation but tear down, people who hide behind glossy words.  what is going on?  narcissism seems to be alive and well as we suffer the effects of those-who-believe-they-are-on-pedestals, pedestals that seem to exist on every step of the ladder.  it’s shocking and more than a little disconcerting.  we each have first-hand in-our-own-life experience.  what a disappointment.  we are humans capable of so much more.

and so, the reminders are incredibly welcome.  the heart leaves or rocks, the sun’s rays glowing through clouds in the sky, the presence of a cardinal or two blue jays crossing our path in the woods.  a text message or call out of the blue, beautiful generous raw-matte-finish words spoken to you.  all reminders.  a kindness extended by a stranger, an eye-contact smile.  the big initiatives, the little gestures.  not picking up the tug-of-war rope.  reaching out to offer the olive branch.  life-giving.  practicing.  we are truly capable of so much.  we need be reminded.

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

heart rock website box

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Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: capable of so much more, choose kindness, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, feathers, hearts, humans, hypocrisy, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, leaves, life, life choices, life's lessons, life-giving, narcissisim, pedestals, reminders, rocks, society6.com/twoartists, story, the ladder, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists tuesday | Permalink.

August 12, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

choose kindness. [merely-a-thought monday]

kindness kerouac

we just chose the august movie for TPAC.  WONDER seemed perfect.

“Starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, it is a film with powerful messages about kindness, friendship and the embracing of those who are different. Based on the New York Times bestseller, WONDER tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of fifth grade student August Pullman and a community struggling to find compassion and acceptance.” 

with the climate of our world as it is, we could not think of any family friendly movie that would be more fitting.  we re-watched this movie, reviewing it for appropriateness, for its message.  it is filled with wisdom, reminders of how to be human, quotes that should be on the bathroom mirrors in everyone’s homes, or better yet, plastered to our foreheads.  afterwards, i downloaded the daily wonder app, a source of daily inspirational quotes.  even if you have little time to read, you can read a sentence.  i designed a gift to give every movie-goer that evening.  it’s just a little generosity, but it makes us feel good – and isn’t that what it’s about?

my sweet momma was dedicated to kindness.  she would have loved this movie.  she would wholeheartedly agree with the words of novelist jack kerouac, “practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you are already in heaven now.”  and she would love our in-her-honor ‘be kind’ buttons.  always her parting words, “be kind to each other. be kind.” gentle reminders.  lead with kindness.  filter with kindness.  lean on kindness.  “when given the choice between being right and being kind, choose kind.” (wayne dyer)

there are a plethora of wise, generous, kindness-oriented people in our world, both living and on that other plane of existence we call heaven.  perhaps yielding to their exquisitely eloquent words of guidance would join these planes together.  and we would, indeed, realize that we are – already – in heaven now.

#choosekindness (wonder)

be kind button

if you would like, purchase BE KIND buttons – for you, your friends, your family, your class, your workplace, your club, your organization, your religious community, your neighborhood, your whole entire town

read DAVID’S thoughts this MERELY-A-THOUGHT MONDAY

momma, d & k website box

 

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Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, merely a thought monday, Uncategorized | Tags: be kind, be kind buttons, choose kindness, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, heaven, heaven on earth, inspiration, itunes: kerri sherwood, jack kerouac, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, life, my sweet momma, our world today, practice kindness, reminders, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, story, two artists, two artists living together, two artists on an island, wayne dyer, wonder, wonder app, wonder movie | Permalink.

July 3, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

look in the mirror. stand up straight. [not-so-flawed wednesday]

 

red cup mirror

successories built a business on reminders. powerful, thoughtful, inspiring words that encourage us, motivate us, reassure us, remind us. we hang them in our offices, in our homes; we have daily mini posters on our calendars or our apps; we have mugs with words. we need reminders. in this world of challenges, worries, failures among the triumphs, our tender hearts need to see snippets that keep us going, keep us moving forward, keep us in grace.

i walked into the restroom at the red cup, a sweet coffeehouse on washington island. on the mirror were these words: “you are so cool and intelligent and strong and fierce.” my face stared back at me, right next to these words. a reminder. stand up straight.

to be honest, i suppose the first thing i thought was, “i’m not really cool,” a leftover from high school a million years ago, where i was definitely not in the cool crowd. (i never cut a class. i always did my homework. i practiced the piano. i rode my bike or drove my little vw bug to the beach all year round. i wore lots of hand-me-downs. i never smoked or attended a high school drinking party. i didn’t run with the cool group.) interesting how i still react to that ‘label’ and how it still plays inside me. this stuff hangs on; images we have of ourselves long-haul stick with us.

my next thought – in the restroom – was that we need these reminders. you and i. we ARE cool – in our own distinct ways. we are intelligent. we are strong – stronger than we know. and we are fierce…ready to stand firm for our children, our families, our friends, our beliefs, our selves.

it doesn’t hurt to be reminded. every day accosts us with new problems, complex seemingly unsolvable gordian knots, new reasons for our self image to take a blow, to feel less-than, to fail in this competitive world.   every day presents with a new chance to remember all we have done, all we have risen above, all we have helped accomplish. a chance to see how cool we are, how intelligent. a chance to, yet again, be strong and fierce.  look in the mirror.  stand up straight.

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

archeswebsitead.jpg

 

 

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Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, Uncategorized | Tags: be proud, cool, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, encouragement, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, fierce, grace, inspiration, intelligent, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, life, look in the mirror, motivation, not-so-flawed wednesday, reassurance, reminders, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, stand up straight, story, strong, successories, the mirror, the red cup, the red cup washington island, washington island, words | Permalink.

October 2, 2018
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

memories you can touch. [two artists tuesday]

TV Trays This One copy

he stopped.  walking in the top floor room of a nearby antique mall we love to visit, david was struck suddenly by – of all things – tv trays.  “we had these!” he exclaimed. “growing up, we had these exact trays!” i immediately took pictures.  i knew i would send them to his sister later.  for a few moments, he was back in colorado, clipping the tv tray into place, surrounded by his sister, his brothers, his mom and dad.

when we have free time, we peruse antique stores.  sometimes we are lucky to amble with our dearest friends.  it takes time to walk through antiques – old stuff that connects us to a galore of stories.  we stop and tell tales, sharing, laughing, amazed at how long ago are the moments we are speaking of.  pole lamps that reach floor-to-ceiling, games, figurines, wooden crates, orange and turquoise vinyl furniture, dolls and toys, china, record albums, ancient suitcases with no wheels, teapots and patterns of corelle-ware, mixing bowls and corningware…everything is part of some moment we have passed through, maybe forgotten, but now surfacing with the touch of some item.

i am really thready, without physical reminders.  but with them i can literally touch yesterdays…full of emotion, sometimes pining for times-gone-by.  i relish the stories, the re-visiting.  i can almost, just almost remember our tv trays.  but not quite.  i can’t quite put my mind’s-eye-finger on them.   maybe we will stumble across them one of these days.  and i will stop short.

in the meanwhile, just wondering…what did your tv trays look like?

tvtraywebsitebox

read DAVID’S thoughts on this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

click here to share pictures of YOUR old tv trays

 

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Categories: kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: aarp, antique malls, antiques, corelle, corningware, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, family, growing up, in our free time, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, life, memories, old stuff, record albums, reminders, reminisce, reminiscing, school days antique mall, school days mall, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, stories, story, studio melange, stuff, the melange, thready, touch yesterdays, tv trays, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists tuesday, vinyl furniture, with friends | Permalink.

August 23, 2018
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

sunrise. sunset. [d.r. thursday]

sunrise, sunset copy

we often walk at the end of the work day.  we go inland to a lake trail and walk a couple times around the lake, somewhere around 6 miles or so in total.  we mostly hike around the lake clockwise, which means that we are watching the sun come down across the lake at the beginning of our walk, a time when we are still processing the day and haven’t yet gotten immersed in the trail.  sometimes we are so engrossed in talking or thinking-silence that we have to remind the other to appreciate…”look at that sunset,” one of us will say.

sometimes we will get up early and, with our coffee mugs, go sit on the rocks and watch the sun come up over lake michigan.  every time we are witnesses to the beginning of a new day this way i think we should do that more often.

sunrise.  sunset.  it makes me think of the song from the musical fiddler on the roof.  it’s truly a beautiful song, simple, sung with great heart.  the passing of time.  so fast.  wendy wrote to say it was time to bring logan back to college – for his second year.  i could so so feel how that felt, remembering times i had brought My Girl or My Boy back to college.

“Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don’t remember growing older
When, did, they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they, were, small?
Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.”
(Sunrise, Sunset – by S. Harnick, J. Bock)
life somehow fits in between these sunrises and sunsets.  and somehow, some days, we just seem to miss it.  too many things to do, to worry about, to perseverate over, to check off lists.  every time i vow to honor the sunrise and exhale with the sunset, somewhere in between i realize i forgot.  i’ll try again tomorrow.
SUNRISE. SUNSET. a morsel from the painting A DAY AT THE BEACH
sunrise sunset products

ADayAtTheBeach copy 2

A DAY AT THE BEACH, 38″ x 52″

read DAVID’S thoughts on today’s D.R. THURSDAY

D.R. THURSDAY – ON OUR SITE

Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 12.27.50 PM

please visit our kerrianddavid page and like us on facebook! thank you! 🙂

sunrise. sunset./a day at the beach ©️ 2018/2017 david robinson, kerri sherwood

 

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Categories: art, DR thursday, kerri sherwood, life, Uncategorized | Tags: back to college, back to school, beach, beginnings, david robinson, david robinson thursday, davidrobinsoncreative.com, des plaines river walk, DR thursday, endings, family, fiddler on the roof, hiking, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, life, love, moment by moment, moments, motherhood, presence, quiet walks, reminders, society6.com/davidrobinson, story, sunrise, sunrise sunset, sunset, the boy, the girl, the melange, the passing of time, try again tomorrow, we forget, zero mostel | Permalink.

June 19, 2018
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

find love everywhere [two artists tuesday]

uncropped acorn love

i am a scavenger.  i readily admit it.  it’s not like you don’t know.  you have read posts about my pieces of wood or sticks or rocks or feathers; i have even posted photographs of how these things decorate our home.  but i am always looking…keeping an eye out for something else i can bring home.  something that is natural.   something that will remind me of time spent.  something i really treasure.  and every now and then, i will find a heart – that nature, in its infinite wisdom, has left behind.  a gentle reminder that love is everywhere.

if you'd like to see TWO ARTISTS copy

TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY – ON OUR SITE

read DAVID’S thoughts on this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

find love everywhere ©️ 2018 kerri sherwood & david robinson

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Categories: kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: decorate, decorate with nature, feathers, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, life, love, love is everywhere, natural, nature, outside, re-purpose, reminders, rocks, scavenger, scavenging, society6.com/twoartists, sticks, the melange, two artists, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists tuesday | Permalink.

May 25, 2018
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

taking stock [ks friday]

ks friday primary image BOX copy

takestock PRODUCT BAR copy

there are those moments.  the overwhelmed ones.  when you feel like all is not going your way.  those are the moments that this piece of music is about.  as much as i’d like to think i always remember to 1. stop 2. take stock and 3. give thanks, i need a reminder from time to time.  TAKING STOCK (listen below) from the album RIGHT NOW is all about remembering to have gratitude, for where i am, any second of any hour of any day of any year of any time….

click here to download TAKING STOCK (track 1 on RIGHT NOW) on iTUNES

click here to download TAKING STOCK (track 1 on RIGHT NOW) on CDBaby.com

click here to purchase the physical CD RIGHT NOW

click here (or on product box above) for TAKE STOCK products

KS FRIDAY (KERRI SHERWOOD FRIDAY) – ON OUR SITE

read DAVID’S thoughts about TAKING STOCK

TAKING STOCK track 1 on RIGHT NOW & TAKE STOCK products ©️ 2010 & 2018 kerri sherwood

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Categories: kerri sherwood, ks friday, life, music, Uncategorized, yamaha | Tags: cdbaby: kerri sherwood, gratitude, have gratitude, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood friday, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, ks friday, moments, not going your way, overwhelmed, presence, remember, reminders, right now, right now cd, society6.com/kerrisherwood, take stock, take stock products, taking stock, the melange, where i am, where you are, yamaha, yamaha artist, yamaha recording artist | Permalink.

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