Mellow Fellow

Natalie Buske Thomas

4 years ago

See this oil painting of a sea turtle come alive in 30 seconds (time lapse)

This is Matthew, an animal rescue sea turtle that has since been released back into the ocean at Tybee Island, Georgia. When I met Matthew I fell in love with his big personality and had to paint him. Sharing this one again today because I feel that a lot of us are on edge and could use a mellow vibe from Matthew the sea turtle.

I’ve had to cut my thoughts or words off many times today. I’m easily fired up, riled up, and spouting off. I’m not argumentative with anyone personally, just chiming in with my own pile-on angry comments- in which nearly everyone in the chain of comments is in agreement. But we’re all agreeing with rage. That’s not a good energy to sustain. No matter how righteous the anger, anger takes a toll on us. So, it’s good to step back and be like Matthew.

I unplugged from the public sphere conversation and jumped onto a gardening site instead. I ordered the “Razzmatazz” grape vine I’ve had my eye on all winter. Our ship date for zone 8 is next week! Well, a bit longer than a week. Valentine’s day. So more like two weeks, but I want it to come sooner so I’ll round down to “next week”. To qualify for free shipping I added a jasmine plant. I was not displeased to have an excuse to tack something else on to my order. 🙂

I greatly look forward to spring planting! I always feel more hopeful when new life is growing. I can hardly wait for the flowers to bloom! Stay strong everyone, winter won’t last forever.