appreciation | The Direction of Intention

Life Carpentry [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on September 24, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I teased Kerri that this morning that the first thing on my to-do list was to build the ark. It rained again last night. It’s raining now. I’m not talking about gentle downpours; this is an Alabama rain, tropical, an incessant dumping after yesterday’s dumping preceded by the dumping of rain the day before that. Kerri reminded me that my carpentry skills are lacking so, even if I built something that resembled a boat, no animal with good sense would get on it. I have to admit it, she’s right. I’d never set sail on a boat of my own construction.

A few days-that-feel-like-months ago, the sun came out. In the early evening we sat outside so Dogga could sniff the fence line and bark at random sounds. He’s an old dog now so it makes him feel good to bark into the universe. While he investigated the backyard and the greater galaxy, we sat in our Adirondack chairs and watched the clouds. They glowed, putting on quite a show for us. While the beauty of this world evokes a rowdy bark from Dogga, it does the opposite for us: it invites quiet appreciation. It was one of those rare moments when I knew to my bones -at least in that moment – that all was right in my world.

In that moment. Every spiritual tradition on the planet warns of the folly of trying to hang onto the feeling of a moment. The best we can do is savor and move on.

It is good practice to regularly step back from a canvas and from a distance look at the painting. It brings the whole composition back into focus. Stepping back exposes what is invisible when working close-in. “What’s next” becomes readily apparent when standing back. It’s route finding.

The same thing is true in life. It’s why people take vacations or go on retreats or simply take-a-break. To get some distance from our close-in lives and feel what we do not allow ourselves to fully feel, to re-consider, to open the door and invite in the dreams that have been waiting patiently in the lobby.

Sitting in the Adirondack chair, watching with awe the cloud-spectacular, I heard Joseph Campbell in my mind, saying, “No one lives the life they intended.” Had the younger version of me actually built the boat of my intentions and successfully sailed off toward the horizon, I would have missed this moment, Dogga bark-communing with the universe, Kerri and I reveling with the sun on our faces after days of rain, holding hands, shaking our heads at the impossible beauty of the glowing clouds. I thanked all the powers-that-be that my carpenter skills were-and-are lacking, that my life-ship sank in the bay and required me to step back, take a look and live a life of route finding. My path meandered to a place I never imagined, to a moment I did not think was possible. Simple awe. Had I been a better life-carpenter I would have missed it.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE GLOW

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Filed under: Awakening, DR Thursday, Gratitude, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, awe, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogga, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, presence, savor, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Beautiful Together [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on September 9, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

The bouquet came with pink roses. We bought it for the daisies. We could find no bouquet of daisies-by-themselves so the pink roses came home, too. After being sorted out, the daisies went one way and the roses another, eventually landing on Kerri’s night stand.

It’s important to keep in mind that my sweet wife is not a pink-appreciating-girl. She’s a black-thermal-wearing, boot and blue jeans girl. She likes her daisies because they are simple. I believed the pink roses would go through their short life mostly unappreciated.

I was wrong. The next day I found her staring at the arrangement. “I really, really like those,” she said. In our house very few things get a double-really. I can’t remember anything in pink that has ever received a single-really. And, more surprising than her double-really was how much I liked them, too. A pop of pink. They evoked a smile every time I entered the room.

“Who knew!” I said, in a fit of reverse-eloquence, adding, “We should always have flowers on your nightstand.” I meant it, too. I’m particularly fond of anything that evokes happiness, especially in these dark days of idiocracy.

As you might imagine, the pink roses were subjected to several photo shoots. Even in their decline they were kind enough to pose for a picture. There is intense beauty in aging if one has the eyes to see it. I suspect the pink roses are teaching me to open my eyes to the beauty in my present age-and-stage. Rather than stare into the mirror and ask, “Good god, what happened to me?” I am now more capable of measuring myself against the moment I am in rather than comparing myself to the 30 year old I imagine myself to be.

I am not that. I am this.

Besides, I was not all-that when I was 30. Why compare myself to a delusion rather than appreciate fully the reality of the moment?

I kiss Kerri on the forehead, telling her, “You are beautiful.”

“I don’t look like I used to!” she deflects my compliment. I considered sending her immediately to the bedroom to have a chat with the waning pink rose but, instead chose another path.

“Neither do I,” I said. “Looks like we’re going to grow more beautiful together.”

read Kerri’s blog about PINK ROSES

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Filed under: Body, Flawed Wednesday, Identity, Metaphor, Uncategorized | Tagged: aging, appreciation, artistry, beauty, comparison, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, pink, roses, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Too-Small-Of-A-Pot [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on August 17, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

We love our licorice plants so it was with great sadness that, after watching it struggle and become entangled in a mysterious webbing, that we decided it was time to start over. I removed it from its pot, noted how root-bound it had become and dumped it by the garage, our graveyard for withering plants at seasons end. A week later, while emptying grass clippings into the bin, I noticed that the licorice plant was showing signs of life. The mystery web was gone. The color was coming back into its leaves. I moved it into a spot where it would get more sun and decided to check in with it every few days. Out of the confinement of its pot, it thrived. A bigger pot, new soil, a different spot in the yard, and the licorice plant was in full resurrection-mode.

Not to stack metaphors but the new place for our rejuvenated licorice plant is on the old wicker chair that found a new home at the garage-end of our driveway. It has become a resting place for birds, squirrels and baby raccoons. A second chance rests on a second chance in the home of two people who each day are grateful that life somehow brought them a second chance.

In second chances, not only is there more appreciation for the day-to-day, the capacity to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, but there is a sense of deep gratitude – a source of deep gratitude – that was not available in the first go-round. Second chances verify that the impossible is possible. Second chances affirm that there is another side to even the most dire of circumstances; today’s tragedy is tomorrow’s boon so why not live it all as a boon?

I have been a plant that was de-potted and tossed by the garage. As it turns out, the problem was the pot. Being tossed was the best thing that could have happened although it felt devastating at the time. A little air, a little sun – and someone paying attention – it’s a magic formula.

Isn’t that the magic path for anyone in too-small-of-a-pot? And who hasn’t at one time or another been in too-small-of-a-pot?

read Kerri’s blogpost about A SECOND CHANCE

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Filed under: Gratitude, Love, Merely A Thought Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, paying attention, rejuvenation, second chances, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Be In It [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on July 31, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

It is tempting in times like these to just-try-and-get-through-it. I daily remind myself to not throw away my limited time on this earth. Rather than just-get-through I want to be fully-in-it.

No matter what devastation, what havoc and chaos the current administration wreaks on the nation, the ugliness of ICE, the incessant assault on our rights, the sunrise is not to be missed. Dogga wakes us each morning at first light. We hear his gentle clackity-clack, paws on the hardwood floor when he is awake and ready for his old-dog breakfast.

The smell of coffee brewing. The sun on my face. The taste of a tomato plucked from our vine. Fresh cut basil leaves. An evening walk through the marina. A day that I will never ever live again. I do not want to get through it. I want to immerse in it, all of it.

I want to feel enraged at the corruption and abuse. I want to feel shocked at the hypocrisy. I do not want to delude myself that it cannot touch me. Other people’s pain.

I want to fully appreciate the person who reached the top shelf in the grocery store for the elderly woman in the scooter. I want to savor the music in the park and my community that gathers to enjoy it. The extraordinary in the ordinary. The message, a reminder, chalked on the path adjacent to a bench, “Sit down and enjoy the view.” Don’t fall into the trap of just getting through. Sit down. Feel the cool breeze coming off the lake. Allow yourself to marvel at the color of the sails glowing orange and pink in the sunset.

THE WAY HOME on the album THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY ©️ 1998 Kerri Sherwood

Find Kerri’s albums here or streaming here

read Kerri’s blogpost about ENJOYING THE VIEW

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Filed under: Gratitude, KS Friday, Seeing | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, enjoy, immerse, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, marvel, presence, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

Study With Dogga [David’s blog on KS Friday]

Posted on July 10, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Why do so many of us, as we grow into so-called maturity, become dull, insensitive to joy, to beauty, to the open skies and the marvellous earth?” ~ Krishnamurti, Think On These Things

Dogga, in his old age, is doing what my father did in his last years. He sits on the back deck and watches the world. He is not watching the world go by. No! He is taking the world in. I imagine that he marvels at the beauty of it all. The robins taking dirt baths, the squirrels robbing grape jelly from the oriole feeder, the mint and lavender, the smell of earth after the rain. His appreciation of every-little-thing comes from contentment. After a life-long journey he feels no need to achieve or change a thing.

I am watching him and learning. His joy is immediate, quiet and boundless.

The Buddhist tradition posits that desire is the source of all suffering. The desire to be some-other-place. The desire to be some other person. The desire to attain some new thing. Separation from self is separation from the current moment. Dogga, like Columbus in his backyard meditations, is empty of desire, opening present-space for the fullness of life.

Though I cannot claim to be free of desire, I experience those moments sometimes. I drop-in. We walk along the lake after the rain, cool air off the water breaking the heat of the day. Holding hands, we marvel at the sailboat braving the lake so soon after the violence of the storm. She stops to take a picture and I am suddenly open space, empty of desire, beauty rushing in. It is neither too enormous nor too small. I am not a witness or performer. I am simply marveling. Part of. And then, with the thought that it is fleeting, comes the ache, the desire to hold on to all of it. I laugh, knowing better but not able to practice what-I-think-I-know.

Clearly, I have more learning to do (another desire!) and will happily study Dogga. How does he do it? How does he immerse in the beauty of it all and yet not yearn for it to last forever?

WHEN THE FOG LIFTS on the album THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY ©️ 1998 Kerri Sherwood

Kerri’s albums are available on iTunes and streaming on Pandora

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE SAILBOAT

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Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, KS Friday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, Buddhist, contentment, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, desire, joy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, meditation, practice, presence, story, studio melange, the melange | Leave a comment »

The Order Of Things [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 1, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

It had been over a month since we walked our loop trail. Walking a loop is good for processing life since no navigation is necessary. Keep walking and you will arrive back where you started.

We had a ton of life to process. It is remarkable what happens in a life in a month.

While processing life it is not uncommon for us to stop mid-sentence for a photo-treasure-op. A Downy Wood Mint paused our conversation. At the beginning of our relationship I found it jolting when I was in the middle of a full-blown-rant and Kerri broke off to snap a photograph. It was disorienting. I’d lose my rant-thread. “Now, what were you saying?” she’d ask after her photography deviation.

Now I understand and appreciate the order of things: beauty before rant. In fact, after I stopped being surprised by her spontaneous-photo-combustion, I understood that I was not being dis-oriented; rather I was being re-oriented. A good rant should never stand in the way of appreciation of the moment. Like most people on earth, I have missed a raft of the miraculous because I was too busy complaining about days-gone-by. I missed the greater by insisting on the lesser.

Our loop-walking has made me easier in the world. If I lose my rant-thread in a moment of nature-admiration, then it was probably not worth hanging onto in the first place. It is amazing how a pause for beauty or a moment of simple appreciation can lessen or even transform the forest fire burning in my brain.

“Now, what were you saying?”

“I honestly can’t remember.” A spontaneous pause on our loop to visit the tiny purple Downy Wood Mint cooled and soothed my mind.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DOWNY WOOD MINT

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Filed under: Awakening, Gratitude, Uncategorized | Tagged: admiration, appreciation, artistry, beauty, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Downy Wood Mint, Gratitude, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, order, presence, rant, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Simple And Innate [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 23, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Dogga is a master digger. Mostly he digs to produce cool dirt to lay on; a heavy black coat in the heat of the summer months requires cooling ingenuity.

Originally, we tried to stop his innate digging abilities. Then we realized that he’d already worn several serious velodrome paths in the yard from his enthusiastic circle-running, so what possible damage could an unsightly hole or two do to our backyard aesthetic? Besides, his efforts have a delightful side benefit: they create the perfect bird-dirt-bath dirt. Everyday the neighborhood birds flock to the Dogga-dirt-spot like Romans to the baths.

Lately, since he is grown wobbly in his old age, I periodically fill-in the canyons-he-creates so he doesn’t accidentally swing wide in his circle-running and trip in a hole-of-his-own-making. Besides, it gives him more cool dirt to excavate.

It’s the pure joy he experiences in a hole-well-dug that makes us smile with every new crater. Dirt flies, he occupies his new cool dirt mat, and revels in deep Dogga-Dogga satisfaction.

Sometimes I am astounded at what actually fills me with love and appreciation for life. It’s not complicated. It’s simple – and innate – as Dogga digging a hole.

read Kerri’s blogpost about DOGGA-HOLES

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Filed under: Love, Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dogga, innate, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, simplicity, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Having Enough [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on June 9, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

When we are in need of a quick and easy sunset getaway, a mental and emotional break from a hectic day, we drive 15 minutes south to Winthrop Harbor and slow-walk the boardwalk that runs along the marina. The sound of the gulls, the rhythmic clang of buckle-on-mast, the quiet plop of a line cast by someone fishing from the dock, the breeze off the lake…it quiets the mind. On the weekends, bands play from a small stage to people sitting on the grass adjacent to the boathouse where Harbor Brewing runs a pop-up beer garden throughout the summer months. It sometimes feels old-worldly: people gathered together to drink a beer at sunset, tapping their feet to music from a local band. Some folks surround fire pits. Others sit in fold-up chairs, blankets at the ready in case the wind shifts off the lake. The siren-smell of brisket and burgers wafts over the gathering.

It is enough. It is more than enough. Simple people enjoying their simple moment.

Last week Kerri wrote a post that hit-the-nail-on-the-head. She asked, “What’s missing?” in the hearts and minds of the republicans and the administration currently robbing the country blind. Her answer? Reverence. In this cohort there is no reverence for nature, for people, for ideas, for science, for the future, for the past. There is only insatiable hunger for more, more, more. They are hungry ghosts. “In Buddhism…These beings are depicted with scrawny necks, tiny mouths, and huge bellies, representing an eternal, painful inability to satisfy their desires.” (Wikipedia) We are subjected to a gaggle of people who live in the existential emptiness of “never having enough”.

Reverence. Awe. Wonder. Veneration. These are born of respect. They require a certain humility that comes from knowing-to-your-bones what it is to “have enough.”

If a picture paints a thousand words then all we need to truly understand what’s happening in this republican administration is Paul Cadmus’ painting, Gluttony.

Morbidly wealthy. Hoarders. Absent of reverence. Completely incapable of understanding what makes (or will make) this nation great: simple hardworking people who believe in equality and fairness, gathering together to share the fruits of their labor, the deep satisfaction of neighbors playing music, of the sun setting over the harbor, enjoying a meal or buying a beer for friends. Slow-strolling the boardwalk. Knowing to their bones the enormity of appreciation that comes from having enough.

read Kerri’s blogpost about SUNSET AT THE MARINA

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Filed under: Two Artists Tuesday, Uncategorized | Tagged: appreciation, artistry, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, gluttony, hungry ghost, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, paul cadmus, republican, reverence, story, studio melange, sufficiency, the melange, veneration | 1 Comment »

Done! [David’s blog on DR Thursday]

Posted on May 21, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

I am losing the recall of words and names. It happens. I threatened to take a brain booster and the notion sent us into gales of laughter because, we concluded, I am a more likable person with a less-sharp brain. I will do better in the world now that the edges are rounding. It is best to walk into the future without the booster and a few less facts-at-my-fingertips.

I confess that with my diminished capacity I have experienced greater contentment. Knowledge was armor and with less access to weaponry I’m having to exercise a different set of skills: keeping my mouth closed, listening, not-knowing…the things I’ve pursued my entire life but am now able to achieve because I have to practice them. Life is funny.

I’m splashing paint. I have a plethora of old canvas and odd shaped boards. Simultaneous to my new less-than-sharp brain, when in the studio, I’m experiencing the deep desire not to think about anything. To paint with no other purpose than to see what happens. Experiment. Art as life in the laboratory. Twice in the last week Kerri has come into the studio to see what I’m working on and said, “I like this one.” When I ask her what she sees, she squints her eyes, approaches the easel, and flips the painting over. Up is down and down is up. It is my clue that the painting is nearly complete.

“What would you call this?” It is always my second question: Without hesitation she gives it a name. I marvel at what she identifies in the splashes. I call the painting, “Done!”

Inevitably on the trail, she “Ooooohs” and kneels to capture the tiniest of blossoms. It is the time of year that nature gives her too much to photograph. We stop every few feet. And, although she has told me several times the names of each flower, the names never stick. That is not new. When I was auditioning actors I asked them to wear the same clothes during callbacks since I’d better remember their work by what they wore, not by their names. Visual memory. For me, the tiny blossoms are like actors. I recognize them without their names getting in the way of my appreciation.

Perhaps my recent word-recall-struggles are merely a matter of me becoming more of who I have always been? I’d pose the question to Kerri but she’d squint her eyes, flip me on my head and tell me that I was “Done!” Make no mistake, I’d be very careful NOT to ask her my second question! I do not want to know what title she’d affix to me, especially flipped over, with all the blood finding its way back to my brain.

read Kerri’s blogpost about TINY FLOWERS

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Filed under: Art, Creativity, DR Thursday, Identity, Random, Uncategorized | Tagged: aging, appreciation, artistry, brain booster, contentment, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, painting, story, studio melange, the melange, thought | 1 Comment »

The Simplest of Actions [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on April 8, 2026 by davidrobinsoncreative

Every morning we have a ritual opening of the blinds. Each evening we have a ritual closing of the blinds. Most people would not call these routine actions “rituals” but I want to see them as such. I want to acknowledge the moment that we open our house to the light; it is the act of letting the world in. I want to appreciate the moment we decide to close out the world. The action is carried in the blinds. It’s a rhythm of life similar to the tides.

Our opening-of-the-blinds often corresponds to sunrise. Dogga is our chief priest of the coming day. He alerts us to the impending first rays of the light. We open the blinds, sip coffee, listen to the birdsong and watch the sunrise. I learned long ago that if I understand my actions as ritualistic, I would pay conscious attention. I would be less likely to reduce my moments to the ordinary. In my ritual of opening the blinds, letting in the light, I am aware that this day is unique, I have no idea what’s coming. I have never lived a day quite like this before. Open the blinds to surprise.

The same is true at the end of the day. The ritual of closing the blinds serves as a retreat to sanctuary. The darkness descends. “Are you ready?” she asks. I nod. I am ready to withdraw and retire. We close the blinds with gratitude.

Surprise and gratitude. Beginning and ending. I adore the cycles that punctuate our day. I’ve come to understand my appreciation of ritual as something that grounds me. I think this is true of all rituals; they ground us. They need not be religious yet they can’t help but elevate the ordinary to the sacred. The sacred is often nothing more-or-less than paying attention. Open the blinds. Welcome the unknown. Close the blinds. Appreciation for all that transpired.

Opening the blinds. Closing the blinds. Learning again and again that the littlest things, attention paid to even the simplest of actions, matter.

read Kerri’s blog about BLINDS