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How golden is life?

Today is my friend’s birthday. It’s an ordinary, rainy October day here in Vancouver and, at first sight, there’s nothing remarkable about it.

Except that it’s Norman’s birthday.

Being Her Majesty’s subjects here in Canada, his family has applied to the Queen’s office some weeks back, and she has sent him a birthday card.

You see, Norman turned 100 years old today. What a magnificent age! Huge party on Saturday.

He is a retired dentist. Maybe that’s the key to having a long and happy life, do you think?

Maybe it’s magic.
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I love this quote by Roald Dahl. I love this quote because it suggests that maybe all we need is to open our eyes and let more golden, more magic into our lives. How do we do this?

I made this little piece years ago. It is a thick piece of wood, (a piece of leftover tread from an old stair), a decoupaged picture from a calendar page, and some bronze leaf applied probably with something like acrylic medium because I’m sure I didn’t have the money for gold sizing, brushes etc.

Years ago. Maybe 20+ years ago.

It’s not made with the kinds of materials people tell you you must use in order for it to last, to not disintegrate or explode or be eaten by moths or something, which will certainly be the case unless you use archival, acid free, sterile correct materials…etc. You know the people I mean?

I did my own thing. And 20+ years on it’s still shining and looking lovely. It stands on my desk behind photos of my daughters and makes me happy each time I see it.

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Today I photographed these leaves to show you. Earlier, I pressed them flat and dry between some books, applied some acrylic medium and lay a small sheet of gold leaf on top.

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They are just dried leaves. Gilded for no reason at all except that I like looking at them.

They are brittle and fragile and the more I have them around the more they will crack and break, and the more the gold will probably rub off. Maybe it will maybe not, but the point is I want to have them around, not framed behind glass or stuck in a book to preserve them. I want to handle them, walk past my desk and see them, pin them up on the postcard board in the kitchen if I want to.

Enjoy them.

That’s the key for me; being surrounded by beautiful handmade things I love. Right now gilded maple leaves bring magic into my life.

Your task, golden hearts, is to find, surround yourselves with, and concentrate on the things which bring magic into your life. πŸ™‚

Or you could always become dentists. πŸ™‚

Super quick reminder about my giveawayΒ andΒ Β linking back with Sandi for what delights me at home.

Comments: 22

  • October 2, 2013
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  • October 2, 2013
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    HAPPY BIRTHDAY NORMAN! No , Please mount the leaves and sheet music immediately and present it to him
    ( and his family ) if you have not already ! Please give it to him? Please.

    Bravo Veronica ???

    PS: you have enough creative shit hanging around. Share your creativity with his family ? It’s brilliant.

  • October 2, 2013
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    Happy Birthday to Norman. Beautiful gold leaves. I love that you want to touch them and make them part of your day, not encase them.

  • October 2, 2013
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    Good morning, Veronica,

    So nice of you to have stopped by in between all your travels!

    Your post today, featuring magical objects around your home that brighten your every day existence, is something, I think, all of us believe, to some degree. It doesn’t have to to do with materialism, although the subjects at hand, are inanimate, material objects, but more connected with the unique relationship we have with them for personal reasons, deep emotion in in our heart and sentiments in our soul.

    You may be interested in a most recent post by my dear friend and fellow blogger, Dewena Callis, who expressed her thoughts on this very timely, it seems, subject, a few days ago, as well as the comments and experiences of her readers. Have a look, I know it will be the golden brush stroke of your day!

    http://awindow-lookacrosstheway.blogspot.gr/2013/10/across-way-to-mrs-minivers-house.html#comment-form

    Your own artistic accents of this amber hue, although connected to your own history, and thus, special, also glimmer for us, as they’re beauty and elegance strike our own senses.

    May you have a bright and ambient autumn day and Happy birthday to sweet Norman!

    Poppy

    • October 3, 2013
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      Oops! Typo alert!..Meant to write, ‘…their beauty…’.

  • October 3, 2013
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    Very interesting post. As of late I have been thinking along these lines. Which could be I have a hard time forcing myself to do things that need to be done to go back to work parttime. I continue to look at things inside the heart. Don’t know if that is plain but think you under stand. What nice age to be Hope your friend has a great birthday. Many blessings to you both

  • Christie

    October 3, 2013
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    First of all, Happy Birthday Norman! Bless his heart! 100, think of all he has seen in his lifetime, it boggles the mind! Also, I love the Dahl quote! And, that you have things you made long ago out and about for your viewing pleasure. Many times I don’t keep the things I make, but I do have enough around to remind me of the continuing growth on my artistic path. Thanks for brightening my day with your gilded leaves and beautiful words.

  • October 3, 2013
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    Happy Birthday to Norman! Wow! The stories he could tell! Your golden leaves are beautiful. I often gave away the things I used to make too. Thank you for sharing at my HOME and enjoy your weekend.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

  • October 3, 2013
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    So many surprises here, Veronica. I came to visit and thank you for your comment and became lost in reading down through your posts, realizing that I probably should not have mentioned hoping you enjoy October. Can I take that back? I hope the rain goes away, also the sniffles. I do admit to worshiping October. (Your “the hardest truths come from the softest wools” is not only very pretty but often so true.)

    The next surprise was finding that dear Poppy is the reader who led you to visit me. I count myself fortunate to have found her through blogging and cherish her friendship, and am a believer that friendships can and do develop this way. I’m blushing with a sense of inadequacy after reading her comment about me but it makes me want to live up to it at the same time.

    I love the Dahl quote. I believe in it. I think I practice it more and more the older I become. Your little piece of magic that you made 20 years ago obviously is a treasure. I’m sitting here now looking at a piece of trapunto embroidery I framed around 1970 that the mother of a neighbor made and ended up in her yard sale. I backed it with bottle green velvet from a dress my mother made for me when I was 17, a fitted sheath with tiny buttons that ran down my back that she spent hours covering in the velvet. I think I felt more beautiful the night I wore that for St. Valentine’s Day than I did any other time of my life. It is my treasure.

    I’m sure that your friend, as he celebrates his 100th birthday, has many such treasures in his happy life, especially in his golden memories.

    So nice to have met you, through dear Poppy, and I am excited about seeing more of your beautiful blog,
    Dewena

  • October 3, 2013
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    i bet Norman would say his life was filled with a lot of golden moments

  • Laura

    October 3, 2013
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    Hello from Lubbock, Texas!

    How lovely that I stumbled upon your blog. I will have to ‘peek’ in daily to see what is going on in ‘your neck of the woods’.

    You are very talented! My youngest daughter teaches Art to 7th and 8th graders in Dallas, Texas.

    Are you still getting rain there – please, share some with us – our land is thirsty! πŸ™‚
    .

    Laura

  • October 3, 2013
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    Yikes! Never ever would become a dentist–though yay! for Norman. πŸ™‚ Maybe all those gold fillings….? LOL
    Love gold leaf-leaves. I have a pair of earrings like that (faux gold dipped fern leaves) and they make me smile all the time. What good is it if you can’t touch it, right? I’m very hands on, love to play with paint and my fingers, smudge my pencil lines, lick the tip of my water color brush to get it to a perfect point…and pet my very soft doggies. πŸ™‚ Keep thinking golden thoughts–love, love, love that quote by Roald–love him and his books to pieces, he was brilliant!!

  • October 3, 2013
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    Happy Birthday to Norman! Your quote is lovely, as well as the decoupage and the golde leaves … do fine against the notes! Beautiful art!

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