My nearly-12 year old has an artistic streak. I never realised how deep it ran till the day she took an hour to eat a bowl of cornflakes. Instead of yelling, “Hurry UP!” (my default response to anything slower than full tilt), I watched her for a while. She would dip her spoon into the bowl, come up cornflake-less and study the spoon. Tucking the “Hurry UP!” behind my left ear to whip out later, I asked her what she was doing. Her reply? “Look at the pretty patterns the milk makes on my spoon.” Ok-aay…

I was about to berate her father for adding oddness to the gene-pool, when I remembered some things I’ve been inspired by…

Sparkling rain-droplets on the inside of our tent flap while camping over new year… So beautiful. The fact that stuff was getting wet inside didn’t detract from my fascination… It speaks to me of liquid jewels or tiny people who live upside down.  Could be the fabric of a prom dress – or the dazzling surface of a brand new planet. Maybe each droplet has an entire world contained inside? The texture of an alien’s skin – or a creature that lives deep in inky blackness under forgotten mountains.

This oddness is not limited to myself and my eldest. We came home from school one day to find our gardener had put a stone straight through our glass sliding door. Being safety glass, it had shattered – but not collapsed. Did we erupt in anger at his carelessness? No. Did we run to phone to get the glass people out to replace it so we weren’t housebound? Not even close.

Three of us fought over the camera to see who could capture this stunning spectacle most satisfactorily.  Oooo – the things that this spoke to me of… the shattered barrier between this world and the next when someone dies. The way that being broken inside by trauma or abuse distorts how you perceive your life and your self. Each time the wind blew, some more chips fell free – how fragile the broken soul.

There truly is inspiration all around for those who’ve trained their eyes to see and ears to hear.

Here’s wishing you a day so brimful of inspiration that it feels as if your brain might explode through your eardrums and come squirting out your nostrils!