Brie Anne Demkiw’s challenge invites us to share our personal ‘muse’, the subject that we return to for new inspiration and in-depth study.  She has a favorite pier (coincidentally Scripps pier in La Jolla — I went to Scripps College in Claremont), which reminds me of my own pier post, A Jury of My Piers.  My muse is always Nature, and mostly Wisconsin, and you can visit my gallery page of Wisconsin nature shots by clicking here or on Wisconsin Outdoors in the heading. 

But today is an historic day, and I want to celebrate another muse, my youngest daughter Emily.  Emily recently announced her engagement to Nora, and today the U. S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a Constitutional right to same-sex marriage in all of the United States.  This is a break-through for the entire nation, but it’s a personal triumph for my family as well.  Emily is a ‘guiding genius’ (one of the definitions of the noun form of ‘muse’); she is a poet and singer and artist and recently became employed by a science surplus store….so she has all the Greek goddess talents going on.  In addition to that, she is an inspiration to me about social awareness, about being aware of yourself, your own psychology, and that of the people around you.  She is extremely intelligent and articulate, so that makes it easy for her to assess and communicate about what she notices and what she thinks.  She has called me out on my hypocrisy and my delusions (lovingly, of course) and challenged me to become more broad-minded.  She is a subject that I find particularly appropriate today….and she’s very photogenic.  So here’s her gallery:

So here’s to Emily and Nora: a bright, fabulous future to you!  May you continue to be an inspiration in the lives you lead and the love you generate.

Muse