a peaceful moment

... and hoping the same for you dear friends ...

simple

frost

Life is more hectic than ever and I've felt drained "beyond reason" (as I told a friend recently). I will be trying to tend to my creative side more kindly. My sanity and my energy will return as it always does when I have times of "slowing down and seeing" - the first and most important ingredients in a creative life. I've not much time to set my hands to scissors, paintbrushes, pliers, needle, thread, but my phone is always with me and the camera in it is awesome. I will blog these seeing moments. It is a kindness to myself worth sharing wth you.

colorful friday

we set out this so called "black friday" in search of any color other than black 

... here is our journey in photos ...

this photo is of one of my favorite sights from Interstate 5: 

the waste water (i.e. sewage) lagoon in between Everett and Marysville 

with a backdrop of the Cascades and a ceiling of blue:

Blue Friday

this is a small lake just before you get to Deception Pass on the way over to Whidbey Island:

Green Friday

here is my daughter with her dog walking on the beach of a tiny little bay on Whidbey:

Red Friday

here is Sadie hoping for a fish:

Golden Brown Friday

we went from Whidbey Island on up to Fairhaven and our obligatory stop at Rocket Donuts:

(I had a powder cake donut - boring but delicious)

Neon Friday

from Fairhaven it's a short hop up to Bellingham:
(this is a Baltic Porter which was being unmasked today)

Black Friday

leaving Bellingham we had a gorgeous sunset - the sun sets early up here - it was only 4:30:

Golden Friday

It was a great day of all of us together crammed into the car and driving all over hither and yon 

- as the girls are getting older it's rare that all of our schedules sync together -

we had the usual gamut of emotions from giggles to grimaces and cheerful chatter to sulking silence

- but, hey, it's life.  A colorful life.

zentangles

I have this cool little flip book to store zentangle patterns. I picked it up at University Bookstore in Mill Creek.

If you've ever tried zentangling, you'll know how helpful it is to have patterns handy. I take mine off of the ring and spread them out on my table as I draw.

This week I'm drawing on stones.

It's a very peaceful process 

- that's the "zen" in zentangle - 

before I know it an hour or two have passed 

 I'm always amazed and humbled when something beautiful comes of it

 Making my mark.

from the porch

I took these pictures 2 days ago from my porch

... beginning with the Moon ...

this was about 6:45 a.m.

later in the day I tidied up my porch

... all of these things "spark joy" ...

(have you read that book by Marie Kondo?)

 these are the many sticks collected on morning walks

and driftwood from Camano Island

(they are now settled into an old coffee can gifted by a friend)

 my token pumpkin 

(which is really a squash I'll be cooking this later week)

my prized, dried sunflower head

- and finally -

The Sunrise 

it had us all stopped

and

Standing Still

thank you for your lovely comments and kind words

I really do try to get back to everyone

- sometimes it just takes a little while -

a still life

sitting still

working girls

A lot has been going on since my last blog post a month ago

I've taken a day job in a small boutique in my home town

... so I'm a "shop girl" most days ...

At times I feel like an "Original" and  "I Am The Queen" of juggling my responsibilities 

*

At other times I feel like I am "In Full Bloom" and full of all loveliness

But mostly, it's a struggle.

It says: 

"Today's Struggles Create Strength For Tomorrow "

*

I often have all of these feeling all jumbled up together in one day, or one hour, or one minute

... just like this jumble here ...

In my spare time (ha!) I created these 3 metal shrines with "shop girls" this month.

Working in metal helps me when I'm processing things - perhaps it's the bending of the metal to my will - the hammering and piercing and shaping of something outside of myself.

Here's a quote that really spoke to me about this recent change:

"When we make a change, 

it's so easy to interpret our unsettledness as unhappiness,  

and our unhappiness as a result of having made the wrong decision. 

Our mental and emotional states fluctuate madly when we make big changes in our lives, 

and sometimes we could tightrope across Manhattan,  

and other days we are too weary to clean our teeth. 

This is normal. 

This is natural. 

This is change." 

-Jeanette Winterson