February 2009

If you receive my newsletter or have been to my website
lately, you already know that I am having a “Rummage
Sale”. It has been really satisfying to poke around in all
the corners of the cupboards in my studio and to sift through
the stacks upon my shelves to find what hasn’t made it
to my shows or on the website, but still holds beauty
and possibilities.

It has been really satisfying to find and sort and offer
and to receive the welcome gift of more space and clearness
in my studio and, therefore, in my mind.
Which is something I appreciate right now as I am getting
ready to design and make for my Spring shows.

By the end of next week I think I will have found
everything there is to share, and it makes me very happy
to think of all these pretty bits of paper finding new
use and purpose in people’s sweet lives.

 

Another bit of paper-the spare issue of British Country Living
that I wanted to give away-will be going to Rhonda, whom I am
glad to have “met” through this week’s comments. So many
lovely places I was led to this week, with appreciation for
everyone’s thoughts on the quiet pleasures, sooty adventures
and readiness for the end of Winter.P.S. These photos were taken at my mom’s house and thus
the carpeting you can see in the background….something you
won’t find in our old house, tho’ I must admit it can be cosy.
It is late in the afternoon here and I have only the firelight
and the computer screen for brightness in the storm-darkened
room. My mom is napping, the wind is blowing fiercely,
the bay is wild with galloping waves and the rain
is pouring down. I wish it would go on
for hours….tho’ I see piled and gold-tipped clouds in the
west and know that it will soon be over.

 

…are where I have been, but am glad to be leaving behind me,
like this pale grey mist that passed through our woods a few weeks ago…

…and I feel life and liveliness returning, like the blackbirds that
come to visit our quiet fields…

As I listen to their chatter and watch them circle and swirl and glide
to the ground, I welcome their action in the stillness of the Winter.
They are my dark snowflakes, as we are in the midst of yet
another Winter without the gift of Snow.

My mom and I have found a good rhythm of walks and movies
and tasks and conversations….and visits to her dear home on the water
every few weeks.
I saw a yellow crocus in the lawn today and noticed that the daffodils
are several inches out of the earth. I know that lovely, austere Winter and I will
soon be parting…and it is such a wrench. Do you feel the same I wonder?

Through a fortuitous mistake on the part of British Country Living, I received two
January issues. This cover brings me so much pleasure, I have been keeping it out
for the past few weeks so my eyes can continually light upon it and its pale
browns and blues and whites….the colors of Winter for me.

The inside is so gorgeous that I take little peeks and then set it aside for the
perfect time when I can truly savor it…tho’ I must give in soon, before
the season it is rich with has gone!

I would love to give my extra copy to one of my dear readers, and
ask only that you leave me a comment and tell me how your
Winter has been thus far and what you have found to
appreciate in it.

I am so looking forward to reading your comments this week and will
draw a name from the list on the 21st and announce the recipient on Sunday,
a week from today. I am going to be posting more often here, for
I realize how important it is to me…this small community of kindred
spirits.

I hope that when you wander this way in the future you will more often
find a little something in the box in the hedgerow.