I've really meant to post sooner than this, but life has been taking me for a spin and I'm just now feeling up to sitting down and typing. Everything has felt so different for me, since I went to the Red Thread Retreat last month. I am living so much, instead of just existing and I am so enjoying it.
Since my last post, I've been to a local consignment shop hunt and found a wonderful piece for my studio. On their FB page I'd seen a hutch that I thought would do nicely for my studio to house supplies and knickknack type things (of which I have many). It was big, but seemed well made and very inexpensive and I thought I could slap some paint on it and it would be lovely. When I arrived to the shop, it had already sold, but the lovely lady pointed me to another area in the shop and there it was! This lovely old secretary was waiting just for me and was so much more "me" than the other piece.
Isn't she wonderful?!? Behind the desk shelf is nine cubbyholes and three drawers. I was able to get her home on Saturday and spent all day cleaning her up and letting her air out. Sunday I put the shelves and drawers back in and started loading her up with things.
My studio space at dusk. I'm planning to add shelving in that corner over the workspace for more storage. But now I have lots of play space on my table and still have my "toys" for inspiration. :-)
When I went back Saturday to pick up the secretary I decided to treat myself to a new friend. They were having a sale on all their Halloween items and I just couldn't resist!
Meet my new friend Eloisa! I don't know what name her creator gave her, but we went through a list of names (old fashioned, as she doesn't seem too much of a modern girl to me) and we both thought Eloisa suited her.
I met up with a friend from RTR (who lives close by) for lunch early this week. It is so nice to make new friends. I've never been very good at it, but maybe I'm just out of practice?
This morning I met an old friend for coffee and a trip to the Farmer's Market. I'm hosting Thanksgiving this year (first time ever! eek!) and I want to have as natural/healthy a meal as I can. I ordered my turkey from a local farm and I won't mention how much this could end up costing. Let's just say I could eat for maybe two weeks for the cost of this turkey. Now I've to read up on how to brine the bird and such.
That arctic cold front that is sweeping the country is headed our way in the next few days. Today it was up to 73 degrees. I'm personally looking forward to the cold. I always prefer to be cool rather than hot.
Last week we had a nice frosty morning and I was up early enough to get out and snap a few pictures.
This one is my favorite. A bit of water left in the birdbath overnight had frozen over and well...
I'm not sure if you can click on the picture to make it larger, but it looks even better that way.
We've had some marvelous sunsets lately.
I've adopted this idea to try to find something beautiful in my life every single day and to take a picture of it. I'd been posting a lot of my photos on FB. My sweet friend Rachel from Blue Finch suggested I get on Instagram. I'd been thinking about it for a while, but just hadn't done it. But, now I have! I've added a button in the right hand sidebar if you wanna check it out. I'm doing my #beautyeveryday pictures there as I know I just don't have it in me to blog every day. Maybe at some point, I will but for now, I'm just getting back into this blogging thing, s l o w l y...
The paints, pens and such have been making an appearance lately. I'm having so much fun making things and have SO MANY ideas. I'm hoping to pull out some clay soon or maybe do some more paper-mache.
I think I've rambled enough for today. I hope you are having a wonderful week.
What beauty did you find today?
blessings
~*~
Yesterday I took a road trip with my mum and one of our friends. We were headed to a small town about a half hour from home to peruse their antique and collectibles place.
Before we headed out of town, we stopped in at my favorite Farmers Market to see my sweet flower friend. She had promised to bring a couple of her french pumpkins in for me to pick up. I get at least one from her every year. They are just so pretty!
The picture really doesn't do the pumpkin justice as the color is off badly. It is that lovely green/grey color, and I love it! I'll use it for decoration for a bit and then cook it up. They are very tasty. I also picked up a couple dozen eggs and two sweet potatoes. As we were leaving my flower friend motioned me back to ask if I liked peppers. Yes, of course! She sent me off with a bag of peppers (those in this picture) for free! So kind!
After getting my goodies, we headed off to explore. The antique shop is housed in an old textile mill and is quite large. We probably walked around there for almost two hours. I find in places like that I have to go slowly and take my time as the energy of the place seems to drain me completely. If I try to go through too quickly or spend too long in such a place, I become quite disoriented and dizzy.
I brought home a few things that I just couldn't leave without. A glass canister with Fleur-d-lies. A circular table top candle stand (I can't think of the right word) that I will paint and decorate. And a framed picture that I just could not leave behind. From the moment I saw it just after entering I heard it calling my name. I walked the entire shop and went to checkout before I went back to ask about price for it. It was quite reasonable and the very kind lady even offered me a small discount. I could not say no.
I've already picked out exactly where I want to hang the picture and will do that this afternoon. I could look at it all day if I let myself. There is just something about it that calls to me.
The moon last night was covered in hazy clouds. We've had rain today and it has been cloudy and the temperature has been dropping.
I was so exhausted from our trip yesterday that I ended up going to bed before 8pm. I felt much better this morning and spent it in the kitchen. I had to do something with all those peppers, so I washed, seeded and chopped and now have three bags in the freezer. Each bag has about what I use when I make chili.
As I was chopping peppers, I realized that I was out of prepped salad. At RTR, a salad was served with each lunch and dinner. When I came home it occurred to me how much I'd enjoyed having salad at each meal and how much less of the other foods I'd eaten. Fixing a small salad just is such a pain that I won't do it for each meal. But...I remembered the ziplock. We always had salad left and it went into a ziplock and was brought out again to use later if we wanted.
Instead of using a ziplock bag I'm using a big 2.5 quart storage container. I mix up my lettuces (romaine, spring mix and baby spinach), toss in some chopped peppers, onions, broccoli and tomatoes. When I want a salad, I just pull it out, pop some into a small bowl or plate, add a little shredded cheese and dressing and voila! Easy healthy eating! :-)
While fixing up the salad, I found I had mushrooms that needed something done with as well as a lot of broccoli left from last weeks farmers market. I sauteed the mushrooms with brandy (for use in spaghetti or to top a baked potato) and steamed the broccoli. And all the tomatoes I had left from the tomato pie I made earlier, were chopped and put into the freezer for chili or soup additions.
It feels so good to clean up my refrigerator and not let all that food go to waste. That is a big issue for me. I can't do the run to the grocer every day for just what I need for a day or two. And since I'm only feeding me, it takes a while to get through the fresh stuff. So, I've made a promise to myself to be much more conscious of what I do with what I buy and to not let anything go to waste.
I think I've rambled on enough for today. Hope you're having a lovely day. I'm going to go hang that picture now.
Have you been playing in your kitchen lately? What are you making?
blessings
~*~
A few weeks ago I dragged myself out of my hermit-y ways and headed to Maryland to the Blue Mountain Retreat Center for the annual Red Thread Retreat. This was my second time attending the retreat, so I knew I would be in for a weekend of fun, laughter, delicious healthy food and lots of art making.
The first retreat I went to was in October 2012 - when superstorm Sandy put a quick end to our fun. This year a lot of the attendees were women I had met at the first retreat.
I mentioned in my last post how over the summer/after my move I had fallen into a rabbit hole of depression and despair. Well, spending time with these talented, fabulous women was just what I needed to pick me up out of the depths.
There is so much magic in the air when people come together for a common purpose and I think that magic relit the magic in me.
It had everything I needed. Peace, quiet and open air; to be surrounded by nature. Woods and fields to walk. A chance to explore not just art, but myself as well. There was fantastic, healthy, delicious food. An opportunity for a wonderful massage, which I took advantage of, and so much laughter and sharing with friends.
Beautiful skies...
Fairie cups on trees...
A chance to learn new techniques and to spend hours creating in a safe, encouraging environment
We made several books and learning how easy it is to make the different styles was so fabulous. One project was on found word poetry. We were given old books to search through and told to cut out the words that spoke to us and make them into poems. I was a bit intimidated but was pleased with my poems.
Above, three of the books we made and the box that we painted and TAP'd "Grace Notes" onto. *Grace Notes was the theme of the course this year at RTR. If you haven't done TAP (transfer artist paper) before, I highly recommend it. It is quite fun!
I crossed the Potomac twice and drove beside the Shenandoah, I think, as well.
I visited with this sweet little girl for a bit as her brothers and sisters headed for the woods and weren't up for saying hello.
The view from the road was quite lovely. I spent half my time holding my camera up and just snapping pictures. If I stopped on the side of the road every time I saw something that I wanted to capture in photos, I'd never get anywhere! (above is the road coming home - below is the road headed to the retreat)
If you are looking for an adventure, one where you can create things, make friends, enjoy gorgeous views and fantastic food...head to the Red Thread Retreat.
Hope you are having a wonderful start to your week. I'm heading down the road a ways tomorrow to the farmer's market and an antique shop. I'll see if I can't find some photos to share.
blessings
~*~
No, I'm not dead. Although it has seemed that way for the last several months. I think this move was harder for me than expected on a mental, emotional and spiritual level, anyway.
So I stayed away from blogland. I stayed away from people in general. I became pretty much a hermit. I would only go out to get the mail or take the trash out maybe once a week and only once it was dark out. I just didn't want to see anyone or anyone to see me.
I don't really know why.
I'm really sad to say that it became so bad that the day before I was supposed to leave to go to Maryland for the Red Thread Retreat, I typed up an email to the host/instructor to say I wasn't coming.
But I didn't send it. I sat staring at it for a while. Then I hit delete and made myself get dressed and go to the store to get the few things I needed to pick up to take with me. I came home, packed and left the next morning.
It was the BEST decision I have made in a very, very long time.
I really think it saved my life.
Literally.
Things changed when I hit that delete key. They changed even more when I arrived at the retreat center.
The support, encouragement, inspiration, confidence, laughter and love that is shared at this retreat is just amazing.
And, I can't state this enough, it saved my life.
They saved my life. Those ladies, those sweet, caring wonderful women.
I came home renewed and excited. I've cleaned up the studio for workspace and more. I've pulled out the camera again. I've been making art. I'm happy with the art I'm making. I have ideas again of things I want to make. I'm eating healthy again. I care about living again.
Well, I guess that is what I felt I needed to say my first time back here in blogland. I spent a few days catching up on the blogs I follow and feel like it's time to return to sharing.
I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween/Samhain. I kept my ancestor altar lit all day and past midnight. I'll keep it lit through All Soul's Day as well. I did a reading last night and as I shuffled, the cards said they wanted a wheel of the year (as it is the witches' new year) instead of my usual celtic cross. Half way through, an overwhelming need to "use the facilities" hit me and I found that my nose had started to bleed. A sign for certain. I was pleased with the reading but not with how hard it was for me to remember certain aspects of the cards. I think more work with the cards is called for.
I also spent some time sending out a hello and general call to the spirit world. Ever since I moved it has been unusually quiet on that front. In fact the only spirit I had any contact with since moving was a little friend on my trip. I must say I miss my spirit friends, two in particular.
I did have a response to my hello and felt a few spirits nearby. Maybe I had unconsciously turned my shingle to closed over the last months. No matter now. I have made the decision to turn to open, and open it will stay.
An interesting (to me anyway) side note to this is that I could feel the pressure in my head building all day, the constant pressure and pain that is always high on the pain scale was heading way above the top. Once I 'opened' up to the spirits, the pressure eased off a bit and I felt some relief. (Although the pain stayed at the top of the Doctor approved scale as it always does.) I find this interesting due to having repeatedly been informed by doctors that they can find no physical cause for the constant severe headaches I've lived with for 8+ years. Anywho...
I'm hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. Eeek! So planning for the meal and "entertainment" has already begun. We're planning for the Sunday after Thanksgiving so we can watch the Steelers game too. But, if the game isn't on TV then we will meet on Saturday for our meal and then go to the restaurant where we meet with the local Steelers Fan Club for game time on Sunday. :-)
Well, I believe I've rambled enough. I'm off to piddle around the house and maybe see what I can get up to in the studio. I'm painting a shelf that I need to hang and need to get that done so I can have my space back for making art.
blessings
~*~
ps...I'll post more about the retreat another day. It deserves a post all on it's own.
I think I am all Tea Partied out! It took me several days to get through all the parties and I tried to reply to each comment but I'm not sure if I did or not. If you commented and didn't get a message from me, I want to say Thank You for visiting and for commenting. I was overwhelmed with all the lovely comments in such a good way.
I'm still settling in to my new place. I need to hang pictures, set up altars and finish un-boxing the studio, but I'm taking my time and going through every item to put in it's proper place or decide if it needs to be donated. I can't begin to tell you how many books I have donated. In fact I have two boxes ready to take.
Since the house isn't really photo ready, I thought I'd show you a little of my outdoor neighborhood.
This is what is on the other side of my fence. When I open my gate, I get to see this little pond.
These guys hang out in the pond a lot, as well as turtles and frogs.
Oh my, the frogs! I've never seen
so many frogs! And those little suckers are fast. I keep trying to get
a good photo of them, but so far no go. I'll keep working on it
though.
I had no idea the sound they make. They start up at sunset and sounds very much like a bunch of little dogs dying. It has taken a little getting used to. I was sitting on the patio last night and saw at least 6 frogs climbing the walls and downspouts.
This is my new sky. It is so pretty. I can see the moon and the sun come up. No close trees to block the view but on the other hand, no close trees for shade either.
And this guy...
...and his cousins are everywhere! I've even had a few sneak in the house!
The super moon snuck up on me last Friday night while I was working on my MTP post. I happened to glance out the window as I was going to get a glass of water and there she was.
I think that is all for today. Just wanted to share a little of my new world. I went on a bit of an adventure today and I will share about that next time.
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and I'll see you soon.
blessings
~*~
It's here! It's here! It's time for the Mad Tea Party! Please come in and visit for a bit. We have loads of treats and scrumptious tea.
Tea time is around the coffee table today. It seems most of the guests found the shrinking potion a bit early.
Time for our audience with the Queen. She brought her own special blend of tea and a mask for some reason. Maybe she felt we should have a masquerade?
The Queen's jester came along for tea as well. Oh the stories he tells! He'll have us in stitches in no time.
I think perhaps I should hold on to that key?!? Wouldn't want to lose my only way to open the doors to Wonderland.
A nice cup of tea and a few treats should be lovely right about now.
Perhaps an apple danish, molasses cookie, or a mini cupcake? It all looks and smells so yummy!
Maybe just a bit of sugar for my tea...
Oh, well, that's not quite the type of sugar I was thinking of...
I see the Hatter is hiding out around the tea pot and the ladybug cake. A good place I think.
And there is Alice! She seems to be carrying on quite the conversation with the ladybug.
Time to fill my teacup and have a seat. Tea time is much better when one is sitting. Trying to balance a cup of tea and a plate of treats is difficult but especially so when you must entertain a shrunken Queen.
A little more fruit perhaps...
Alice and the Hatter are heading through the looking glass. I suppose that means tea time is over. I really should get back on the hunt for my muchness. I will find it...eventually!
One more cup of tea and then I'm off on the hunt. Mmm...lovely tea, but I seem to be feeling a bit...woozy. Maybe I'll continue the search after a bit of a nap.
Thank you so very much for stopping in for Tea. I do so hope you had a lovely time.
Come back again and we can share another cup of tea.
blessings
~*~
ps... I'd like to give a huge hug and Thanks to our lovely hostess, Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist for not only hosting this lovely day for the 7th time, but also for being such a marvelously fantabulous inspiration! Be sure to pop over to her blog and enjoy her party, plus the list of other parties.
I made this bouquet on the day I moved out. I wanted to have a little something of my gardens with me when I left. I wasn't able to dig up any of my plants that I'd wanted to take with me. I left behind hydrangeas that my stepmother had gifted me, a eucalyptus that I planted the first year I was there, my first peony, three foxgloves, lily of the valley, hellebore, dahlias and a spirea/snowball bush that had been a baby from my grandparents house. It was difficult to leave those all behind. I almost felt like I was leaving the people behind, but I know that is not so.
This is a mini harvest I had just before moving day. All yummy stuff.
The past month has been a whirlwind of chaos. Complications arose with the closings, the moving out, the moving in, that packing. It was so overwhelming and I had a very difficult time functioning at all. It all worked out in the end but if I ever have to move again, it will not be during Mercury Retrograde.
Leaving the old house behind wasn't as hard as I'd thought. And settling into the new place is easier than I thought it would be. I'm mostly settled in, except for the studio. I'm working away in there a little bit each day to get all of those tons of boxes unpacked.
I'll have a tour post at a later date. I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I made it through the move. Now I have a little tea party to put together. I don't want to be late for that!! :-)
I'll leave you with a photo of last night's sunset after a thunder storm rolled through.
blessings
~*~
ps...see you on Saturday for a Mad Tea Party!
