happy thanksgiving

I hope you've had a peaceful holiday

and that the rest of your weekend is excellent as well!

art retreat

Last September we went to the Oregon coast

for a quiet family vacation.

(More on that later.)

While we were there,

my sweet husband gifted me

the opportunity to attend one of Alisa Burke's art retreats.

I can't think of a better word than amazing

to describe my experience.

Alisa welcomed twelve artists of all skill levels

into her beautiful studio.

We were greeted on the first day with

carefully arranged pails of art supplies,

fresh flowers at our work spaces,

and delicious scones from a local bakery.

After some preliminary instruction on sketching,

we headed out to dodge a storm

and sketch on the beach.

We drew and painted and made new friends

for two and a half blissful days,

taking breaks to do some crafting (like stamp making!)

and eat amazing local food.

It was...wonderful.

I'm already trying to figure out how to make it happen again. :)

[photos 1, 9, 10, 13, 14, and 16 by Alisa Burke]

today

 This morning I woke up inexplicably depressed.
Like, you-are-my-child-and-I-love-you-more-than-life-itself-

and-so-I-will-get-up-and-feed-you-breakfast-

but-then-I'm-going-to-go-back-to-bed-

and-pull-the-covers-over-my-head depressed.

And then late morning there was a knock on my door.
Apparently the local fruit stand guy has had to resort

to peddling his wares door to door.
He had some apples that were deeply discounted

because he'd had them for over a week.

Suddenly I realized that the sun was shining

and that at that moment more than anything else in the world

I wanted to make apple butter.

So I bought a quarter of a bushel of apples,

ignored the laundry and dishes,

and made apple butter with Brother instead.

It was perfect.

no preamble

I'm back!
My blogging hiatus has been good and necessary,

but I'm feeling ready to jump back in.
I've missed this space.
And I've missed you, my lovely readers.
I can't wait to reconnect.