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.

drained

My life is crazy right now.

Lots of hard things. Lots of good things.

And then more hard things on top.

I feel like my strength is being tested to its very limits.

I have tons of stuff that I could blog about.

I have even been able to complete several projects.

But when I sit down to work on

the calligraphies I have been commissioned to make,

the contribution I am making to Made,

the posts I have planned to write here,
or even to play in my art journal,

I feel drained.
Paralyzed.

Dry.

Completely used up and exhausted.
Like my life has crashed down around my ears
and my will is seeping out through the cracks.

I am trying to be gentle with myself.

I tell myself:
everything that needs to get done
will happen in good time.

But it's hard.

Hard.

dawn

the sky is the color of deep indigo ink.

the chilly is air heavy with the scent of vegetation,

wet with the dew of the night.

the earth is reverently hushed.

and then the sky is paler blue,

the mountains show in dark silhouette.

the green of the valley becomes more intense.

a glow of pink blooms in the east.

the dark water ripples,

ethereal mist rises and blows in my face.

the silence is shattered: ho-onk? asks a goose.

his fellows answer, rising on powerful wings.

the birdsong crescendos, the breeze lifts my hair.

colors become more distinct.

i can almost pinpoint the moment

the sky changes to blue from its pearly pre-dawn hue.

suddenly the sun leaps above the mountains,

pulsing in the glory of fiery coral sunrise.

it continues to climb, reaching down to the earth,

offering warmth and pure gold light.

and so, another day begins.

monday (lack of) menu

[uncooked pink rice]

I've been having something of a menu crisis lately

because I pretty much hate cooking
during these hot summer months.

What are your favorite hot-weather meal solutions?

guitar string bangles

My sweetie has been away for work this week,

so I've been wiling away the long and lonely evening hours

by listening to an audio book

and indulging my latest crafty crush:

making bangles made from upcycled guitar strings.

I have been saving Benjamin's old guitar strings for years

because I just knew that someday

I would be able make good use of them!

I have been having so much fun

combining them with pretty beads and wire wrapping

and learning to use Benjamin's soldering iron.

and in the summer we are fruitivores

I think I've mentioned before

how much I love being able to get Bountiful Baskets!

I appreciate how it pushes me to try new vegetables

(grilled eggplant, or sauteed kale anyone?),

but my favorite is the variety of fruit we receive.

Here are a couple o fun fruity things I have made recently.

Taste the rainbow--nutritiously.

Top to bottom:

Strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple,

honeydew, blueberries, and plums.

(Yes, I know that there is an indigo stripe in there too.

But tell me what kind of fruit is indigo.)

It really was a big hit

even though they look less than enthusiastic. :)

And of course there have been more popsicles.

left to right:

tropical smoothie

(banana, mango, pineapple, coconut milk)

red, white, and blueberry

(strawberry puree, vanilla yogurt, whole blueberries)

melon-berry

(honeydew and cantaloupe with whole blueberries)

left to right:

mango peach

kiwi slice and whole blueberries in apple juice

apple plum

This week we also enjoyed

 skewers of deliciously sweet frozen grapes,

but those disappeared too quickly for photos.

camping

Earlier this month we went camping

at a gorgeous, pristine location

that is only about an hour away from our home!

It was amazing.

Here are a few of my favorite photos.

Big Sky Country

Our brand new tent fits the six of us

much more comfortably than the old one did.

little explorers

wildflowers

There was a tiny stream a short walk from our campsite.

It was a magical place for the boys to play:

shallow enough to be quite safe,

yet extraordinarily exciting.

I love the quiet woods.

I am quite good at building fires.

Well, good morning, handsome!

In addition to many butterflies,

we also saw deer, frogs, fish, and lots of mosquitos,

but I didn't get any photos of them.

gift from Little Man

gift from Sweet Pea

busy girl

Can it get much better than this?

field of wildflowers

hiking to Coolidge, a ghost town

ruins

So glad we met these rain clouds were on the drive home!