I am one of those people who does not like to get up early in the morning and leap about getting the day begun. I need my slow- to- awake- mornings, lingering in bed over breakfast and a television show. I like to slowly come alive and begin thinking about what the day holds. I'll get up early and enjoy a day that has a quick, early start but it is definitely not my choice. Sundays are even lazier for me because the local paper is thrown into the mix and of course, it has to be read before I get up. Time is so sweet that I hate to rush a new day into reality. I always have a gazillion things to do but amazingly enough, all those things wait for me to get to them. Nothing starts on its own. Everything in my little Lois world waits for me. I keep wishing I had little elfin fairies around to do things for me but I don't. My life waits for me in the morning like a cat curled at my feet; she will  sleep until the creative adrenaline begins its coursing journey through my very soul.

In a turquoise mood yesterday. These will join all the new beads in the Turquoise case
in the lobby right below the lapis and around the corner from the amber.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about a zillion and three different things. The frailty and shortness of life, finding time to be creative, showing love to family, understanding my teenager. patience and care with customers, to name just a few things. It seems like spring would be a time of renewal and rebirth, a cleaning of cobwebs and soul but I find it a time of introspection, a time of turning inward before going into the light, warmth and color of spring.

Turning older, deciding again, just as I did as a teenager myself, what kind of person I want to be. We are forever and always, the Phoenix rising from the ashes and reinventing ourselves. I am artist and jeweler. Mother and wife, friend and companion. Did I achieve anything I thought I would so many decades ago when I was a teen myself? Have I grown into the woman I thought I would be?

Yes. I am strong. I am a good friend. I spend the majority of my days being creative and helping my customers find their muse. I am love and light. Aging in place with wisdom and joy, a small, infinitesimally small, blip in the grand universe of life.

Now, I need to figure out what this day holds for me.

Tonight was gallery walk in Port Townsend and it was my first walk alone in the gallery without Dale as a partner. I was dreading being alone in the space between patrons but as I sat and looked around the  
gallery; I realized how much I liked seeing my work grouped together. I am still amazed that the work was something that was so of me, from me, for me. I liked hearing the comments from gallery walk participants of how much they enjoyed seeing my paintings all together. The space feels inviting, filled with color and warmth. It is truly a luxury and indulgence for me to be able to rent the space for my own pleasure and artwork. It stretches the budget ferociously but I have to do it to feel like myself. To fulfill a passion that I have had since I was a child and wanted to be an artist.