Oh my! I almost missed my blogoversary today! Happy blog anniversary! I used to write all the time in journals, filling page after page of life as it lived me. Now, with this on line blog-journal, I write here. Maybe it is not as blunt as the writing would be if only I was reading my story but it is written nonetheless. Once in awhile, I even think about what I am going to write before I sit at the computer. It is amazing to me, this journey we all take from birth to death and all the days in between. I am a blessed and grateful woman that does what she loves to do and loves to pieces her family and friends. Here's to another year of adventures in life, a journey to self. Damn girl, let's have fun1

Lovely picture

Yes! Obama is president for four more years! Amazing! This night has been just amazing and I can breathe again! Thank you! Now, let's get to work and make our elected officials, all of them, work together for the betterment of ALL of us. America is good!

Some days I have more mojo than other days. Today the mojo flowed freely! Although sleep and I are not the best of friends right now, I did get up early on this fall back day and launched into the studio. I had the whole house, office, studio and warehouse to myself. I could run from here to there and no one stopped me or put a curve in the tracks I was making. I beaded, painted, drew and made chicken soup. I watched a couple of recorded TV shows, went to the grocery and worked in the flower bed in front of the studio. ( Oh please tell me why it is only the weeds growing, still growing, at this time of the year. ) I napped briefly during the news and then drove to the shop to fuss around and place out the three concrete crows I recently finished painting.

I had a great day. Now, don't get me wrong universe. I do not want to be alone every day, without my family here but it certainly was luscious to indulge myself and move only at my pace.

Here are a few of my latest sketchbook entries. You know, the little book I draw in while watching the telly. I am learning to embrace the illustrative side of myself. The part of me that my art school teachers said to abandon. Well, now I am abandoning it - abandoning that part of me with joy!

No words have come to me the last little bit of time. Days have gone by. Then weeks. Still no words. Perhaps after all is said and done with my evening postings on all things internet I have reached a dry well of words.  Nothing but dust at the bottom of that wordless well. In place of writing tonight, I am just going to leave a drawing from my sketchbook, the one I keep by my wine colored leather chair in the living room and draw in as I watch television. My mind wanders, my brain is absorbed in conversations not of my own making and my hands are free to draw. Absentmindedly, I travel from this chair, this soft cushioned spot and begin a nightly journey to other places that exist solely in the interior of my mind.

What began as a sleepy and lazy Sunday, after a night of sleeping so lightly that every sound, movement and light woke me up; ended with a quick stroll on east beach on Marrowstone Island in the fading light of a chilly autumn afternoon. As a friend said, it was where so much of my courtship with Phil happened and it still holds such a special and deep spot in my soul. The wind kept me cold and bundled but the air was so fresh and crisp that I felt like I was breathing pure energy. Amazing how just even the tiniest bit of time at the beach revitalizes me and I actually was able to finish a job that had been on my to do list for more than a week.

FALLING

I am most amazed by the changes that come when fall hits the area. The trees begin their journey to colors that express all the heat of summer; lots of reds, oranges, yellows - as if the sun itself lived in each leaf. We have come upon fall here in Port Townsend in a big way now. Temperatures have dropped, moisture hangs in the air, wind has begun to blow and the sun is missing in the sky. Just before falling into autumn. on what turned out to be maybe the last sunny day for a while, I took these pictures of trees in my neighborhood. My favorite tree has only just been kissed at the very topmost leaves with a hint of color. Pictures will have to come later of that spectacularly beautiful tree.

When I come across someone's needlework project all finished or nearly finished in a thrift shop or junk store; I am a little bit heartbroken at seeing it there all alone, love poured into it, hours of time, skill and contemplation gone into it's work and I am thinking I need to rescue this piece. Finish this woman's work, make it complete and breathe into a life. Allowing the piece the appreciation that it so deserves giving it and the life lived that created it, completion.