the blue muse

I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday.

Last night after stuffing ourselves with a lovely turkey dinner, my husband, daughter and I went for a quick walk and ended up at the cemetery a few blocks from my parent’s house.

A good friend of our family who committed suicide many years ago is buried there, so we visited his grave for a moment of remembrance.

This was the view from where we stood.

In some strange way, it seemed just right.

::

Wishing you a Friday filled with love and friends and family and light.

Everyone I talk to keeps saying the same thing: they can’t believe it is Thanksgiving already.

For me, this year was far less of a blur than last year and the year before that, and I am very grateful. I made a choice to savor life a little more this year, remove as much busy as I could, cut back on shows and perfection and worry and stress. It was a good decision.

And now I sit here on this frosty morning with a purring kitten in my lap, and there is so much to be thankful for.

How easily we forget that.

Life is never perfect. It isn’t supposed to be.

It’s supposed to be full. We’re supposed to feel it all, the joy, the pain, the boredom, the anxiety. The sun on our faces in summer, the cold biting wind of winter. Flood and drought, storm and calm, day and night.

These are the lessons I’ve learned this year.

Plenty of them, ripe, for the taking.

A feast of fortitude.

::

Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with love and light.

A frosty, sunny morning filled with silver and gold.

Outside, Jack Frost has been hard at work painting temporary masterpieces, and inside, the sun streams through my kitchen window onto a gift of roses from my sister.

I am exhausted and content.

We had a best-ever-at-this-venue show this weekend, and just as autumn slowly turns to winter, another jewelry season winds down as well.

I am stealing a few hours this morning to be still and silent before stepping back into to-do lists and work and chores. A steaming bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with a chickadee at my window.

Nourishment for the soul.

Gratitude spilling out over everything.

Lighting up the silence.

. . . . .

Wishing you a Monday filled with light.

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to see us at the Holiday Bazaar this weekend!

It’s our last show of the year, and that is always a bittersweet weekend.

We always have so much fun seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

This is also a fun day for me and my sister, we have to set up quite early
and then have a long break before the show hours begin, so we
always go to our favorite store in Rochester, NY: Craft Company No. 6,
a shop just filled with the best artisan gifts and treasures.

It’s hard to believe that it’s this time already,
that another year has gone by.

Wishing you a weekend filled with sweetness and light.

. . . . .

If you are in the area this weekend, stop by and see us at

42nd Annual Holiday Bazaar Arts & Crafts Sale

Rochester Museum & Science Center,
500 University Ave., Rochester, NY 14607

Booth 112
Friday, November 16th • 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturday,  November 17th• 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday, November 18th • 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

. . . . .

. . .

tomorrow’s flowers

winter food for hungry birds

shapes and shadows for a gray landscape

something to look forward to

. . .

this is why my garden

will never be

completely tidy

. . .

The weekend was a blur… thanks so much to everyone
who came out to see us at the Christkindl Show,
we had fabulous weather and lots of fun.

Behind the scenes, I had a very sick kitten all weekend,
but he seems to be feeling much better today–
he was up to his usual antics very early this morning.

Very. Early.

After running on adrenaline and little sleep all weekend,
I am exhausted.

But looking forward.

Dawn painted a lovely new sky for me this morning,
just to remind me that all will be well.

November marches on around me in a frenzy of activity.

Today, I sit here, on my own little branch, and exhale.

Tomorrow, I’ll go back to flying.

::

Wishing you a Monday filled with lovely views.

For gifts and giving, bracelets and baubles, ornaments and bows.

I will be singing along to holiday songs all weekend long,
in a landscape filled with twinkling lights.

Wishing you a weekend filled with light and laughter.

. . . . .

If you are in the area this weekend, stop by and see us at

Christkindl Market

Granger Homestead, 295 North Main St.,
Canandaigua, NY  14424

Booth 76
Friday, November 9th • 1 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday,  November 10th • 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, November 11th • 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

. . . . .

A hard frost came through last night, finally sending
the garden to bed for the winter.

It all looks beautiful this morning in the weak light of dawn.

A few finishing touches, and I am ready for our show this weekend,
a show that for me, marks the start of the holiday season.

It’s too early, I know.

And yet, it is here.

The rest of this year will fly by on wings of activity.

But also, wings of love.

Ad so it is.

. . . . .

If you are in the area this weekend, stop by and see us at

Christkindl Market

Granger Homestead, 295 North Main St.,
Canandaigua, NY  14424

Booth 76
Friday, November 9th • 1 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Saturday,  November 10th • 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sunday, November 11th • 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

. . . . .

Wishing you a Wednesday filled with beauty.

Some tunnels are much, much longer than others.

When you are deep in the center,
it may seem that there is no light anywhere.

But if you just keep going, eventually, you will see it.

That tiny dot of light on the path before you.

And if you keep moving towards it, it will grow.

::

Wishing you a week filled with light.

I find myself feeling very quiet.

Last night I watched television while working on some jewelry, and the images of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy filled my eyes with tears. It seems that every day new areas of destruction come to light.

I live six hours away, and there are still people here without power. I cannot imagine how hard it must be for the people there that are working to get things back up and running. And for the people struggling to find food and clean water and all the other essentials that we take for granted in our day to day lives.

It all just breaks my heart wide open.

And it makes me appreciate every last thing that I have in my life.

I sit here, looking out at the same landscape I have stared at for years.

But today, my view is different.

I am humbled, I am grateful, I am silent.