the blue muse

He plays hard and he sleeps hard. And I never get tired of taking his picture. This one cracked me up, the way he is using his right leg (arm?) for a pillow. Like a teenager.

This weekend I will be powering through a jewelry marathon, our biggest show of the year is a week away! I can’t believe it’s that time already. It will be a weekend spent in pajamas, comfy attire, movies on in the background while I work, occasionally music. Lately, I’m stuck on David Grey.

My kitties will be keeping me company, trying to “help” sometimes, they love beads and sparkly, wiggly chains, which I have to keep out of their reach.

What are your plans for the weekend? Enjoy!

{august break no. 31}

On Day Two of our camping trip, my daughter and I took a hike up one of the nearby trails. This was the scene from where we started, Indian Lake, which over the years, has become a place to come back to.

When my son was quite young I brought him here, and we went on a canoe ride. (Thinking this would be great fun for him.) He screamed all the way to the end of the lake, until, after much exasperation and trying everything I could think of to calm him down, I said, “What exactly is it you’re so afraid of?” He replied, “I’m afraid to fall in.”

My answer was that he was wearing a life jacket, so even if he fell in, he would float. Problem solved. Silly me. (And I must also add that in addition to the life jacket, he did know how to swim at that point, apparently I just hadn’t explained it all well enough.) After that, he settled down and enjoyed the ride.

My husband and I came to this lake to celebrate out first anniversary. And we’ve come here as a family almost every October since.

But on this trip, we were camping, tent camping, at an adjacent lake, and we were having a lovely, relaxing time, all of us looking forward to four whole days of fresh air, being unplugged, lots of exercise and reading and golfing and of course, s’mores.

You would never know it by looking at this photo that our trip was about to be cut short by a girl named Irene. Just shortly after my daughter and I returned from our hike, the Camp Ranger came by and told us that the park was being evacuated due to Hurricane Irene. What? Just look at that beautiful blue sky…surely it won’t reach all the way up here…

And so, the next day, we left as instructed, and as it turned out, the storm that was by then downgraded from hurricane to tropical actually did go right through the Adirondacks.

We headed down to my daughter’s place in Albany, and it was crazy there, heavy rain, wind and flooding all around us. We were lucky, we never lost power, though we had all our camping gear with us so we felt prepared in case it happened.

We all spent the day eating and reading and playing cards, much as we would have if we were still in the mountains.

In that regard, it was a wonderful trip, a vacation that became a bit of an adventure, and even though it took us two extra hours to get home because of all the detours caused by flooding, I left feeling grateful and rested.

It was a strong reminder that Mother Nature is always in charge.

And that truly, there’s no place like home.

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Keeping those who were affected by Irene in my thoughts and heart.

{august break no. 29}

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adds character

builds

on time

breaks

through

layers

and

blooms

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this post is part of texture tuesday over at kim klassen’s place

{august break no. 26}

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i’ll be somewhere outside,

soaking up those last few rays

of summer sun…

what are you up to?

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{august break no. 24}

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if i had to choose

just one,

this would be it

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{august break no. 22}

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when the beautiful things

that catch my eye

are really nothing

at all.

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{august break no. 19}

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we all have one.

that place where we feel comfortable, cozy, safe.

and while it’s good to get out of there and grow a little,

somewhere out past your comfort zone,

once in awhile it’s just as nice

to slip back in

unnoticed,

for a little nap.

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{august break no. 17}

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summer sun fading slowly

grasshoppers all abuzz

spreading news

of autumn’s

audacity

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{august break no. 15}

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Can be hard to find…

sometimes it’s just a weed

on the side of the road,

sometimes

it’s a bouquet

brought home with love,

and sometimes,

it’s in your heart.

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this post is part of texture tuesday over at Kim Klassen’s place. come join the fun!

{august break no. 12}

Last night I was cranky, so I went outside to take it out on the weeds, which really helped. After an hour of yanking and pulling and hoeing, I felt much better. So much better that I decided to grab my camera and head down to the swamp to see if there were any herons hanging around.

There was just one, standing on one leg in the water, and I snapped just one shot before my husband pulled up next to me on his way home, and inadvertently scared it away. Which almost made my crankiness return, but the funny squonking sound they make always makes me smile–so it all evened out.

I declined my husband’s offer of a ride back home, and hung out for some more photo-taking, although nothing was really grabbing me. I was waiting for the light to change, for a beautiful sunset, for something inspiring.

Eventually, I started working my way back up the hill towards home, and the scene in this photo is what I saw. My house it just out of the frame on the right. I love where I live. I really do.

And on this night, at just the right time when I just happened to be walking by, the sun and the moon came together to paint this beautiful landscape of light, and suddenly, I wasn’t the tiniest bit cranky at all.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting my favorite children’s books by Cooper Edens, they are filled with the most wonderful phrases and illustrations (if you follow our facebook page you may have seen some of them quoted there), and my favorite one is called Now is the Moon’s Eyebrow.

And that is exactly what it was.