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i will always hear my grandmother's voice telling me i had a 'lazy man's load' when i piled too many things in my arms instead of making 2 trips. she said it was something that her grandmother said to her. i wonder what the 2 of them would have said this morning as i struggled up the stairs with a laundry basket full of 2 loads of clean, dry, unfolded laundry and a full to the brim mug of steaming black coffee. i don't know why i needed to carry them both at once. but we made it. now the bath is filling and i'll have coffee in my steamy lavender oil bath. i wonder if the lavender and caffeine will cancel each other.
yesterday i contended with lack of direction for part of the day. i kept doing things, but not the major things. i rendered 2 sewing machines useless, and was able to repair one to perfect smooth running order again. i framed photos and made gift tags and wrapped beeswax candles in twill tape and floral illustrations. but i was supposed to be sewing and couldn't get it going. but eventually i did and 6 beautiful pillows came of it. and after my lavender and caffeine bath, i'll be back at it for another wonderful day!
the house is quiet and the day is still dark. i relaxed in a steamy bath full of lavender oil last night before bed, so i slept perfectly. my wonderful co-workers have rallied to help cover a couple shifts at the bookstore this week, so i'll have another 12 hours in the studio today. sewing and cutting and gluing. at some point i'll have to start cleaning up the creative mess as well. this morning as i was groggily glancing at facebook, a random photo and comment appeared in the newsfeed. a photo of a beautiful white farmhouse with barns and shade trees, fields and pennsylvania's blue mountain rising up behind. and as i was admiring this photo 
from a perfect stranger that one of my friends had commented on, it was mentioned that this house full of memories and laughter, heartache and triumph was going to be used as a practice burn by the local fire dept. i can't wrap my head around things like this. when beautiful old houses are overlooked and underloved, it's like the architectural version of elder abuse. all the beautifully aged wood, the trims and decorative features.....and the spirit of the house. my sentimental self takes over completely. and i feel an ache for the life that those walls protected through generations. i suppose that the purpose it is serving in training firefighters is an honorable one, but i can't help but be saddened regardless.
i will sew again today and enjoy the wonderful energy pool that is flooding the studio right now and absorb the dreamy energy of the 180 year old house that shelters us.
our christmas studio sale is this coming sunday, december 11 from 10 until 4. i'll be reminding you every day....
yesterday morning, while i was in the bath, 2 low vees of geese flew past the window, just above the dark leafless trees that spread across the window pane. i could hear them but only saw a glimpse of them. the trouble was that the bedroom air conditioner was still in the window, blocking half of my view. the little window is paned with old bubbled glass and sits over the kitchen roof. i love that window. i used to climb out of it and sit on the roof to read. i must be getting old. i don't do that anymore.....oh right, the damn air conditioner is blocking me. so, my impetuous self took over. i climbed out of the tub, wrapped up in a towel, and hauled the damn thing out of the window. but it was also heavier than i remember. alot heavier. and i was in a towel. tom came home last night to find it dropped in the bedroom doorway. but my window was clear and i had the loveliest bath this morning. the sky. the trees. the flags from the harbor. the gorgeous stone walls of the prison. and at night the moon fills the window for a while as well. 
and since i'm in the paper zone and i've been showing you the corkboards i've been making,
i thought i'd give you a peek at a couple of my collage pieces. above is 'napoleon unpeeled' and below is 'the dance'. both were done this summer. 
i need to sew tomorrow. make some stockings and more christmas napkins. but i will be in mourning for the paper, i'm sure of it. but i must prepare for our studio sale. the grand gala of christmas sales is happening a week from today on sunday december 11th from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. if you are local, be sure to swing by. i'll keep reminding you!
all day yesterday i cut paper, thumbed through images, glued, scraped, squinted, stared. i love making the functional art pieces i'm working on. beautiful collage corkboards. i'm working on 4 at a time which works for me. when i find a fabulous image that doesn't work for one piece, it may work in another. so i scurry around from board to board, making little worlds on cork.
tracy took photos of the paper room the other day. when she gets them uploaded, i'll post them. i know with her clear and true eye, you will see the paper room as you would if you clomped up the stairs yourself and into the slope ceillinged little yellow room high in the trees looking out on the lake. i'm heading there now. letting the papers settle overnight and looking at them anew in the morning light is a good thing. i was there until 9.30 last night and my choices might have started losing the sharpness that i rely on.
so off i go. i'll get photos of the boards. and tracy's photos will come soon. i just don't have the patience to wait for the photos to post. the little story of my day was just begging to be blurted out....
the trees are scribbling their lines against the sky. the sun is coming up orange. i've been awake a couple of hours. reading blogs. working on photos. ordering prints. too groggy to make coffee. content to curl in a quilt with the computer propped on my lap. a cat warming my feet. hearing the sounds of the village waking. the furnace beginning it's morning drone. a truck rattling the window as it passes on it's way to work on the house being built around the corner. tom complains when i start my bath too early. my porcelain and iron, clawfoot bathtub that is tucked in a corner of our bedroom is one of my favorite things. i love that it's part of our bedroom, that i can soak in a steamy, oil-scented bath and still be part of the bustle of our little life. (link to an earlier post about my tub with a photo)however, when i would love a bath at 5 a.m. after edgar has dragged me from bed and i might as well have an early start to the day.....the tumble of water is too loud and i just can't do it to my sleeping husband. besides, he'd destroy my bath with his complaining. yes there is a bathtub in the bathroom, but i don't think i've ever had a bath in it. it feels icy and stiff and not at all what i have in mind for my bath.
i'm heading to the studio early. the paper room is luring me...
i can barely hold my eyes open right now. i'm just getting home from the bookstore after a full day in the studio. but i had these lovely photos of my paper room in my inbox from wonderful tracy of beautiful day. 
it's here that i can lose myself for days. the piles of paper, the images. the smell of glue, the light, the slanted ceiling. tracy shot these last week while i was in the paper up to my knees, making the collage corkboards. i kept promising to post photos of the paper room, and i love showing it to you now through tracy's wonderful eye. 
she found the little details that speak of me. that describe what i do and who i am and what drives me. i love these photos....they are the paper room completely. little scraps of me.
