die, adjust or migrate

Sacred Sunday slipped away...now it is Marvelous Monday!

How did it come to be Monday already? The days are both slipping past faster than I can hold on to them while also managing to move as slow as molasses in winter. It is hard to believe that Teaghan has been at sleep away camp now for almost a week. Four more sleeps until she comes home!!! Having her gone has not been as difficult as some years; I have been kept busy with my jewelery work for Maarten. It has been wonderful being bit by the creative bug again. I go through these times when I just can not fathom stepping foot in my studio because my brain just seems to be in the off position. But then I go in there and amazing things start to happen!

What I am finding difficult this year is sleeping. It is as if my mind can not rest knowing that she is not in the house. It is the strangest thing and not something I am particularly enjoying. I love sleep! I love my bed! And both are strangers to me at the moment. Instead I am up thinking, thinking, thinking. And, to top it all off, I am not even thinking about her! I know that she is fine. I know that she is having a great time and loving every second of camp - well, except for the meatloaf :) Instead I am up until all hours of the night worrying about school starting soon and getting my class set up the way I want it, worrying about how I am going to teach the curriculum this year (as if I have not taught it for the previous 15 years!!!!), worrying about taking over the Grade 6 Health and Career Education from Raja - what was I thinking? Teach Grade 6? Help!!! - worrying about being able to teach the grade 11's at Byng to do altered books - I have never even had a conversation with a grade 11 student much less teach one (or 30!) -  just worrying, worrying, worrying. I need to get into the school and do some prep work. It will make everything better. Of course, I am not really wanting to go in, to give up part of my summer to clean and organize, but I know that once I do I will feel better. Maybe I will devote tomorrow to that. Hmmm...

I met with Maarten yesterday to give him a number of pieces I did for the shop. He gave me the latest cheque for a necklace that sold last week. It really does fill me with such gratitude that other people are enjoying my work enough to want to buy it. Thank you to the creative souls who have purchased my work. Wear it with joy!

Today is a painting day in the studio. I am working on images that can be shrunk down to incorporate into my jewelery. The artists crawl on Gabriola is coming up in just 2 short months (but Maarten will be back in Vancouver in about 4 weeks to pick up from me) and I am trying to have some pieces done that can be incorporated into Maarten's exhibit of his latest painting series entitled Murder of Crows...and Other Crimes. If you have never checked out Maarten's work go here. It is well worth the look! And, on that note, it is off to studio I go. Hi ho, hi ho, it is off to create I go!!! LOl :)

Friday Fill Ins - finally back again!

Since school got out and we have been away on vacations, I have not been doing these with anything that even resembles regularity. In fact, while on summer holidays I often have trouble remembering what day of the week it is!

1. You know you're old when you make a comment about an event to someone and they have no clue what you are talking about because they were not born when the event happened!

2. My heart is divided between my art and my teaching.

3. I have everything that I need RIGHT NOW!

4. I have felt the emptiness, I have known the depths of infertility.

5. Gah, won't these people stop calling me already - I hate telemarketers!

6. Run through a sprinkler as soon as you can!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to a quiet evening in my studio, tomorrow my plans include going for a walk/run and buying books for school and Sunday, I want to enjoy my visit with Maarten, who is in town for an art show and is going to pick up some new pieces of mine for his gallery!

Back in the Saddle Again

I arrived home last week from the hot, humid, wonderfully encompassing heat of Florida to a rainy, cold, soggy Vancouver. I miss the days spent lounging on the beach, reading summer novels and floating in the ocean for hours on end. The beach there is so different from here. You can stand on shore and look out at the sea for miles and miles. There are no skyscrapers, no mountains, nothing but endless ocean in front of you. So very different from being in English Bay at the beach and being able to look across the water and see downtown. We are already looking forward to our next visit - 24 months and counting if we are lucky!!!

In the time that I have been home I have been reading a lot, puttering about the new place setting things up and unpacking more boxes and, yesterday, FINALLY found my creative bug again! I have wanted to work in my studio all week but just could not summon up the energy. I put time in organizing the new space and did some small collage paintings (which will hopefully find their way to my etsy at some point)but just couldn't get the jewelery going. Well, yesterday changed all of that! I got an email from Maarten letting me know that another piece has sold from his gallery!!!!! This is the piece that has now left Gabriola and found a home with someone new... It is called Hard Drive Candy and is made using computer resistors and beads on recycled chain. Well, the sale of this piece and Maarten's message that he is hoping that I will have more pieces ready for him by August 9th got me going. Since yesterday I have made 2 bracelets and 2 sets of earrings. I also soldered a bunch of new resistors to work on a new necklace. I guess I just needed the deadline!

I am so pleased that other people enjoy my jewelery as much as I do. It is such a wonderful feeling knowing that my work is being worn and shared with others. I still feel like I need to pinch myself to believe that I have actually sold not one, not two but three pieces in the last 2 months. WOW!!!