a stitch in time saves nine...

nine what?  i don't know really. 

 but i do know stitching is relaxing for me.  if i'm feeling stressed it calms me.  i just focus on one stitch after another and my troubles fall away for a little while. 

 stitching fills all of the idle moments in my life and makes them more bearable.  it keeps my hands busy while i'm waiting.  i always seem to be waiting. 

 stitching inspires me.  when i stitch i let my mind wander.  i think about things.  i think up things.  then later i do the things i've thought up.  i think that's pretty cool.

nobody, not even the rain...

(i do not know what it is about you that closes and opens; only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses) nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

-e.e. cummings

just messing around in my journal this morning.  i love the poems of e.e. cummings.  he has a quirky style of writing.  it seems as though he was a real "rule breaker" and i like that, as i am a "rule breaker" myself.  

i took a nice slow walk in the cool air this morning.  i found the lovely golden- orange leaf on the ground...fall is really beginning to show itself.  the roses in the background were a gift from my husband last week...they've just reached that crunchy, falling apart stage and the color has deepened.  i think they are just beautiful like this, even more than when they were first given to me.  there is a certain beauty to be found in decay, don't you think?

i hope you have a beauty filled day...

focus...

i took a little break this afternoon from making books and made myself a nice cup of tea.  this tea is called "focus".  it has a strange chocolatey-citrus flavor that is kind of nice.

i pulled out my current journal which is always close at hand.

i've been filling this one up rather quickly.  you can see the finished parts if you look closely.  i like it when threads and bits of glued stuff spill out of the book.

i hate that dreaded first page, so white and fresh.  i grabbed some walnut ink spray to start it off.  i really like how that turned out.  so i did the same to the next few pages.  and somehow i just kept going with that theme.  that's why the finished part of the book is brownish.  

i always include some tea bags.  and stitching.

a lot of stitching in this book.  i love stitching on paper.  i have a whole book of thick lokta paper just for that...i think i may have showed you some of that a while back. 

no great secrets to be found in this book.  i've mostly been writing interesting things that i have read.

and making little collages with bits of paper...

wonderful scraps that i can't bear to part with.  i have a whole bin of these.

and paint experiments.  some unfinished...

some finished. 

oh, on a really random note...

i made this yesterday.  i'm not much of a food photographer and this is the only photo i got as it disappeared quickly.  it was so, so good.  my kiddos have been working hard in school and this was like a note of appreciation for that.  warm bread = love.

i'm feeling fall in the air...are you?  going to a football game tonight.  don't tell anyone, but i really hate football.  i'm just going to see the band.  hope you have something fun planned...

little rainbows...

i found this string in my closet this morning.

and i've been making little rainbows with it.  my kiddos went back to school today.  it was dark when they left and the night bugs were still making their music.

the house is quiet and dull.  even the dog seems a bit droopy.  i wrote them each a little note telling them i am proud of them.  they got up on time.  they made it out the door.  they remembered their pencils and notebooks.  i am going to do that more.  celebrate the small moments that make up each day.

vacation was nice.  we visited a lake with calm, green water and a beautiful forest all around.

i got rowed around by two very handsome young men.

we visited another lake, this one with clear, blue water and magical houses stacked up by the pier.  my daughter and i debated about which one we would like to live in.  

the water was very cold.  or so i was told.

i snapped one with all three smiling.  not an easy feat.  although it seems incomplete.  our college girl had to stay behind and work and we really missed her.

seems like the rest of the summer flew by once we got home.  i think that happens when you're having fun.

but, autumn can be so lovely too...

these lazy summer days...

it's been an interesting summer so far.  we had more unexpected guests this past few days and that has made life a bit more fun than usual.  it has really forced me to slow down and relax some.  i've been spending lots of time reading, book after book it seems...and i've found so many beautiful words to write out into my new journal.  words for later...words to remind and inspire.

at times the weather has cooperated, meaning it was not too hot to sit out on the deck and soak up the brilliant rays of sunshine...warming my toes some and looking out over our forest.  i did that for so long one day...the forest turned black at the edges.  the last rays of light coming through were so beautiful...the sight of it filled my soul with peace and calm, a feeling i will try to keep with me for a while.

  soon i will be taking a break from my little forest to do some traveling.  it's always good to get a fresh perspective.  look for new adventures.  i hope you all have some nice adventures ahead of you as well...

mixed emotions...

"One day many years ago a man walked along and stood in the sound of the ocean on a cold sunless shore and said, "We need a voice to call across the water, to warn ships; I'll make one. I'll make a voice like all of time and all of the fog that ever was; I'll make a voice that is like an empty bed beside you all night long, and like an empty house when you open the door, and like trees in autumn with no leaves. A sound like the birds flying south, crying, and a sound like November wind and the sea on the hard, cold shore. I'll make a sound that's so alone that no one can miss it, that whoever hears it will weep in their souls, and hearths will seem warmer, and being inside will seem better to all who hear it in the distant towns. I'll make me a sound and an apparatus and they'll call it a Fog Horn and whoever hears it will know the sadness of eternity and the briefness of life."

"The Fog Horn blew."

-Ray Bradbury, The Fog Horn

no. 668, 669, 670...

and

no. 671

and for fun, here's a whole flock.

slooooowly getting closer to 1000, which was my original goal when i started this way back when...2011 maybe?  just because.  because it is supposed to be good luck.  and i don't know about you, but i can always use some good luck. 

oh, isn't our forest lush and green?  it has rained so much, it's getting quite jungle-y back there.  think mosquitoes and lots of them.  i took just a few minutes to snap these pictures and i almost got eaten alive.  really.

hope you are enjoying your summer so far...