hope and possibility...

yet another year has passed... i celebrated my 44th birthday on saturday... but no laments, age is just a number right? and 44 is such a nice symmetrical number. my kids and i took a trip to a cute little town with an abundance of antique and junk shops. we shopped til we dropped and when we got home, hubby had the most delicious dinner ready for us. i like to think of birthdays as a fresh start, a new beginning. so for me, another year begins, a year of new ideas to be dreamed up, a year of wishes waiting to be made and fulfilled, a year of hope and possiblity...

summer solstice...

Then followed that beautiful season...summer...
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
And the landscape lay as if new, created in all the freshness of childhood.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-

summer reading...

this is the stack of books on my table this week...i am always reading something, but i love summer reading the best. the lazy, hot days call to me to sit under my favorite tree and pass some time reading, learning... are you reading anything good lately?

preserving the lost art of letter writing...

working on...a series of collages, using some of my crumbling, stained old papers and letters. i am using the originals, because that is - well - more original. by now you know i love old junk. one of my favorite things are old handwritten letters. the handwriting is so lovely and i love getting a glimpse into someones' past life. it truly is a lost art. i always wonder how these old letters wound up in some antique shop, where someone like me finds them and takes them home. i have a stack of letters tied up in string, that my husband and i have written to each other from the last twenty years or so. will these end up in an antique shop some day? if they do, i hope someone treasures them and honors them as i feel i am doing here.

butterfly whisperer...

my daughter called me a "butterfly whisperer". i like the sound of that...

a day on the water...

yesterday we spent the day at a small lake not too far from where we live. grandma is visiting from up North and the kids want to take her to all of their special places. there was sand and swimming, canoeing and fishing...i did some exploring and i found a cool little graveyard across from the beach area. i've always had a fascination with old gravestones. i like how they sometimes tell a story. these were very old and i could only make out the writing on one of them, but they were cool nonetheless. i also found a neat area that seemed to be a "butterfly hangout", but i will show you those pictures tomorrow...

summer...

summer has officially begun in our house. the kids are all done with school (I know - already!) and the daily routine is beginning to take shape. that means hours at the pool for me (a girl who really does not like to swim). so, i try to bring things i can do poolside. a good book, some stitching, my journal, some paper for folding... i have to admit, i'm a bit obsessed with paper cranes right now. i've been experimenting with different papers and varying sizes. this one made from some handmade paper with bits of leaves and petals in it is my absolute favorite. and i'm making some really tiny ones for Erica - she requested some of those cute little paper crane earrings i've been seeing here and there. so that's just a little bit of what i've been doing the last few days. i'm looking forward to showing you some more of my poolside creations soon...