Even when you don't think you have time to make art....you mostly likely do. I made another quick tag today...and it flows nicely from the reds...pinks and purples into the blues.
It is better to do something than do nothing while waiting to do everything. Winston Churchill
This was the Unfold montage Alyson sent me today. I couldn't love it more.
You know by now how tickled I get when I see what some of you are doing with your joy journals. Judy has been working in one of the ones I made for her and she posted a video of her progress on Instagram. I hope you check it out: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbohCcuPjke/
When I was in Wisconsin....I was so tickled to see that Emily was adding to hers. She's now a busy mom of two....but is also an avid collector of interesting packaging and papers that catch her eye. She now has all kinds of places to tuck them.
I'm so excited to have a few meadow rue plants blooming. They don't do very well in my garden because there's not enough sun....but I do have a few volunteers that are doing better than plants I actually planted.
I've been a little under the weather....so not moving very fast....but I did take a few minutes to make another tag for my Tag Project 2.0. As was true with my last tag series....I want the tags to flow from one to the next in some way....either color or some design element.
It's Clarke's birthday today!
She lives in a high rise condo along the lake in downtown Chicago. Right around the corner is this life size giraffe named Edna....and the owners have a good time dressing her up for holidays and seasons. Clarke sends me photos when she changes clothes..and I get quite a kick out of it. It was about time I shared them here....and this may not even be all of them. I feel like Edna should have a birthday had and balloons today!
On our way to Monson I did a little paper cutting in the car. Just a few simple things....and just the inside cuts.
Patsy and Janice bought beautiful handmade baskets. Janice's was small and easy to carry....but Patsy bought a handwoven hamper. Yes...a hamper. Luckily it had two handles so she and I were able to walk it the mile back home. We had to switch hands every 10 minutes or so...but we were pretty tickled with ourselves not going back with the car.
I've carried many things home over the years and I still have several of them in my home that have been painted or rehabbed. I love repurposing other people's cast offs!
There's something to celebrate in the Shupe household! Paul has been friends with Bill, Bill and Bob for 40+ years since their Vanderbilt Divinity School days, and for the past 20 years they've spent a week together somewhere in the wilderness...most often in the mountains of Colorado. They've just written and published a book called The Wilderness of Friendship in which they share their friendship journey and explore events and ideas that gave shape to their friendship. I'm so proud of these guys!
The Wilderness of Friendship offers a counterpoint to the consensus that there is an epidemic of loneliness among men in the United States. Four men, friends since their days at Vanderbilt Divinity School, explore and describe the values and actions of more than forty years of friendship. Among them are hospitality of place and ideas, risking vulnerability to share life fully, a shared wonder at the amazing blessings of life, and a love for the wilderness, both literal and metaphorical, where there is always more going on than can be understood in the moment. What emerges is one vision of what it means to be a man, husband, father, friend: open, teachable, and above all, joyful.
I have a feeling that this book may be more important than perhaps it at first appears. Our country's woes have many sources, but surely one is the sad and isolated condition of its men, who have been told to stand on their own. As the authors make clear in this lovingly written chronicle, alternatives are possible!"
-BILL MCKIBBEN, author of Here Comes the Sun
"With honesty, humor, and love, these engaging essays—individually and collectively—offer a healing balm to men like the authors and to all of us, especially in these times of disconnection and conflict over gender norms. By letting us in to their four decades(!) of friendship, the authors invite us to reconnect with each other and with ourselves. A true gift!"
-ELLENT. ARMOUR, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair and Professor of Feminist Theology; Vanderbilt Divinity School
"Here we witness an extraordinary friendship forged over decades and deepened through shared commitments to curiosity, self-reflection, and justice. With honesty and humility, wit and wisdom, four friends, chosen brothers to one another, recount the stories of their shared life, shaped by seasons of joy, loss, discovery, and care. The building blocks of that friendship—intentional time together in wild places, deepening vulnerability, and a longstanding dedication to learning and unlearning—offer a counterpoint to the epidemic of loneliness. Wise, generous, and deeply humane, this book offers both a testimony to authentic male friendship and an invitation, especially for men willing to confront the privileges of whiteness and patriarchy, to cultivate deeper relationships: with one another, with the hurts of the world and with the sacred."
-ALLEN EWING-MERRILL, Executive Director, The BTS Center
Our time with friends at the lake was everything I hoped it would be. It's a good thing to unplug for a bit with people you love.
I was inspired by the flowers Janice brought!
I'm in the middle of my 12th year writing this daily Joyful Puttering blog....and I've only missed a few days here and there. Every now and then I wonder if I'll know when it's time to slow things down....or maybe even wind things down. I don't think that time has come yet but...but I am taking a few days off.
Paul and I are going to spend three nights on lake in Monson, Maine with four dear friends. There's no WiFi...and virtually no cell service....so we'll be unplugging...and enjoying every minute. Even it if rains.
But don't you just love the playful way black-eyed Susans unfurl? I know I do! 
The art of not being ready and doing it anyway will take you far! Rob Dance
Becky had a beautiful blue, white and gold floral calendar hanging in her studio. I wish I would have taken a photo of that whole wall...it's so magical. Every time I go...there's something new.
Ever since I came across the little paper cut from a another calendar with gold highlights....I've wanted to try another one. The random color images and gold accents give the cut piece such character....not something you can plan.
