A Path Forward

"We just showed that the politics of division is no match for the politics of love." James Talarico

I feel like we have a path forward to heal our country. It's not going to be smooth sailing...but there is reason to be hopeful. So I'm celebrating that today!

I've been channeling Margie as I've worked on this colorful puzzle. It's no coincidence that a path was made from top to bottom and side to side just yesterday.....on election day. I'm celebrating that today too! 

The day after the election two years ago as Paul sat with Margie in her last hours....I was home and visited Bessie...my favorite tree. I was devastated with the election results....not sure what this would mean for our country...a walk would do me good. Within an hour....Margie passed and my grief and attention was redirected to my family.  

Just today...after this election I made Bessie my destination for my walk. Just a week or so ago her needles were still very green....but today there was a noticeable change in color....just like  Congress.

For those of you who don't know....Bessie is hackmatack is a deciduous pine tree. She turns golden yellow in the fall before she drops all her needles for the winter. They are also known as tamarack.

Bessie is scruffy but beautiful....and visiting her takes me to a place of peace. I looked back at my posts about my love for hackmatack trees (there are lots) and I was quite tickled to know that I actually discovered Bessie in a nearby neighborhood ON the day in mid November when we celebrated Margie's birthday with the family back in 2023. Sometimes our winding paths intersect with meaningful moments and precious people. Today my path forward intersected with puzzles.....Bessie...and people in politics driven by love. 

Winding Down

November is the month when Mother Nature begins to wind down as she gets ready for a long winter's rest. The leaves on the ground are crunchy and the ones left on the trees are mostly brown. Seed pods are more visible and any pop of color stands out and draws me in. I loved October...and the explosion of color and change and November feels like a big sigh after the party.

It's election day....and I'm cautiously optimistic.

On election evening two years ago I was sitting with Margie (my mother-in-law) in her nursing room. She wasn't conscious...and actually died the following morning without knowing the results of that presidential election. 

Our family continues to believe that to be somewhat of a miracle. She wasn't afraid of dying...but she was afraid of suffering. Being the progressive peacemaker she was....the past two years of chaos would have caused her so much pain....and she would have suffered. She died in peace.

I'm sitting with Margie in my thoughts tonight and all the joy she brought to my life. And...I'm hoping for a better election result.

This is what the path looked around the pond today....the beauty of winding down.

Rescued

I saw a version of this idea using layers of ferns as a trees on line and wanted to give it a try. I think the concept is a winner...and I hope to make a batch of Christmas cards. I will never grow tired of making sun prints.

Back when I was putting together torn paper collage supplies for Lily....I made several tags as floral collage samples. I punched the backgrounds out of different heavy weight papers including one from a not-so-great cyanotype.

I wish I had a photo of the original tag....but the print was washed out...and as I glued on the torn papers the surface of the inexpensive watercolor paper started to peel. So it got set aside....but not thrown away.

I just came across it again and wondered if I could somehow rescue it. Turns out I could!

I painted over the parts of the washed out print with an inky blue watercolor to intensify the color and help conceal the peeled parts. I added some gold and outlined the flowers and leaves with a black pen. I actually love it now.

The back is a cyanotype print from a stencil...that I also outlined.   

 

From the start of this rescue....I had in my mind that it was make a fun next tag for my Tag Project 2.0. Nope! 

But I had used my tag punch...which is a different size and shape than the tags for my project. I'm not sure the flow would have been right anyway. So now I have a rescued little tag for just the right gift or journal.

I like the concept of outlined collage flowers on a cyanotype background. And painting in washed out backgrounds will be a good way to rescue some reject cyanotype prints! 

I'm calling this rescue a win win!

I'm Calling It

Happy November!

I used one one of @reviveyourroar's poems on my moon post a few days ago. She has a powerful voice and I adore this one about making space for beginnings.

some beginnings

look like

starting.

some look like

stopping

leaving

trying again.

changing your mind.

some beginnings 

look suspiciously

like endings

until enough

time passes

to see

nothing

was taken

from you.

life was

just

making space.

 @reviveyourroar

Originally there was an 8th page on my summer concertina rainbow book.I started it...didn't love it...and wasn't motivated to figure it out. Summer was over weeks ago. So I ripped it off and felt liberated. I worked my way from pink to purple....there are seven official colors in the rainbow....and seven pages. That seems like a good place to stop.....so I'm calling it done making space for something new.

For those of you new to the blog...I started this at the beginning of the summer as a creative practice project.....and I loved it. I traced stencils onto an accordion folded concertina and filled in with watercolor, colored pencil, paint pens, fused fabric and paper collage. 

I started with pink....because thanks to Kimberly I fully embrace that pink belongs in a rainbow.

But maybe it's only half done! Maybe the back will be a winter project.

I think there's space for that!