Blessed

Last full day with our family guests.  Feeling blessed! 

I love the little hints of fall here and there this time of year.  Blessed....wherever I stand!

Family Reunion

A whole family of mushrooms just popped up on the other side of our fence at the condo.....it looks like a family reunion.  

My son Sam was able to pop in today all the way from Boston....and my other son Nate will pop in tomorrow for a visit with Alyson and Steve and their grandma.  So even though it won't all happen at the same time....it's kind of like a family reunion....and that brings me a lot of joy.

Diamond Cove

Today we took the Diamond Cove Pass boat ride winding around the islands of Casco Bay.  There's nothing quite like being on the ocean and viewing the world from a different point of view.  Margie chose to sit this one out...but the rest of us had a great time.

There happened to be a huge cruise ship in the harbor which kind of dominated the landscape.

My friend Linda sent me quotes from an article she read in Magnolia Magazine by Julie Pointer Adams on wabi-sabi and it validated once again the importance of my collections of found objects around my house.

"Ultimately wabi-sabi  means striking a balance between the beautiful polished design we love to aspire to and the rough around the edges things that fill us and feed us and remind us who we are."

Celebrating this one hydrangea bloom for so long is at the core of who I am....and want to be.  It's so simple and has been beautiful in all its stages.

"Wabi-sabi encourages us to appreciate and elevate what's humble, impermanent, and earthy." 

Many of my found nature treasures at the condo can be found on these unexpected shelves which I written about before.  They are oak drawers from a discarded dresser I found along the road.  They sit on a hand-me-down hutch bottom from Linda and are filled with bits of this and that and that....everything has a story.

The small baby bottle from Paul's childhood holds the tiny marbles I found at a consignment store.  The driftwood is from my dear friend Connie and still has wax on it from when she used it as a candle holder.   

There's the spool I found on the beach and last year's dried sycamore seed pods.  There are pieces of bark, a mossy stick, and a prized dried daffodil blossom that reminds me of my time with Philippa in England.  Philippa is the one who taught me about the concept of wabi-sabi.

Another glass bottle holds dried berries from the holly I got as a gift from Marina's (Sam's girlfriend) family farm. And...I love the pottery pieces made by my boys when they were in elementary school....imperfection at its finest!                                                                                                        

I don't pick up everything....and I don't keep everything I pick up....but I've learned to love these  humble, impermanent and earthy treasures.

A Family Affair

One of the good things about company is that it gets us out to some of our favorite spots.  Picture perfect day in Portland/South Portland!

 Brother and sister.....mother and son.

I know What I Like

Our house guests, Alyson and Steve, are all tucked in....it's good to have them here.

I wish I knew when I bought this upholstery fabric....but it was quite some time ago  Even way back then I was a polka dot fan.  I know what I like.

I fell in love with it when I saw it....and knew it would have a prominent place in my home....someday. Years ago I made a chair pad....and a small bolster pillow for our Lexington home but had been waiting for the right project for the rest.

And...some of you may remember that the entry rug is the inspiration for the whole downstairs....and it goes perfectly with the fabric. It's like I had some grand plan....even back then.

We inherited window quilts in the whole downstairs of the condo except in the kitchen and they are wonderful in the winter for heat efficiency and the coziness factor. The brackets are large, bulky and ugly....so after two years it was finally time to tackle some window coverings.

I have no woodworking skills....but I can install brackets and a shelf....so that was my starting place. I had boards cut at the local lumber store and got to work. 

I had just enough length of fabric with barely an inch to spare for the front of the long window in the dining room.  I had to piece the sides and I tried to line up the dots so you almost can't tell there's a seam.  

I lined the panels and stapled them to the board.....easy peasy.

When we first moved in I didn't think I would like the salmon colored shades in this living area....but they've grown on me and now I like them quite a lot and they work well with the fabric.  In the other rooms the shades are either blue or white...again....the colors work well in each space.  Two more shades to make....sometime.

My practice room was Paul's little study off the living room.  Again....I already had the fabric...this time a table cloth I bought on sale from Crate and Barrel a while back....just because I loved the fabric.  

The table cloth wasn't quite wide enough...and I really wanted the stripes to be vertical....so there's a pleat in the center...but it worked out fine.

And as you can see it's really time to buy bookshelves....the stacks are everywhere!!!

Stripes and polkadots....I know what I like.

Catch-Up

Becky sent me these two quotes over the past couple of days....she knows me well.                                                                    

In between house chores and tripping over the vacuum cleaner I've taken a little time to repurpose some of my watercolor experiments for my 100 day project. Today I played catch-up and finished them up and took a few photos. Making things DOES help me remember where I came from.  Thanks mom!

#66 is actually a digital image I experimented with back in 2015 and I wrote a post about it and the inspiration here.  The rest are reinvented watercolors.

This one has a few scraps from my Sun Stars and Moon calendar.

The background was cut from a larger blue and green patchwork I did at some point.

Black stitching lines would have made this one pop a little more.

Pretty Platter

I'm still in full blown chore mode....that's what "company coming" does for me...and it's a good thing.  The condo really needed my attention.....so that means almost no studio time. I have done a few simple cards...but haven't photographed them yet. I'm also finally working on some window treatments.  Busy days! Good days.

My hydrangea blossom started to shrivel in the vase....so I moved it from the the window sill to the table...and now it's a wabi-sabi experiment.  And why not watch it on a pretty platter!


My meadow Rue is still going strong.  There seems to be constant little pearly buds....and the bees just love it. 

And I was thrilled to see some new little clusters of buds coming out a little lower on the stem. It just keeps on giving!

Rewards

Today was a chore day and there was a cool breeze all day long making the tasks a little more pleasant. I need about 5 more days just like this.


And....nature seemed to reward me for my work.

As I was watering the lawn I found one sycamore seed pod in the grass.  The sycamore is not doing well this year and I'm hoping it's the result of the difficult winter and not something more serious.  Hopefully next year it will come back in it's full glory.....and this green fuzzy pod gives me hope.

Then at the end of the afternoon I took my dinner and book to the patio and was entertained by a steady stream of birds enjoying the birdbath....chickadees, goldfinches, and one red cardinal.  We see birds fairly often....but not like today.

Thank you nature! I'm so grateful!

Beautiful Imperfection

I was stopped in my tracks when I came across this urban sunflower patch in Portland.  

I loved the beautiful imperfection and character of the blooms that were fading more than the perfect ones.

I was also captivated by the blooms that were just beginning to open. 

The beauty of imperfection at its finest.