Deep in the Thick of It

It's not all about the shi-chi puppies (but since I mentioned them, 3 week old puppy pics will be coming in a day or two)....we do still make and sell art....though I must admit that the last week has been very rich in living life and enjoying family and friends. It has been a beautiful couple of days. Memorial Day in Michigan arrived after two dark, contemplative, rain-filled, incubative days as a spectacularly bright, sunny, shiny day. I must admit that the dark days were lovely in their own right and oh, how all of the new gardens desparately needed the rain.

Ann Arbor, a great city for families and people in general, has a fabulous string of community pools and parks that all opened this last weekend. My daughter and two grandchildren and I walked the 10 minute walk from their new house, to their neighborhood pool at Buhr Park, where other family members joined us. Our extended family spent most of Monday afternoon up to our necks in cool, beautiful water and then we topped off the day with a barbecue in the evening.

We discovered that my almost 2-year old grand-daughter Juniper most likely has mermaid roots. Being a Michigan baby she hasn't been exposed to much swimming time, but she took to the water with enthusiasm. Michael, her older brother is already a fish. He was a Key West boy for the first 5 years of his life, where swimming in crystal clear, white sandy-bottom, carribean waters is a daily event so it was hard for him not to grow fins.

The day was ideal....there was literally nothing wrong with it from start to finish. Winter is officially over.

Back to work on Tuesday, which is always really, really nice after a fun-filled, work-free, few days. I'm always ready to get back into it. We have a full schedule of orders on the bulletin board, including an order from Somerset Jewelers Gallery, who we have sold to for the past 4-5 years, in Ocean City, Maryland. I'd love to include a link to their store but they don't keep a website. We're pulling everything together, working simultaneously on cats, flamingoes, suns, fish, flowers.

The photos above show a cat before it's features have been added and a fish in the early stages.

Flamingoes with their base coat, waiting for glass, eyes, wings.

Large Flower tops primed and ready for action.

Flowers in progress with cat eyes on the table too.

I haven't been getting to my paintings as much I would like. The arrival of summer is directing any extra time that I have, outside to dig in the garden, fill my front porch flower boxes with new soil and flowers, spray paint the wicker furniture I picked up on craigslist, have cook-outs with the whole family at our friend (and my daughter's mother-in-law) Yvonne's house (we share grandchildren).......plus the less exciting tasks of renewing licenses (YAY- Michigan driver's licenses mean we can start using the library), going to doctor's appointments, shopping for art materials, and all of that other necessary and very time consuming stuff that we have to do to keep everything working. Don't even ask me how the inside of my house looks today. Total disaster zone.

Life has gotten speedy all of a sudden, but I keep telling myself it's all a matter of balance. I'm with you Catherine....my new friend who carries our work at The Red Shoes in Ann Arbor was just talking about the busy-ness of her life the other day, and how easy it is to feel hectic. Indeed, and in spite of how crazy it can make you feel trying to figure out the way to get it all done, it's much better than feeling bored. No boredom here. Too, too busy making life happen.