hey there all! today finds me full of emotion. been waiting for the right time & right way to make another big announcement involving the world of patinaWHITE. on the heels of the fantastic reveal / honor of the feature in fleaMARKET style magazine comes the news that i...will not...be having an event @ my home studio this year.
i hear the WHAT??! echoing across computer screens everywhere! originally i was going to title this post "HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MARBLES?!" showing my handful of marbles that were soundly & safely in my possession. just like i did last year when i got them. {below}
i wanted a current picture of me showing 'em so you knew i hadn't lost my marbles. well. the irony of the situation is that i CAN NOT find those marbles. they are not really "lost". just simply tucked in that safe spot with all the other things i look for @ various moments. {it must be one heck of a stash waiting to be found!}
my helping hand {below} shows that i have, indeed, temporarily lost {misplaced} my marbles!
i share this news w/ a feeling of bittersweet. and the only way i can really explain things right now is my heart is heavy but my shoulders are lightened. i am taking a new path. i am not going away. summers will still be spent in the fun craziness @ my cottage many of you have come to expect. but as i shut the door to my event...i look to opening a new window to the world wide web. with the possibility of a tight gathering of my wares...collected + created...in a little online shoppe.
i know. some of you are bummed. i feel your pain. literally feel your pain. because i woke up today with a raging sore throat. a nasty one too. not the little tingle that you say. bummer...i might be getting a cold. nope. this is...knives in the throat...carry a cup so you can spit & not swallow kind of pain.
enter in again that bittersweet feeling. because @ 1am this morning i could sleep no more. so i googled fast sore throat relief. and beyond the usual salt water remedy....i saw mention of apple cider vinegar mixed with water...gargled...then swallowed for a fast fix. it's early or should i say late? however you look @ it i am up and would much rather be sleeping. so i gave it a shot. it was...as terrible tasting as it sounds. but the waking hours find me still downing this bitter cocktail {below}
i wasn't about to take that kind of "bitter" without a "sweet" chaser. so i pulled out my giant jar of honey {below} ...and put a healthy "dose" of it down the hatch. i had read somewhere that a spoonful of honey will coat and soothe a sore throat. i'm thinking of doing a test and seeing what a cup might do.
well. it would seem i am on a bittersweet roll. so i may as well launch into another big reason for being a big ball of emotion today. many of you know that i have been raising my rouge little wood duck for months. she flourished under our care and quite honestly showed me how to slow down & enjoy the little things.
i knew that ultimately she would grow up and hopefully be in a position to take off into the wild blue yonder. minnesota is no place for a duck to live in the winter and my garage is no place to raise what is a "snow bird". so. last friday she left for the first extended amount of time ever. nearly 3.5 hours to be exact. i was heartbroken. time to face the fact that my little girl was spreading her wings. you can imagine my surprise when i returned home later that day to find her sitting on the steps of our garage.
i exclaimed thru tears of joy..."WHERE WERE YOU?!". like she'd answer. but darn it i wanted an explanation. i wasted no time heading to our "perch". time for some quality time in our matching lawn chairs that she and i hang out in. this was her peeking at me {below}.
very sweet moment. now comes a bit of bitter. last night i was driving home...when a group of wood ducks flew above me. {3} of them. i couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness that MJ wasn't with them to make a full set of "wheels". she was, as i secretly hoped, still sitting in her tiny pool in our yard.
then came time for the morning ritual of opening our garage door to let her get her flight time in that is usually a couple laps around our home. hubby did the duty. and came in and said. "she left again". i have been bracing myself since last friday. so i wasn't surprised. then she returned 15 minutes later to the garage. i rushed in to grab her corn. in my mixed wave of emotions i wanted to give MJ her favorite treat to entice her to maybe stay...a little while longer.
walked back in to the house. opened the door a moment later to "chat" with her and she took off. again. that was {5} hours ago. and it wasn't until i passed my perpetual calendar and flipped the page...revealing this sight {below}...
...that i felt the moment was right to now chat with you all. because despite my lack of ability to "speak out loud"...i still have the power to click away on a keyboard. rambling on today about ups & downs likely making you feel like you're on a roller coaster ride.
i've heard from some of you that reading my blog is like a dose of therapy. know that i feel the same often when i write. and it's w/ my heart on my sleeve that i hope you will understand & continue to check in for updates on what lies ahead. i am not really all that sure myself. like MJ i am spreading my wings...and heading off into the wild blue yonder. hopefully i can get some lift off though. i suspect the extra "fluff" from a cup of honey might weigh me down.
thanks for "listening".
