earrings + eco prints

I'm still playing with both, this is what yellow and red onion skins do to watercolor paper after being wrapped tight and left to simmer for a couple of hours in a rich brew of stuff ... so very cool! and I love using these to hang the earrings from, all up for adoption along with many more.

learning

Thanks to my sweet friend, my anam cara Robin, we are taking an eco dying class together online ... so much fun! The results are a mystery every time and depends on so many factors, what fabric you use, what you put in the pot, how long you leave it in there or if you put things out to bake in the sun, and then there's the rust! That's a whole other level of outcomes.

A big surprise for me is how much I'm taking to paper, water color paper for now 

but I'm sure there will be different ones to try.

And, boy! this really changes how you go on your walks, looking at so many things that could work ... oh, look! what a pretty dead leaf, oh, there's another! and something purple, oh! a sunflower!

And then there's your kitchen where you'll find purple cabbage, red and yellow onions,  turmeric, paprika, tea and coffee, blueberries and on and on and on.

Just today I was getting ready to roast some tomatillas and right there were these perfect, little green husks, waiting to be played with.

One thing that helps me with projects is knowing what I want to use them for. Working with these almost square shapes came about because they would fit in the one big pot I had in one of the smallest kitchens on the planet. I've learned to not fight it, just work with what I have and I knew doing big amounts of fabric was not a reality but this I could do and then I could use them for hanging my pretty earrings on! I'll show you a few befores and afters ~

I really love those interesting shapes and colors so much more than the white.

Thank you, Deb, for sharing your fantastic desert knowledge and awesomely fun videos 

and beautiful grandbabies with us!

Random blessings

I do it all the time and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out you do, too. I've always said a morning prayer for the day, for us and our loved ones and an end of day prayer giving thanks.

But all through the day, at any time, I'll send out a blessing to someone I don't know ... it could be a young mother struggling with her tired children, I'll say "please let her get home safely and put those babies down for a nap" or an elderly man sitting alone on a bench, I'll just shoot love and caring thoughts right at him and hope that he is waiting for someone special to join him. Sometimes when we are stopped in traffic and I look over at a fellow driver I'll hope in a big way that they 

reach their destination with no problems.

It's just little things that make me remember, when we're feeling like we are out on that wire by ourselves, that we really are not.

gracefully

That's how we are trying and hoping to handle this aging thing because, seriously, there is no way to ignore it. We don't dwell on it or worry about it too much, mostly we are pretty astonished by it, being from a huge group of young people who were dealing with the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution and drugs, many of us never thought we'd make it out of our 30's 

and the wildness with which we lived really showed that.

Needless to say how grateful we are, while so many didn't get the chance to worry about getting older, here we are. So, at this stage of the game you do all that you can ... take your daily walks, eat good food, keep up with your dental and vision appointments. That last one caught me by surprise this week when I went for a usual eye exam, thinking it would be about the same ...

a new prescription, new glasses.

Instead, I was told that I have a cataract ... bummer. 

I know the drill since Larry has had both eyes done already, he also had me to put all the drops in.

My first appointment is Thursday morning, should be interesting and just one more new thing.

a pretty pair

I've been sitting with these lovely lilac and pure white beads and just letting them do their thing, trying to think and not think about the sadness in El Paso and then more sadness hearing about the children coming home from the first day of school to find their parents gone. I've named this pair Heartbreak but I think they will bring joy to the lobes they swing and dangle from 💜

sharing more thoughts

Some memories you just keep for a very long time, one of my favorites is being in the back yard of our home in College Park, Georgia. Laughing and playing, running and swinging high I remember thinking that being seven years old was the very best and most perfect thing in the whole world.

Also, not being aware of how short a time that would last was another wonderful thing.

Another vivid memory was when I was a few years older, but evidently very much still a baby, because for some reason the thought came to me that the only people who were allowed to have guns were the policemen, the good guys. I'm not sure why I was thinking about that at all but when I realized that the bad guys couldn't have guns it made me feel glad and the worry went away 

... but sadly not for long.

The past few days I've been thinking about all that's been lost to us, the feeling of being safe, of our children and grandkids having the chance to grow up strong and healthy, to make memories.

I wonder if we'll be able to trust again, if the people and the ones "in charge" can possibly work together to make it better or how bad will it have to get. 

Usually when I dwell on these concerns I do it quietly and privately but that doesn't feel right anymore, the stakes are too high to not voice how I feel. In all the reading that I do I came across these words, if you are staying silent you are agreeing, or something like that and I decided that even if it cost me friendships or relationships I don't want to be mistaken for a person who is okay with all that is going on, in the world or with the people making horrible decisions or the ones doing nothing.

deep breath ~

a desert city

We've lived together in many other places besides these Colorado mountains, strange little towns down South and the oldest city on a beautiful beach and in the city next to different mountains, El Paso. We landed there a few different times, enough time for it to grow on us, to get addicted to the food and to be extremely impressed with the people, their gentleness and kindness.

It's not a city for everyone, but I think we would go back in a heartbeat. And our hearts are hurting this morning for what has happened there and how it has become a matter of whose turn it is to be shot up, how it keeps going on and the feeling of anger and helplessness. 

And there's a new normal of having to discuss what to do when this happens while you are in a store, a park, a bar, any kind of gathering and we talked about it again before we went to do shopping this morning, just in case. I know, I don't like it either.

So, I'm very happy to be back here at my blog because it is my blog and I won't be silent about my thoughts and I'm sure they won't please or appeal to everyone. If you want to argue about gun control or sending your thoughts and prayers to the victims or that there is no connection to so much of what is going on and the (non) leadership of this country then you need to find another space to visit, this is not your space. My feelings won't be hurt, I'm sadly aware there are many who think in a much different way but we are strong in how we think and do not waver, we'll wish you peace and continue to embrace the tribe that is right for us.