I’ll be back in a moment

Slipped down into to a shadowy realm a few days ago, but I think I have managed to climb out. May need a day or two more to make sure I’m back on steady footing. 

The Moments: Stripes

My husband tidied up the living room yesterday; all the magazines are sorted and stacked on the coffee table. Looking at the edge of the stack I saw more potential inspiration in the pattern of line and color — narrow strip quilting? free-form embroidery?

The Moments: Ephemeral

Another exquisitely beautiful autumn day! I decided to take the long way between buildings at work on a path that winds through acres of meadow. Along the way: silken-seeded milkweed pods in their final, ethereal glory.

The Moments: Gathered

A close-up view into a bouquet of dried flowers I purchased at farmstand along a country road in western Massachusetts on the Significant Birthday Weekend. As unlikely as I am to paint a realistic version of this, I am definitely thinking about what I can do with the pattern of color and texture as inspiration.

The Moments: Source

Six-month-old Shetland sheep alongside the Rhode Island Spinners Guild demonstration at the Johnny Cake Festival, in the tiny village of Usquepaugh, Rhode Island. This first coat of wool will stay on through the sheep’s first winter until shearing next spring in April.

The Moments: Perfect

We’ve had a perfectly beautiful autumn weekend — sheer beauty wherever we turned. This, the millstream at Kenyon’s Grist Mill, Usquepaugh, Rhode Island, where we’re thoroughly enjoying the annual Johnny Cake Festival.

The Moments: Present

At some time in the many years we have lived 1200 miles apart, my brother and I decided we could avoid some unnecessary stress and established a tradition of remembering each others’ birthdays in a purposefully belated fashion. It’s kind of nice to know that a little while after the Big Day yet one more surprise will arrive. This stack of sweet treats topped with a big golden bow arrived yesterday, not quite a week not-really-late.

The Moments: They’re ba-ack!

Returned home from work to find the kids from across the street had filled the entire driveway with their chalk drawings. Someone (looking at you JayZee) must have told them that I’d wondered what they’d drawn last time — this set came with lots of little captions. The head at the top of the picture is “a sun with many rows of teeth and is wearing sun glasses;” just below and a bit to the left are small hand prints, labeled “hand prints.”

I haven’t yet discovered a label for the curlicue line, which meanders down most of the length of the driveway. There’s a big part of me that hopes it’s just that — a wandering, curly line that went wherever the young artists decided it wanted to go.

The Moments: Pick

I’d been working on a project all evening up in the workroom, and just after 11 PM I tiptoed down the stairs and realized I hadn’t yet done my Moment. Then I turned the corner and saw my husband’s dobro propped up against the arm of the sofa.

The Moments: Stack

Future mixed-media source materials gleaned from the free-for-the-taking shelf at my local library. The thin, well-worn volume on the top is the prize — it appears to be a Russian automobile and motorcycle maintenance manual. (The next time my brother-in-law visits, I’ll have him tell me for sure.)