Leaves and Feathers

Where I've really been

2012-02-09T10:24:00.000-05:00

Most mornings for the past month you'd find me out walking on the beach. I make the quick 5 minute drive from our house, park in the sand by the side of the road and walk the wooden board walk out onto the beach, which changes daily with the tides and weather, presenting its new face to me each morning like a surprise. As I start to breathe in the sea air I feel my body calming, my mind opening.

After what has been the longest blog-break that I've taken since I started blogging two and half years ago I am back friends, and I have missed being here. For the past month I have needed to retreat, cocoon myself and focus on my immediate surroundings, taking care of myself and my family. I'd like to explain why...

At the beginning of December I found out that I am pregnant, completely unexpectedly, it was really one of the most stunning bits of news that I've ever received. Not because I thought that it wasn't possible, but just because as someone who likes to be a "planner" I have such a vision for my life and future...and having another child was something that Frank and I had thought about, considered for a time, but decided that it was not a part of our vision for our future. Our family of four, Frank and I with Jasper and Carys feels so balanced, and with our move last summer we have been adjusting to our new life. On a deep level I had been finding such a peace in moving forward from my childbearing years. I was happy finally to put that behind me, to let it go, and to embrace the time ahead which I thought was going to be full of creating my art as my main focus, especially since Carys will start full time Kindergarten in September 2012, I figured 2012 was going to be about me diving into my art in a deeper way.

So, that was the mindset with which I faced the plus sign on the pregnancy test back in December, I looked at it in disbelief. It was not part of my plan!! I was really in shock about it, both Frank and I were, through the holidays as we traveled back up north to visit family and friends I look back and see what a state of shock we were in. The reality of it did not hit me until we returned home from our holiday trip. Looking forward towards the future I suddenly felt deep grief for the road ahead of me. I felt like I did not have the strength within me, the warrior woman strength that I know I need, to face another pregnancy and to have another baby.

Being pregnant and giving birth are like crossing a narrow bridge. People can accompany you to the bridge. They can greet you on the other side. But you walk that bridge alone.
-African Proverb

For me being pregnant is a time full of mental and physical stress, I know I've spoken here on my blog briefly before about the fact that I lost my first pregnancy in the 13th week. So for me in each of my subsequent pregnancies those weeks leading up to the 13th week are a time of great struggle in which I face fear daily choosing each day to go forward anyway. On top of that with this pregnancy I have had morning sickness much much worse than with any of my previous pregnancies, it has been so bad at times that I have spent days in bed.

This finally is my 13th week of this pregnancy, I start my 14th week tomorrow. I can't tell you how long it has felt already, but finally I am feeling this baby move within me and we have heard the heart beat loud and strong many times on our at home Doppler (that I have rented). I have also finally chosen a midwife and my first appointment is tomorrow. Things feel like they are moving forward, and over these past two months I have felt myself slowly broken open to this new future. Simultaneously feeling scared, worried but also blessed beyond belief. It is a strange uncertain place to be, in which I still must choose to put one foot in front of the other in trust daily.

My morning beach walks started in early January, they have held deep lessons for me. Sometimes the tide is very low and there is a huge sandbar for me to walk on, other times the beach is just a tiny thin strip and the waves roll up to my shoes.

Sometimes the sand bar is just a tiny island, almost covered by the tide.

At other times the beach feels wide as a desert and my whole being feels wide open and expansive with it.

Some mornings are cold,

the sea feels menacing and murky,

While other days are glassy and warm.

On most days the Dolphins are there, playing in the water close to the shore. Their top fins surface before they dive and really, they are so hard to photograph but absolutely magnificent to watch as they glide through the water

Watching these angels of the ocean reminds me of unbridled joy, of the little fish baby swimming in my belly, of the depths within the ocean that are there even though I can't see them...they remind me to have faith.

Looking back Slowly

2012-01-08T15:32:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year friends!

I am SLOWLY stepping into 2012 and finding the energy that I have needed to get back into the grove of our normal schedule after holiday break was enough to keep me on my toes this past week.

Our whirlwind of a holiday tour, that in only two weeks took us to Philadelphia, New York City and Washington DC, ended last weekend with our arrival at home in Charleston after a 13 hour drive just before New Years.

It has taken me this past week to process all that we did, there were so many lovely times with friends and family, and to take in the fact that it is now 2012!

Here's a quick holiday re-cap of our trip,

While we've been loving our warmer southern winter so far, it was fun to take some hikes in the woods of the cold north while we were there,

we enjoyed every second of our time with my brother's family visiting from England, their little girl is almost two and just as cute as can be!

We shared delicious holiday meals with family including this highlight, a traditional English holiday Triffle prepared by my sister-in-law,

Being all together in my parents big, beautiful old house that I grew up in was so fun!

We arrived back at home just in time for some was 70 degree weather and were able to enjoy New Years Day on the beach, the kids were even in bathing suits for splashing around although the water is cold now.

At the beginning of each year I like to reflect back on where I was at this time the year before. 2011 was such a huge year for us that I know I'll be processing all of the changes that it held for some time, and really it feels like it was many years wrapped up into one as in many ways we actualized many long held dreams in 2011.

At this time last year we were knee (thigh?) deep in snow, I announced our move and we finally completed the renovation of our Brooklyn brownstone and started staging it to get it ready for sale. At the end of February we visited Charleston, where we were blessed within a week to find our dream house along with great schools for the kids, and went into contract for the sale of our house in Brooklyn, all within one week (seriously one of the craziest weeks of our entire lives). That time last year really felt like a whirlwind.

The next few months were bitter sweet as we prepared to leave our home and city of 15 years, we packed up, said goodbye to friends and spent days celebrating all that we loved in Brooklyn.

Even thinking about that time of leaving, and looking at the posts that I wrote last spring get me choked up, it was such a time of transition, of knowingly letting go, of leaving.

At the end of May we made our big move, leaving NYC for Charleston.

We spent the summer adjusting to, exploring, finding new favorite spots and beauty close to our new home.

We spent our annual time at my family's farm (that we live only 4 hours from now!) in both the summer and the fall. We bought another VW camper van, woohoo! Renovated our back yard and Frank built the coolest tree house.

We had a couple of new furry additions in September.

Made new friends and celebrated with a pirate birthday party. Visited Disney with old friends, spent holidays with family near and far, did lots of crafting, made a bunch of paintings, and made our holiday whirlwind northern tour. Whew, so much to take in and process.

As I start this new year I am beginning by struggling to make room for something new and unexpected in my life. I am embracing something that I thought I was letting go of and taking what feels like a huge leap of faith. I'll share more about this when the time feels right.

Wishing you many blessings and light ahead in 2012.

Blessings

2011-12-25T07:46:00.000-05:00

Wishing you a day spent celebrating the blessings that fall all around you.

Joy to the World on this Christmas day!

We'll be up opening presents early (the kids wake at the crack of dawn to open their stockings!), then after breakfast we'll be off to my parent's church where I love to sing the old Christmas hymns. Then we'll spend the rest of the day relaxing, enjoying being all together, maybe going to a movie in the evening after dinner.
How about you? I'd love to hear how you spend Christmas.

New York visit

2011-12-24T08:13:00.002-05:00

Happy Christmas Eve!

This week we made the 13 hour drive up to Philadelphia, we're here at my parent's house for Christmas, and we took advantage of being back up north to take a quick trip back to visit New York City, only 2 hours drive away from here.

We spent 3 days there, staying with friends and stopping by lots of our favorite places and really trying to make it about what the kids wanted to see. The Museum of Natural History was at the top of the kid's list,

Climbing rocks in Central Park was another one that was up there,

We all enjoyed the misty winter beauty of our old city. Being back there for the first time after our move (how can it be 6 months ago already!?) had me feeling nostalgic and completely energized by that energy that is only in NYC, but it also confirmed our move for us in so many ways.

Seeing the city decorated for the holidays was fun and we visited the holiday market at Union Square along with my favorite cafe close by, both of which I had been missing at this time of year,

and more than one of NYC's cool playgrounds.

We left feeling tired, and also feeling like New York city will always be one of those perfect places for us to visit as a family, since we know it so well and there are things that we all love to do there. But we feel perfectly placed at our new home and city in Charleston, which was an end of the year gift for me....
Looking back we have come so far in a year, from deciding to leave New York, to organizing and making the move to adjusting and settling in Charleston, and while it was one of the hardest and most strenuous years of my life in many ways it also was full of the gifts of clarity and strength which have forced me to grow in ways that I was ready for.
So our visit back to NYC reenforced all of the choices that we have made, and for that I feel deeply grateful.

Tutorial: Wrist Ribbons

2011-12-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

These wrist ribbons are one of the fun things that I have made for some of the kids in the Stocking Stuffer Swap, and they are so easy and fun that I wanted to share a tutorial with you so that you can make your own. Maybe even to stuff in a little one's Christmas stocking?

The supplies that I used are three different colors of ribbon all the same width, thin elastic (about 3/4 inch wide), needle and thread, and also a hot glue gun.

I measured my children's wrist and then cut a 6 inch strip of the elastic. I make this into a circle with about an inch of overlap,

I like to begin by putting a line of hot glue on that inch of over lap,

and then press together until set.

Here are my freshly glued elastic wrist circles,

Then I take my three different colors of ribbon, cut into about 1 yard long sections, and stack them lining the cut ends up. I've got my needle and thread ready to sew. If you don't have a glue gun you can begin at this point and just secure everything with your needle and thread.

I place the stacked ribbons against the part of the elastic that I just glued,

and sew, crisscrossing the thread on the side that will be visible when worn,

so that when I am done sewing the stiches look like a little star.

Now they are done and the fun begins, they get put on the wrists,

and away we go!

They seem to make dancing, running, spinning and even gazing just more fun!

Deep Space

2011-12-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

I'm obsessed with these images on the Hubble telescope photo-album site where you can download any of these images in super high resolution to print them out at home. I mean really aren't they just mindblowingly amazing!

I think the first one is my favorite, I'm picturing it framed it in my studio and maybe the last image in the kid's room. So many possibilities.

Ballerina Girl

2011-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

After spending about 2 years of her little 4 year old life talking about and pretending to do Ballet, I finally decided that the time was right for Carys to take an actual Ballet class this fall.

She was so excited to put on her leotard for the first class, and I could tell right away that being in a room with a bunch of other little girls wearing pink leotards was heaven for her!

Every week there were smiles on the way to class, and more smiles afterwards.

Then, this afternoon was her first recital, they performed their version of the Nutcracker, and to say that it was precious and that I was proud are both terrible understatements.

Hugs and squeezes all around!

Tree Skirt

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Making a tree skirt for the base of our Christmas tree is a project that I've had in mind for a few years and finally this year, after being inspired by this tree skirt, I thought it would be fun to make something similar. So, I pulled out the felt and got to work. The rainbow theme is just one that interests me and the project came together as I laid out the dots.

The most time consuming part so far was pinning everything in place. Now, I'm starting to sew the pieces on, I'm wishing that I had a sewing machine for this one, I'm sewing them all on by hand in the evenings while Frank and I watch past seasons of Survivor (our guilty pleasure). I'll post pictures when its done!

Also, I just wanted to mention that tomorrow will be the last day to order from my shop before the holidays, in case you had your eye on something. I'll be closing my shop for a two week holiday break as we leave for our trip to celebrate up north.

Merry and Bright

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-05:00

Once we got our Christmas tree up the decorating began in full force, along with some ginger bread fun which was clearly hard for some people to hold back from,

The kids and I had such a great time setting up this mini Christmas tree for all of the fairies and small animals who live on our family nature table,

We unwrapped the beloved wool Nativity made by my amazingly talented friend Nicole, and placed it in the middle of our living room where Carys gazes at and caresses the baby Jesus figure multiple times a day in the sweetest way.

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care,

Our stag head even got in on the decorating this year,

On our front door I hung a straw wreath from Ikea that we've had for a few years now and was such a great bargain as its simplicity goes with anything and it seems like it will last forever. This year I stuck some pieces of dried Hydrangea flowers in it to spice it up.

On either side of the door I placed small Lemon Cypress plants, which smell really amazing and make me happy every time I walk by.

Our front door has 6 window panes and as I was going through our Christmas decorations I found these six small gilded paper birds. I hung one in each pane, they hover there and move when the door opens,

they look great in silhouette too,

Finally, I found the perfect spot for these hanging star garlands above our stairs. I bought them a while ago at the Union Square holiday market, which you should definitely visit for amazing creative gifts if you are ever in NYC during the holiday season. That holiday market is one of the things that I am missing about NYC as this season approaches, but we are heading north for the holidays and we've got a short visit to our old city worked in there! It will be our first time back since our move 6 months ago and I am a bit scared and nervous to go back since leaving was so hard, but mostly I'm excited to see old friends!

I enjoyed this post about holiday decorating on a design blog that I've been visiting lately

with some really great easy DIY ideas for holiday decorating, and this clever craft tutorial that would delight my kids for our family nature table.

With Woman

2011-12-12T07:32:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I had the honor of being the labor support doula at an amazing birth. When I met the couple Cinelle and Stephen back in September we had an immediate connection. They had also recently moved to the Charleston area, Cinelle is also an artist and spent many years in New York City. Even though I had taken a break from my doula work so that I could be present with my family during our move and transition to Charleston, I really felt led to be their doula.

I was with them for the hard work of 29 hours of her 2.5 day labor. Every birth that I have attended teaches me about the human capacity to endure, to overcome, to triumph and to rejoice, and in this birth especially I felt those lessons deeply. I really feel so blessed to have been a part of their birth, and their little girl Anouk is precious as you can see,

here she is at our post-partum visit, less than a week old.

Amazingly, even as a new first time mom, Cinelle found time to make a video called With Woman, about her birth experience which you can watch here, I come in about half way through.

Do you see the little rainbow in the middle of the sky here?

As I was driving to their home to meet them as Cinelle labored, this little rainbow followed me on the whole half hour drive, I felt like it was a sign of grace and good things to come.

Getting our Tree

2011-12-11T19:31:00.001-05:00

Of all the many (many) Christmas tree shops that seem to have popped up in every parking lot in our new neighborhood over the past weeks this one caught my eye with the VW bug draped in sparkly lights sitting out front. So that's where we went to pick out our tree.

The sunset on our drive there was spectacular,

Jasper picked out the perfect tree immediately,

and we drove home, with the tree tied to our roof, for our favorite part, getting out the decorations!

Over the past ten years Frank and I have been gathering ornaments that have special meaning to our family, and unwrapping each one to hang it on the tree is a pleasure,

Reminding us of how our children have grown and the importance of this ritual, marking the passing of time, and this season of togetherness and celebration.

We've been enjoying our tree so much this week, especially in the early mornings when we get up and it is still dark outside, then we can really appreciate the twinkly white lights.

The last thing to go up on our tree was the tree topper Christmas Angel that I made last year, we were all so happy to get her out of the box and greet her again, another old friend!

Stocking Stuffer Swap

2011-12-09T10:58:00.001-05:00

So, I keep mentioning this Christmas crafting swap that I'm taking part in and I wanted to share a bit more about it, since we are really enjoying the anticipation and the crafting! There are 6 families taking part, and 14 children between all of us. The way it works is that all of the mamas make a gift for each child, then send the gifts by Christmas. My kids will get lovely hand made gifts from a bunch of other crafty mamas. Since about half of the families that are participating live in New Zealand I had to finish and send all of their gifts last week, here are some of the things that I made...

The top picture is of a little felt pouch for a 4 year old girl, inside the pouch I tucked some rainbow colored arm ribbons which I have yet to get a picture of, basically they are an elastic bracelet onto which I sewed multi-colored ribbons that stream behind when the child moves, my kids love them!

For a few of the children, as an add on gift I made this little needle felted bee, inspired by a gift that the teachers in our Waldorf Playgroup in Brooklyn gave my children. We've got a while hive of these bees on our family nature table, they are really sweet and so quick to make.

For one set of brothers, ages 4 and 7, I wet felted these two pouches, with swirls on the front. The pouches are almost identical but inside I tucked two different things,

Inside the pouch for the younger brother I tucked a set of arm ribbons, here they are all rolled up...

Inside the pouch for the older brother I tucked a set of these acorn men, Jasper really loves them and they can become anything, fairy guys or army men, you name it.

Here they are all cozy inside,

For a seven year old girl I made a moon fairy,

Who is coming tucked inside a pouch that I wet felted to match the fairy's colors,

Then there are these little needle felted birds that I am just dying over, I love them so much,

These are for a few girls who are 10 and still like cute things a lot. Frank cut a birch log into pieces so that each bird has it's own little perch.

Here are all the packages, I wrapped each gift individually and then put them each in a separate package for each family in NZ, tied up with string. It felt so festive to prepare them and send them off that now I really do feel like Christmas is around the corner! I'll post some pictures and a tutorial of the arm ribbons soon, they are so easy and fun!
You can check out what Morgan, one of the other crafty mamas, is making for the swap on her blog right here,
and here is a post that my friend Em did about some of the gifts that they made last year, such crazy cuteness.

Hello friends

2011-12-08T08:51:00.001-05:00

Some peeks at our Thanksgiving week, and where I've been since then,

Enjoying the beach as the weather is getting a little colder,

Prepping apples for our well loved apple cake,

Eating with cousins at the "kid's table",

and trying not to look while the adults put together a scavenger hunt after Thanksgiving dinner,

In the past 2 weeks I have been crafting like crazy, both for the craft swap that I'm doing for Christmas, and also a few things for my kids plus my nieces, Frank thinks that I've turned into a crazy craft lady,

I've got so many cute offerings that I'll share soon!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T11:38:00.001-05:00

Perhaps I can blame it on our move this year, but I really can.not.believe that the Thanksgiving holiday is coming up this week! How can it be the end of November, and is Christmas really only a few weeks away?!?
While I absorb all of that, and cook and host Frank's family for a Thanksgiving feast coming up on Thursday I might be pretty quiet around here, but perhaps I'll pop in with some images of our celebration.
I am feeling extra thankful after a quick trip that we took last week, we drove down to Disney in Florida and met up there with my mother and also with Sarah, my closest friend from childhood who flew down from New Hampshire with her kids.
We all stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we had a view of safari animals from our room's balcony which was pretty cool,

My friend Sarah has a son who is Jasper's age and a daughter who is Carys's age, which is an amazing serendipity, and the fact that they all love each other and play so well makes me happy on many different levels. Watching them play makes me think of the way Sarah and I used to play when we met when we were only 4, and it also makes me realize anew how thankful I am for her and for all of my deep friendships that have seen me through the years.

Another side of the trip was actually tough, Sarah's husband Jamey died 3 years ago in a motorcycle accident, and this was the first trip that Frank and I have spent with her family since the accident. So, Jamey's absence was tangible, strange and aching. Seeing how their children have grown and watching their son's face form the same expressions and smiles that Jamey would do was a constant reminder of their loss. It made me so grateful, so deeply Thank-full, for my own family. The simple fact that Frank and I get to wake up every day together and watch our beautiful children grow is a joy that never gets old and something that I am thankful for every single day, and I could taste that on this trip.

I plan to celebrate that joy, especially this week as we give thanks on the holiday. This past year has been a huge one for my family of 4, as we moved together to a new place where we only had each other and together we have branched out, made a new home and new friends slowly making this place our own. We have come through it all together as a stronger family unit, they are my joy, my strength and my thanks for them overflows.

The other night

2011-11-12T06:30:00.000-05:00

We were leaving a party around dusk the other night, when we looked up and noticed that the sky was putting on quite a showy sunset.

To get a better view we walked the two blocks to the beach.

Where we stayed until the colors softened,

into a pink rosy glow that seemed to engulf us all in quiet,

until the moon rose over the dark sea.

Radiance

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

In my studio, on my mind, in my world

Enjoying the glow of autumn

Radiance

Be my 300th sale!!

2011-11-07T13:34:00.001-05:00

Woohoo, over in my Etsy shop I've just made my 299th sale. So, I'm offering a fine art print of your choice to the person who is my 300th sale, you can choose from any of my images! Head on over and Good Luck!!

Christmas crafting

2011-11-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Its hard to even be typing the word Christmas, since there is so much to do between here and then, and really it still feels so far off, but...I have started my Christmas crafting already! I was invited by my friend Em to be part of a group of mamas with young children who do a hand-made gift exchange for their little ones each year at Christmas time. The age spread of the children ranges from 12 down to 2, so I've been getting lots of ideas organized for each child. It has been really fun, and my own children have been helping me by test-playing with each thing that I make, giving them their seal of approval.

So far, I've got a flock of these needle felted blue birds. I really want to hug each one.

There are also some families of these little fairies in the works, although before I could even start on the ones to give away Jasper and Carys put their orders in for fairies for themselves.

Some bumble bees,

Some of these things are going to be a bit hard to part with, but we are really excited to find out what the other moms will send us at Christmas! I'll make sure to post about all of the gifts as I finish them, crafting with a purpose is so satisfying and it feels so sweet and special to be thinking about the other children opening the packages and enjoying my crafts.

Magnolia Pods

2011-11-03T09:39:00.000-04:00

For the past month we've been having fun watching the seed pods on our Magnolia tree change. They were the center of the flower blossom back in June, and now each pod has taken on a life of its own,

Changing from these pink pods, to something more pine-cone like, once it has fallen to the ground and released its bright red seeds,

The kids and I had fun collecting them to arrange in this example of the life cycle of the pod.

Harvest and the easiest soup ever

2011-11-01T21:15:00.000-04:00

My aunt's wonderful garden on the farm in Asheville was just about at its end of production for the season when we visited last week,

Everything was wrapping up to be put to bed for the winter, but there were still a few things to be harvested and the kids were thrilled to help, treating it like a scavenger hunt to see how much they could find,

We harvested, green peppers, banana peppers, spinach, lettuces, chard, acorn squash and other large autumn squashes,

The kids also learned that it is great fun to pretend to be a garden bunny while harvesting. As garden bunnies they ate more handfuls of lettuce than they harvested, which I was not about to argue with!

My aunt sent us home with bags full of goodies from the harvest, that I've been finding ways to use in our meals for the past week, the easiest was making soup from this huge squash that Carys picked,

I simply cut it into four pieces (I cut it in half and then in half again), removed the seeds, put olive oil, salt and pepper on all of the pieces, and then baked it at 350 degrees for an hour or so. While it was roasting I sauteed a chopped Vidalia onion in olive oil in a large pot. Once the squash was soft when poked with a fork I scraped the fruit part away out of the skin and

put it in the large pot with the onion, I added some vegetable stock and then pureed the whole thing in a blender until smooth,

Really, the easiest soup ever, and so yummy served with seeded bread and a simple salad. Garden to table, Yum!

Loving the LEAF festival

2011-10-31T09:12:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween. We are getting all jazzed up to celebrate the holiday with trick-or-treating tonight, I've got two ninjas that I'll be walking around with.

Last weekend we attended the Lake Eden Arts Festival for the first time after hearing about it from so many of our new friends, it happens twice a year in an idyllic spot in the mountains of North Carolina and we found it to be the perfect blend of adult and kid friendly attractions. While there was live music that we wanted to hear in other parts of the large fair, we were hardly able to convince our kids to leave the "kids village" a special spot set up for children where we spent almost our whole day visit. The village was so full of fun things for them to do. My favorite was the kids handcraft market a special spot for children to set up and sell their own hand made things,

the setting on Lake Eden was picture perfect, a bit chilly to swim but there were canoe rentals and a zip line going down from the mountain into the water,

next year we hope to book one of the coveted camping spots and spend the whole weekend,

More sights in the "kid village", lots of active bouncy/climbing things to do, fairies parading on stilts...

our kids spent hours swinging in these hammocks, that were set up in the sand next to the tight rope line,

Carys became a butterfly,

and the kids visited one of the best costume tents I've ever seen, with a dress-up idea to fit every kid's fantasy,

We know families in Charleston who go to this festival every year with their kids, and I enjoyed seeing older children there who had obviously been coming for years and felt so comfortable running around without their parents, it was that kind of place. We'll definitely be back!

New Postcard Sets

2011-10-27T06:30:00.000-04:00

In preparation for the upcoming holiday season I've updated the postcards sets in my shop. This is always fun for me as I enjoy thinking about what themes run throughout my work and what sets I can create around those themes.

This year I have created the Enigma Set, above. This set is all about mystery and wonder, I love all of those images and I can just see them framed on a wall together!

I've also updated my Deer Set with some new images,

I've created a Butterfly Set, which really was fun to put together as I got to chose some of my absolute favorites out of all of my butterfly pieces,

I updated my Bird Set with some new images,

and as always there is my Lotus Set, one of my favorites, this set makes me feel so calm and happy.

For even more variety I'm also offering a collection of all 30 of my postcards in one complete set, featuring one of each of these cards,

And, in case any of the postcard sets are calling to you...until Halloween Day next Monday the 31st, please enjoy 15% off of anything in my shop using code AUTUMNLIGHT.

With all of these new sets and calendars in the shop I'm feeling a give-away coming on soon... stay tuned.

Autumn in Asheville

2011-10-26T08:55:00.001-04:00

Last weekend we snuck away for a quick trip to visit my family's farm in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. I've been trying to get back into the swing of our schedule here at home but my mind is still there taking in all of the beauty on the farm,

One of the great blessings of our move is that now we are only a 4 hour drive away form the farm (well 5 hours for us, somehow driving with the kids we always make so many stops!) and now we can visit more than just once a year.

The view from my aunt's deck is just breathtaking,

the perfect spot to warm up with a warm cup of coffee after a coooold night camping in the van,

Even with our sleeping bags and duvets we were freezing in the middle of the night, so we slept indoors the next night.

We loved seeing the autumn colors of the leaves, reminding us that it really is getting to be the end of October even though at home in Charleston it still feels like summertime.

On early morning walks we watched a flock of wild turkey foraging in the woods, Jasper stood stock still for a long time just staring at them.

It was a perfect weekend with all of the delights of being on the farm in autumn, country walks, crunching leaves and dirt roads, bonfires.

The kids made instant friends with the kids of the family that was renting the vacation rental on the farm for the weekend.

Other highlights included visiting the LEAF festival and harvesting the final bounty of veggies from my aunt's amazing garden, each of those deserves their own post that I'll share this week. I hope that you are having a good week!

2012 Calendar

2011-10-24T21:37:00.000-04:00

I hope that you had a lovely weekend!

I'm excited to share that my 2012 Calendar is in featuring one of my favorite paintings on every page. Most of them from this past year.
Next year, just cut off the calendar part and you have 12 art prints to frame or share.

Its printed with archival inks, spiral bound, the loop on top can be hung right on the wall.

Seven and a pirate party

2011-10-21T12:39:00.003-04:00

My boy turned seven last Saturday (7!), we celebrated with his class in their school yard with a special ceremony in which he held the globe and walked around a little model of the sun once for each year of his life as I told the story of what he did and how he developed in each year. Quite a sweet ceremony for my mama-heart as I was able to relive all of his milestones in his story.

Last Sunday we had our big blow out party at our house, a Pirate Party! My kids love picking a theme for their birthday and this year Jasper started planning his Pirate party back in the summer. Almost before we knew anyone to invite! Now we feel so thankful that through Jasper's school he has made so many friends so quickly. He really loved his birthday party, and I had fun planning all of the little details...

the banner and snack table,

silly "pirate" names for the snacks,

the pirate ship pinata,

Frank planned a complex scavenger hunt, which the kids did as a group, and really put their energy into!

and then there was the cake, which Jasper art directed and I decorated, we think it turned out well. The story is that boat has crashed on the island but the shark does not want to give up and one of the pirates has spotted the treasure,

What an exciting time we had, such fun, and now as the dust settles I have to get used to the fact that my lovely boy is already seven!!

Lovely Clusters

2011-10-19T10:02:00.001-04:00

Its time again for the Lovely Clusters autumn catalog, I always enjoy flipping through the virtual pages, each cluster transports me to far away places and restful times of day. I want to open up that blue door below and walk through...

My Lotus painting Hope is featured here on the Berry Tones page,

and can you believe these chandeliers in the photograph on this page, wow!

I hope that you are having a good week! I've been recovering from the Pirate Birthday party that we had last weekend, 14 young pirates took over our garden and searched for some treasure, exciting times!

Fire Pit

2011-10-13T10:51:00.000-04:00

We've been using our yard so much now as it has been getting noticably cooler in the evenings, the mosquitos are around less, so we can be out more!
I promise to post the before and after story of our backyard landscaping project (I'm a little overwhelmed with editing all the photos that I took of the project but I promise!), it is hard to believe that this whole back yard was just dirt when we moved in 4 months ago.
Something that we have always wanted is a fire pit, there is something about having a fir out of doors that relaxes Frank and I, it makes us think of camping. Finally, we have a fire pit on the patio and we had our first fire in it the other night.

We loved it.

And we captured the moment with a family photo,

Clearly Carys had other ideas...

I loved watching the world darken around us, and the sparks dance up through the darkness.

Happenings

2011-10-12T20:56:00.000-04:00

I've been a busy bee, starting to update my shop for the holidays. I've been doing photo shoots,

Using lots of pretty accesories,

and also preparing for a Pirate Birthday Party coming up this weekend. Frank is turning the tree house into a pirate ship. Ahoy.

What have you been up to my lovelies?

Evenings on the porch

2011-10-04T19:38:00.001-04:00

Come and join me in my favorite room of the house,

I wish that we could sit and watch the sun go down together.

Vigil: continuity and connectedness

2011-10-03T09:19:00.000-04:00

Vigil

Throughout my life I have looked for the continuity of those happy accidents that serve to remind us that each of us really are all deeply connected in a real, tangible, way.

When I was 9 my family moved from Philadelphia to Buenos Aires, leaving all of my friends at that age was hard, as was jumping into a completely foreign place, language and culture, it was something that I struggled to make sense of. However, even there I discovered those marks of continuity. At my international school I met a girl in my class who's father's sister was the college roommate of my parent's best friends. Seems like a remote connection, but those friends of my parents had a daughter who had been my best friend since we were 4, and the girl that I met in my class had played with my best friend on multiple occasions. Finding this out really blew my little mind, and was a source of comfort to me for while, knowing that even so far away there was someone who had played with my old friend made me feel more immediately connected to my new friend. (Many years later I ran into this friend that I made in my class in Argentina, on a street in Washington DC with my baby son, and then even later I served as her doula via email as she waited through the last hard days of her overdue pregnancy, but that is another story)

So, since then I have loved finding these connections, and once I began to look for them I have found them everywhere. Even, within our recent move from NYC to Charleston which felt at first like such a break from everything that we knew, there have been so many of those connections with many of our new friends here.

This has got me thinking about another connection that I have been struggling to make sense of and that connection involves my painting Vigil, whose picture sits at the beginning of this post. The Realtors who worked with us to sell our house in Brooklyn were old friends of ours, I had known them for about 12 years, most of my time in NYC. They understood how much effort and really how much of ourselves we had put into our home through the renovation that we had done and they found wonderful buyers for our home who really appreciated all of the details of that renovation. I can not tell you how much it meant to us to have people taking over our home who really liked everything that we had done in our renovation, which really was a labor of love, you can read my posts about it here. These buyers also fell in love with our art work, which was hanging all over our home when they saw it. They had wanted to buy some of the pieces that we had up, but those pieces that we have hanging in our home are all pieces that we never want to part with. So, our Realtor friends ended up buying my painting Vigil for the buyers as a surprise "moving in" gift, at the big show that we had right before we left.

They told me that that they gave it to the buyers shortly after they moved in, and that they loved it. I was told that they hung it in the kitchen. Knowing that one of my paintings is there in our old home was really hard for me at first, since leaving that space was so difficult. We were so connected to that home, I birthed and raised my babies there. They took their first steps in that kitchen. We renovated that space top to bottom and we know every detail, every fixture, every nail hole. But, as I digested it over these past months I have come to find comfort in the continuity of my painting being there, a piece of me is still in that home. The title of the painting now seems so appropriate and almost prophetic.

Though we have left, it is keeping the Vigil, holding the space for that piece of ourselves that we left behind there.

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. ~Anatole France

Star Shadow

2011-10-02T07:30:00.000-04:00

In the afternoons I've been loving the way that the sun shines through this sheer paper rainbow window star that I got here. When we moved in it seemed perfectly placed in this window, right above our dining table, and I have really been enjoying the way that the shadow of the star travels around the room as the sun moves, especially now as the sun is lower in the sky with the shifting of autumn.

Still Summer

2011-10-01T07:18:00.000-04:00

Happy October! I know that it is officially autumn here but really it still feels a whole lot like summer. I've noticed a few changes in the vegetation with the change of season so far, especially in all of the beach grasses that grow everywhere, they are all growing these huge fluffy tops now. We like to play with them on our way to the beach.

There are lots of them growing outside of my favorite beach house, this turquoise one. All summer long there were groups of renters in it, but now it sits empty along with all of the other summer beach rental houses that we pass on our way to the beach. I think that I like this one the best as it reminds me of beach houses in Hawaii, wooden and up on stilts. I'm sure the view out to the ocean from that deck is pretty fabulous!

Our walk to the beach goes right past the house, on a little sand path,

That turns into a board walk,

These bracelets have taken me through all summer, the knotted friendship bracelet is about to fall off and I'll be sad when it finally wears out, I just love the crystal sown onto it. I'm thinking of making more with this same idea. I got this one back in June from one of my favorite Etsy shops ever. Her style is so spot on to me (and very beachy).

So, we continue to savor our beach days, the sun is still strong and the water still warm. Since this is our first autumn here I don't know when the season will become too cold for us to swim, but I see us continuing our beach visits into the coming season and beyond, perhaps only with a bit more clothing on.

Double Deliciousness

2011-09-30T13:28:00.002-04:00

Its hard to believe that I haven't mentioned that we got another kitten, Ruby needed a friend! The cuteness is overwhelming, almost too much to handle, but we are doing our best!

They are both chocolate-golden persians so they look very much alike, but they definitely have their own personalities and sweet ways.

They are 12 weeks old now and such fun! Both of them follow me around and like to hang out with me especially when I am alone in the house, and they love to be groomed and petted. We've named our new little one Belle, as she is a beauty. The kittens play with each other all the time, tussling and chasing as kittens do. They have already brought much excitement, vitality and love into our home. The kids can not get enough of either little Ruby or little Belle! True double deliciousness.

Swamp tour

2011-09-28T08:48:00.000-04:00

I had the lucky honor of being one of the parent chaperones selected to go on the first field trip of the year with Jasper's first grade class. We went to Cypress Gardens, a nature preserve outside of Charleston, which was fun to discover as we had not visited it yet...and we'll definitely go back as a family!
The first thing that we did upon arrival was take a swamp tour by boat. I would not say that swamps have been big on my list of beautiful places, in my mind I think of swamps as being buggy, boggy, and stale. All of my ideas about swamps were proved wrong on this tour,

Out on the water at 9am in the swamp there was life all around us, dragonflies and butterflies flitted about, birds soared over head, the inky black water was glassy still, there were no other bugs to speak of except for gigantic spiders weaving huge webs between some of the trees. Our guide explained that the blackness of the water comes from an algae that grows in swamps, this algae eats mosquito larvae, keeping the swamp mosquito free. The Cypress trees growing out of the water also secrete a sap that kills biting insects.

As our guide paddled our small boat through the water he pointed out the heads of mostly submerged shy alligators, only their eyes and the tips of their noses were visible. They were so hidden that I could not even get a good picture of them as they quickly vanished into the water once we got too close.

We were told that the most romantic scene in the movie The Notebook was filmed in this swamp, I think that even the boat full of first graders felt the romance of the spot, how could you not?

My favorite part were the water lilies that bloomed in vast stands on the water, they seemed to be everywhere, and at one point our guide picked one and passed it around our boat so that we could all have a chance to smell it. I had never smelled a water lily and had no idea that they smell so divine, sort of like Jasmine.

Ceramic Castles

2011-09-24T06:55:00.000-04:00

While we were on the north shore of Cape Cod we stopped by for a visit at Scargo Pottery Studio, a really magical place where potters display their wares in the surrounding forest,

my favorites were the ceramic castles, placed around the property, each just a wonderful combination of turrets and towers,

I also loved getting a peek inside the ceramics studio, where the magic happens,

It looks like the perefect place to dream and create art.

Just Amazing

2011-09-23T17:42:00.002-04:00

Frank snapped this sunset photo out at the Pitt Street bridge near our new house last week. Its blowing my mind, aren't sunsets really just one of the most magnificent things?

Happy Friday, do you have fun plans for the weekend?

We'll be enjoying a low key weekend on the beach and attending an Eco-fair on Sunday.

Cape Cod

2011-09-22T09:10:00.002-04:00

The first part of our Get-Away last week was spent visiting some old friends and then celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary, Frank and I stayed at a sweet bed and breakfast (that he had found). We took some walks, enjoying the brisk fall air and golden light.

Right before going out to dinner on our anniversary, we watched a gorgeous sunset on a deserted beach, where we had fun doing a little photo shoot and just really enjoyed our time alone together.

I'm going to frame this one,

Home Again

2011-09-19T10:00:00.001-04:00

Frank and I returned from our trip last night, feeling like we have been away much longer than five days. What a difference travel makes to your point of view, no? I love to come home with my eyes refreshed, able to enjoy where I live with the perspective that only travel can bring, and it felt exciting to come home to Charleston after this trip, which made it feel like Charleston is really our home now.

Jasper and Carys loved their alone time with Grandma and Grandpa.

I had fun entertaining myself on our flights taking pictures of the sky with my iPhone. I just love the landscape above the clouds and I'm obsessed with the instagram app.

Now off to organize all of the other photos that I took while we were away.

Ebb and Flow

2011-09-13T17:41:00.000-04:00

Ebb and Flow

Frank and I are taking off to Cape Cod for a few days for my cousin's wedding. Frank's parents came into town last night to stay with the kids while we are away. It will be the first time (gasp) that we have gotten on an airplane and flown away from our children, but I think that we are ready for just a few days to ourselves. We are looking forward to "adult time" as Frank calls it, seeing old friends, going out to dinner, being leisurely about things (its surprissing how unleisurely life with young kids can be!).
I am also ready for a (reluctant) computer break for a few days. Do you want to know what I am most excited about since we are heading north on our trip? Wearing some cozy layers again after this long hot southern summer!

Ebb and Flow is a painting the I made a few years ago, its been resonating with me lately and I think I'll add it to my shop when I get back from our get away.

Frank's Angel Oak

2011-09-12T08:19:00.002-04:00

Frank has been doing a series of drawings over the past two weeks at the Angel Oak, the amazing ancient tree that we stumbled across this summer.

He recently did a blog post about them, including a 3rd Century BC parable.

Happy Monday!

Remembering; my 9/11

2011-09-11T06:23:00.000-04:00

Today, and every September 11th, is about remembering for Frank and I. In the days leading up to this anniversary I feel myself thinking more about it, feeling emotional and reflective. Now ten years later (and my first away from New York) it feels as fresh in a lot of ways as it did on the first anniversary, so I believe it will continue to be every September of my life.
I have never written down all of my memories from that day, and I felt that for me the best way to honor this tenth anniversary is by remembering again.

These are my memories.

On September 11, 2001, I was in graduate school working on my MFA in painting at Parsons in lower Manhattan. I had been living in New York City for 5 years already and had an apartment in the East Village close to school. I got up early that morning and was out the door by 8:30AM as I had to make it to class for a 9AM seminar. I walked quickly, moving west on East 12th Street, my mind full of everything that I had to do that day. At one point I heard a loud boom-like crashing sound, which I dismissed quickly as I often heard loud sounds living in the city. A minute later, as I approached the corner of University Place and 12th Street, I saw every pedestrian standing still and looking off into the sky at something. My first distracted thought was, "Oh great, now I'm going to have to walk through a parade to get to class.". As I reached the corner I turned south to see what everyone was staring at, and saw a gaping black hole in the side of the North Tower of the World Trade center, about 2 miles to the south. I asked the man in a suit next to me what happened and he had no idea, he looked at his watch and said, "Its not even 9AM, hopefully not too many people are in there yet."
I continued walking the two remaining blocks to school, looking back over my shoulder at the heavily smoking building. Papers were pouring out of the black hole, fluttering in the clear sunlight.
When I got to school my close friend Brad greeted me, he had been walking to school from the West Village, he knew what had happened. He had seen an airliner flying down 6th Avenue, so low that he had clearly seen faces in the windows looking out at him. He knew that it had hit the tower.
We turned the radio on to try to get some information but all we heard were confused reports that a small plane had hit the building, so a bunch of us ran up to the school's roof to watch for ourselves.
We stood there staring at the smoking North Tower, and then suddenly without warning we watched a massive fireball explosion bloom out, engulfing half of the South Tower. Those moments are fuzzy for me, I remember one friend saying "Oh, God." and I remember that everything around me, the brilliant blue sky, the yellow gold billowing fire, seemed to be crisp and sparklingly clear. From our perspective we had not even see the second plane approaching.

Then our building security guard came up and told us that we could not be on the roof, so we all ran down to the street. We stood on University Place just below 14th Street, at this point all traffic had stopped so we stood in the middle of the street with the gathering crowd. One girl in our MFA program started filming with her video camera. Brad and I were desperate for information, so we ran into a bar close by where they had a television. A news caster on the television reported that a passenger plane had also hit the Pentagon and that there was another plane believed to still be in the air, Brad turned to me and said, "It must be an attack.", and we hugged each other.
We stood on the street for a while just staring at the smoking buildings. Everyone was staring, and talking. Someone pulled up with a car on 14th Street and opened the car doors with the radio on so that people could gather around and hear the news.
We heard bits and pieces, that firefighters were in there, that they were thinking of rescuing people off of the roof, that people were jumping. I was mesmerized by the sight of the smoking buildings, from our perspective we could see into the holes, it was glowing hot like a kiln or like I remembered a glass blowing furnace. It looked so hot, we wondered how they were going to put those fires out. Then, gracefully, the South Tower swayed, and then it started getting shorter, it took a moment for me to realize that it was collapsing down on itself, pancaking floor to floor.
For a few minutes all we could see was smoke, and then as the smoke cleared a stranger next to me asked me, "Where is the other tower?", like he thought that he just couldn't see it, and I said, "I think it fell down.", and it felt like one of the most surreal moments of my life.

After that, I did not want to be there on the street watching any more, I wanted to sit down, I wanted to be inside. So Brad and I went back into school and listened to the radio with some of our classmates in our studios. We were sitting there listening to the radio report when the North Tower fell. All I could think about were how many people must have been in those buildings. And then, all I could think about was getting to Frank. We had started dating 4 months earlier and he worked at a painting studio across town on 14th Street in the Meatpacking District. One of our teachers, myself and Brad decided to go out to find our loved ones, we got ready not knowing what it would be like outside. We worked our way west along 14th Street, it was surprisingly calm everywhere we looked, as a tide of people walked north through Manhattan. Each face that we saw looked shocked and stricken, as I'm sure our faces looked. Clusters of people were gathered around cars listening to the radio, it felt like everyone was together, strangers were friends. Fire trucks and cars drove past covered in ash, we walked past Saint Vincents hospital with 50 gurnies and staff waiting outside.

I found Frank at his work, listening to the radio with his coworkers. Frank told me that he had been on his way to work on the subway beneath the towers when the first plane hit. A woman had gotten into his subway car screaming that she had just seen a plane hit the World Trade Center, everyone on the train had stared at her and thought that she was crazy. Then the walkie-talkie of a cop standing near by started talking about the towers, and the cop quickly got off at the next stop. Once Frank got above ground a few stops later at 14th Street he knew that the woman had not been crazy.
Frank and I wandered around the West Village, making our way slowly over to Brad's apartment to be with friends. Every church that we passed had their doors wide open, with impromptu services of lamentation and mourning. At one beautiful church we decided to go inside, we sat in a pew for a while, the dark and the quiet were calming and I felt strangely numb. Frank prayed on his knees.

We spent that afternoon at Brad's house, his boyfriend loved to cook and he cooked for hours for the big gathered group of friends. One of their friends arrived all dusty, she had walked up from close to the World Trade Center where she worked. We all listened as she described her journey, she had seen the bodies falling, she told us things that I wish I could forget.
That afternoon we watched television news broadcasts about the event for the first time. We learned about the flight that had crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. The phone lines in Manhattan had been overloaded, but once phone service was restored we called all of our parents and family not in New York. Every hour or so we went up on the roof of the building to look again at the smoking plume billowing up so far into the sky at the south of our island. That was when I first began to smell it, an acrid smell, something like burnt hair and tires, a really bad smell.
It was not until that afternoon that Frank mentioned that his cousin was doing a job in the North Tower, it was just a short term computer job, and he probably wasn't at work yet so early in the morning. All of us assured him that his cousin probably had not been at work yet, but Frank was very quiet.

Frank and his cousin Matthew Horning grew up close to each other in the New Jersey suburbs. They were born 5 months apart and shared lots of the same interests, like Star Wars and Boy Scouts, growing up. Being the same age they were always on the same trajectory in their family, always together at family functions. Matthew came to all of Frank's openings and they had stayed close into adulthood. That morning Matthew had gone to work early so that he would be able to leave early that afternoon and go to an appointment with his fiance. He was in the North Tower, above the blast where the first plane hit. He did not make it out, he was 26.

That evening Frank and I walked back to my apartment in the East Village, the 20 minute walk across town was very quiet except for the sound of occasional sirens in the distance. We said "I love you.", to each other for the first time on that walk to my apartment that night. I had been sure already that I would spend the rest of my life with Frank, but something about that day solidified it. We were married one year later, on September 15th, 2002.

The days and weeks after September 11th were like an open wound in New York. For two weeks I had to show ID to get to my apartment since I lived below 14th Street in Manhattan. There was paper from the Towers all over the streets of Frank's neighborhood in Brooklyn. The site kept smoking for a while, a constant reminder. And that smell, I will never forget it, just pungnet and awful, sometimes around a campfire I smell something similar and I feel nauseous for a moment.

Frank mourns Matthew, I know that it is harder every year around this anniversary, but also that it is always with him. As he has gone on living, getting married, having children, it is something that he always carries close.

The horror of September 11th also did come with blessings, on the other side now with ten more years of perspective I can see that in many ways that day was a day that we woke up to life like never before, we were able to see what was right in front of us with vivid clarity. I don't believe that all of that clarity has been lost over time.
Everyone has their September 11th story, this is only mine, I would love to hear yours too. I believe that in sharing our experience we can come through to healing and understand in a deeper way. I took all of these pictures while we were traveling in Portland Oregon in 2009, their solemnity seemed to fit perfectly here.
Find another beautiful post about 9/11 here.

Yellow everywhere

2011-09-09T06:30:00.000-04:00

Pops of yellow have been showing up over and over again in so much of my decorating for our new home. A brand new decorator friend of mine found this amazing yellow ceramic lantern when she was scouting for antiques in Florida, it works perfectly on our screened in porch, and gives the most

beautiful soft glow in the evenings,

As a house warming gift when we moved a dear old friend of ours gifted us some antiques that she had found out in California, one of these fabulous pieces is this bright yellow 70's rocker,

I'm loving the simplicity of this yellow oak tree print that we bought before we left NYC from our friend artist Michelle Han.

Another thing that I've been loving putting together in our home are gallery walls, spots where I hang a bunch of treasures together. Yellow is the thread that runs through this wall in our guest room,

and on the other side of the same room, the yellow details play a major roll in keeping the room happy by adding bright elements among the dark wood furniture,

This huge vintage yellow lamp is one of my favorite pieces, its another that my friend out in California gifted us. It works perfectly in our guest room as a bedside lamp on top of a trunk that my grandfather used when he served in WWII.

I'm having fun decorating our new spaces slowly, with things that we already have mixed with new details and fun accents, its so great to see it coming together.

My new favorite time of day

2011-09-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

After dinner wrestling time with Daddy,

Crossroads

2011-09-07T14:30:00.000-04:00

This summer I feel like I've been unusually quiet here on my blog, and not for lack of things to write about. No, there have been lots of adventures to write about, but probably more quiet times than I can remember in quite a while too. More times where I've felt that I needed to be more the hermit than the extrovert, more times where I have needed to simply sit and digest.
In fact, after leaving our life in NYC, leaving our whole life there and moving here, I think that one of the hardest things for me to get used to was the quiet. Once we settled in at the beginning of this summer, I don't think our home phone rang for months. Almost everyone that we knew, or could run into, lived far away, and so began a long summer of learning how to live in Charleston. It has been fantastic in so many ways, Frank has loved this new beginning, the kids have been thrilled to make new friends, and I have been drinking in the natural beauty and sunshine that we are surrounded by here in our new life.
The hardest thing for me is just feeling so constantly "out of my skin", I keep looking for a comfortable place, like a dog turning around and around to find the perfect spot to settle in.

And suddenly, without warning, I feel like I am at a bit of a crossroads. I can't even pinpoint the day but recently I noticed that I no longer feel so uncomfortable. Inside I feel myself relaxing, places that were tense are easing up.

All summer long I have taken a break from making my work, in past times of great stress I know that I have been unable to paint, so I knew that would happen this time as well. I prepared myself for this break. During my flurry of new paintings this spring and as I was packing up my studio I wondered how long the break would be. We moved and then settled into this time of integration. All summer I've felt myself processing, integrating the new and old, the leaving and the meeting, opening up and debriefing in a beautiful stillness. All while looking forward to beginning to work again, and finally, yes finally, I feel my creative process slowly coming on again.....I've begun envisioning paintings, ideas are germinating. I can't tell you how good it feels!

During this summer of stillness Danielle LaPorte's post on productive rest came at the perfect resonant time for me. The quiet, in between, times are still ones that I struggle with, but after this summer I feel more familiar with those places inside myself, more able to sit and be calm with them.

Kitten Mania

2011-09-06T09:05:00.001-04:00

We had a lovely and leisurely long holiday weekend here, getting to know some new friends, enjoying our extra day off and celebrating Frank's birthday with his sister's family,
but...
The real star of our weekend was one little furry bundle who arrived on Saturday,

little Ruby.

We had been planning to get little Opal, but sadly she had a health problem that made her not the best fit for our family. That was hard for the kids to understand, but once they met Ruby really it was love at first sight, get ready for kitten mania, we love her so much already!

Sunset on the bay

2011-09-01T07:23:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago a professional photographer snapped this picture of Frank watching the sunset on the Pitt Street bridge near our home. They had exchanged cards and the photographer emailed Frank the photo recently. This spot has become one of Frank's favorite places to go this summer, he likes to bike over there alone in the evenings and fish or watch the sunset. Every time he does he comes home with his spirit refreshed...fun to have that captured in a picture that will always remind me of this summer.
You can check out more work by the photographer here.

Hello September, I've loved the August break, but I am looking forward to getting back into the schedule that the autumn brings!

August Break: Highlights from the Farm

2011-08-31T11:58:00.001-04:00

As with every year, there was so much to enjoy in our ten days on the farm, I can't believe that another August has passed already!

Waking up in the van with these two faces peaking down from their top bunk,

feeding the cows,

enjoying the garden,

watching the cousins playing and eating together was so special,

There is a drought going on in western North Carolina this summer so there were not nearly as many of these friends of the forest as last year!

My boy became so independent this summer, taking long walks around the farm by himself for the first time and helping my aunt Janet with chores like loading hay.

These mountain views never get old for me,

neither does exploring the underbrush,

and spending long hours with people that we love!

Now that we live only a four hour drive from the farm we can't wait to visit more often!

August Break: Edisto Beach

2011-08-28T21:33:00.001-04:00

We had plans to camp in the van this weekend, so after it was clear the wild wind and rain of Hurricane Irene had passed us on Friday, off we went to Edisto Beach, a state park along the coast to the south of Charleston,

The campground was right on the beach, and the water after the hurricane was very churned up and rough, not a friendly ocean. The beach had a wild jungely feeling to it that I liked, it was also a sea turtle nesting site, with special protected areas roped off but we did not see any turtles,

The storm had washed all sorts of interesting things onto the beach, we found so many gorgeous whole perfect Conch shells, silly us we did not carry a bag on our beach wanderings so our hands just kept getting more and more full of shells as we walked,

Check out my boy's adult front teeth that are coming in so fast this summer, love that new toothy smile!

At sunset we traipsed back to our campsite with all of our treasures, only to find that..

even with a view like this there were swarms of biting flies, ugh. So we abandoned our beach camping night, hoped in the van and headed out to dinner in the small town of Edisto, then drove home with the kids asleep in the back that night!
There is something that I really like about night driving, with the kids asleep, its so peaceful, cozy and quiet, reminds me of when I used to fall asleep in the car as a child.

August Break: Back to School

2011-08-24T21:33:00.001-04:00

I have sunk deep into the August break during our time on the farm last week, and even though we are back home and back to school this week (what!!) we are still drinking in all of the goodness that summer has to offer.
We have camping plans in the van for the weekend, and it looks like we'll thankfully be missing the bad weather of Hurricane Irene that is sweeping the US east coast, so we are hoping for some beach days.
I'm not used to school starting in August, up north it always starts in September, so this early back to school time has taken me a bit by surprise....sure we were ready enough for the early mornings and the making of new friends, but I'm missing my long days with my little ones around all the time. Ah swift delicious summer, its hard to see you go. Lets dive in for just a little longer, while I get used to the idea of having a First Grader and a Pre-Schooler.

August Break: Sunrise this morning

2011-08-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

We've been drinking in all of our precious time with dear family this week on the farm, can't wait to share more pictures when we return home later this week!

August Break: Waking up on the farm

2011-08-10T06:48:00.002-04:00

Mountain views,

feeding the chickens with Aunt Janet while still in pajamas,

Forest light.

August Break: Van, again!

2011-08-09T14:38:00.001-04:00

As of yesterday we are the proud owners of a VW camper van, again!

I looove VW camper vans, and I can get a little geeked out over all of the different models and types. I owned a 1978 Westfalia Camper model from 1996 to 2002, and traveled around the US and Mexico living in my van for a year, I knew that van so well and loved it.

Frank and I camped a lot in the old van when we were first dating, but when the van started needing a little too much work we sold it with heavy hearts to a friend of ours, as we knew that it was just getting too old to be a good car with kids.

Then, with our move out of NYC in sight this year, we started to think about getting another VW camper, we have always talked about how fun to would be to camp and travel in a camper van with Jasper and Carys.

Almost by chance I found this 2002 model that was for sale right in Asheville, where we come each year for our annual trip to my family's farm.

We drove up to the mountains a couple of days ago. Yesterday we met the wonderful older hippie couple that was selling the van, talked with their mechanic, test drove it on the beautiful mountain roads and made it our own!

We camped outside of my aunt's house last night and looking forward to doing it again tonight! Sleeping in the van feels like the four of us are in the coziest little two story cabin, bringing back lots of memories of my old van, but also feeling so different and new.

Waking up there this morning was wonderful too, peaking out through the curtains, listening to sounds of the forest, and of course imagining all of the adventures that are ahead of us in these new wheels!

August Break: Magic tree house

2011-08-07T07:28:00.000-04:00

Along with renovating a Brooklyn Brownstone another of Frank's dreams has always been to build a tree house for his kids "someday"...and suddenly, with our new yard we had lots of trees to choose from and "someday" became "now" this summer. Frank got to work at the beginning of July, first making sketches and reading the Black & Decker The Complete Guide: Build Your Kids a Treehouse (Black & Decker Complete Guide)

What started with four posts cemented into the ground behind Jasper above, quickly become this...

and then this, all done...

with places for telling secrets,

and playing house.

One of my favorite parts is the clear plastic roof to let lots of light inside.

The next step will be picking out a perfect outdoor fabric to make some window and door curtains, to make it a real "hide-out". Frank also plans to build some shelves on the walls so the kids can leave treasures in the tree house and really make it their own. We are also throwing around ideas for painting the tree house, but getting these two to agree on a color is hard! I'm voting for just little pops of color (turquoise!) here and there.

In a case of perfect timing we have been visiting our local library and reading our way through this fun series, the Magic Tree House Boxed Set, Books 1-28 , about a brother and sister who find a magic tree house and go on adventures through the books that they find inside. So the kids are even more excited to have their own tree house now, as if that were possible.

August Break: Back from the beach

2011-08-07T07:03:00.000-04:00

August Break: Fishing from the Pier

2011-08-06T06:00:00.003-04:00

An expansive beautiful view and ocean breezes to enjoy. Caught a bunch of shrimp (learned that you can see right through their bodies) and little fish. Released all of them after watching them swim in our buckets for a while.

Hours of fun.

August Break: Feathers in my hair

2011-08-05T06:49:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting some turquoise feather hair extensions all summer, so a couple of weeks ago I went for it.

Loving how they peak out like a happy surprise!

August Break: Charleston is fun

2011-08-04T06:59:00.000-04:00

Bits and pieces of different days in our new city this summer.

August Break: another day in paradise

2011-08-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

...I still can't believe we live here.

Oh hello there August, wow, you snuck up on me. I've been too busy, in between having adventures with the kids, laying on the beach and sweating, to start my August break posts until today....a real August break I guess. I've got some long over due updates on our garden renovation project to share with you, and then next week we are off for our annual week at my family's farm. Can't wait to share all of the beauty in our world.

Seeking Indigo

2011-07-30T16:51:00.000-04:00

We've had a flurry of visitors this week, it has been so fun to explore Charleston and have an excuse to check out some places that I've been meaning to visit. One of these places was Seeking Indigo, a transporting wellness spa in one of my favorite areas of downtown Charleston. When my dear friend Sophia arrived this week I picked her up at the airport, and then we went straight to Seeking Indigo for a Migun Thermal Massage. Wouldn't you imagine that peace and tranquility lie beyond that door?

Migun Massage is inspired by the effects of Acupressure, Acupuncture, Heat-therapy, chiropractic adjustment and massage. Migun Thermal Massage is performed on an automated bed that uses jade stones, heat therapy and infrared light to give you a chiropractic adjustment and massage. We left after our half hour treatment (for only $20!) feeling renewed, balanced, and like we had been whisked far away for a moment. Especially as I was lying face up during the treatment looking at the amazing antique carved wooden ceiling imported from Bali.

Seeking Indigo seems to be Charleston's center for holistic wellness and living, I can't wait to take advantage of more of their offerings! It is probably one of my favorite finds in this area so far!

Circles

2011-07-25T06:27:00.001-04:00

In my world right now...

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.”

~May Sarton

We've got some pretty huge garden renovation projects going on around here, more on that this week!

Meeting Opal

2011-07-23T14:15:00.004-04:00

Today, with much excitement, we had the great pleasure of meeting the newest member of our family, a gorgeous six week old Persian kitten who (after much deliberation) we have decided to name Opal.

She is a precious little girl, we had only seen her in pictures so far and she was our favorite from her kitten group, so we were thrilled to be able to chose her today during our visit at the home of the kind and helpful breeder, close to where we live.

We also had the joy of getting to spend an hour playing with all of the kittens. I grew up with cats, and one of my favorite childhood memories was waking up in the middle of the night when I was seven to find that my cat was having kittens in her box-bed in my bathroom. What an amazing experience it was to watch her give birth and care for her kittens, and then my brother and I spent months playing with the litter of 5 before we gave all but one away. So, it was exciting to be able to see Jasper and Carys having the great fun of playing with a litter of little kittens, they are so playful!

Here she is with her mama, who she will probably grow to look very much like...

Little cute balls of fluff every where, such fun!

We can't wait to welcome our little girl home in September, after she spends the next weeks growing with her siblings and mama, and we look forward to having more playful visits with her again before then.

August Break 2011

2011-07-22T10:49:00.003-04:00

I just joined the amazing Susannah Conway's August Break Challenge for the second year in a row, you can head right over here to check it out and jump right in too if it sounds like fun to you. Sometimes I start to put pressure on myself about blogging, you know those ideas about how often you should post, and sometimes I even find myself getting upset with myself if I don't feel like I am showing up here often enough...or with enough energy! Oh those self imposed rules.
So that is why I love the "August Break" so much...no rules. August is usually a time of loosening up and traveling for us, and with the August Break last summer it was so simple to just pop on and post pictures of our adventures. Come visit some of my August Break posts from last summer here.

Susannah describes the August Break idea this way:

Okay, here’s the plan for the August Break: you simply share one photo (or more!) per day on your blog – Monday to Friday, or every day. Or whenever you feel moved to share. Using any camera – DSLR, compact, Polaroid, Holga, iPhone (my choice), Instax, film or digital – with or without words – anything goes! – for the whole of August. No pressure – just looking at August through your camera lens as a way to be more present this summer. And to have a little break from the pressures and expectations of regular blogging.

There are NO RULES, people! Just sunshine (hopefully) and a bit of fun. And lots of lovely photos to look at.

Won't you join me?

Circle of love

2011-07-20T20:22:00.000-04:00

The other day, on a family bike ride, we happened up a sacred scene in a park by the sea. There were flowers carefully arranged in a long patterned pathway, ending in a flower circle on the spot where quite clearly there had been a marriage ceremony either that morning or the day before. The petals were fresh and beautiful in pinks, yellows and creams, they were all that remained of what must have been a stunning affair. The space still felt like it held the solemnity of the event.

We stood in a circle of four at the end of the aisle, gazing out from that spot across the ocean, and it really seemed the perfect place to be surrounded by a circle of flowers and love.

Angel Oak

2011-07-16T11:06:00.002-04:00

We've been starting to explore the area around Charleston a little bit on day trips. This week, on a drive back from visiting a new beach we saw an inviting sign saying "Angel Oak", a name which totally drew us in....down a long dirt road into the woods,

Until we came to a small parking lot next to a log cabin visitors center, and saw this...

The most amazing tree that I have ever seen.

They estimate this oak to be around 400 years old, but I would have guessed older as it looks like it has been growing in this spot forever. It was named as, "its massive draping limbs and wide spreading canopy present the aura of an angel". Its arms are growing in all directions,

many of them are buttressed up with posts to help support their weight,

some are even growing into the ground, and then out again,

This detour reminded me of the rewards of being open to unexpected detours, and the beauty that sometimes can be found down long roads into the woods! (Even though sometimes the kids refuse to get out of the car, and miss it!)

Happy Weekending!

This is Home

2011-07-13T13:22:00.001-04:00

Six weeks in and its starting to feel a whole lot more like it anyway. We are starting to get into a weekly rhythm, going to the farmers' market every Tuesday evening for dinner, heading to the beach when the days are so hot and finishing the day at our favorite fish taco joint. The days feel long with often just our family of 4 for company, and Brooklyn often feels like a world away...like something from a dream. How can it be that we lived there for 15 years, and now we are here?

Every Sense: my first vlog

2011-07-12T06:43:00.005-04:00

Quiet beach, evening light, come out into the water with me. Welcome to one of my new favorite places...and my first vlog.

Learning to Fly

2011-07-11T11:13:00.000-04:00

Well, surf that is...sort of the same,

So far Jasper has spent lots of time just learning how to stand up on the board and float across the water when it is calm, he does this over and over again and is a natural!

making his mama and papa so proud,

I'm loving hanging out at the beach as the shadows grow long and the sky turns golden.

{This moment} Turquoise doors

2011-07-08T06:46:00.000-04:00

{this moment} - a Friday ritual for the summertime. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Helping me to slow down, take notice and enjoy these long warm days.

*inspired by soulemama

Walking Tour

2011-07-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

We had friends visiting this past weekend, so we decided to explore with them on a self guided walking tour of the oldest part of Charleston, the downtown that was settled in the 1600's,

With the little ones in tow we had a slow pace, and there was a heat wave so we were all dripping,

but we were so excited at the history that oozed out of every corner, each little building felt like it held a tale.

The tropical nooks and crannies beckoned over each garden wall,

With our slow pace we only covered about 5 square blocks, leaving so much left to discover when we can convince the kids to go on another walking tour (when the weather cools a bit!). I feel like I might be drawn with my camera to go on some solitary walks there alone before too long!

July 4th

2011-07-05T21:32:00.000-04:00

We attended a good, old-fashioned, barbecue by a lake to celebrate Independence Day here on July 4th,

We enjoyed, sparklers, face painting, a band, and then at dusk, a bunch of people including Frank lit off large and small fireworks over the water. Frank was giddy,

I think it took him right back to being 12 years old,

Beach Birthday

2011-06-30T21:35:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, my birthday, began with cupcakes for breakfast.

That set a decidedly decadent tone for the day, in which special cards were presented to me (this one I will never part with),

My favorite flowers filled our house in my favorite spots,

and at mid-morning we decided that it was time for the beach.

We spent an hour or so beach combing, collecting bits and pieces from the sea, here is what we found,

can you believe the variety of color? Those blue crab claws are stunning!!

Taking a moment to just think and BE at the beach was probably my favorite part of the day,

Then in the evening Frank and I headed out to dinner, in a wild rain storm,

We had dinner at an amazing restaurant called Husk in a old renovated mansion in downtown Charleston, like something from another era,

where we sat on the front porch talking after dinner, enjoying the feeling of being outside on a warm night in a beautiful city after a rain storm.

Riding

2011-06-24T21:36:00.000-04:00

Check out my new wheels! I bought myself a mint-teal beach bike this week, one speed and smooth as can be. Here we are out in front of our new house (see those three windows together on the right, that's my new studio!). I love riding with Carys's bike seat on the back of my bike, the two of us have little conversations about the things that we are passing as we ride.

Our new neighborhood is very bikeable, with slow cars and side walks, this is Jasper's first experience of riding on streets so we are extra careful.

Our favorite family bike ride so far has been down to the old Pit Street Bridge, a wide pedestrian cause-way out into the bay where you can wander on little trails down to the ocean and a kayak launching area,

Do you see the group of people behind me in this picture...

They are kayakers just hanging out on a beach on a little uninhabited island, they totally made me want to rent a kayak...we just might have to this weekend, it looks like so much fun.

The Pit Street Bridge goes way out, so that finally you have water on either side of you, with little benches and places to fish,

Then back again down the Palm lined cause-way,

One of my favorite houses in our neighborhood is right at the start of the bridge, it looks like a rambling tree house for grown-ups,

Tucked right in under an amazing old live Oak on the edge of the water. I'll have to do a post just on the old trees down here, there are amazing!

New Painting: Glade

2011-06-20T14:52:00.000-04:00

Glade

I finished this painting two weeks before we left New York, so that's just over a month ago, in the flurry of activity that preceded our departure. It is painted on a canvas that I covered first with cheesecloth for texture. This is a full blown "springtime" painting, with its riot of color bursting from a quiet ground. Just as we are about to celebrate the summer solstice and the first day of official summertime here tomorrow.

I'm seeing bits of discovery within this painting, passages that I am enjoying and looking forward to exploring more when I begin painting here....although I'm still slow to set up the studio. I am thinking that perhaps this will be a summer of gathering ideas for me instead of painting. I think of those times, the times of focus within, as sowing seeds for the crop from which I will harvest my inspiration and ideas when I begin working again. Sometimes that's just the work that needs to be done.

My favorite room

2011-06-18T21:41:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our screened in porch, a room that is half way between indoors and outdoors. It was my favorite room in our new house from the first time we were ever here! In fact I had a picture of this room up as my computer "wallpaper" while we were still in Brooklyn getting ready to move...helping me to hold onto what we were moving to.
Now that we are really settling into the new house, this room has become the place where the kids like to hang out most often. It has also become the room where we bring nature in. Jasper's frog lives out here on the bookshelf in his aquarium, and really Froggy has looked so happy since we put him out here, its so different than living in an aquarium in a Brooklyn bedroom!
Also, since arriving here Jasper has discovered the many small lizards who crawl around our new yard and spends much time trying to trap them and make them his pets. We keep them in this tank, and then release them a few days later, after he has studied them thoroughly...

The window sills in this room have become a place where our circle rock collection is growing,

and for bits of things from the sea.

This afternoon it was transformed into the staging area for creating extravagant Father's Day cards to surprise Frank with tomorrow morning,

The kid's crafting table and art supplies found a place out here as I am still setting up my studio, and even though I had ideas about having their art space in my new studio, their table just might remain out on the screened in porch,

it really is a space that lends itself to creating as it floats in golden light on long hot afternoons.

Unpacking

2011-06-12T07:14:00.011-04:00

So, you've probably noticed the I've been posting a lot about the great outdoors here but not so much about our new house, well, that's because it still looks a whole lot like this picture.

The unpacking is going slowly, and can be hard to face when I'd rather spend time out side and ignore all that there is to do!

This is my new studio in our home, it is more than twice the size of my old space, so that is really exciting, and it is right off of our kitchen so I like that it is in the heart of our home. I am adding a kid's art space within my studio here, but that is taking more time to organize, the going is slow. I did find that beautiful blue glass lamp on my desk at a furniture store here last week. It was love at first sight, and its a start, inspiring and motivating me to think of what it will be like when I can start creating in this room!

Sullivan's Island

2011-06-10T10:09:00.001-04:00

Just a short five minute drive from our new house is our local and new favorite beach, on Sullivan's Island, a quiet beach community with a laid back tropical vibe. Bungalows line the quiet streets,

You simply pull your car off and park in the sand where ever you find a spot,

Then you walk on the boardwalk out to the ocean across the dunes,

Its amazing how much beach gear we end up bringing to the beach, I'm learning how to streamline our beach routine, by the end of the summer I should be a pro!

The beach is wide and beautiful, with warm water,

The huge reason that Sullivan's Island is our favorite beach so far is the huge sandbar between the beach and the open ocean that creates an inlet that is calm and pretty shallow, perfect with the kids. The inlet is also full of sea life, yesterday we found sand dollars, hermit crabs, conchs, lots of shells and a star fish who hugged each of our hands as we held him!

The inlet is also where we swam with dolphins last week, they swam past us in the shallow water, only ten feet away from us and then they swam around out to the ocean side of the inlet where we jumped in the water with them again. I wish that I had photos, it was amazing! People here say that the dolphins are frequent visitors so hopefully as the summer goes on I'll have more dolphin sightings to share.

Each time at this beach has been so special so far, we can't wait to share it with friends as they come to visit!

and each time we leave we can't wait to go back again tomorrow!

Shem Creek

2011-06-06T09:44:00.000-04:00

Just a two minute drive, or a short bike drive, away from our new house is an inlet from the sea called Shem Creek. It is where all of the fishing boats dock after a day of hard work. You can go there to watch the boats, buy fish right off of the boat or to eat dinner at one of the many restaurants on the piers.

The other evening we went there at sunset, and we were treated to watching dolphins frolick in the warm waters, both Jasper and Carys were thrilled.

Then we ate a yummy dinner of fish tacos, at a table right next to the water. Where our waitress told us that the dolphins come every evening, and the manatees are also a common sighting!

Now the kids have been asking to go back every night for dinner, and the natural "animal show".

At our local beach on Saturday we had another surprising encounter, we swam with dolphins just 10 feet away from us in a shallow inlet, more on that later!