In Memory of ....

     Up until January 14, 2011, the worst day of my life was the day my mother died.  And then I lost my youngest sister.  Younger by 10 years.  This just wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

     I've had a very difficult time wrapping my head around this, never mind my heart.  It's hard for a heart to absorb things when there is a great big hole in it.

     Linn had a great capacity to love, trust and accept and you always knew where you stood with her.  If you had problems, they were her problems.  If you were hurt, she was hurt.  She just had a great big heart.

     She knew more about music than anyone I've ever known.  In fact, she was my 'phone a friend' should the need ever arise.  She always knew who sang what and when and all the lyrics.

     And then there was ..."The Voice."  An expressive and soulful voice that could bring me to tears.  A lack of self-confidence and debilitating stage fright left the rest of the world unaware of that voice.  We have a few recordings of her and I wanted to share one here, but I'm woefully inadequate when it comes to computer literacy.  Maybe I will figure it out one day because I would love to share her with you.

     She was eclectic, colorful, fun, funny and "Auntie Mame" to my children.  She would not want me to be so sad, but sometimes I just can't help myself.

  Rest peacefully my sweet sister.

I love you 

and

will miss you forever.  

Cheers to the New Year

I love that the new year always brings the promise of a better year.  It gives me hope.   I never make resolutions because I never keep them.  BUT, I always have hope.  Hope that I will take better care of myself, hope that people in general will be kinder, hope that I will find more creativity within.  And I always make plans.  Every year I plan to get started on my Christmas gifts early and plan to keep my blog current. Granted, those plans don't always come to fruition, but plans I have.  I'm a list maker.  I list my hopes, plans and creative ideas and refer to them quite often.  Follow through is my downfall and so, to help with that, I'm going to attempt to keep a 'daily goals' list.  If  I don't complete a goal I will move it to tomorrow's 'daily goal' list.  Eventually I should get tired of continually writing the same goal and actually get it accomplished.  That's my hope anyway.

This year I'd like to start a little Etsy business assembling 'inspiration kits' focusing on textile collage.  My passions have always been fabric, fibers, buttons, beads, ribbons and embellishments.  And if they're vintage, even better.  My hope is that these kits will be a source of inspiration. 

My final hope for the new year is to see more kindness in the world.  I try to be kind to other people, but I don't always succeed.  I try to be kind to myself and that's an even bigger challenge.  I think the power of kindness is underestimated, so this year I'm making an effort to be kinder, even if it's just a kind word.

That's my plan anyway.

Christmas Traditions

I haven't blogged in quite awhile so I decided to choose this time of the year to start my blog back up and commit to faithfully blogging in 2011, and beyond I hope.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. I shared on facebook recently how difficult the past nine Christmases have been. For those of you who aren't on facebook, my mother passed away at Christmas nine years ago and to say it's been tough would be an understatement. I realized today that one of the things that got me through the holidays was keeping our Christmas traditions, many of which were started when I was very young. My mother loved Christmas and my sisters and I shared that love with her. When she passed away we became caretakers of her Santas, snowmen and ornaments. These little guys are one of my favorites:

Mom bought these before I was even born, or shortly thereafter.  Which, if you're trying to count, was over 60 years ago.  They've held up quite well, don't you think?  There are nine of them so the girls and I each have three, which in my mind represents the three of us.  My sisters and I have a very strong bond and seeing these sitting on the mantle is a comforting reminder of that bond.  They stay out all winter.


Unbeknownst to me, my sister Sam started collecting Christmas Tree pins and one year when Sam and Mom were visiting me,  my mother decided that I, too, should become completely obsessed with collecting Christmas Tree pins.  That probably wasn't her intent, but that was the outcome.  Here's a small peek:

If I were to wear a different pin everyday I'd have to start in July.  I think Sam has so many she'd have to start LAST New Year's Eve! 

For the first time in nine years, Sam, Linn and I get to make new Christmas memories and traditions together.  The time starts in two days.  I'll be leaving Colorado and Linn will be leaving Alabama to join Sam in the California Sierras for our very own 12 Days of Christmas.  And those cookies you see pictured above?  Well, as Linn once said, "It's Tradition."

Hugs,
Kathleen

CHAIRity Auction

I was recently asked to create a children's rocking chair for a rather unique auction to benefit Adoption: Advocacy and Alternatives. Their mission statement: To serve the needs of children, birth parents and adoptive parents with professional care, kindness and compassion. I was very honored to be asked to participate and this is my chair:

Pink is my favorite color so I knew from the beginning it would be pink. The rest took a while to come together. I had some great ideas but couldn't quite execute them so in the end I gave a nod to my French heritage:

The auction will be November 14th in Fort Collins at the Center for Fine Arts Photography and I understand the chairs will do a little traveling about town beforehand. If you would like to know more about the wonderful organization go to their website: www.adoptionaa.org.

Scary "60"

I turned 60 last Friday. It seemed like such a scary number. Especially since I've had a couple of health scares the last couple of weeks so I felt as if I really was getting old. My day actually started the week before when my son Jason and his beautiful wife Alecia gave me these lovely flowers...

The big day was an absolutely gorgeous, perfect Colorado late summer day. And the flowers kept coming. These were sent by my wonderful "Circle." These are women I cannot live my life without. They are a group of caring, giving, loving, creative, artistic souls who make me a better person.
Then my youngest son, Scottie, arrived with these beauties and a sweater I had been coveting!

I spent most of the day with three beautiful art friends in my art studio. My friend Caterina blogged about the day and you can see the pictures here. I was gifted with wonderful artistic treasures to feed my artistic soul.

Cavallini and lace:

Botanical images:

A Botanical Book of Days:

And a gorgeous handmade journal full of watercolor pages:

That evening my very beautiful daughter Stacey and her boyfriend James took us out to dinner at Vesta Dipping Grill in Lodo. The food was absolutely incredible and has to be one of my very favorite places in Denver. Scottie surprised us with a bottle of champagne to toast the number "60. " My "other" daughter, Christianna was there and so was Monica, who is also "family." (See my earlier post about "family and friends"). I had so many emails, text messages, facebook posts and phone calls full of happy birthday wishes that it was truly overwhelming. I spent the day feeling loved and cherished for just being me.

60 isn't so scary after all.

The Ugly Duckling . . .

A couple of months ago my husband stopped by a nearby garage sale late in the day and saw this unit. He knew I loved lots of drawers and even though it was painted an awful color with paint that had "texture" (aka sand) in it, he bought it thinking he would just sand down the texture and repaint. He paid $30 for it and when he got it home we took the drawers out and to our surprise it was solid walnut. My husband is a woodworker so he knows his wood. We decided to just strip the paint off and try and bring the walnut back to life. The upper unit drawers were turning out pretty cool.

But the biggest surprise came when Jerry discovered that the fronts of the drawers of the bottom unit, when the paint was stripped off, was just made of pine. He started looking very closely and realized he could just take off this extra piece and hopefully the wood underneath was still intact.

We were stunned with what was underneath. My $30 ugly duckling was about to become a beautiful swan.

Growth

A few weeks ago I submitted a photography piece for consideration in a national juried art show in Estes Park and I promised my friends and family that I would post the entry when I heard whether I was accepted or not. So here it is:

I received the "thanks, but no thanks" email this morning and after indulging in a few moments of disappointment I realized just how far I've come. Entering this show was a HUGE step for me. I've always felt that putting myself out there was just setting myself up for rejection. And even though my piece was rejected, I was able to put it into perspective that it was, indeed, my piece that was rejected, not me. It doesn't take away from the fact that I love this picture. It was taken on our anniversary weekend last September in a small, teeny, tiny mountain town with this small, teeny, tiny junkyard. I'm still going to frame the picture and hang it in my house. This my friends, is growth.

Family or Friend...

Definitions:

Family - a group of people related by ancestry or marriage.

Friend - One attached to another by affection or esteem.

The other day my husband was lamenting the fact that he had so many cousins he was having trouble remembering all their names and I was lamenting the fact that I had so few. And none my age. I have a LOT of in-laws, some I love dearly and some I . . . well, you know. I have a husband, four children and two younger sisters I love with all my heart, some extended family members and a smattering of "first cousins once removed," etc.

And then there is my 'other' family. My friends. Those caring, supportive, tell it like it is, here's a shoulder to cry on people who are so willing to share so much so often. I have been incredibly blessed by these friendships and I cannot imagine my life without them. I'm a very lucky woman.

Family and Friends. They may have different definitions, but to me they are one and the same.

Clotheslines

Yesterday was possibly the most perfect Colorado summer day. The temperature was, for me, near perfection. It wasn't too hot and there was a delightful breeze. Even though the weather people tend to use the word 'breezy' rather loosely here in Colorado (most of the time it's downright windy!), it truly was what most people would define as breezy.

As I was sitting in my backyard I started contemplating my clothesline and decided to sketch it in my journal. You see, I view my clothesline as a work of art. It's made of wood and slightly weathered. I know there are a lot of people out there who think of clotheslines as just a lot of work or, at the very least, an eyesore. And they are entitled to their opinions just as I'm entitled to mine.

I started wondering what it is that my clothesline stirs in me. I grew up in a charming Craftsman bungalow in Northern California in the 1950s and 60s. You could hang all the laundry standing in one place! It had a pulley system from the back porch to the other side of the yard. Hanging out the laundry was one of my responsibilities and one I loved. There was such a sense of peace and calmness that enveloped me as I went through the repetition of clipping on each clothespin just right. Then there was the sense of satisfaction as I looked at all the clothes lined up moving gently in the breeze. Taking them down was even better. I took the time to fold each one as I put it in the basket. I still do. So you see, I could never live in a place where clotheslines are forbidden, because for me my clothesline is another of life's little pleasures.

Farmer's Market

I love farmer's markets. The sights, the smells (think roasting chilis) and the feeling that somehow I'm doing my part. I take my trusty vintage shopping cart and reusable canvas bags and immerse myself in all the wonderful goodness. My first stop is always the organic beef producers who also sell free range chickens. I've shopped with them for years and they've never had their product recalled!

Our farmer's market is held in an old historic train depot.

It has some great artistic architectural elements to it.

And its own lovely landscaping

I love the flower vendors, but unfortunately they remind me that I have no talent whatsoever when it comes to gardening. I'm not quite sure how that happened. I try, truly I try. Most of my art friends have wonderful gardens and I'm envious. The only thing I have luck growing are what my mother affectionately referred to as "pretty little yellow flowers." Dandelions. It still makes me laugh.

And this makes me wish I knew how to make pickles.

Summer saturday mornings. One of life's little pleasures.