well, it happened: we all blinked, and august arrived. just like that, quietly, it came and it is here and soon it will be gone. i made that wonderful list of things back in the first of june - the list of things i wanted to accomplish before the month was out. i think i tackled maybe three things - five or six at most - before june disappeared altogether. poof! it was gone. i had such good intentions. embroidery, flower pressing, watercolor painting, book reading, jewelry making, trips, visits, baking, growing, walking, wandering. i have wandered. walter and i do that every day. we walk down Wooded Way til we get to Little Meadow; i stoop and snip a wildflower or a few, or sometimes an entire bouquet, and walter sniffs and sniffs some more, or leaps through grass that has grown taller than his head. he doesn't care. the other day he found a turkey feather, and began to chew on its tip. i carried it home and stored it safely in the antique trophy cup that daddy once found under a house that he tore down.
a good while back (i had to erase "a few months ago"), back in the early part of november, a sweet friend gave me a little hardbound book of shakespeare's Merchant of Venice that was printed in the earliest 1900's, long long ago. this morning i picked it up to flip through the pages once again, and was amused to find the drawing above. bad boy. i hadn't noticed that insect on the woman's leg until i snapped the photograph and edited it for the piece of jewelry. it makes me smile, and i smile thinking about the friend i wanted to go see this first week of the last month of summer. plans were scrambled, and now i can't go. shakespeare, an insect, a woman's Mary Janes, words scrawled in pencil in the back of a book. click. a day passes. click. a season disappears. click. children have grown. click. click. click.
i've spent the past fifteen minutes trying to transfer a couple of summery images from my phone to this laptop. it isn't happening, and supper preparation calls. walter is staring at me, that look i call The Whammy. he wants to walk down to the meadow. i understand. i'll come back and show you the barn after a summer rain, another time. for now, have a dose of summer sky blue, something that completely captured my fancy at the gem and mineral show this time around. pendants are now listed, over in my etsy shop - the blues of lace agate and chalcedony, the mossy, woodland green of sun-dappled peridot. go see. xo
ps. here you go. i pulled up at the bridge after driving robin to the airport. it had rained. i was missing my boys. what a soft and comforting view to greet me upon turning off the paved road to head 'round the barn and on up to my sweet little cabin, on heartrock hill....x
Oh, those blues are lovely...shades of the Carolina sky. And yes, seasons come and go entirely too quickly of late....entirely too quickly, indeed. x
Posted by: Tina M. | August 06, 2014 at 07:01 PM
great post ..always love seeing your work and what you see everyday . you are one blessed girl (:
Posted by: kathy dorfer | August 06, 2014 at 10:33 PM
Tonight we go to see the falling stars before the SUPER super big moon on the 11th and I always think of how much you love nature too. Thank you for the blue sky. I did notice how many big white cumulus clouds were sporting about for possible rain. It is so hot during the day that the mornings and evenings are when I go out and about. Bless you and your musings. Bless you and your merry jewelry. Seasons do go and the days wisp by in this blue sky world we share. Blessings to you and your adventures. May you have an abundance of joy.
Posted by: Kat Langford | August 07, 2014 at 01:44 PM
Hi Nina, been a while. I'm getting old and lazy. You are still making beautiful jewelry and living in wonderful places. You seems to appreciate it all which is the best way to live.
Wish we could borrow some of your rain. We need it badly here in a very dry California.
Keep being the creative girl that you are. It's the joy of life.
Posted by: Farmlady | August 08, 2014 at 12:15 AM
i can try to tell you how your words move me.
and then no i can't.
Posted by: Diane | August 08, 2014 at 11:37 PM
Today I have said good bye to my own sweet mommy at the airport as she flies back to Florida. My brother let a few days ago back to Minnesota. This summer has been so full of the wonderful - family, friends, love; and the awful - health, sadness. Trying to capture it all and hold it while it slips through my hands like the rain that is falling.
Your posts are always so timely for me. Your jewelry amazing. xoxo
Posted by: Mary | August 09, 2014 at 04:33 PM
I found you again after many years. I had been wondering how things were going for you. I find you safe and happy. Good.
Now I will put you in my bloglist and read backwards to find out what you have been up to while I was gone.
Posted by: jsuley | August 11, 2014 at 02:32 PM
And now its nearly September and we are coming out of Winter and into Spring in Australia. I look forward to those lazy hazy days in the sun. Hope Walter is well and you enjoy your precious surroundings, with love x
Posted by: Jenny Hanson | August 28, 2014 at 05:59 AM
I stopped by to visit today. You are like a secret friend I turn too when lost. Today I feel more lost than usual. One of the greatest appeals for me (to be here) is that you are yourself.
I enjoy the voyeurism of looking over your shoulder and peaking into your life. Maybe I am searching for a glimpse of myself. Something to remind me of which road to take back to myself.
Thanks for being there.
Posted by: Wanda Bowring | September 03, 2014 at 10:58 AM
Aw. Still August in your world? I've been checking regularly to see what you're up to, and I hope all is well.
Posted by: Jan | September 23, 2014 at 07:58 PM
Dear Nina, I love your writing so much...and I miss your voice. So much of what you write touches me deeply. Whether you are writing about depression, fatigue, joy, serenity, the beauty of nature, or the joy of being a maker of art.....I find your narrative voice to be extraordinary. I miss it. Will you write soon? Love from Ellen Specht
Posted by: Ellen Specht | September 25, 2014 at 05:29 PM