My Heart In Her Hands.....

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."

~Elizabeth Stone~

Last Tuesday my world tipped a little bit on its axis. We received a letter with a few short sentences that changed everything. As I lay down that night, sleep eluded me. I could hear it, that staccato beating of two hearts connected by the invisible strings of love. One beating in a rhythm of excitement, anticipation, full of plans for a fulfilled longing. The other, feeling the pull and tug of the inevitable snapping of those very heart strings that have bound them these 21 years.Exactly 35 paces apart lay these two hearts. Neither one allowing the owner a wink of sleep. One heart straining towards the future, while the other recalled the past. The more selfish of the two wanted to initially hide the information that the lines of that letter contained, but knew it would be very wrong to do so. The selfish heart thought it was ready and prepared for this news to arrive someday, just not THAT day, some other day in the distant future might have been fine, but perhaps not. The selfish heart knew that it might never be ready for this news.The selfish heart felt distinctly the stretch and small tear that is always required when turning loose and letting go is required. The selfish heart could not bear the pain alone so it sent pictures to its companion, the mind. The mind cold not process the flow of shifting feelings as quickly as the heart transmitted them, it only saw emptiness.An image of an empty room. An image of one listening for familiar sounds but hearing only silence. An image of a clock, ticking away minutes that are past and can never be recaptured. An image of a heart, breaking just a little. A final image of a world familiar and comfortable, tipping a bit on its axis.They say that to have children is to have your heart walking around outside your body. I say it is true. My heart, my Darling Daughter, is moving into her first place. While I am excited for her and this new chapter in her life, I think she will be walking away with my heart in her hands.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

The Contractor Contest.....

I am so sorry to have gone MIA again. I have not had access to the Internet since my last post. The contractor finally showed up to begin the face lift to our little cottage and brought with him a few quirks, like using our Internet connection to surf and down load music and movies to his lap top rather than working on the house, so, we had to disconnect it temporarily.

I have found that hiring a contractor has much in common with a beauty pageant. Seriously! First you have the contestants, in this case the contractors. And, you have the judges, Handy Hubby and myself. Since Handy Hubby is much wiser in these things he got to be Judge #1 and I could chime in my opinion as Judge #2.

Just like in a beauty pageant you have the initial line up and introduction of the contestants. Contestant #1 came as highly recommended, showed up in a timely fashion with a wealth of knowledge of and experience. Contestant #2 showed up a little late with and attitude of being "Simply the best in the business!" (His words, not mine. He really wanted to win.) Contestant #3 was disqualified as he never showed up to the line up and introduction.The fashion portion of the contest was of little consequence as all the contestants wore the same costume; sturdy work boots, jeans, t-shitrs, and ball caps. But the talent and question portion of the contest was where it really counted. Both Contestant #1 and #2 could flip and zip a tape measure with lightning speed, scribble numbers on a sheet of paper with great accuracy, and with a flick of a wrist hand over staggering figures to the judges.

During the Q&A session, Contestant #1 scored high in his superior skills and vast knowledge of the subject at hand. Contestant #2 was brash and abrasive and lost serious points with Judge #2 as he kept flashing cell phone photos under her nose to look at all the magnificent tile work he had done in his bathroom. Judge #2 was thinking how she did not want her little cottage to be tiled to look like a glorified outhouse! OK, she did not want her little cottage tiled at all! Maybe he was just nervous and misunderstood the questions.

After thanking and dismissing the contestants Judge #1 and Judge #2 sat down to tally the scores. Hands down Contestant #1 was the winner. He showed great poise in placing his bid, his experience spoke for itself, he came highly recommended, and had a great personality. Judge #2 could just not get past the tile thing, so tossed out Contestant #2 right away. A winner was declared and a date set for the winner to begin to fulfill his duties.But, as seems to be the norm these days in pageants, there was a scandal! Contestant #1 failed to show up for his duties and was nowhere to be found. When he finally did show up he tried to extort more money from the judges by changing his bid to the tune of an additional $3,000.00! Needless to say he was stripped of his title and another pageant had to be held. A new winner was declared and hope was once again renewed.

The new eager beaver contestant showed up a week earlier than expected and a twitter of excitement at seeing the work began filled the hearts of the judges. However, after the first day they knew that something was wrong, very, very, wrong and they began to question their judging skills.

The crew of two with the possibility of a third man to help turned out to be a crew of...one. The crew of one brought his computer with him and you already know the rest of that story. Very little progress has been made but I have to say his craftsmanship is top notch. I expect it may take at least the rest of next week for him to complete the job upon which he will have earned the cash prize.So, if you do not hear from me it is because we have once again cut off the Internet. I am going to try and get a few posts done and scheduled so if I don't visit or respond to your comments you will know why. Choosing a contractor was almost as taxing as choosing the actual materials and colors for the house, but that is a story for another day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

Where In The World I Have Been.....

"But what minutes! Count them by sensation, and not by calendars, and each moment is a day."

~Benjamin Disraeli~(Beautiful gift tag from Laurie. Thank you, Laurie, I love it!)

I would love to tell you that I have been on some secret local of intrigue doing fascinating and fabulous things like perusing a Persian Brocante for French finds or learning the hula in Hawaii, but, that is sadly not the case. I been here, in my humble abode with my hands full of nursing a minor leg injury, recovering from a nasty virus, dealing with a reoccurring health issue, lavishing attention on two majorly gorgeous grandchildren, dealing with the drudgery of daily duties, working on a few items for the new shop, planning an upcoming trip, shopping online, and contemplating a writing project. That is where in the world I have been.

(Loving hands cradling small sacrifices: a stone from the river, a feather from a bird, a twig from a tree, a bundle of lace from an old pillow case, a photo of a forgotten girl.)

I am thrilled to say that I am now slightly gimping instead of limping, virus free, medicated and doing much better, still lavishing attention on two majorly gorgeous grandchildren, dealing with the drudgery of daily duties, actually making a few things for the new shop, trip plans completed, super neat supplies purchased online for some dreamy new projects, and further contemplating that writing project. I think I am now ready to make my return to blogging. Sometimes you just have to step away and take care of what needs taken care of before you can proceed. A small sacrifice on the path to healing.

(See the magic key in the healing hands of time? Presto~changeo! All things do get better with a little time!)

Now, where in the world would I like to be? Right here of course, in my crazy mixed up wonderful life where all the action happens, where dreams of browsing Brocante's in France and learning the hula dance keep me sane in moments of insanity. Indeed my hands have been full, but what minutes to savor! Life is precious even in our most broken and fragile moments, worth experiencing each sensation as we wait for the ticking of time to bring healing and the renewal of dreams. Now pardon me while I pursue the one dream that is obtainable at the moment, even more contemplation of writing that.....book!

Where in the world would you like to be? Who would you be with? What would you be doing?

Blessings,

Miss Sandy

A Quick Note.....

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson~

So much has been happening here that it has been next to impossible to find the time or the energy to blog. I do apologize for my unannounced absence and my breach of blog etiquette. I hope to get back to regular posting but am making no promises that I cannot keep. Thank you for your kind comments and emails in my absence. I must adopt the pace of nature and be patient knowing that time and schedule will very soon allow me to swiftly return to the delightful land of blog.Our precious little granddaughter did indeed arrive and she is just beautiful! Gorgeous grandson is loving being a big brother and is so sweet with her. Mother and baby are both doing just great. You may wonder why there are no photos of either of them here on my blog. As much as I would love to show them off, I honor their parents requests that their photos not be posted.Actually, I post very few photos of people on my blog, myself included. While I might write about my family on occasion, I do not use their names or images without their permission. They did not sign on to be a part of this blog and I respect their wishes. My blog is not much about people anyway, mostly it is about art, nature, and the observations I make in the wonderful world around me.Today I am off to join Puck, my garden statue pictured above, in playing out of doors. I hear Autumn beginning to whisper and I want to see if I can capture signs of her impending arrival. My gathering basket has been quite lonely lately so we will take a stroll and see what we can find to incorporate is a new art piece my brain has been brewing up. I hope you have wonderful plans in store for this day too!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

Nature Inspired.....

"As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens."

~Stephen Graham, The Gentle Art of Tramping~

Thank you all for your sweet get well wishes, I am indeed much better and gearing up for tomorrows big event...meeting my fresh from God newborn granddaughter! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!

I wanted to share a hot off the press publication with you that I have been eagerly awaiting, Nature Inspired by Tracie Lyn Huskamp. This is a wonderful book that teaches Mixed-Media techniques for gathering, sketching, painting, journaling, and assemblage. Tracie has combined her teaching with a unique style that lets you explore nature through art. I love her combination of paper, paint, fabrics, and photos to make one of kind nature inspired works of art. Just look at these beautiful journals...In this book you will learn about capturing nature with photography, collecting assemblage items, artful techniques for making nature prints, sketching and painting from your photography, techniques for creating backgrounds for your artwork, as well as creating projects from all you learn. Some of the projects include nature journals, jewelry, and nature assemblage.You can visit Tracie's blog, The Red Door Studio, where you can learn more about her book and view some of her nature inspired art. If you would like to take a peek inside, visit Amazon here and click on the Look Inside This Book feature. The book is available through Tracie, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. As you can see it is already on my work table ready to be put to use.A huge thank you and congratulations goes out to Tracie on the publication of her new book. I wish her much success!

Blessings,
Miss Sandy

Blog Inerruption...

(image source ~ Flaming June by Lord Fredrick Leighton)

This blog is interrupted until the room stops spinning, my knees quit quaking, and my head quits aching. It seems I have a lovely virus. I hope you all are well and enjoy a great weekend.

Blessings,

Miss Sandy