Christmas Season Snapshots

Christmas Card Project

I think that for many of us, December goes by at Warp Factor 7...  it seems like yesterday I was making my Christmas cards in a leisurely fashion, feeling I had all the time in the world...  and suddenly I was realizing that I needed to cut those cards post haste and get them in the mail!  And the packages!  And open an Etsy store!  And..   and..  and..  and so it goes.

Front Porch Decorations

Daughter Shoots the Ice

Today, I am reflecting back on all the fun visits I (we) had, the gatherings, and the expeditions across rare sheets of fast-forming lake ice that provided so much artistic fodder for me and my daughter both.  AND, we took many of those photographs together, which makes it even better.

Ethyl and I focus on our work

The ice formations were so remarkable this year, I devoted several afternoons to taking photographs.  I'll let the photos speak for themselves as I include a few here...

Hoar Frost and Bubbles

Photo taken by Daughter

I could post many many more of these types of photographs taken on Little Lake east of town here...  I will be using these in future art quilts and can't wait to get started - right after I finish a commission or two!  Many thanks to photographer Joy Hamilton for the fun photo of me and Ethyl "on ice".  Please click on the link to view the many fine photographs that Joy and her husband Howard take all over the West.  Their website is worth a visit.

I cannot resist adding another ice shot or two - these are from Big Payette Lake.  My Little Family and I were walking along the shores of Ponderosa State Park yesterday afternoon and we could see that the ice had just frozen within the last day or two.

Trapped Lake Trout

This lovely 12" lake trout found itself trapped between the sandy lake bottom and an icy ceiling.  After I took a few photographs, I stomped on the ice behind the fish and coaxed it along until it swam out into deeper waters.

Frozen Wave

Last, but certainly not least, I spent part of December creating a new hand and face cream called "Backyard Rose" made with rose water I distill myself from Idaho wild roses, rose essential oil, sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil and thickened with beeswax.  It's fragrant, but lightly so, as I do not add any fragrance - all you smell is the rose water and rose essential oil!  I've already heard back from several customers and one comment was:  This is the nicest thing I've ever used on my face - my skin finally feels hydrated!  My other Thea's Bee Beautiful project was to reformulate my popular Gardener's Healing Hand and Body Cream.  The result yields the same great cream for hard working hands, but in a much lighter cream that sinks readily into your hands so you can get back to work faster!  I'm working on my ETSY store to make these and all my other products readily available.  It just takes so long to create all those pages, as anyone who has an ETSY store front knows...  and like most artists, I am happier making things than writing about it.  So...  it will be soon!

Backyard Rose 2 oz. and 1/2 oz.

Gardener's Healing Hand & Body Cream in 6, 2, and 1/2 oz.

Rose Cream in Jars

Wishing Everyone a very Happy New Year!!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year - that whole sweet buffer of time in, around, and after actual Thanksgiving Day.  For me, it's a time of reflection and mental "sorting out".  This photograph, labeled in my dear mother's beautiful handwriting (she's standing in the back in the white shirt, next to her sister), is representative of where my heart goes and my mind follows this time of year...  my childhood home on Sanford Street in Muskegon, Michigan where, for a few years that I thought would last forever, our family would gather on Thanksgiving Day.

My sisters, mom and I were up early tearing bread for stuffing, checking to make sure the bird was thawed (one year it wasn't), and putting the finishing touches on pies and jello salads (this was the Midwest, after all!).  We'd wait excitedly for the arrival of our grandparents, aunt and uncle, and our rowdy boy cousins who provided balance, fun, and sometimes torment in our mostly female family. All of us, I know, loved each other in that easy, familial way that allows us to take each other for granted without repercussion. And though we rarely see each other these days, we are all fully present in each others minds and hearts. 

They never stayed long - just the day - but it fostered in me the importance of gathering.  "We gather together" is a phrase of great significance. At holiday times, and any time, it is a source of strength and encouragement to gather with family, and "family of choice" whenever we can.  It keeps our hearts open and warm.  Helps us practice our Tolerance and Acceptance skills.  Helps us remain Human in easy and uneasy circumstances.

So - Happy Thanksgiving, everyone...  say hello to your neighbor.  Give a nod to that person sitting next to you on the bus or subway.  Gather someone in to your home this Thursday.

A windfall gift of apples from a friend becomes another gift - spicy apple butter

Thoughts about Time

Harvey and Wilma

Harvey and Wilma were born in 1890. They married when Harvey was released from serving in WWI as a supply train supervisor (mule division), and started having children at the start of The Great Depression when they were around 40 years old.  They are pictured here in 1952 at the age of 62 in the backyard of their home in South Bend, Indiana.  The home that my mind still travels to so frequently...  the repository of so many memories...  the embodiment of love.  Flashes of an orange painted basement floor upon which sat the old Maytag washer replete with wringer; a brick of yellow cheddar on the kitchen counter with a sleeve of saltines beside it always ready to stave off hunger; the wide front porch we kids played endless games on during the day and slept on when nights were hot and muggy - when we weren't catching fireflies. 

Harvey and Wilma were my grandparents and my heroes.  They still are.  Dignified and classy, they also knew how to make a child feel loved and appreciated.  They accepted me, my sisters, and cousins  "as is" and of all the homes I lived in growing up, it was their home that I thought of as Home.

I always thought of my grandparents as Old.  Throughout my life with them, they had gray hair, unglamorous figures, and inelegant clothing (with the exception of Grandpa's fedora and overcoat).  I found myself wondering just how old they really were.  Sorting through some old photos (I've been doing that a lot lately), I found this one with a clear date on the back written in a strong hand.  I was surprised when I did the math and realized they were only 62 in this picture.  Perhaps it's because I live in an affluent resort town where people ski, run, hike, and swim until they are in their 80's or just can't do it anymore.  But I do not know any 62 year old  (and many of my friends are approaching this age or have surpassed it) that looks like my grandparents do in this photo.

I offer no conclusion, but do offer a few observations:  My grandparents did not work out nor were they athletic in any way.  Their clothing was of the time and, never wealthy, they wore the same clothes for years.  They did not dye their hair, hide, disguise, or alter their aging bodies in any way.  Grandpa worked for Studebaker until he could retire with a gold watch and a pension.  His company did not fire him right before retirement or try to get out of paying him for his long years of service.  Of simple means, they had a garden in the summer, read books (Rex Stout and Zane Grey for Grandpa, crossword puzzles for Grandma), and listened to ball games.  There was a lot of conversation and many family meals together.  They lived until they were in their mid-eighties and their looks never changed.   

Quail Tracks

In this complicated time of burgeoning uncertainty, I look to my grandparents once again for direction and guidance.

Mountain Quail

In my yard today:

Crabapple Tree Today

In my town today:

Ponderosa Pine Log

Don't squander your energies on anything you are lukewarm about.  Passion adds power and strength - Jean Ray Laury