When I Say Fern...

... I mean FERN!

All things green and dripping and curling and reaching ever upward.

(and I swoon)

My parents are in town for the week.  Well, to be honest they are in forest.  Camping, not 15 minutes from my home in one of the loveliest areas the North Coast offers.  I don't mean to boast, but really now, but this territory I reside in is so amazing, with so much to offer that I feel luck rising in my soul every time I venture out of doors.

After a solid night of sleep in my own bed and a hearty breakfast (BC is fattening me up on the good weeks - he gives me a wink and adds a little extra butter on my english muffins) I'm heading back out to the woods and water to stay with them and let my soul be filled with all that the ravens see and the black bears smell.

More to come, more to come, but first I need to get my shoes a little muddy and my pockets full of detritus.

And... Done.

Two Things for your Thursday Evening

(actually I'm in a chatty mood, but let's start with two, shall we?)

1.  I bought a poncho.  I have a feeling there'll be loads of poncho outfits this Fall, like "poncho is the new legwarmer is the new black" time.  Except that I was never into black, preferring, at a very young age to layer on color like I was a giant seven layer jello salad all ready for a Fourth of July picnic right next to the sparklers and sugar cookies.  Ooh, that was a terrible analogy (jello gives me the hibee geebees and I'm sorry, but something wiggling and dyed green does not a salad make!).

Let's get honest about what's happing around here:

Retail Therapy makes me feel good (can I get an AMEN from all you sisters?).  This afternoon was a triple-shot of self-indulgence: tea latté sipping and letter writing, boutique and second-hand shop cruising, and snapping up a few pieces to ring in the Autumn Equinox.  And it's not like I didn't get my fix earlier this week either, which brings us right around to point number two.

2.  Oh Sweet Jesus.

I have taken on a lover.

My new lovah (pronounced "love-ah" like it's too good to waste any time pronouncing the "rrrr") goes in public by the name Canon Rebel T1i, but around here, I've been calling him Pierre.  And I've fallen hard.  My beloved little point-and-shoot Canon, with her tiny handful of pixels and her busted lens has done me SO well over the years (and will remain in active duty I'm sure) but Pierre, Oh Pierre, he's swept me off my feet and I don't think I'll be coming down anytime soon.  That button just feels like butter, click, whirl, snap, oh baby...

(Pierre asked me to stop right there.  He said somethings should just remain between us. And maybe Flickr if we're feeling frisky)

3.  HA! Told you there would be more.  Is there anyone else out there who feels GLEE over produce?  I feel positively passionate about the virtues of home-grown lettuce, never mind wonders of the world such as brussel sprouts from my favorite local farmer which will be oiled up and roasted to succulent in a matter of minutes here.  I'm ruined on a great number of fruits and vegetables, unable to bring myself to buy their sad cousins from the supermarket, because I know the real deal, the honest food, the food snapped off the vine and tugged up from the dirt just this morning by the woman I'm shaking hands with is UTTER DELIGHT.

I really do like to eat.  And the scent of the carrots I slipped from the soil before I walked inside is making me nearly delirious.  How do I wish I could put a little link [like this: "carrot scent"] right here for you to click that would transfer olfactory goodness!  You'd fall right off your chair, or at the very least start salivating.  I am.

4. This Cuff.  This photo does zero justice, but I just realized I had yet to mention it, as well as yet to give it the photoshoot it deserves.  Just know this: Allison - you are a woman of unbelievable talent, and I am spoiled rotten.

5.  Because I like to keep you updated, tomorrow (Friday September 24th) marks Chemo Round 3.  After this one, only five left to go (not so bad, right?).  I'll be thinking about you this weekend as I'm laying about, because having something really wonderful to think about makes the medicine go down easier.

Lovey Doves,
- Umber

Shop-a-doodle-doo: Sea Stone Edition

Rock on with your Smock on!

(that IS the saying, right?)

Plinking down with the slippery sound of 

ten thousand small stones all sliding through the sandy surf 

into the Painting Shop right now...

(ten times fast, go!)



~ POST SHOP UPDATE ~

HOLY MOLY!   I'm just giddy, gleeful and grateful as anything green and gracious!  (and also apparently in the mood for alliteration)

But really.
Grinning a mile wide.
That's me.

Sketchbook Writings

- From my sketchbook writings, September 20th, 2010 -

There is something in this that speaks of rebirth, but I've yet to finger the pulse of it.

It's as though through these biweekly treatments I'm allowed to step through nine lives; Each time beginning as some small helpless puddle, growing stronger, brighter, wiser each day until I'm able to reach up and grab the tail of the comet, hold on for that wild ride.  The day to day is certainly a gritty struggle, but what is the human experience if not made of grit and sinew?  The speed of progression each week speaks volumes of encouragement to my soul - like watching some stop-film documentary that sparks tears in the staunchest disbeliever when the beauty of the full cycled of life is revealed in a bite sized nugget.

This is no foreign magic, no whispered mystery, but an honest viewing of LIFE.  There is a moment when the eyes first open to color and light, a moment when the exquisite realization of taste sets in, a moment of discovery when all those awkward angles and limbs move together in perfect harmony, of moment of recognition at the exchange of particles those lungs can move, a moment when the mind releases it's grip, truly awakens and trembles at the sheer blessing of life.  And so it is.  Dust to dust but the particles glitter.