does mother’s day have a special meaning? a question that might give some pause- naturally all the veteran mom’s out there know the answer-it’s just another day. don’t misunderstand- in my mind that’s not a bad thing and after 29 yrs of being a mom-i still am enjoying my”momhood”.

i’ll close by sharing a story from an aquaintance of mine-we’ll call her”miss b”.  she was a child of “sixties parents” who brought up their children in a most definate alternative lifestyle.  miss b’s mother forbade any celebration of mothers day-sighting it was clearly a hallmark conspiracy.  words of wisdom-true or false?

reguardless-it’s just another great day.

i was feeling very sorry for myself-i had one of “those shows”.  Perhaps it was the record heat, the fire a few miles away, the laker game who knows-whatever the reason there was hardly anyone there except alot of unhappy hot vendors. 

 a very low point was when a woman dropped one of my new favorite’s, a very

fragile assemblage piece and took off. 

 And I have only one comment on that the promoter advertised “all handmade, no imports”-HA!

ah well-live and learn.  the good news is the assemblage piece can be repaired-thankfully the major damage was to parts that can be replaced. And special thanks to those friends, loyal customers, and acquaintances who braved the hot weather to drop by-you know who you are!

this morning i sent my summer workshop schedule to my fabulous webmistress & fellow artist michelle verbeeck.  i am such a slacker-had i read her current blog-i would have known that she broke her wrist-in not just one but in three places-michelle, i’m soooo sorry.  so i now have put my “little unimportant bad show weekend” gripe away in it’s proper place-at the bottom of the list. thank you michelle for helping me regain perspective. (Visit michelle at http://www.redbird-studio.com/ and view her wonderful work at  http://www.studio-259.com/studioblog1/

i have a large collection of treasured antique frozen charlottes, china heads, and vintage doll parts. i  usually have no shortage of ideas  incorporating them into a piece. however- i have a number of rather odd “boys” that give me pause, what to do? this is giles, whom i spent most  of  last night with- 

i had such a wonderful time with my artist friend marisa on friday.  she is wonderfully talented & gifted-not only as an artist but as a person.  marisa has such great passion for her art-her work reflects her joy-whatever medium she is working in (the girl is multi talented.) 

 visit her website:  http://www.creativethursday.com/

and don’t miss her wonderful new creation’s “the bunnies” on her blog

http://www.creativethursday.com/blog/?p=1410

i’ve admitted it before-i’m a bad blogger. i read other people’s blogs-they are well written & lengthy -full of intresting musing’s and news. i can barely write a paragraph before i loose interest! ah well-everyone is good at something- writing is not a strong point of mine.  i just finished my third “technical”writing piece-ay yi yi-it’s torture! so- to make myself feel better-i’m spending the rest of the afternoon in my studio “assembling.”

spring is officially here in southern ca- the weather forcast for this weekend is in the 80’s, so our easter sunday brunch will be by the pool!

next weekend will be spent spring cleaning my “outside studio”.  during the winter it sort of becomes a “storage”space-but as soon as the weather co operates-i’m back outside. 

creating in the garden is a favorite spot-although i must admit sometimes there are too many distractions. we have a mating pair of both redtail hawks & barn owls on the hill across from us- every year we are prividged to see the youngsters leave the nest. we have hummingbirds, blue jays, sparrows, you name it nesting in our yard. lizards, butterflies, dragonflies & grasshoppers provide the dogs with endless amusement. and of course the garden calls to me- actually  it’s amazing that i get anything done!

i bought a large collection of edwardian paper dolls years ago, having no  idea what i would do with them.  i’m having so much fun creating!

i took my youngest niece on a 5 day trip to washington dc over presidents day-what fun! she is 12 and this is only her 3rd plane trip-so it was quite and adventure for her- as we like to call it “the 4 states in 5 days trip” ( we streched the rules a bit-we had a stop in nashville, we landed in bwi, stayed in DC, and went to virginia.

the weather was so good to us-i was walking around georgetown last monday in a tee shirt! the highlite of the trip for my niece was seeing dorthy’s ruby slippers - a close second was the elevator ride to the top of the washington monument ( aunt mavis got up bright and early sunday morn to wait in line for tix) we fit alot into 5 days-the zoo, most of the smithsonian museums ( the renwick gallery was my favortie.)  we did all of the monuments, memorials, and most of the sights-we did arlington, visited the library of congress-( the beautiful celings and mosaiced floors are a must see) took the metro everywhere ,the redline went under construction the day we left-perfect timing! did we see everything-of course not- it just means we’ll have to go back!

ay yi yi-feb already! it seems all i’ve been doing are taxes,  more taxes, applying to shows, organizing schedules, not to mention trying to get some work done. and in the middle of all this-i’m playing hookey over president’s day weekend- i’m taking my youngest niece to washington dc for a whirlwind 5 day quick visit.  neither of us ever been- so it will be quite an adventure!

fortunately we have “leahys” in virginia ( one of them being the handsome young man on the far right in the picture) so we will be in good hands!

this is a “cousin’s” pix, few and far between ( west coast & east coast)- from left to right: 2 of my kids, sasha & sean. in the middle, my niece/fellow adventure seeker tara, my other niece claire, and my nephew cameron, hailing from VA. 

i love the holidays, but i always breath a sigh of relief after January 3rd, my sister’s b-day (the last of 5 family b-day’s during the holiday’s) it’s time for me to get back to the real world-the season of “more is more” tones down a bit.  seeing family, old friends, new friends, saying hello & goodbye in such a short span of time goes by as a blur.

 in mid january when all starts to slow down a bit- one can start to savor our new holiday memories, and really enjoy each one in depth.

so to all my family & friends-thank you for yet another wonderful year and i wish you all much joy & happiness for 2008.

xo