It's About Time!

I’ve loved listening to the Allman Brothers since I first heard their album Eat A Peach back in the 1970s. Blue Sky remains my all time favorite song to this day. The recent death of Gregg Allman makes me sad and has revived my Allman Brothers playlist. Both the lyrics and soulful southern rock sound of this band bring on a flood of memories and seem even more poignant as time passes.

My totem project for The Maddux school is complete! This fundraising outdoor beautification project took several weeks to reach this final stage. In the last step, the glazed pieces were assembled, laid out on a table for pattern placement and then glued to the planted fence posts. Each totem was topped off by a coordinating totem piece with matching red hearts. What started with a conversation, ‘do you think you could make?” has finished with a beautiful entryway to greet children, parents, and teachers as they enter this very special place of learning!

We’ve discovered infused water at our house. I’ve been playing with a variety of fruit and vegetable combinations this past week. So of course, it sparked an idea in the studio. I worked out a design for a pitcher. I envision using it not only for flavored water but many of the other delicious summertime beverages that quench our thirst. Lemonade. Sweet Tea. What’s your favorite? Click on this photo of my pitcher and send me your recipe.

The week ended with some special girlfriend time. It went by in a blur (like this out of focus photo!). Two of my peeps from way back when came over for a long visit. Mostly we laughed. The conversation darted from subject to memory to another subject. We traipsed around Frederick’s First Saturday activities and visited the Festival of the Arts craft show. We played in my studio making some projects and cooked dinner. It was time together that I treasure. 

Here are the full and meaningful lyrics to Gregg Allman's Ain't Wastin Time:

Favel

 In our household, the word 'favel' is used to describe sitting around doing nothing. I thought it was a Yiddish word. When I looked it up on-line, it had a completely different meaning and origin. This doesn’t deter me. I’m sticking with using favel to describe inactivity.

Overall, I’m more of a ‘shpilkes’ kind of person -- busy, hard to sit still, go, go, go.  I’ve learned through the years to try to temper that with some time to ‘favel.’ It’s a good balance to aspire to. Yoga helps. And I find when I can even out the need to be productive with some time to reflect it’s really the best use of my time.

I've been playing with the use of chalkboard paint on my work. 

This way, people can personalize their garden stakes according to what they have planted.

I've also been experimenting with chalkboard paint on a frame.