Monday, October 23, 2006

Childhood Remembered















This is a area of our yard that I love. It reminds me of when I was a child and how I spent hours lying under a tree reading my favorite books. Now that autumn has arrived the colors are more vibrant than ever and the little fairy seems to be so content to sit silently on the rock reading a book. Oh, to be that small girl again - enjoying nature and spending time aimlessly watching the butterflies and catapillers as they prepare for the closing of the summer. I would read the stories and pretend that I was a fairy princess and all the little animals were my friends. They would tell me stories of their adventures. When a butterfly would land on my cheek I would dream it was a kiss that would grant me my every wish. If I lay very quietly the birds would land close by and I could watch them pick at the ground. Oh, for only one of those moments now! Just a moment to dream and not have a worry in the world! Childhood! What a marvelous time yet so short!

I would listen to the twirling of the windmill and could hear the wind speaking to me! It would make me feel safe as if all the small animals were telling me their secrets and letting me know they were my friends! The words on the pages of the books I read seemed to come alive! The clouds would drift by and form beautiful pictures in the sky. Pictures that brought the pages to a visual form that made me feel as though I had drifted away to this far away land of dreams and wishes! In these moments the beginning of my "Wheggies" began to form in my imagination. The "Wheggies" are small angel-fairies that I write about and make small dolls to show what they look like. They didn't have a name back then but as I began to recall some of my childhood thoughts I began to write about them.

Monday, October 02, 2006

FAITH HOPE LOVE

Dear Friends,

I want to thank all of you for your patience and understanding. I apologize for being away from my blog for so long. It has been a long two months since I last shared my thoughts with you. My mother is terminally ill with lung and throat cancer and these last two months I have tried to spend time with her, take care of getting her settled in a nursing facility as well as being there while she has spent time in the hospital. It has been a time to get reaquainted with my mother and a time to reflect on exactly how short our time with loved ones really is. Since I have been married for 40 plus years and raised three wonderful sons, my time with my mother has been limited. We seemed to have drifted in opposite directions. Her illness has enabled us to dock in the same port and share thoughts and moments together.

My husband has been very supportive as have been my sons and my very special daughter-in-law, Tracie. As many of you are aware Tracie and I are teaching together. She has taken on much of the responsibilities for submitting proposals and organizing information for our classses. What a wonderful daughter she is!!! I cannot thank her enough! I am so looking forward to our next trip to Artfest 2007 and the chance to share our creations with all of you whom signed up for our class.

As my mother nears the end, my heart is filled with faith, hope and love. Faith - that God will take her into his loving hands and comfort her during this time of pain and fear. Love-for my mother, my husband, my sons, Tracie, and my family and friends. Without their love for me I don't know that I would have the strength to be there for mom during her time of need. Hope-that God will keep giving me the stamina to spend these final days with mom and keep performing all my daily responsibilities.

Words cannot express how much all the kind thoughts I have received from many of you has meant to me. This is just one more reason why art is important to me! It really gives me strength to know that you have all thought about me. When I do find moments, here an there, to work on my art, I find that I lose myself in the creativi