I had the good fortune to travel to an enchanting island off the west coast of Florida early in October. The weather was perfect, the water temperature was perfect, the sunsets were perfect, and the shelling was, well, perfect. Shells are abundant and as long as there is not living creature inside, they can be removed. Would you believe that even after collecting bagfulls of shells, I still wanted to keep looking? It was as though a blissful, sweet addiction took hold and you find yourself always stooped over wanting to find just one more and then, just one more, and so on and so on and so on.
Not to be totally on the greedy side, there is a purpose for the shells. They appear in the picture frames, boxes, and wreaths that I sell at craft shows. With the bounty I came home with this time, I can use them liberally which is totally luxurious and wonderful.
These are images taken from my recent Mother's Day walk through the Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, WA. Whenever I need inspiration, decompression, and quiet, I walk down my street and find it behind the gates. There are over 100+ acres of nature at her finest. One will find a Japanese tea house, zen garden, pond with weeping willows, reflection pool, wildlife sanctuary, bog garden, a ravine filled with candleabra primroses, former formal home of the owners, 60' rhododendrons, moss gardens, and so much more. Gorgeous!
This is a fan I made recently for my grandson's second birthday. My late husband, who was of the Chipewa tribe, made feather fans for my children and myself. I never watched him make one but felt I could possibly replicate one for this special gift. I kind of knew the basics and thought that maybe my hands would be guided to make one. I added a dream catcher from a business of his, which made Native American items (staffs, drums, papooses, fans, etc.) . I bound the handle with black and white leather, which were his native colors. I added strips of black, yellow, and red fabric from the walutas (prayer flags) that were on the special tree at the Sundance ceremony I attended last August in Oklahoma. Beads which were blown at his business were included and the feathers are a turkey wing. The ivory elephants are for my daughter and her husband because elephants are especially significant to them. I was told that Native American mothers would fan their babies with sage smoke to calm and soothe them during difficult times.
This was the first year my family was not be at home for Christmas morning. Seeing an opportunity to justifiably scale back my usual "over the top" decorating extravaganza, I did something I have always wanted to do and that was to have a simple tree branch with silver balls. Thanks to a timely windstorm, I found some "roadsidea" in the form of a perfect branch, that even had an added element of chartruesy lichen. Silver balls, matte and shiny, hung from the branches with care and the finishing touch was 2 snowy white birds. Perfect!
