Sigh. Ah. HOME!~
        Lets imagine the scene above is my bedroom, lovely hats and dresses all just unpacked from our stay in New England. It was another glorious trip, my cup of inspiration filled right to the tippy-top rim. All happiness. Very tired (it takes two days straight to drive there and back….) Mountain of laundry and baggage unpacked, school supplies scrambled together, house cleaned up with renewed energy….it is almost time to paint!

    I think if my heart was cracked open, you’d find a great deal of New England there. I dont know what it is about that place of the world, but it is where I am so happy and at home. It was an amazing couple of weeks that we were able to stay with our wonderful friends—- without whom, we honestly wouldnt be able to get out there and bask in all the pastoral-old-timiness. I practically gorged myself on historical home museums. So much so that Audrey, at the end, wearily said “please, no more museums!” 😉
   But by then we had seen and done so much;; visited the homes of Louisa May Alcott, John Adams (all 3!!!), Nathaniel Hawthorne, Rebecca Nurse, Paul Revere…. and so many other beautiful historic homes and landscapes.
    One day as we were driving down the Mass Pike, we ambled down to Cape Cod, in search of a genuine lobster roll (we dont have those in Oklahoma, haha) and ended up at the most perfect little beach near the Cape Cod Canal. Audrey swam like a mermaid in the ocean (the OCEAN!!) and Robbie and I collected beautiful shells and rocks and made a sandcastle. We filled up memory banks, and had such a great evening.

   We wandered graveyards and gazed at harbors and sea horizons, we entered doorways once entered by some of our country’s most beloved historical figures, and we spent lazy mornings at a friend’s kitchen table….just talking and laughing and looking through books.

   And then, at the end of it, we were ready to be home.

    Those days spent ‘out east’ were just what I needed. I am now so excited to get back to painting. And this year will have some changes that Im anxious to explore. This school year, Audrey goes back to traditional school. It was a change I wasnt expecting, but was what she decided she wanted and after lots of talking—- and a blessing of a school transfer approval— we are back in the brick-and-mortar school game. And I am….excited! I’ll have my littlest still at home, and I am looking forward to having a quiet and creative school year with just we two. And he’s big enough now that he can come out to the studio with me while I work. Who knows what painterly things we’ll get up to. I cant wait!

   And so….stay tuned, and keep in touch! This fall will make TEN YEARS for me in having a folk art business. I think that calls for celebration, dont you? First things first though— time to paint!~

Thanks for your visit, and come back soon!~
H