Sleightholm Folk Art

Here we are, my friends….we are in the thick of it. Thick of what? Summer. Suuuuummmmer. Which, if you live somewhere like Vermont or England, etc. is a lovely time of year. For me, July usually sees me hunkered down in the house, playing Christmas carols and the like, trying to at once get myself cooled down from the summer prairie heat AND get inspired to make holiday art. There are no New England adventures for us this year, but it wont stop me from dipping my toes back into this little blog series, to visit all my favorite New England places and sigh with delight.

Ah, but until then….I’m still home and still feathering my little nest. Trying to keep to my house keeping schedule, baking bread, trying to keep organized, and carve out blocks of time for painting….

We are only a few days away from Independence Day, and I’ve got my little flags out and the bunting too. With the house now painted white, it looks absolutely darling with the red, white and blue all displayed. I keep having a feeling about this month, like a fever breaking. And the way my friends and myself are all having this feeling of turning inward, I feel like we are all getting tired of the chaos that gets churned up online and wanting our time to be better spent. I know that’s how I feel.

I hope that the turmoil we are all feeling, the emotional fatigue and weariness about the state of the world, reaches a tipping a point. I hope we are on our way to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Something else coming to fruition, quite literally– are the peaches out in the yard! Our two little peach trees are positively loaded with peaches– despite getting bowled over in a tornado in May! When people came to help us with debris after the storm struck, I had a man cut off a big cedar branch that was on top of one of my little peach trees. He did, and the little tree sprang back into place, back into action! Peaches still attached! Amazing how we lost those two gigantic trees, but the young ones, the ones that could bend and move more freely, survived. I’m sure there’s a lesson in that!

And this lily….hush my mouth! Isnt it beautiful! I’ve got several lilies that I dug up (shhh dont tell) from my grandmother’s garden before her house was sold. These flowers are absolutely stunning, and there’s a yellow one that grows about 10 feet tall. I never thought I was really a lily person, but these are definitely persuading me otherwise….

We are trying to enjoy the garden and our little critters, despite the heat….(the kids sweet talked me back into having rabbits, its all their fault, but LOOK AT THAT FACE…) mornings are the best time, when the light is gentle and the bugs aren’t out. I hate flied and mosquitoes….and look forward to a nice chilly morning that will send them packing! Probably wont see one of those until October though.

But, I suppose, it is time to try to enjoy the sunshine. Even though my thoughts wander to autumn and I’m always on HIGH ALERT for the first autumn magazines to appear, or the autumn flavored candles…being a September baby, perhaps its no wonder I love that season best. There is just something so delicious in the air, when that first chill autumn breeze blows through. Its such a blessing to this parched place by the time it happens.

But…..I must take one day at a time. In a month or so, we will be shopping for school supplies, and getting ready to have a 7th grader and a kindergartener in the house! I am so glad they both like and do well at school (well, the 7th grader likes it as well as a 7th grader can be expected to 😉 ) I imagine this school year will see Robbie starting on his journey to reading, and I can’t wait. I have a feeling he’ll be a book devourer like his mama.

But until then….I am painting, painting and trying to enjoy the little things….as long as those little things arent bugs!

Talk with you again soon, and will have more art to share!~

h

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