les stash

Saturday, September 4, 2010



oh hooray ... my new collage paper stash is coming along nicely

In my ongoing quest to collect the biggest, baddest paper stash I ordered two $8.00 packets of paper scraps from the very lovely Sharilyn from the oh so beautiful lovely design (in Vancouver). I literally gasped when I opened my package at the post office so I could show off my just purchased wares to Sue & Rhonda. Firstly Sharilyn's keen attention to every tiny detail makes this designer's gals heart sing and the scraps of paper inside could not have been more thrilling to me. Please check out both her design business lovely design and her blog. Secondly I ordered a packet of vintage sheet music from etsy seller Shelly Malone (from Winnipeg) for the whopping price of 3.99 USD and again I was blown away by the selection, variety and quantity. Oh Boy ! I can hardly wait to clear off the teak topped desk for some new mad collage work.

Thank you for all of the comments yesterday talking about your own experiences with dog love, senior dogs, and that terrible ticking clock of their far too short life span. Last night I received a long and beautifully written email from Jan telling me about her own experiences of loving a very special dog and her continued sadness & grief over his death. Her letter made me cry and after I read it I decided that I need to stop making pronouncements about who I've convinced myself I am and of what I'm so sure I feel or will feel. Over the years I guess I've taken some sort of comfort in cultivating this particular persona, of declaring to myself (and a chosen few) Hi I'm Susan and this is who I am. I'm ready to be sad. Definitely. Carved in stone. I will confess that I do use her on a regular basis as an excuse to bow out, hopefully gracefully, of much of life.

Because we all know it's not necessarily true, that we really know who we are. Our lives, our personalities, how we're affected by things always has the potential to be continually, growing, developing & changing with each new layer of experience. I feel like I've been blessed with so many layers of experience in the time I've had this blog, just past 3 years of daily entries and my goodness the changes in my life have been quite dramatic. It's amazing the things that can and will initiate change, sometimes very small, seemingly insignificant moments ... like yesterday's composing of the sad axe post. As with any other early morning posting I simply write what's on my mind at that time. Reading the comments throughout the day, receiving Jan's email last night and continually pondering all those thoughts and opinions I was struck (kind of), by the realization, and realization is half the battle ... isn't it ?

I don't have to be that girl who's always waiting for the sad axe to fall ... In fact maybe it's not who I am at all although it sure feels safe & comfortable being her, as weird as that may sound. And I know that I could be brave and choose to say goodbye and leave her behind.

Here comes Earl... still a hurricane as it nears Nova Scotia waters. The cowboy has a generator ... of course he does. Sighing.

hurrican update - spoke with MLou in the city where Earl is having more effect, power outages, fallen trees & big winds. Here in northern Nova Scotia it's tropical storm Earl it's raining hard and lots of madly swaying tree tops but we still have power and was again it's looking like we will remain unscathed.

7 comments:

  1. Thinking of you as Earl nears and hoping you don't have much trouble with it.

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  2. I was thinking about you...we dodged the bullet in Maine, hopefully you will too. Good luck.

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  3. Love pretty paper. Love collages. The colors make me happy.
    Brenda

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  4. Gathering...gathering...gathering....

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  5. Armour, once donned, is very hard to take off. It gets to feel settled, if not comfortable, and we feel vulnerable without it.

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  6. So very true Linda ...
    guard, armour I've been lugging it around so long it does feel attached to me.

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  7. I missed you yesterday for some reason so I read this post and THEN yesterday's...

    Hoping Earl has spared you all but some swaying tree tops

    May life and love surprise you with peace, just as your blog continually surprises me with peace..

    Holding you and Missy D in a space of love and light.

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