fannie & millie .: handcrafted goodness

My son’s band, Aristeia, got a great mention in our local weekly. The show was a pick of the week + I like what the reviewer said - so that’s really cool!

• you can hear them at cdbaby

• or enter Aristeia in your iTunes search box

• or visit them at myspace

Happy Monday!

Have you ever had one of those weekends that felt about 2 hours long? I just did! I’m not really sure where it went. Between the Farmer’s Market, the grocery store, the bookstore, a bbq, a couple of walks and some general goofing around, I seem to have misplaced approximately 46 hours. I’ll let you know if I find them…

Anyway, everything is okay here and I hope all is okay with you.

We had a fun weekend - Friday night and Saturday at Seaside with some family; and Sunday was Father’s Day and my Mother-In-Law’s birthday. The only problem with that plan is that I have to make a lot of items before Wednesday afternoon! I did it backwards - see you soon!

I’m so surprised to discover how much loss I am experiencing in this stage of my life. I suppose I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. The numbers are adding up now: the friends who have moved their homes, the friends who have just plain moved on, and the other loved ones who are gone from this lifetime…

My cousin, Steve Johnson, passed away yesterday morning. He was only a couple of years older than I am. Even though many years have gone by since we last saw each other, in my mind’s eye, he is still the same eager and excited teenager from Georgia, “the mouth from the South”, who was so thrilled to come to glamorous Los Angeles, California to visit his Uncle Albert, Aunt Hope and Cousin Joy.

I’m not really sure how this life works; sometimes it’s so hard. It seems we just keep going on, loving and growing, opening and closing; our hearts like the hand in this poem:

Your grief for what you’ve lost lifts a mirror
up to where you’re bravely working.
Expecting the worst, you look, and instead,
here’s the joyful face you’ve been longing to see.
Your hand opens and closes, and opens and closes.
If it were always a fist or always stretched open
you would be paralyzed.
Your deepest presence
is in every small contraction and expansion,
the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated
as bird wings.

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)

I hope you had a great day, too!

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…  I’m working on a super secret project…  all will be revealed late Friday or early Saturday.  After that, I will resume frequent postings and jewelry-making.  I promise!