walk in empty and leave full...Seth Apter

Our holiday is closing down as we ready for the new week. Family coming home and family coming to visit and then a weekend trip to Louisville for a family reunion. I remembered to feed the kids fish and then hit Joann's to pick up a few 50% notions sale for my studio ongoing supply list to have ready and at hand. I sorted through some more clothes for a donation site and to give to a young mother for her job requirements. I live in simple cottons and some linen now but to work, paint or dye I have my required uniform and still some for my grand daughters to wear at the pool and for soft night shirts...I remember when I was young I also like wearing a favorite aunt or my grandmother's cottons in the summer heat of the nights in a humid Louisville. These were the days before air conditioning was seen as a normal luxury for all households. Now I depend on this utility to keep my body comfortable so my blood pressure remains in the normal range. I have to admit these last couple of days with cool breezes and subtle temperature changes have been a welcomed change. I thought when the heat returned I would got a short swim in for the day but went to the grocery instead...eating is important. Maybe tomorrow I can get some water walking in in the late afternoon. I keep collecting my mother of pearl buttons etc. but Ken is still picking up after me because Mark will be here for a couple of days. I feel somewhat immobilized because I am not getting anything accomplished these days... I have a frazzled energy that needs to come out but for now I can not make any more of my messes. I love Seth's quote I titled this short conversation with because the serenity I find myself enveloped with all my mysteries revealed in my cluster of ideas and art supplies uniting with a mind of its own and if I listen I can discover what is inside on my soul's song. I can walk into my space empty and if left alone I walk out full of surprises even to myself.
I am sorting a carry on portable case to take with me when we travel to Kentucky and sort more supplies and threads for the trip to South Carolina for my niece's wedding and our stay in North Carolina after the ceremony. I still have a lot of production work to complete before the week of the Newark Artwalk. I am melding the past with today hopefully to create the return of the mother's second pair of hands in the soft folds of her daily working apron. How many of you can recall those moments when tears were wiped and a scrap on a bruised knee was first wiped clean with your mother's kitchen apron. Little by little they. the aprons, are creeping back into the costume of a man or woman's ceremonial works and rituals in the center of the house...the kitchen. Now I even spy garden aprons for those who love working in the dirt and planting new plants to bless the colors of our ever evolving gardens. The transplant from the farm are already showing their beautiful colors and blooming in a soft song to announce their arrival. My tomatoes now have a few small vegetables making their appearance and there is a promise that real soon we will enjoy them with our bacon, lettuce and tomato lunches. We enjoyed fresh zucchini and yellow corn for our dinner tonight ...the corn was a little tough but had a fresh flavor so we all can look forward to Silver Queen in the next of weeks. Our farm stand is always an entertaining and inspiring experience when we stop and the owner's children and now grand children all work to supply us with the bounty of his fields. Images are filling my little brain so I had better sign off for right now. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart