"a good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."Lao Tzu

I never left the house today and yet I felt a sense of renewal with connections with my past once again. I busied myself after cuddling under the quilts this morning for a few extra hours of zzzzzz. The warmth of the bed wrapped me up and the world went on without me and it does seem that all is well in the world. I caught up on mundane laundry chores and sorted junk mail and wrote bills and a few magazine subscriptions. I will have plenty of color papers to collage with and find future inspirations from the travel magazines and dream of possible trips. I made warm comfort soup this afternoon with turkey and every vegetable I had in the crisper and cabinet. Ken stopped on the way home and bought a great crusty bread. Life does not get better on a cool Fall evening ...the simplicity and delicious flavors warm us as we prepare for the end of the day. I am working with my threads to draw from inside my heart's eye the details of my aboriginal snake. I mailed an entry in the future FAVA exhibit next year but it is hard to even think what will be juried in by images first , and then we send our work in for personal evaluation. I have not entered quilt exhibits for awhile...I have had a focus on entering Fine Art exhibits that have a variety of mediums included in the final selection. Caroline Mazalooni is the juror and I have experience with making a final decision for a jury process and someone always feels defeated or hurt when the news is not what they had hoped for. Been there and felt that! Now I am saving most of my new works for next Spring's exhibit...I want to give my all and best hopefully to the Art Works Gallery and show them gratitude for their opportunity they are giving me. We will see what happens.

Tomorrow we are attending the opening in Granville of local artists at Bryn Du Mansion and several of my friends are in this exhibit. They are working with the students from the Granville Visual Studio Arts students and the C-Tec high school school student s who are hanging this exhibit and making the tags etc. This is recognition that these young students are learning and applying their knowledge in putting together a cohesive and unified show. I am excited to see the best of our community and I am sure I will find a new talent or medium application in this collection of works. I will attempt to photograph some of the entries to share with you.

I do have some of my treasures ready to share before I attempt to layer photos and embellishments with my newest old vintage finds. I have had a few questions about the beginning collection of wooden shoes from Holland...they were part of my grandmothers story. When I was small I would arrange and sort her wooden shoes and I think they were gifts from relatives who had served over seas in the military services. With her fiesta dishes delighting my color appreciation and several small collections I recognized the stories they held even as a child. I am not too sure how I will put this all together but the installation will be part of my story. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart