Heck howdy! Missed you!

I hope you’ve all been better than well. We’re into fall now and Robbie and I are up to all kinds of shenanigans here at the farm and up in the high country as we move through our harvest season and into our season of rest (eventually). We have garlic going in the ground over the next couple of weeks, elk hunts, deer hunts, bird hunts, houseguests, and that skranky old weedy garden of mine is demanding a lot of attention as I work late into the evening, most evenings, doing my canning and preserving work. I was sipping tea on the deck the other morning as the sun was rising and the air was cool enough that I had bundled myself up to stop it from getting under my skin and I watched the light pour into the canyon slowly, steadily, and my garden began to glow and our livestock was frisking about and playing chase and cackling and snorting and Ernest put his enormous head beneath my hand and glowed his honest eyes at me and Robbie came out to join me and I thought to myself, very simply and concisely:

There’s no place like home.

I have a little bit of work headed for my shop shelves next week…probably the soonest I can list these pieces is Thursday. Keep an eye out for this beautiful batch of Fireweed Necklaces inspired by my time up in the high country last week where the last of the fireweed blossoms are just hanging on at 9000ft. I’ve wanted to make some fireweed designs for a few years and am finally getting around to it this fall — proof that things take as long as they take AND if an idea stays in your heart for a while, you should sit down and make the idea real when the time is right.

If you’re waiting to hear back from me via email, please know I’m currently one month behind on my inbox wrangling and I hope to remedy that issue next weekend. I simply cannot focus on email work until then. Forgive me. I have a writing deadline this weekend and a batch of houseguests to tend to before I can take care of you! Hang tight and thank you kindly for your patience.

Also, I have yet to tell you about my pilgrimage to Northern Spain and that’s because I’m working on a longer form essay about the journey. I’ve been reflecting on the experience and gathering up all the details I want to share with you. I want to try to do it justice but I’m sure I can’t. I’ll try anyway. And with that, I bid you adieu!

Stay joyful. Be courageous.