Riding high after scoring a few inexpensive workbench additions at the Running With Scissors seconds & supplies sale last weekend. I found a new rawhide mallet, a nice leather sandbag, a metalsmithing book I've been eyeing for awhile, and some random jewelry findings and other bench supplies. Also, Skip + I snagged a lovely ceramic platter for serving up delightful summer dishes on the porch! It was a great little sale and I wish I'd been better prepared to buy more than I did. (i.e.; I wish I'd had a fatter wad of cash to work with that day!) If they do it again at least  I'll know better. 

I'm currently clearing up a few custom jewelry orders and then getting ready to work on some new pieces over the summer. Feel free to drop a line in between dips in the ocean or lake. I'd love to chat.

xok

I bought these platform heels in 1996 at a cool shop on Exchange St. I've long since forgotten the name of the shop and it's called something else now.  I fell in love with these shoes in their window, but $135 dollars was pretty steep for me to spend on such frivolous shoes at the time. Still is, really. But I so badly wanted them and the kind shop owners were nice enough to offer layaway. So I religiously went down and paid $15-20 anytime I had some cash to spare. Finally, one beautiful day, they were mine.

These shoes saw me out on the town countless times over the last 20 years. Also, they were part of my Dorothy Halloween costume the year that Skip went as the Tin Man and we boogied down at The Pavilion, probably drinking too many Malibu rum and pineapple juice cocktails. *shiver*

Fast forward to last weekend. Now I'm the intern extraordinaire at SPACE Gallery in Portland. (I gave myself that title, but they have humored me by allowing it.) I totally luuuurve it. Something different every day and I love the people. So much fun! I have so much fun there that I volunteered to work our New Year's Eve party (aka SPACE Ball 2K16). And that's what broke my darling shoes. The whole platform fell right off the left shoe as I sashayed across the floor with 5 empty beer bottles and 3 empty cocktail glasses in hand.

​Happy 2016... and RIP, Ruby Reds.

And just like that... it's mid-August. I somehow find myself at this same point each summer-- simultaneously loving every moment of all this fun and sunshine, as well as looking forward to the return of schedules and routines. All of this summer fun is truly the best, but let's face it, it's also totally exhausting. If I lived somewhere warmer, I'd allow myself to fall gratefully into the comfortable, predictable cushion of autumn routines without a glance back at summer. 

However, this is Maine and if I allow myself to welcome the back-to-school sales, packed lunch boxes, and cross country meets, then that is the same as welcoming the arrival of fall... which is then the same thing as rolling out the red carpet for the dreaded Maine winter. And that I simply cannot do.  I can't welcome the arrival of September and all that it in turn signifies-- tired as my bones may be. Instead, I buck against the lead-- a wild horse-- kicking and biting my way through the dog days of August.