Time in a Bottle

Soooooo, well,…..um……you see…., let me put it this way….hmmmmm. Ok, how about this? It seems I’ve let so much time go by since I last wrote a blog, I may have forgotten how to do it. No, no, it’s not that(well, not completely at least). excuses excuses…,

It’s amazing how time can slip through your fingers isn’t it? Even when it feels like time slowed down to a painful crawl. The reality is, that time moves as it always has done. It’s our perception of it that changes. In my life I’ve noticed, that depending on what’s happening at the time influences how I perceive the movement of time. It will either feel like it’s flying by or slow as molasses. and yet… you will look back and wonder how did it all go by so fast? At this time, I find myself in such a quandary.

One of the reasons I stopped writing blog posts was that there were a lot of things going on involved in caring for my boyo’. Priorities had to be moved around and blogging had to be put aside for a time. Then, technology seemed to fight me, which can happen to a dinosaur brain like mine. Lastly, once I decided it was time to start writing again,….I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to write!! OH!NO! Not writers block?!! So…once again I needed to take more time to figure out what EXACTLY was the problem! Was the writing bone in my brain broken? removed? never to be seen again? Oh dear, what to do, what to do? So…I did what any dinosaur brain would do….I went back to working in my gardens…. I thought and thought and planted and watered and grew things and talked to the camera in my vlogs, about art, gardens, dogs, painful things, happy things, plants grew, and life changed a bit. Then a pandemic came along…..That changed some things!

Time stopped again. We made adjustments, everyone made adjustments. We got scared, everyone got scared. We hunkered down and stayed in place, everyone hunkered down and stayed in place. We thought it would pass by quickly, it did not. Like I always do, I look at the challenge at hand, get frustrated by said challenge and then get to work on how to deal with it. So.. I did what any dinosaur brain would do….I went back to gardening, and built more gardening things, planted and watered and grew things. I talked to the camera about growing and planting and watering on my vlogs. I learned how to order groceries and many other necessities from home, I learned what zoom was and how to use it. The boyos’ dr.s told him for his health condition he must take all precautions and stay home until, we don’t know when. This also means me, I must protect his health with whatever I can, so again it was time to rethink how I do things. I paused shipping on my business because I had always gone out to the post office to ship. Then I purchased and had shipped to me a printer, my dinosaur brain could handle, labels and shipping supplies. I started shipping things to my friends using the pick up service the post office provides for practice, so I knew I could do it. Hubby helped me find a better camera to use, he gave me his hand me down computer since my old one was worn out and fighting me.

I rearranged my studio many many….many times.

and……I thought about what to write. This was the conclusion that I came to. There were actually several factors involved in why I couldn’t write. First, the technology I was using didn’t work anymore, second I had become overwhelmed with life in general, third my writing skills had atrophied. By not using them regularly they had weakened and I needed to exercise them again. Fourth and most importantly, I had too much to write about. I find that it’s the same whether I’m painting or writing, if too much time has gone by since I wrote or painted I have too much to write about or to paint. Once I had most of those problems figured out I was able to focus my dinosaur brain towards writing again! (As I just wrote that it made me smile.) What a relief! I’m grateful for the passing of time, it can heal, it can repair, it can refocus, it can change our priorities and it can capture beautiful memories and joys. As time passes you can see more clearly the laughter as the pain slowly slips away somewhere into time.

Now, it’s time to restart my business in a better, more efficient way, in a way that I still enjoy my work. This is the beautiful new web site my sweet hubby took the time to build for me. I am so grateful for him and the time that he gave me. I can now resume shipping. I can’t make any promises about being regular in my blogging, which is another thing that time has taught me. We never know what may be ahead, all we can do is try to be ready to face it with joy and strength. So, instead I will promise to write the blog when I can. It may be regularly you just never know! Molly and I are as always busy in the gardens and the studio, we still have mornings we hang out quietly. We’re so glad that you’re still here with us. We hope you enjoy all the new stuff on the web site and all the videos. Have a cup of tea and pull up a chair cause it’s going to be a great day!