September is here. How did that happen?

During this month we often get our first killing frost, turning my garden to blackened mush and ending its season of painting inspiration. Is it any wonder that I mourn the coming of the fall?

Won’t you join me in the garden today?

As slowly as 2020 seems to be progressing, the summer is certainly speeding past. I can’t quite get my head around the fact that it’s already late August.

Right now I don’t have the energy or the brain space to write the post I wanted to for today. So I’ll just check in with you. See how you’re doing. Tell you I’m doing fine. Send some words of encouragement your way.

How are you doing? I hope you’re staying well. Hanging in there. Navigating your way through these days. Noticing joy.

Last week I invited you to share your story and I’m inviting you again this week. Share your thoughts, feelings, anything you want to chat about.

Back in January I wrote a list of intentions for the year. First in my journal. Then in my sketchbook. And again on a separate piece of paper that I hung in my studio. The very first intention on the list: “Live a holistically creative life”.

I just released a new class on Skillshare. My 20th class on the platform. It’s a little mind-boggling to think I’ve created that many classes.

I first started teaching on Skillshare three and a half years ago. I was already a member and had taken some classes on the platform, but had never thought of teaching there. Then they contacted me and invited me to teach.

It feels strange to think it’s November. These days tumble past faster and faster. Weeks pass. Months pass. Seasons pass.

And now it’s November.

Two months left of the year.

Somehow September is here. Schools are back in session. It’s feeling more and more like fall. BUT, it’s technically still summer. And I want to hold onto summer as long as I can.

I wrote that phrase in my journal this week to describe my garden, but I think it’s a good phrase to describe what I want life to be right now.

“Summer afternoon — summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

—Henry James

Ah, summer. Here in Wisconsin summer is well and truly here.

Spring might be on its way (according to meteorologists it’s already here), but it certainly doesn’t feel like it in Wisconsin. Does it feel like spring where you are?

This has been a chaotic week. Or maybe I should say, my studio is in chaos. I’ve been filming my next Skillshare class and somehow my studio always ends up looking like a small tornado has passed through when I’m filming. Having my sewing table and ironing board set up in the room hasn’t helped matters.

How is possible that Thanksgiving has already come and gone? If you celebrated it, I hope it was peaceful, joyful and filled with love.

It seems I’m always pondering how fast time is flying by and how I’m not able to keep up with it. Am I the only one? Do you feel this way, too?

Last week the weather shifted dramatically from summer to full-on autumn. Suddenly the days were cold. Dark. Wet. I layered on sweaters and hats and scarves. We turned on the furnace and brewed pot after pot of hot tea.

I felt lethargic, melancholy. It was hard to get out of bed in the morning. I made soup and baked bread. I wrote Joy Lists. But nothing seemed to help. I was uninspired and discouraged in my art, too. All I wanted to do was snuggle beneath my quilts and crocheted blankets to wait for the sun to come out again.