Before I dive in to talking about what a typical day looks like around here, I want to take a moment to thank you for sharing your experiences with online subscriptions and communities in last week’s post.

I regularly invite you, my dear readers, to engage in conversation here on my blog by asking questions in my posts. Nurturing an open, encouraging and inspiring environment is important to me.

Your materials are gathered. You have time. You have a space to work. But when you sit down to create… nothing.

I spent Monday in my garden. Mondays are technically the weekend for me and I was so glad my time off coincided with good weather.

I was going to jump back in to blogging today with a post addressing a question I’ve gotten from readers and students, but then I realized I want to talk about my blogging break.

At the end of 2021 when I was starting to plan for 2022, one of my goals was to take an art sabbatical at some point during the year.

In a recent review of one of my classes, a student wrote:

“She encouraged me to step out and paint for me instead of for approval.”

When I woke up on Wednesday the temperature was 43. The warmest we’ve seen this year. On my morning walk I didn’t need a hat. Chickadees and cardinals sang their delight at the taste of spring in the air.

The next day it was more than 30 degrees colder.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day and if you’ve been around a while you know I love it. Not for the commercial aspects (though I’m a fan of both chocolate and flowers) but because the idea of a day devoted to LOVE makes me happy.

I’m deep into creating my next class for Skillshare. This one is about blogging, a topic you know I love. As part of the class, I talk about coming up with ideas for blog posts. One of my suggestions is to write a series of posts based on reader questions.

Wednesday morning I woke up and checked the temperature. Negative 19 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of negative thirty-two. It was our second day in a row of bitter cold.

The sun is shining, warm and bright. The garden is humming with bees and I catch the scent of roses, mint and spicy tulsi. I step among the blooms with my scissors at the ready,

When I think about the word EASE, I imagine serenity and calm. I picture being able to do hard things with confidence. I see myself flowing through my days with lightness, finesse, grace.

Wednesday morning dawned with a blowy, snowy storm. Most mornings after breakfast and coffee I start my day with a walk.

One of the first things I noticed in the oncology waiting room were two huge Christmas cactuses filled with blooms, even though it was late January.

Sometimes a project comes along which is a complete joy. My collaboration with Kickapoo Meadery was one of those projects. This fall I worked with Roots and Refuge Farm on another.

I cut handfuls of dead flowers from my garden this week. Their shapes are interesting. Petals twisted. Leaves furled as if frozen in motion.

“Thanksgiving is not just a day, it’s a lifestyle.”

In Wisconsin by the time November rolls around, we’ve usually had our first frost. Sometimes we’ve already had our first snow, too.

In April I wrote about stepping away from Instagram. It felt right for me. Energizing. Freeing.

In June I wandered back.