Remnants Of Olde

There’s nothing quite like waking up to a living metaphor.  Around 3ish last night I heard the oddest sound and was able to mumble to Charley “sound”.  He found the source to be from the plumbing system and soon realized it was the last of our water bidding us farewell as it drained back down into the aquifer.

Not that this comes close in any way to things others are dealing with right now . . . but can you imagine waking up in the middle of the night and realizing that literally your well has run dry? As in no water at all?  And the day before leaving for an art retreat?  And having planned to wash all your clothes today as you leisurely packed?  And had planned to wash your hair as well?

Sometimes when things like this happen I freak.  If I am already frantically rushing around with that singular focus to get something done and then a thing like this happens ~ well it’s just not pretty let me put it that way.

But that is not today.  This is one of those times when I realize there is a either a lesson here ~OR~ there is some significant reason why this has happened.  Have you ever had something like this happen?  Where logically you could have been quite upset but actually thought it has happened for a reason?  Perhaps even to keep you safe?

Because our well has run dry things will go differently today.  So at this very moment I am experiencing a great peace and gratitude for this insight.  Not that I will ever necessarily learn what might have been had this not happened.  But it is more than enough to realize it is a gift.   There is likely both a lesson here and a very good reason why this has happened on this particular day.

Oh and the irony that we live in a rain forest climate is not lost on me.

Here is an interesting thought ~ just last evening I was reading a post by Alicia and she had the most welcoming image of an idyllic watering hole.  I *loved* this image so much I put it below for you to see.  In her post she had asked where I would want to be if it could be anywhere in the world and what I commented about was very much about the water.  Now they say you never miss the water until the well runs dry but I was so very grateful for water.  I went off to dreamland with visions of a water filled paradise.  But did I appreciate it enough?  Perhaps not.

Seriously how beautiful is this place that Alicia posted on her blog?!?!?

So what is the lesson here?  We live just yards away from a tidal river that runs through our backyard and not too many miles from the mighty Pacific yet we have not a drop coming out of our faucets.

All I can say is if you see us coming towards you at Art & Soul in Portland tomorrow I’d run the other way if I were you.  At least until we can get checked into our room and get a proper shower.  ; )

OK now I am really freakN but not in a bad way.  When I went to Alicia’s site to paste in the link above, at first I was going to link to her blog but I said to myself, “self, why not link to her web site and then link to the blog too where the pretty picture is”.

Once on Alicia’s web site I started clicking around (if you’ve been there you know it’s hard to just stay on one page) and happened on her links page for some reason.  That in itself is odd because I pretty much know what is on that page since we like the same artists.  So what did she say about our site (which I had forgotten all about since I hadn’t seen this in months)?!?!?!  Just look at this screen shot of that page.  OMG!!!

A day without water huh?  Wow.

Oh by the way, this morning Alicia, Rachel and I were once again kicking around the idea of doing some sort of small intimate coastal art retreat here in Oregon.  If you are nearby why don’t you let one of us know and perhaps we’ll all be together soon doing some art with a lot of water nearby.  ; )

Before I go turn on my faucet to listen to the freakish sounds coming out (file me under E for Easily Amused) . . . there is a new creative challenge on the mixed media site that is going to be so fun and I don’t want you to miss out!  It is called Sideshow.  So think circus freak show, human oddities, the curious and unusual ~ in any/all mediums including digital (it is mixed media art after all!).  This is already causing quite a stir with nearly 30 artists doing this so far!  Oh and there will be prizes also for the finished piece(s) with the most votes including a $25 gift certificate for Blick Art Materials.  But seriously I think anyone who does this will win just to be a part of it.  My guess is a lot of your favorite artists have already signed up so come see right here!  And actually I think the end result will be so fantastic that this will evolve into something more (and that’s ALL I will say on that for now).  Except to tell  you that this all started from the very creative Jean Van Brederode to whom so many are grateful for suggesting this challenge!

But that’s not all there is yet another challenge just opening up called Let’s Eat CAKE to coincide with Stampington’s new Marie Antoinette special publication.  How inspiring is this!  And you can thank Rachel for conceiving of and hosting this brilliant challenge.  Why not do them both?!?!?