treasure

Thursday, July 3, 2008


more beach treasure - Polaroid

Most early mornings I know what photograph(s) I plan to post here, and often I even have a topic of conversation in mind. Some mornings I wake up excited to get to get to my computer, coffee in hand, the day outside my large studio windows just beginning to break ... because I'm especially thrilled with the images that I have to post. This is one of those mornings.

I love these composed mosaics of collected beach treasure. I feel inspired and very motivated this morning. Actually that is usually my waking frame of mind, my difficulty seems to be maintaining that optimistic and energetic spirit throughout the day. Yesterday here was hot and muggy and by 10am (remember I'm up at 5am and by 10am I'd already had a two hour walk at the beach - two women, 2 dogs - pure heaven) I was feeling lazy, and even a bit sleepy. All I wanted to do was to be somewhere else, somewhere where a mountain of to-dos and should-dos and must-dos wasn't always dragging around behind me attached to my ankles. At a little cottage somewhere. maybe in my favourite place Prince Edward Island, where the big thing on the morning agenda would be to wash up the breakfast dishes.

It's no secret that I hate housecleaning and I'm horrible at it, which makes me like it even less. I'm sure we're all alike that way, you tend to enjoy the things that you're naturally good at. I need to consider hiring someone ... but even the thought of that whole process, finding someone, can be overwhelming in itself (to moi anyway- easily overwhelmed girl). Yet another big ol' catch 22.

Yesterday instead of vacuuming and mopping my kitchen floors (which are shockingly and desperately in need of both). I schemed and played and arranged little bits of sand worn crockery, I found a beautiful little striped periwinkle in my large jar of tiny periwinkles to add to my beach treasure collage and found along with it a lost memory - back long, long ago when it was just Em and I, she and I would spend hours at the beach. She's be off doing her dog thing, chewing a stick, checking out all the enticing-to-dogs scents, or dipping her pale golden body in the warm salt water and I would be hunting for the ever elusive striped periwinkle shell ... they seemed to be very rare ... and oh the thrill upon finding one. I puttered (my term for doing things in the non important, non-urgent quadrant of life), I made a batch of dog food and peanut butter dog cookies. I had a little afternoon nap with my book and .. I did not do any housecleaning. Sigh. Unfortunately I don't think it will do itself. Another large sigh. A bane, for sure, of my existence. That said, yesterday was quite a lovely day.

This is why I dream of a tiny little place, a bedsit somewhere with a tiny little yard and a tiny little garden. Surely I could handle keeping up with that.

hey - skip on over to Design For Mankind and see a photo tribute of my boy and most excellent friend - Jake. Hey there handsome. Thanks Erin !





15 comments:

  1. What a wonderful morning treat. You found these at the beach? Wow! I just discovered your blog and I really enjoy it. Your writing is great and photography lovely. I am not a big fan of the housekeeping so I can totally relate. I just tell myself that I am too busy and have too many allergies to spend so much time on cleaning. Besides, I love thinking about making things more than cleaning up things.:)

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  2. Oh S,
    How alike we truly are. It seems the only thing that can motivate me to finally run the vacuum through this dog-hair covered place is knowing that someone is coming. THAT really gets me moving! Just last week Philip told me his father was going to be coming here all week long so after rushing around and working up a sweat in all this mugginess, I finally had enough and contacted a great gal who does housekeeping here in town. I kept telling myself if I could just get it completed THEN I could stay on top of it. Not true. So if she can just come to do the vacuuming and scrubbing that will make me happy. The dusting and straightening I can do myself.
    And you can’t worry about what the housekeeper will think when they arrive. That is their job…to save you from yourself. There are a lot worse houses out there…believe me! Once they begin coming regularly, you’ll be impressed how tidy the place seems to stay. Give it a chance. Ask around town.
    hugs,
    V

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  3. Hi, yet again you have been reading my mind. The last few days I've really felt like running away from that mountain of to-dos and should-dos and must-dos. But I stayed and it was ok.

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  4. I love how the surf has rumbled and tumbled those pieces around. It would be a delightful experience to handle them, feel the smooth edges and wonder at their journey.What treasures to find on a beach.

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  5. Those sea treasures are beautiful!
    I agree about the housework. Ugh! I would not have been a very good 1950ish housewife. What a drudgery that must have been.

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  6. This post is thrilling, Susan! I absolutely adore your your bits of cockery. And the fact that you found them on the shore! The stories each must hold. And the edges smoothed down over time. Exquisite. Much more worthy of your time than the kitchen floor, any day.

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  7. What beautiful shards of old crockery... lovely glass too...

    How exciting to be able to go each day to the beach... to seek treasure so close to home....

    surely a bit of vacuuming or mopping is a small price to pay? I will never hire anyone to clean around here...I appreciate my privacy too much....plus I won't have anybody touching MY stuff or carelessly whacking the legs on my tables and chairs with a vacuum cleaner..... everything I have is too special to me..even if it is not anything special to anyone else.

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  8. I looooooove this mosaic. And it was my pleasure. ;)

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  9. I have spent some time this morning reading back through your stories of Jake. Being new to blogland, I had no idea you had lost him so recently. I know well the heartache you are experiencing. We lost a beloved dog in June of 03, and it took us a year and a half to even be able to think of another. Of course, we found Edward, and then sweet Apple, and we now feel doubly blessed. I truly cannot think of a harder thing than losing one's dog. I had that special connection throughout my life with dogs, and there is nothing similar on earth. All the best to you, and you and Winnie are welcome to visit Edward anytime!

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  10. oh, these photos make me yearn to be walking the beach, soaking up the sun, feeling the warm sand on my feet and leisurely searching for a special beach "treasure"!! your arrangements are so nice!

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  11. Those little tiny sea pieces of yours drive me nuts, Susan. You know I'm out on the Oregon coast for my vacation and I've been combing the beach for nearly a week now and all I have to show for it is a handful of rocks that are beautiful, but that must be sopping wet for one to see that they are pretty! I gave up on sea glass and decided to look for sea hearts (rocks shaped like hearts, washed up by the ocean). I developed a faux legend about them as I hunted but only found one, and it requires a creative eye to see the heart! Now that I've created this legend, I'm obsessed with finding a really good one. Have to keep reminding myself, Hey, girl. You just made that up yesterday!

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  12. These sea treasures of yours make me oh so jealous!! I wish I could find things like that, I would love to make some fantastic jewellery like that! Perhaps I need to move to the beach. Its amazing the things you can find. Great blog!

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  13. hahaha...I'm back to pore over them once again myself.... love all your finds...do you make any jewelery with it?

    guess I can't even hope to spy anything at all around the perimeter of the only body of water in these parts...the reservoir....sigh.....

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  14. What wonderful treasures you have found! Beautiful photographs.

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  15. As Willow says above, "thrilling" is indeed the word. What a collection and what photos! I love also reading about how you get up in the early morning, coffee in hand, and write here. I can't say the same for me. I am far more likely to wind down the end of the day! Hey, i think that is the beginning on some new blog post on of these days.

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