Spinning wheels and frog funerals

This weekend, no longer, the last few weeks have been nutty. I have been in a state of frenzied activity that I have not experienced in years!!

We returned from New York last week and I have only occasionally touched my laptop or telephone. I feel behind and out of touch with most of my friends, family and the bloggers I love! I am sorry and love everyone I have been shamelessly neglecting. Sometimes it is necessary to be rather ruthless with your time in order to meet deadlines.

I have been spending as much time as possible in my studio painting away. I head out there directly after I droop my son off at school and right after I put him to bed. I have a show coming in August and I am feeling less that ready. Although August is a way off yet, we are leaving tomorrow for three weeks. Which means I will only have about four weeks when I return to finish up. GULP! That is not a long time, at least not for me. The way I paint is very time consuming…perhaps it is time to consider a change of style ☺
This weekend was full of unexpected family duties. The most dramatic was the accidental death of my son’s frog. He and his grandfather collected frog eggs from a pond and have been caring for them through their life cycles. It has been a great learning experience for my son. Unfortunately, he also had his first lesson about loss and guilt. He was dusting his shelf and accidentally knocked a statue of a Chinese luck dragon into their tank, crushing a tadpole. He was just devastated! He knew it was his fault and that was really hard for him to deal with. Guilt and grief, tough for grown-ups to process, really tough for 5 year olds. He drew a picture of his departed friend so he “would never forget him” and wrote a little poem, “Golden dragons can be bad luck. Dead tadpole!”

We leave tomorrow morning, EARLY, for London and Paris! I am very excited to get back to Europe; I love it there so much. I am thrilled to be meeting two lovely bloggie sisters and connect with some other friends as well. It will be wonderful to meet up with friends, wander the streets, eat in cafes, people watch, see art, and visit my favorite bits of London. I hope it will be a great trip.

So, having too much work and too many trips is a VERY high quality problem to have I realize. I know I am lucky and I am so grateful!! I am sorry I have been a bad blogger, friend, sister and daughter. I will be better at keeping in touch when I return.

This picture is of ground zero from 9/11. Our hotel room in New York looked right out over the site. It was very surreal to see it from the perspective daily while we were there. I keep thinking about it so I thought I'd share the photos. Loss seems to be a reoccuring theme amoung so many of us this last year or more. Parents, grandparents, lovers, friends and dreams. I am sending all of you love and wishes for a peaceful heart.

Have a great few weeks!