My lovely hiatus

I had a rough start to the New Year--two weeks of a terrible upper respiratory infection in which I had to spend most of those nights on the couch because of all the coughing and nose blowing. That put me behind and I'm just now feeling like I'm catching up.

We are up to 91 sales in our Etsy store! We were really believing for 100 by the end of January, but don't think I could have done ANY shipping during those few weeks. It was also nice to have a break from the hectic pace we kept up in the Fall for all those shows. (I say all, but there were 3. Felt like 20.) The big sellers for the month of February have been sunglasses that I'm selling from my personal collection of 1980's sunglasses. In keeping with my theme for this year, I'm trying to lighten my load. I figured if they have been in a box for the last 20 years, they should probably go on to new homes and blessings on them as they go. Plus, some of them no longer fit on my head. What is up with that?

My grandma passed away two years ago today (and my grandfather almost a year ago this coming March 14). I took their deaths hard, although they had both lived long, beautiful lives and God was so gracious to us in their passings. Truthfully, between the shows and the loss, I just really didn't feel like sharing much. Not to mention that they closed the trail by the river Brownie and I walk on during the week and it is coming up on a year that we haven't been able to walk there. They have recently opened it back up, but it is still in stages of renovation. I have no idea if all those beautiful mushrooms will be back or not, not to mention the wonderful wild flowers. I was kind of grieving the loss of our regular walking space as well and I haven't taken as many pictures of nature as I normally would have since the place we have to walk now doesn't really have any mushrooms or flowers. Mainly just geese, pigeons, seagulls (yes, seagulls in land-locked Oklahoma), and ducks. I haven't shown you those, either, as my camera doesn't have a good enough zoom for you to get a good look. Plus, they'd be moving and I'm better with semi-still targets.

I'd like to keep you updated more regularly, but only time will tell if I'm able to or not. Plus, I don't like to get to a place where I feel like I HAVE to do something over wanting to do something. And I like giving you beautiful nature shots to brighten your day, but I don't have a beautiful view quite yet. Maybe you (and I) will just have to settle for what I do have: a beautiful dog, handmade art and crafts, and some long distance shots of what may/may not be geese, pigeons, seagulls, or ducks.