Who will be Barge God?

I came across this hard hat at the Lincoln Building. When you think of barges, you probably think of waterways. You might think of large crates or containers being moved along the river or down by the sea. So how did a hard hat worn by a barge worker end up in a warehouse in Anderson, Indiana? It's a great hard hat. There is a little knob in the back that allows one to tighten the innerworkings around the head and you don't even know you're wearing a hard hat. Also, check out those reflectors and the American flag sticker (one on each side of the hat). You need this hat and you know it!

How about a seashell picture frame? Finally a lovely frame to showcase that special beach picture. It can be yours for the low price of one dollar. It will be on display at the family picnic / flea market on Sunday, July 25th....be there (with money) or be square!

Novels.....lovely, bodice ripping novels!

What kind of world would it be without Pokemon cards? Here's a whole pile of them, just waiting to come to your home and play....get 'em while they're hot!

SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!

     My baby sister had knee replacement surgery today. The last few weeks leading up to today have been worrisome for her. She is not a neat freak by nature and neither am I.  She was worried that folks would show up at her house for a visit and find everything in disarray. We were talking about that last night and I laid my new theory of stuff versus beauty on her.

     Basically if you own stuff, you have certain responsibilities to that stuff....a place for it to be.... cleaning and repairing the stuff....a purpose for having the stuff is also nice. And if you are doing none of these listed activities, you end up with stuff guilt.

     Since the brain can only work on one thing at a time, you're using up gray matter on the stuff that you could be using on more interesting activities.

    So I broke the idea of a family picnic / flea market on her. I am coming to my little, childhood home on July 23. I will be bringing a car load of items to sell at a family only flea market on Sunday, July 25th. I know that might not be the best of days for merchandising but Harrison and Brittany are going to be there too. It would have been a great Saturday event but they won't get there until late Saturday and the following Saturday, they leave for Brittany's family reunion in Tennessee. They really want to see the family, so thus the choice. And to make things clearer, I want to sell all I have and put whatever funds I gain into a road repair fund for the cemetery road.  I would also like to encourage all my family members (and you know who you are) to bring stuff to sell as well (of course with the idea of donating the funds to the cemetery road fix up.) It doesn't have to be a lot....a shoe box of goods, a bushel basket of items, a trunk load of treasures, or a pickup load of lovelies.

    And more importantly, please bring a dish of food to pass around for a big family picnic. We'll start gathering at 12:30 pm, with the dinner being served between 1 and 1:30. Meantime, we'll set out our goods and let folks look them over. At 2:15 or so, we'll let the dealing commence.

   If you have any folding tables, please bring them. And since this is a developing story, there may be other things coming down the pike. Call me if you have any questions or any ideas about how to make this better.

Also over the next few days, I will be highlighting things on this blog that I plan to bring to sell. Any Elvis fans out there? Also, if there is something you're looking for let me know. Thanks everyone, look forward to seeing you on the mountain top!

P.S. You don't have to bring anything to sell. Just bring a dish of food to pass around and some money to buy the wonderful treasures that I know you will find.

The Golden Room

Several years ago, during a bleak and bleary, gray winter, I came across this post card. It was just laying in wait for me inside an obscure box or book. And when my vision landed on it...I sort of gasped. It is a post card that I bought in New Port, Rhode Island. Philip and I had travelled there for a vacation which included a cruise to Newfoundland. I try to get a post card from where ever I travel. I'd read an article once about a woman who buys a post card on her travels and then writes a little anecdote on the back of the card about what she did while she was visiting the particular place the card represented. Good idea, huh?  Well, so far I just get the cards. And I can remember what happened there.. in Newport.... it rained buckets of rain! So this whole story is taking an ironic turn.  Anyway, I love this card because the room pictured is so airy and light. Full of golden light. It is a room in the Rosemont. One of those Newport, turn of the century, rich person's mansions. And I can tell you what it over looks. A garden, I'm sure, but beyond the garden, the big, wide ocean.

Ultimately, it is all about beauty. One does not have to be rich to have beauty. Beauty comes from a simple place. It comes from clean lines and open circulation. Beauty is not complex.

In search of beauty

      The other day, in Anderson, I walked into my office off the cabinet display room and had an epiphany. All around me were boxes of stuff. In the corner of the office is a little, metal desk with a black, granite top, covered with bowls of small stuff, jars of small stuff, and a stack of papers. On my work bench are more jars of stuff with several canisters of pens, pencils and paint brushes. Sure, one would expect to see things like that in an artist's work space. Yet how much is too much? The work table is 6 foot long and 2 foot wide. The size of my work area on this table about 1 foot by 18 inches.The main office desk is covered with lots of stuff as well, mostly cords, credit card machine, printer, and of course a nut shaped canister with a squirrel on the top...doesn't everyone have one? So as I am looking at this stuff, it came to me that all this stuff is calling my name:
"Over here, I need dusted!"
"When are you going to get us out of this box and hang us up?"
"Are you ever going to list me on Ebay so that I can be put to use?"
"The trash pickup is Wednesday, make sure I'm in it!"
"What were you thinking at that yard sale?"
     It occurred to me that I am carrying around so much anxiety and guilt about all this stuff that it is now infringing on my joy. I crave beauty. There is a post card in my office .....over on the metal desk with the granite top... that paints a picture of my real quest. It shows a room full of golden light and just a small amount of furniture. Every time I see that post card I want to step into that picture and just sit in the light. I bet the room smells of furniture polish and fresh flowers. The view out the window is probably of a river or a garden.
    And in my enlightenment I decided that I will take action. And over the next few weeks or months, I want to make this blog about letting go in search of beauty.