A slap upside the head.

That's what I need. A good slap to propel me out of summer into....Christmas production. Yes, Christmas. Again? Really? It seems it happens almost every year, this Christmas thing. I'm barely out of my Thanksgiving tryptophan haze. I blame it all on this unprecidentiallyiffiliicious summer. Relentless, day-after-day sunshine and warmth. Freakishly so. Surely there is a weather debt that will now require repayment. How about 5 months of snow?

 So, while I wrestle with yet another creative way to turn wormy driftwood into delightful seasonal decorations for your home, dear reader, let me amuse you with a dreamy walk down summer's memory lane...

...beginning with squid. Great mounds of rotting squid. Surely an omen, now, for hot weather ahead?

Then, a beachcombing warm-up trip with gal pals to Margaree and Inverness Beach. Much competitive grabbing of glass and envious admiring of T's collection. I resisted the urge to steal from my host. For a change. 

This trip was followed with the annual Ordering of the Topsoil ritual, in anticipation of actual (or potential) Planting of Things. Amazingly, Things were actually Planted this year, though a half-tandem load of soil remains in the yard. It's weeding over nicely and will soon become A Landform.

Arial view of The Landform. A collapsed volcanic cone perhaps?

 There was a goodly amount of this

                                           And this

Followed by a trip down memory lane to visit our New Brunswick relatives, gloriously alive and inexorably dead. 

Gloriously alive sister left, inexorably dead ancestors right.

Then....inconveniently occurring throughout the summer there were moments of WORK. Yes, the dreaded 4 letter word. I received commissions. I had to put down that drink, rise from the adirondack chair and craft. 

The successful:

The dreadful:

 s**t

damn

damn

damn

File under: "you'll never get another commission from them"

The unpaid:

I have 6 legs and 2 of them are really hairy

The Inventive:

box

box, box, box

There was a magical little short video that I participated in:

 The Superfun:

 A commission for a jewellery box for a very special granddaughter about to turn 1 year old 

AND a surprise romantic engagement  ring box which will be fully revealed in a future blog.

So very exhausting were those episodes of turning one's hand to labour 

that I required an extended vacation:

Yes, he is indeed serving us breakfast on the patio by the pool.
 However, I had to walk to the table entirely unassisted.

 in a dream villa in a dream resort in DR....

Big Ben is really big. Who would've known?

in London... 

Simply too much art inside to cope. Needed air.

 and in gay Paree 

Can you blame me for not being able to get my Christmas groove on? Surely not. Non. Niente.


So, while I'm procrastinating a bit longer, join me in a  group hum of Walking in a Winter Wonderland while watching this little video of a perfect summer morning in July.