Summer 2022

I chose this photo of myself taken on the summer solstice of 2022, June 20th because I was SO HAPPY. This was my first visit to the Grand Teton National Park and as you can see, I was at my very happiest. I had just had my first show in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The show did not turn out that great for me because the last day, Sunday was canceled by the promoters because of the threat of lightning in the forecast. Most shows are labeled as rain or sun, but when there is a threat that is more than the two, they need to cancel for the safety of the artists and patrons. I was not too concerned, because I knew I would be heading to a very, very beautiful place just 30 minutes away from Jackson Hole.

So many things have happened since I last wrote a blog post, but I thought I would start with one of my happier days. I bought a new SUV, a 2021 Toyota RAV 4 Hyrbrid and have great gas mileage. I started my season in Indio, California, leaving the snow and cold and dampness of the Pacific Northwest and drove all the way down to southern California. That show was fantastic! It seemed like Covid was now a thing of the past and people were happy, smiling, buying and very friendly. My sales were great, the sunshine was abundant and it was my first show of 2022.

In February, I drove down to Tubac, Arizona for the annual Tubac Festival of the Arts and debuted my first Apple Watch bands for the public. I have had requests for many years, and I thought that 2022 was the time to get this right. Luckily, I had these to sell and to make as special orders because the show was not that great for me. What was great was the fact that right across from my booth on Saturday, I was able to watch and listen to live music. I think I will take a few years off from Tubac and try my turn at some other art festivals.

Instead of going through every show in detail, I can do a brief summary. My show in Wenatchee was precarious because of very high winds threatening my booth to blow away at any moment throughout the whole weekend. The last day of the show on Sunday was very bad because there was a shoot-out between a man with a gun acting crazy and a police officer being shot and ultimately the crazy man being shot dead just one block from the art festival.

As I wrote on my Instagram in July, I had a phone call from the manager of my HOA condominium association informing me that my condo had a leak. The fire department was called and they had to enter through my bedroom. I was in Idaho on the way to a show in Lake Oswego, Oregon when this all happened, over 800 miles away from home. I didn’t cancel my show in Lake Oswego but stayed and the show was great. People were happy with my products and I had a successful show. But, it was blistering hot. I couldn’t take the heat any more and closed my booth up about 3 hours before closing time to go back to the hotel to crank the air conditioning and crash and sleep for 3 hours. Little did I know at that time that I probably already was carrying the Covid virus in my body.

I came home to my condo which was super loud with about 10 industrial heaters blowing warm air to dry out all of the water that had blown out from the pipes. It must have been over 100 degrees. All of my houseplants were dead. Luckily, my cats were already over at my sister’s house. I was stunned, frozen, dumb-founded that all of this had happened. A few days later, I tested positive for COVID and I moved back into my condo, and recuperated for 10 days and couldn’t do much of anything because of the symptoms of extreme fatigue, headaches, stomach issues and fever.

I will be at my sister’s house for several months as the rebuilding of my condominium will take time.

It has been extremely challenging to conduct my life AND my business out of a suitcase. But, I know that once everything has been completed, I will be moving back into a “new” condo with brand new floors, a new kitchen (I might as well update while everything has been pulled out). My new studio will be beautiful with the new floors. My studio bathroom will be somewhat updated with a new vanity and floors.

The biggest thing that I am doing now besides trying to create new designs is going through my personal belongings and throwing out, donating and organizing all of my business and personal things. This has been a “forced purging” which is exactly what I needed.

I am looking forward to my three fall shows, two in Oregon and one in Utah at the end of September and into October. I will be posting photos on my Instagram, so you can be updated!

Thank you

August 17, 2022