Exploration-whether you want to or not

I should have no trouble with this month's ABS Carnival Blog Theme of Exploration. I am suddenly and unexpectedly embarking on a whole new journey at a time in my life when I was very comfortable staying just where I was. As one friend put it, "It's the end of an era".

I lost my most cherished, beloved friend, lover, husband and confidant last week. I have no choice but to explore lots of other possibilites. Everything in my life changed in one instant. This is the first time in my life ever that I will live alone. But I am not alone.

I will explore options by myself that I would never have dreamed of doing by myself. Buying a smaller home. Deciding what to keep, what to part with. Deciding what to eat for dinner, what to watch on tv without regard for anyone else. But I do so completely shored up by his memory and his strength. I can feel him holding me up and keeping me strong.

There is a poem by Ruth Bell Graham in her book Sitting by my laughing fire... called Plenty and in it she says,

I have been

so generously provided for

in happiness,

good memories,

family,

and true friends;

and more than all-

His presence and His Word;

perhaps it is a "sign,"

as mountain people say,

that winter is to be

a tough one.

If that is so,

let it be;

my larders are well stocked."

My larders are well stocked. So off I go to explore.

We Have a Winner

So without further ado.......... The winner of the  Welcome a Marine Home Raffle .... is...... Clara Resler!!!!!!! Congratulations, Clara. I used the Random Number Generator Widget to pick a winner and it picked number 123. I put everyones name on a spreadsheet the appropriate number of times, if you bought 10 tickets I entered your name 10 times. Then put the total number into the random number generator page and VOILA!!! So the winner was totally random, but I have to say that Clara was my first and has been my Best customer!! So Congratulations Clara. And thank each and every person who contributed. This was fun and I'm so excited that Shivon and her family can be in North Carolina to  greet this adorable face when he comes home.

July Art Bead Scene Blog Challenge

It's a new month and time for a new challenge over at Art Bead Scene Blog  This time the challenge is based on a sculpture called Blue Feather instead of a painting. I had the perfect pendant already made for this challenge. Perfect color and shape just sitting in my stash waiting for that Ah HAA moment. When I saw the sculpture I had that moment. I also had some pyramid shaped beads I had made that I thought depicted the triangular shaped feathers or birds in the sculpture and some small metallic glazed discs for the round shapes in the sculpture. The only thing I had to do was figure out how to include the blue feather aspect of the sculpture. It would add color and a linear shape to my piece. Then I thought, blue feather. I have a collection of naturally shed feathers that I clean and sometimes dye. I had a dove feather that actually had a blue tint to it so I added a little more blue to it, wrapped it with copper wire that I patinaed and added that to my assymetric Blue Feather Necklace. What do you think?