Truth in Advertising

Had another big score at a yard sale in Fortuna last week...the images below of books.  Eleven vintage books for $5.50!  A couple are from the late 1800's, and in remarkable shape for their age.  Most of these I won't be cutting up for collages.

And then I went to a flea market in Fortuna yesterday, and found 15 vintage postcards and four books.  No photo.  I guess I'm on a bit of a roll...and there's the monthly flea next Sunday, which I'll attend.

We've really been blessed with good, as in "normal," weather here on the North Coast.  While the rest of the country suffers with extreme heat, flooding, and wildfires.  As per usual, fires are burning north, east and south of us and we're getting smoke.  But no fires in Humboldt County at the moment.

For at least twenty years I've been threatening to cut my hair VERY short...and I finally had it done, ten days ago.  So, this is what I actually look like now.  In my mind I still look like I did when I was 30 years younger...but this is reality.

I will keep my hair very short for the rest of my life.  Enough with the curly hair -- I've never liked it although I did my best for all those years and did have a few good haircuts along the way.  Everyone with straight hair thinks they want curly hair.  But curly hair has been the bane of my existence from the getgo.

I started a knitting project this week.  I'm actually knitting a garment, a shawl-collared, kimono-style, sweater-jacket, from commercial (superwash) wool.  I hadn't bought any commercial yarn in at least twenty years, seeing as I spun so much yarn for over a decade.  And in the recent past I've been knitting scarves out of the remaining handspun silk yarns I have.  But I recently rediscovered my love of knitting, so I'm making a garment, the pattern to which I've had for probably 15 years, although it's still relevant (not dated) today.

So this is life in Rose Cottage this summer -- knitting, reading, resting, hanging with BeeGee, a flea market or yard sale now and then.  Priceless.

The Heart is Willing...

...but I'm not a spring chicken anymore.  In other words, despite that I now feel free emotionally, I don't have the physical energy to take on all the things I might've taken on again were I forty or fifty or even sixty.

And that's just fine.  I've let so many things go in the past few years anyway, and there's no going back.

This is about expectations of myself as well.  Newly, I have none.  It's much better to live this way than it ever was, pushing myself, challenging myself, goading myself, even creatively.  Because I've learned that just about everything I do has the potential to create anxiety for me.  And I cannot handle anxiety.

What just came to mind is many of the times in my past where I had absolutely impossible expectations of myself without any idea that I had them, because I had no sense...no sense of what I really needed and wanted, no clue about personal boundaries...and because I was hellbent to prove that I could/would do what I said I would do.  A lot of failures followed, and of course, I blamed myself but for the wrong reasons.

Anyway, I'm just fine now, living my contented simple life while my emotions are in equilibrium.  The truth is, I have days when I don't feel so great, physically.  That's what being nearly 70 will do to you.  I still feel so young in my heart...but I spend a lot of time resting my body these days, often still thinking I should be able to do more.  Another expectation to let go of. 

There are no new mountains to climb now.  (I will move eventually, to a different place in Fortuna, but likely not for 2 or 3 years yet. That'll be a stressor, but I'll handle that when I get there.)  I don't need any mountains anymore.  I just need peace and quiet, lots of time to read, playing in my studio when I feel like it, staring out the window at the clouds or laying in the sun and doing the same.  And that's just what I've got.  So I feel very blessed indeed.

Priceless

One of the fun things I've begun doing again is going to our monthly Flea Market in Eureka. It's a bit of a trek for this "once a month in town" gal...but I really enjoy it. So I'm going again, and whether or not I find anything to buy is beside the point.

Yesterday, though, did not disappoint. I recently got a copy of Nick Bantock's Urgent 2nd Class, read it through, and then found, among other goodies, the two boxes of vintage mail below at the flea market.

At first glance, I thought the first box was all First Day Covers of newly issued stamps.  In fact, nearly everything in the box commemorates the first airmail flight ever, from one place to another in the U.S., and there are few, if any, duplicates.

I'm not really sure yet what I'll do with all this goodness, other than sort and organize at this point. But finding these does make me want to go through all the various vintage things I've got here and there and group everything together somehow.  I've got pamphlets of various sorts, postcards (picture and otherwise), a few of those small vertical religious cards from funerals, etc. (which, despite being Jewish, I adore), some foreign currency, magazines, advertisements, various vintage office supplies, a calendar or two, old books of course. And most of it previously collected a piece at a time from used bookshops, garage, estate and rummage sales, library book sales, and the like.

I bought myself a chaise longue recently, and have spent time nearly every day out on it. I went to the beach yesterday when I was in Eureka, and will again tomorrow, to a different beach, when I go back for my monthly trip. I'll also make a stop at SCRAP Humboldt (creative re-use shop) in Arcata to find whatever goodies I can.

It's finally July, the real start of summer here on the North Coast. I'm planning to enjoy the heck out of it.

California is already burning, though, and it's not "fire season" for a few months.  It's a year-round thing these days.  There's thankfully nothing burning right in this area, but north, east and south, there are massive wildfires that continue growing before they're contained. And the federal government has cut back on wildfire prevention...

Hope you're having a glorious summer.  If I don't post often here again, know this time that all is well and will continue to be. I'll write when I have something to share.

Blessings xx