I hope all of you are well and that you have gotten through this crazy period of isolation with your health and sanity intact. I know I am not alone with feeling this time is so weird, so different than anything I have ever witnessed before. I can roll with the punches but the punches for me have been difficult. My Mom died last month, May 7th, and I couldn’t go up to New Jersey for any funeral. There was no funeral, no closure, and well, it was pretty hard. Two days before she died, My Mother- in- Law died. The week before that, my 17-year-old beloved cat died. I don’t think I have ever been in such a dark place. I was so sad and it’s funny but when something like this happens and you have no recourse but to sit there and do nothing….you do nothing….really nothing. No art, no exercising, no nothing. I just couldn’t pick myself up. Then I decided I had to do something positive and I started to put in a raised vegetable garden. I didn’t do it myself, David did a lot of the heavy stuff, but then I did another garden with flowers and then another and another. It was cathartic. I haven’t had time with shows to do anything like that since my kids were little, and it was so good. It brought me out of my blue funk and helped me get back on my feet. Putting your hands in dirt and watching things grow is life-affirming…and I needed life-affirming. I’m back, making art (27 new pieces so far since March), and also I keep buying plants, which I think I might have a mini addiction to. Hopefully, the shows will come back and we can get back to doing what we do best. Most have been canceled and scheduled for next year.

The shows that are still on the docket are as follows….let hope they stay that way…

August 7. 8. 9th, Dogwood Arts Festival, Atlanta, Ga. Booth 27

Sept. 4, 5, 6, 7th, Arts Beats and Eats, Royal Oaks, Michigan

Sept. 18, 19, 20th, Brookside, St. Louis,

Sept. 25, 26, 27th, Carmel Arts Festival, Indiana

October, 2, 3, 4th, St James Court, 4th St. Section, Louisville, Ky.

Nov. 20, 21, 22nd, Piedmont Guild Show,

December 3, 4, 5. 6th, One of A Kind, Chicago

Haven’t heard from Woodlawn, Kentuck, Artclectic, River Arts Fest, Great Gulfcoast, Covington, Winterfair, Columbus…I’ll amend this when I know more.

Let’s hope they actually happen. See you there.