Snow day!!!

I am happy to say that I have not lost that uninhibited joy of a school girl when I hear the phrase 'snow day.' Those words still hold the magic of an unexpected gift ~ a free day, a nugget of unscheduled time for me to fill. So as the Boston area prepared for the imminent blizzard, I collected a few of my projects and settled in for a cozy and creative day, watching snowflakes accumulate outside my window ~oh, what joy! However, before I installed myself in my home I headed out into the storm for an inspiring and exhilarating jaunt (with hound in tow).

My day started happily with a cold, inquisitive nose in my face, accompanied by subtle grunts saying, “The sun is up, outdoors is calling, smells to be smelled ~ time to get up!”. So Scruffy and I got ourselves suited up ~ me in a little more outerwear than the boy ~ and slipped out of our sleeping house into the prelude of the storm. It was a beautiful morning. In this early hour the snow was just dusting the earth and there was a soft brightness illuminating every branch, bud and berry. The streets were quiet, the sound of traffic nonexistent, being the Sunday morning after Christmas. Scruffy and I decided to take full advantage of the peace and headed

out or a long walk. We eventually headed toward my studio building with the thought that my buddy, David Lang, may already be at work. When I found a dark building I thought that I would leave him a little dress ~ my calling card, ‘Virginia was here.' He always gets a kick out of finding a dress at his door. So I looked around for possible materials to use and suddenly I was in heaven. I was back outside creating a dress. I felt a quickening, my mind and body were in a different place. I found a few pine cones but I realized that they vanished on the driveway in front of David’s door. So I gathered my treasures and headed to a snowy parking lot. From here Scruffy and I commuted back and forth to nearby woods to gather pine needles and pine cones, then back to my dress. Scruffy was a bit put off that we were not going further into the woods but he soon resigned himself to being my patient assistant.

So as the snowflakes fell and I made a dress. I cannot express how good it felt. With the holidays and the many other things going on in my life I have been feeling a severance from my studio and especially my dresses. So it was heartening to be back outside, foraging for the perfect shaped pine cone. And I am always amazed how focused I get when in the zone. This morning it was cold, however it was too hard to manipulate the materials with my gloves on, so off with the gloves. I hardly felt how cold my fingers were until the dress was finished. The act of creating has overrule the physical for me many times, I can’t tell you how many meals are missed if I am involved in a project.

Hence, it was great to be back creating, especially back creating outside. Where it is all about the act of creating because soon the elements will whisk my dress away, or in this instance, cover it with 16-20 inches of snow, which is what is predicted.

So if you are in the path of this blizzard I hope you are snug and warm, and have a good book or project. If you are not hope you get to have a ‘snow day’ somehow ~ they are a wonderful little get out of jail free card from one’s regularly scheduled programing!!

happy sledding & peace ~