Goodmorning Faye Friends!

Oh my, it is WINDY here!  We had a lot of snow last night and today we are being battered with very high winds and freezing temperatures.  The cold driving air is coming right up the cracks of the old wood floors and every once in a while you hear a high pitched whistle from air blowing through some mysterious old house place. I’m cuddled up with Henry on the couch, wearing a knit tuque (yes, there is maple syrup in my tea :D) and very large gaming headphones playing for me… Medieval Chants (I’ll share what I mean with you later :D).  So, I am cozy!!

I wanted to share a little bit about my time in CB this fall.  Jamie and I spent a really amazing weekend in August at the foot of the National Park and I felt SO incredibly… depressed leaving, so I planned to go back as soon as I could.  Shortly after, I booked a very private cabin for Henry and I to return to for a full week in October (a dream come true for me!).  I wanted to just… live simply and be able to actively dedicate chunks of time to art ( sadly, I keep forgetting to bring my good camera, so it is just phone quality pics today!).

Jamie wanted to spend the weekend there as well, so the 3 of us drove up on a beautiful day.  The leaves all red, orange, rusty hues! We stopped at a small co-op grocery store in Baddeck (an incredibly picturesque community on the Bra D’Or Lake).  Loaded up on groceries (and wool… because, yes the grocery store had Briggs and Little, just like every grocery store should) and headed up a very fun, private road in the hills.  It was the first real test for our new Subaru Forester (an insanely exciting new addition to our life, we bought the car at the beginning of the month after talking and saving for over a year)!  I am giddy honestly about having one!

After 2 days with Jamie in the cabin, reading books and going for walks, he returned to PEI while I wondered exactly what I was doing by myself in this remote place! I was worried that I would be frightened by myself but I ended up feeling nothing but a sense of real safety.  The forests, arched over the A-frame and my loyal best friend kept me safe and I really felt it.  I love the simplicity of the cabin – a small kitchen with an old propane stove, a woodstove and a large window looking out at the stunning hills of the island.  I dreamed about making the place my own – painting the walls and placing plants in the window sills.  Having a garden dug out of the rocky soil. It’s a dream of mine and my own real goal.

I wanted to spend my time split between walking the woodland trails, seeping up inspiration just from the earth, from the birds and sky.  From the subtle vibrations of being closer, closer, closer to nature.  My intention was just regaining a sense of self – a clear outline of the direction I want my art to move.  However – instead, I was struck down with a pretty bad cold for the entire duration of my stay.  Friends, I was SO sick during my stay that I ended up getting very little done.  I really didn’t want to stay in the loft for the whole time, so I ended up taking a lot of dreaded cold medication.  I found myself walking the trails in a slight daze but knowing Henry needed to be out there anyway.  Because I was so sick, I ended up reading Gone with the Wind – finishing it and just falling so in love with the book.  If anything, I re-learned that magic of being so totally immersed in a book.   I have been sick a number of times already this fall and felt like maybe, maybe it was my body’s way of telling me to slow down.  Here, I found myself with no other choice but to completely slow down both physically and mentally (no internet or TV so I my stimulation was books, knitting, drawing and the gorgeous landscape).  I feel rejuvenated, with a clear sense of what I want to do with my art.  Can I show you?

 

I really wanted to draw A LOT.  That was my main plan. But, it definitely didn’t come to fruition.  The above painting is the beginning of my new project – a potential children’s book if I can only figure out how to go about getting a publisher, etc.  or more realistically, self publish.  A story and people are unravelling and I would love to share more developments!  I can just hint that it begins with a young girl, living with her mother and grandmother in a very similar situation to Henry and I in our cabin.  Perhaps there is magic, perhaps the magic is just exactly what our earth already exudes.

I guess I’ll just have to book the cabin again!  I wonder if they keep it open in the winter 😀 With the Subaru now, I feel confident driving out there in snowy February. Slowly preparing for the time that a cabin will be ours.

Last but not least, I wanted to thank you for your kind words on yesterday’s post.  I am so grateful to all of you, your words have such a positive impact on me and I just am encourage with that alone, to continue sharing.  Perhaps some day I will be swallowed up by my cabin, by the woods but it’s not now and I want to share my path to get to that ultimate goal.  thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Hildegard von Bingen just to float through your home while going about your day<3