Happy New Year!

I hope you’re all well and escaped 2020 relatively unscathed, ready to move positively throughout the next solar cycle. Embrace the immediate, simple joys that surround us, no matter how small.

For the first time since I was a teenager, I chose not to do my year ahead tarot spread. I chose not to make a resolution list. I didn’t write all the goals and things I wish to do for the new squeaky clean year ahead. Last December when I sat down to do my year ahead tarot spread (along with all my lists and goals) – I thought it was such an odd reading. Despite thinking it must be way off the mark, I wrote it down. April, the Death card – why would I get the death card? Now of course in hindsight, it makes eerie sense. I accepted that we can’t control our lives and no matter how many lists and tarot readings I do, it’s better to just be, live in the moment and stop trying to shape things. It feels like liberation in a sense.

I learned so much this year. How to let go, how to be present . Live day to day (which is something I have always wanted to do but my brain was always operating in the past or in the imagined future), to read more books, learn to play an instrument, work in the flow state. To not worry as much because sometimes, things are way beyond our control. And now, we are making plans for our near future that revolve around family and nature. Grandiose fantasies have fizzled out and replaced with more realistic but I think ultimately more meaningful plans.

So enough of my slightly cryptic writings. Ultimately, I hope everyone is okay and found some kind of silver lining in this past year – maybe you started making bread (I have a friend that’s become a fantastic baker), or started sewing, or found a new found love for getting outdoors.

I have been carving out time each day to work with my artwork and knitting, all my creative endeavours. I love sinking into the flow state that captures me while I draw, paint, carve or sew. Over the next couple of months, I plan to have quite a few new prints and paintings in the shop. I go through phases with creativity, sometimes I dedicate hours to learning to play mandolin, sometimes it’s that I can’t stop drawing. Other times, I don’t touch my pencils for months and am never without a knitting project. I’m currently teetering on a drawing phase – while working on a drawing of medieval women, I decided to try to carve a medieval spinner. The shop has a couple of the cards if you are interested 🙂 I really like her for her similarity to Medieval woodcuts.

I don’t really want to give away too much about future projects but I have plans to make some medieval inspired clothing for the shop, some quartz necklaces, some prints and original paintings as well as some more Icelandic sweaters accompanied with getting that pattern up. My year of not spending any money on wool is up so I’ll be placing an order soon to finish my current Pangur Ban sweater and then the pattern (finally – yes I know, it’s been way too long)!

Yesterday, Jamie and I drove to the north shore to go walking in Greenwich National Park. I don’t know why, but I always assume when we go out to a place to walk, that there will be tons of other people. We got out there and were the only souls on the beach along with the sea birds and foxes. It was so beautiful – we walked down a long road with berry bushes and spruce to the boardwalk over the dunes that brought us to the foam swept beach. Henry loves running by the ocean 🙂 We bought some free-range eggs out there and drove in the snow.

The snow picked up and we must have around a foot of now out there today. The first proper snowfall since last winter. I made us quiche lorraine (delicious if you are looking for a new recipe) while watching the snow stick to the windows. In the evening, we had our FIRST fire in around 6 weeks because Jamie has finished up the basement renovation! We still have a few more things to do but last night, we had a fire and played a game Jamie’s sister gifted us called Sequence. Jamie and I both love games – we can just put music on and play games by the fire for a whole evening – card games or board games.

Petey has chosen this is the best time to sit in my lap, when it’s being shared by a computer 😀 So I will leave you here. I wanted to write just a little update because it’s been so long and if you are interested, will update soon with what my creative projects have been.

Sincerely hope you’re doing well. If things are difficult, please find someone to talk to – things will get better. Sometimes we’re behind, sometimes we’re ahead.

Love to the moon, Julia

Leaving you with one of my favourite songs by Heilung – I often put this on to drive or get lost in meditative flow – Love Heilung ❤