Blessed Bealtaine Eve to you!

April has come and gone.

A whole year has passed since we packed up our old farmhouse on PEI and crossed the bridge to create a life in Nova Scotia. One whole year! I can hardly believe that we’ve traversed a cycle. It has been so full of ups and downs, so much hope for the future, sadness for what we left behind. As always, time so easily slips from my perpetual day dreaming state. I hope that you reader, are doing well this eve of Bealtaine – that you feel hopeful for what’s before us in this confusing, heartbreaking, beautiful world.

Life has changed so incredibly much these past few years. I’ve changed along with it – pretty drastically I’ll admit. I still want a simple life, perhaps even simpler than before. Plants, gardens, hiking and creating are at the forefront of my day dreams. I no longer feel urges to share online my regular life but rather cherish the time offline. I think of not producing content and watching social media as leaving the rat race – being offgrid. I’ve stepped back from all of it and I’m having a hard time reconciling with the person who was so attached to her phone – so enthralled by scrolling and creating a depiction of life. In the words of the Situationists of the 1960s “Vivre sans temps mort” – (live without dead time) that always resonated with me. It’s like I was under a spell for years. Not that that is the case for everyone that uses it – but for me personally.

So what has been going on this month?

Lately, I’ve been working on art commissions. They are almost finished and I will be happy to share them with you on here when completed. I’m open for commissions as well at the moment (jreddy.fox@gmail.com for information). I love the private world of putting headphones on – a podcast or music and leaving everything behind to get caught up in lines and ink. Commissions have taken up my time that would previously be spent on creating for the shop so I haven’t been working much on making this month. Below are a few items like some Lopi and Briggs & Little Botany Mittens which sold earlier in the month. A couple of new knit items are in the shop.. like the hat featured below and a pair of Botany Mittens.

Also below is a photograph of a painting I did of my ceramic finds here in the Halifax area. I love beachcombing – it’s one of my favourite pastimes. Not only do you get to spend time in nature, connect with the rhythm of the tides and the moon but you’re a legitimate treasure hunter / archaeologist uncovering the garbage of people whose lives were wholly so different than our own – while in many ways, very similar.

Thrifting is also something I dearly love. Lately, I’ve been finding 19th century bottles at thrift stores that have no idea how to identify old bottles. Everytime I see one, my heart skips a beat imagining that this is in fact an old bottle not a replica from a craft store (which is normally the case). The other day I found a 1880 aqua beer bottle for 1.99. The glass is SO beautiful!

The osprey are returning to Nova Scotia! My mind is pretty well fixated on gardening, landscaping and fixing up our house. We have a lot to do. From painting the whole exterior, doing all the landscaping, building a deck, cutting dead trees down… it honestly feels endless but it’s also extremely exciting. The forsythia is currently in bloom, the purplish/red peonies poking above ground after a long winter sleep. The chimes a hum that I love so much. Spring is definitely here, a new spring with endless possibilities for both the growth of plants as well as our inner selves.

I wish healthy, beautiful new growth ❤