*blog*

I was being teased about my to-do list, normally written quickly with a soft, swift pen it had become bold and heavy handed with dark lines between each task and then trough them as I completed them. It was as if I was willing myself to focus by the sheer gravity of the pull of the ink. But I finished them...one by one.

For both Christine and me, we're here in search of new experience.  Neither of us have been to England before--so just getting to be in the countryside with our cameras in hand, walk about the gardens, down to the village, check out the open studios (West Dean has a range of art classes going on all the time)-- is a big draw.

How we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our life... (annie dillard)

It’s the middle of winter and the weekend approaches, no wonder our thoughts turn to a warm oven and comfort foods.  And yet, many of us want to make good choices about what we put in our bodies—so if you have a hankering to pull some hot bread out from the oven...

If Coco Chanel came back as a Scottish-born knitwear designer who made her home in the US, she would surely inhabit the body of Gudrun Johnston.

In many ways, my life's work has been about figuring out how to get to a place where my days ...well, where I just feel good.

Seriously? I think people are trying to get me to grip hands with Louise and drive off the cliff of the far side of the magic kingdom—I really do. This is just beyond lovely—and what did Amy make for us?

Meet me at the dock, or in this case, ON THE DECK! And while you're at it, introduce yourself...

When it came time for me to learn how to shoot video (a goal of mine for the new year), and I needed a subject, I knew that I wanted to feature Asya.

One of my favorite anecdotes from the Squam Art Fair last year was when Shari was paying Cal with a stack of one dollar bills and Cal looked up at her without missing a beat and asked, “are you a stripper?”

New York City + Squammies + Woody Guthrie = Wild. Sexy. Bash!

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Over the past five years, we have amassed quite a few love notes, cards and letters as well as some pretty fabulous envelopes. Our idea is to string them all together into a great, tiered banner and hang it over the threshold of each squam session.  And, we would love it if you wanted to send in some love notes, words of encouragement—any kind of good juju to be sprinkled over the heads of people as they enter the gathering.

Welcome back to the dock! For your friday night delight we wanted to give you a little behind-the- scenes peek into one of the days leading up to one of our retreats.

However, what strikes me most was how my mom responded.  She didn't send all her energy to everything that was wrong, she immediately got us all to focus on how lucky we were with what had gone right.  This is one of the many ways in which my life has been blessed: attitude. (thanks, mom!)

Okay, so I should totally have titled this using Heather's given name, but honestly-- could YOU resist typing 'skinny la minx' as often as possible?  Right-- as if.