So let it out and let it in.

Look, I'm blogging again.

Summer has gone quickly and has been full, busy, wet, and difficult. And suddenly it is almost over. Wasn't I just saying how spring was almost turning into summer?

Remember how in the winter during my residency I said how I'd never seen so much  snow in my life? Well, this summer in the mountains of North Carolina I have seen the most RAIN in all my life. It rained all of July. Days, weeks of rain. Moldy shoes. Moldy everything.

Boring. Here, let's look at pictures:

Bad picture of really interesting little things.

Same again.

Tiny bundles.

My god-daughter met her first cat friend,
and Alfred met his first little girl friend.

And by the end of the week they were best buddies. 

There were heart-shaped puddles.

Against all odds, I did grow tomatoes this year.

Several kinds of tomato. (and squash, too.) 

I went to California for like 10 minutes. And I ate all the fish.

And I took photos of things I've always known by heart.

And then I came home and I ate all these peas.

The best day of summer was a sunny one, August 3. I went tubing with friends, ate a cheeseburger and chocolate shake from Bonnie and Clyde's, took a two hour nap with Star Trek: the Motion Picture on (a GREAT movie to nap to) and then went up for delayed fourth-of-july fireworks and astronomy at Penland. I saw Saturn through a telescope and the international space station swing by. It was lovely.

Mostly there's been work and numbers and spiders and rain. But things are better now, and getting better and better. The Benefit Auction is past, and I'm gladly taking a class the last week of summer. I am moving into a better place soon, (BETTER!) and yes, that's three moves in two years for those keeping count at home.

'Til next time.

Summer looked like this.

My little books in the window of John & Lisa's studio,
during the TRAC tour in June.

A few books. I'm not talking about it as much,
 but I'm still making the hell outta some books. 

Summer is over, folks. Here in Spruce Pine we have had some cold nights and mornings, and more than a few trees are hinting at autumn. At Penland we have just over a week of summer classes remaining, and yesterday was my first day teaching at Appalachian State University in Boone.

Summer gardening was splendid, and my tomatoes did better than I could have hoped. I went swimming on the 4th of July. I found more than a few four-leaf clovers. I watched a meteor shower with Courtney Martin and John Geci. I laughed uncontrollably in the meadow at Penland with Yvonne Cavannah. At the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain, I ate kettle-corn under a leaky easy-up tent in a 45 minute downpour with Kate Boyd. I had some sweet visitors. I walked a lot. I can't complain about summer.....well, maybe I can a bit. This was the first summer ever where I didn't have a big far-away adventure planned...and although in some ways that was wonderful, (the tomatoes!) I also have felt very restless, a little crazy, and at times very sick of ol' Spruce Pine. I had a few little adventures, (including a very short trip to Baltimore!?) and having visitors made summer much much better. 

Summer is the busiest time of year at Penland, and it is exhausting. Mostly good exhausting, but it is a bit of a bummer when you are not participating in a class. It is indeed a bit like working at Disneyland.

Mmm, let's go to Disneyland!

Anyway, books have been made and sold. Drawings have been drawn. I just keep going.

Just a few strawberries. 

Sometimes the sky at Penland looks like this.

Ginger Ale & Bourbon.

Luna Moth & Intern Reflection.

Oh gosh, I shall miss Victoria Fabulous, our gallery intern. 

MYSTERIES.

Mystery Hill near Blowing Rock, NC.

Garden garlic, chilies, tomatoes, basil.

Have I mentioned the tomatoes?

How could I get sick of Spruce Pine? Come on.

I BOUGHT A BICYCLE!

Going to Baltimore for about 30 hours? Folly. 

Quiet.

This blog has been neglected, not abandoned.

I've been all over the country. Making books, making friends with animals, counting meteorites, and counting friends on the east side of the country.

I'll resume regular blogging and online business as soon as I determine how I will manage teaching printmaking to 35 people in a room designed for maybe 15...

I just need to jump in a lake more often.

So, what are you doing this summer?

"It could be like secret santa for book nerds." -Beth Schaible

My friend Beth, who made the book above, (which you may purchase from her Etsy Store) made a brilliant suggestion in response to my Summer of Books post.

I am certain Beth and I are not the only ones planning on binding books this summer...

Stay tuned for details!