I'm thrilled to be spending the month of September as a guest over on habit. I've so enjoyed watching the space that Molly and Emily have created - it's a true celebration of everyday beauty and women's daily lives. Come visit, if you aren't already a regular reader! I'm already enjoying playing in the lovely format they've established there.
A few other little bits of slightly random (but important nonetheless) 'community' news...
:::: In case you hadn't seen it already, there is a brand new listing of the "Loving" sidebar I keep. I'll update it at then end of each month, so hopefully you won't miss a thing. Following requests for the correct pronounciation of my name (really, it's "soule" as in "soul"), requests for what was once on my Loving list is my most frequent incoming email. Except that my short term memory is even worse than yours apparently, because I never can remember. So hopefully this will help the both of us. (If I can remember to do it.)
:::: Have you seen the Squam Arts Workshop journal that's now available for purchase? Featuring some of the lovely and talented folk who have been a part of the SAW scene, it looks to be a great collection that might just capture some of the magic that is found at Squam (I wrote about my experience at SAW here). I'm eager to get my hands on a copy (and to find my way back to Squam!).
:::: This Raw Green Bean Dip totally rocked my day yesterday. No cooking! No heating up the stove! Well, I did that anyway to save all those precious apples and tomatoes. But still...it was nice not to have something else to turn the stove on for. And I love, love, love that dip over crackers or bread. It will certainly be my lunch AND dinner until this heat wave breaks. (Thanks, Heather!)
:::: The lovely Jade Sims of Craft Hope has launched her book of the same name into the world this month! It's a truly beautiful collection of artists and crafters sharing projects that result in good deeds done in the form of craftivism. I'm honored to be in it's pages (with the Cap-Haitien project we completed late in 2008) - and so happy to see this book out there doing good things! (I hope to write more about it soon.)
You know, these random links today remind me of something I often say but don't know as though I've ever written to you before. And that's that (though not a huge surprise) I think the mainstream media can really give social media - blogs included - a bad rap. And you know, five years into this gig, I agree that there are some real bummers - the overuse of technology in our lives most certainly, or the impersonal 'screen' by which it becomes easier to be negative or hurtful to others with what we say, etc, etc. But...far more overwhelming to me than any of that is the amazingly wonderful good that I have witnessed and experienced. The way that we really do and can improve each other's lives - whether it be by a reminder to look around us for beauty, to learn a new skill that betters our family life, or to discover just the perfect bean dip that you love, or maybe even the tomato soup your children will eat! Finding others who are on a similar path - on whatever level and interpretation that may be - is a beautiful thing that doesn't always happen easily or as often, necessarily, in our geographical communities. And for that, and other reasons, I am so grateful to be living in this moment when a medium such as this one is so available to all of us. Because if we can empower each other and ourselves through the sharing of our stories, well...how wonderful is that? So thank you...for all the many ways in which you make my life and my days with my family...even more wonderful, supported, and inspired.
And well, that was a rather wordy 'quick' post. (There's a slight chance that I'm avoiding the remaining apples and tomatoes sitting in my 90degree kitchen today. Oh my.)
Happy Thursday to you, friends!