![\"Image](\"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-2016-04-01-at-4-resized.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I was seeing double this morning.<\/p>\n
After I finish a new design I trace it onto paper — all notched up to go around the squares of the canvas — so that I have a pattern to\u00a0make more. \u00a0After the brainwork (which I do love) of figuring out design and colours \u00a0I often enjoy\u00a0this stage where I\u00a0can sit back and take a breath, not have to think too hard, but still feel virtuous\u00a0in getting work done.<\/p>\n
![\"april](\"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/april-1-resized.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
We’re having a spectacular week of weather here on the west coast, and\u00a0I\u00a0want to make sure it’s quite clear that I’m\u00a0not complaining but at the same time my\u00a0body is shaking it’s head and trying to remember what to do when it’s hot and dry outside.<\/p>\n
And what do I wear? \u00a0And should we have a salad for dinner?<\/p>\n
(As I write I can hear a lawnmower on what must be the first cut of the year. \u00a0Last night the doors to the balcony were open and kids’ voices drifted up and through. \u00a0That’s not actually so common here, on the side of this mountain where grassy backyards are rare and calf muscles big.)<\/p>\n
Those sparkles on the water throw me off a little. \u00a0When it truly is summer \u00a0— as in swimming at the beach summer — when the water sparkles like that I\u00a0know it’s time to get down there. \u00a0I don’t know if it’s a temperature thing, or something to do with where the sun is in the sky, but the sparkles usually call up to me, and say it’s a day when swimming down there must not be missed! \u00a0Today since it’s still just the very very beginning of April they might just be trying to set me up.<\/p>\n
I snuck down to my beach the other afternoon, the first time since September, and it was so good to breathe in that sea air and stretch out with a book on the rock.<\/p>\n
Although even down there there were lineups. \u00a0These guys. \u00a0Why are they rushing?<\/p>\n
![\"snails](\"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/snails-resized.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
But with this sudden dip into summer it was especially nice to take my tracing\u00a0down to the kitchen table this morning and have a change of scenery. \u00a0Even ordinary things look pretty in sudden summer light, and as I worked the dreaded blue of the morning was chased away by the sun.<\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-2016-04-resized.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
But that awkward moment when you find out a colour is stalking you:<\/p>\n
![\"Image](\"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Image-resized.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
That lantern called out to me at IKEA last month, and I thought it would be nice to have around. \u00a0A new colour. \u00a0So this morning I snort laughed when I noticed with my ‘winter is gone’ eyes\u00a0that it matches that hunk of pottery and some dots on my shell bowl, that fuzzy\u00a0plant, my plates (should have seen that one), and the border I had just used on a new dozens design. \u00a0And they were all sitting within a few feet of each other.<\/p>\n
Summer (sort of) magic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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