Oh, Joy.

Joy will find me...Yesterday there was a goldfinch on my bird feeder.

We’d never had one here before. I just put up the finch feeder with great hopes of yellow bellied birds flocking to our deck.

I’m getting better at portrait painting and drawing. That’s what happens when you obsess for a month, I guess. I’ve painted the same portrait of my parents three times now. Last night I messed up my mom’s nose. I used water color. Once the paint is down… dang it. I’m going to try white paint to fix it, but there’s not much hope. Except … the hope that doing this over and over is cementing skills in my brain. Reminding myself that learning was the point.

Tonight I have my third adult tap dance class. It’s different when you’re 55 as opposed to 22. Your core strength. Your balance.

This week I started a strength training program on the Peloton app motivated by stomp hop flap flap step hop flap flap step. Listen, I’d like to tap and not fall over and break a bone. My body remembers the steps and also refuses to do them. I’m sort of tilty now. What happened to my center of gravity?

YouTube is filled with tap videos. I practiced all week. I can do the Shirley Temple and the Time Step in all three variations. I’m practically a pro now.

I am loathe to admit that I hid Girl Scout cookies in the pantry. I have two or three when no one else is around because I don’t want to share and also, I dream of finding an unopened box in November when I am looking for a sweet. I may forget the boxes are there myself and find chocolate minty joy just when I need it the most.

I’ll be having coffee with a friend and then (hopefully finishing) painting a custom lampshade today. The client wanted lots of birds on it. I can paint birds in my sleep these days. I do sometimes. The shade is looking so pretty.

It’s time to work on a new fabric collection. There are two this year already on the way. How did I finish two collections while my mother was dying?

The next fabric collection will find me before I find it. Paint, draw, watch the woodpecker in my neighbor’s tree I think is building it’s nest, tap tap tap. Words on paper. Thoughts in the ether. Lift weights, ride bike, walk walk walk the dog. The prettiest dog.

Oh, joy… joy will find me.

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Find custom hand-painted lampshades here.