Hello, friends.

It’s been some time since I’ve had words to lay down here. In recent weeks especially, there has been a weight on my soul. Since November 8, to be exact.  I know many of you feel the same. That there is nothing but darkness and despair lying before us for the next 4 years. Because when it comes right down to it, there are people in our country who had no problem, who thought it right, to vote for a man to be President who thinks it’s ok to “grab them by the pussy”.  No matter all the other reasons not to vote for him, that one alone should have been enough.

But here we are.

Broken-hearted, yes. And for awhile, hopeless. Literally without hope. Bitter even.

But then, the art came. Beauty seen at the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. The mind-blowing voice of Andra Day at a show the day after the election. The gritty words and music of Sturgill Simpson a few days before. Those things started to mend me.

I am myself not an artist. At best, I make things. I assemble things. I started a new project making junk journals as gifts, turning old papers and books and maps and junk mail into something new.

In the midst of this, when I was taking pages out of an old book from 1929, I found this. 

And now those pages live on in something new, something shiny. Bringing me a little peace and joy in the making.

And more music most recently in the form of Bowie tributes by the fabulous Star Anna as well as the Seattle Symphony with Tony Vincent.

I am more grateful than ever for the artists who can give us the music from their soul and the art of their heart. Who are not afraid to be vulnerable that way, in the way that I cannot. We need it. I need it to fill in the cracks, to make the dark a little less shadowy. To remind me that there is still beauty in this world, that all is not lost.

There are still things like this.

Find yourselves some art, friends. A concert. A glorious sunset. A really great meal or cocktail. Some words that strike you. A visit to a gallery.  A little doodle you drew. Whatever it is that lifts you. Even better when shared with friends.

We’ve got this.