Escape is Imperative
The world seemed so much simpler a week ago. You know, before the great plumes of bomb smoke colored the night's sky over Baghdad and the body count started mounting. Now, my head hurts and my gut aches and I feel torn and trampled and sad.
The more i try to unravel my thoughts and feelings about it, the more lost I feel. The more i have to say about it, the less I want to speak.
So I'm trying to shut my eyes and ears and self to it. I'm trying to concentrate on the prospect of apple blossoms and pussy willows and the sharp points of green just starting to break through the soil in my garden.
I placate myself with strawberry smoothies and chocolate covered raisins and tea. I pour over the books on Andrew Wyeth and Beatrix Potter I got from the library and try to absorb the intricacies of their technique. I work diligently on the painting I'm doing for my mother. I fuss over my orchid that refuses to bloom.
I dream about lighthouses and starfish and cottages by the sea. I paint the baseboards in the bathroom and bundle newspaper for recycling. and I troll the internet for inspiration and distraction.
I am a Master of Escapism. I am Houdini in a girl suit.
Many of these come courtesy of Claire of Loobylu, always the first destination of the day for me. I stumbled across her site about a year ago whilst searching for illustrators. She immediately charmed and beguiled me with her wonderful, quirky illustrations and stories, just as she's charmed and beguiled countless others. It was Loobylu, in fact, that lead me to Diaryland when I discovered she originally began her journal here.
Through Claire, I discovered Momo and Witold and Erica and Anna, hugely talented and delightfully entertaining people all.
And then there's the ever whimsical Christina, the exuberant Egg Pants over at devoted bee, and the stunningly adorable Scary Girl whose toys I covet like no other.
Sometimes, when i'm particularly keen on my New England fantasies, the ones where the Wee Three ( Jack, the Wolf and me) are happily ensconced in a sun splashed beach house by the sea with a lighhouse for a studio, and quirky villagers installed in a town nearby, I scour Yankee Magazine and Coastal Living.
And then there's the amazing art of Aaron Jansinki, and Aesthetic Apparatus and the most beautiful design site i've ever seen Design Union...
And sometimes. all you need to be content is the thought that someone might someday... if you're very, very good... send you a sublime Tahiti Twist cake from Lilyfield Cakes or somehow arrange for an impromptu visit from the most loveable muppet EVAH, Sweetums.
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