So, here we are. In the house. Unable to do much about getting the shop open to customers. We are going to try to open up on Friday and Saturday this week with Quynn working the shop. Shorter hours, 11 - 5, just so that we may try and keep the rent paid and the employees too. We are worried that after 29 years in my beloved shop and business, that things could change so fast and we could be closing up shop. I just told someone if I have to, I will store everything and begin again. Again. The future will be brighter and the future will happen- again.

I am crafting a lot in my studio. Making things for the shop and working on getting the new inventory I purchased before the shut down ready for the next time we are open. I am also making a few things that I have said I want to do, just for me. Drawing, knitting, embroidery work and this afternoon, on this sunny much warmer day; I am going to trim up my 24 year old lavender plants before the bees really return. My grand dame rosemary bush needs a little TLC too. This will be good because Lucas can lay in the yard in the sun, and warm the sore muscles that perhaps caused the limp he developed yesterday. You can not keep a good dog down but I aim to keep him a bit quieter. As for my darling Phil, who this morning isn't quite as darling as he was a few days ago, is bored. Bored. Bored. I have to find some projects for him. Today is likely the day I will finally get out to my metal room, a separate little building on my property that was formerly the Cat House, and is now a place for my kiln, metal work and glass cutting supplies. For a year I have meant to finish getting it set up and the time is now. I can get Phil to install a couple of shelves and fix the lighting and... I am sure I will think of other things for him to do.

What are you doing? Are you making things? Feeling creative? Reading? Baking? Cooking? Walking? Hiking? Netflixing?

The thing I am enjoying the most is the quiet outside. No cars really moving. Traffic is almost nil. My neighbor, Henry who works in his yard and business with big mowers and backhoes is quiet now.  Even the other dogs in the neighborhood seem to have a reverent quiet about them. Friends in Venice, Italy say the waters in the canals are clear, the San Francisco Bay Bridge is deserted, the LA freeways moving clearly, and Seattle sounds and looks a lot like it did when I first moved here in 1976.

I am writing again on my blog and promise you pictures later. Plenty of pics already are posted on my facebook pages. Wynwoods Gallery and Lois Venarchick and Diva Yarn and The Secret Life of Lois' Happy Drawings. Check them out. Send comments. BeKind. Be nice. Be well. xo