The Summer of Crazy Is Over..

Grand Flowers- acrylic on stretched canvas

Hello out there-
I'm back now that I have a morning here and there to sit down and collect my thoughts. That certainly wasn't the case from my last post throughout the rest of the summer- holy moly! That slow start I was moaning about back in June kicked into over-drive about a week after that and I never quit running until we closed in September. Summer of 2019 was certainly one for the books: the busiest, most challenging and most financially rewarding of the 6 years that I've had the cafe. That being said we were severely short-handed for the whole season and lost 2 employees just after Venetian. I was, once again, the only cook and I'm afraid that is a gig that I have out-lived. Physically I simply cannot keep that one-woman show going so my focus this coming year is to have at least one more person in the kitchen. (If you know someone please send 'em my way! No- its not too early to secure a summer job!)
  There is always a trade-off though and when one aspect of my life is going full-tilt-boogie then other areas are put on the back burner out of sheer necessity: Absolutely no painting or artwork was done nor writing on the novel I had so ambitiously begun. My gardens were left to their own devices and I missed out on any social gatherings that happened between June and August. There was absolutely nothing to do about this - the cafe was requiring over 90 hours a week of my time and by the end of August I was a husk of myself. I painted the picture above out of sheer desperation - I absolutely needed to put paint onto a canvas. 
 Jack and I made a quick trip down to New Orleans the end of September and while it was wonderful to see our People I really wish we had waited until about now- I had not fully recovered physically from the grueling schedule I had kept up for the previous nine weeks and feel like I ghost-walked through that trip. I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. (We stayed in the French Quarter this time so that wasn't a possibility on a few levels!)
  No matter how crazy the schedule, though, our family all came together to welcome our newest member - William Leblanc Sargent - who was born in Petoskey on July 9. Named for my father who passed away the winter before, I felt the circle closing when I held this tiny little guy for the first time. His Great Grandfather was so present with us all at that moment...
 For now though, The Wheel has turned yet again and we have entered the Dark Half of The Year. The first snow flurries have dusted the lawn, the hosta leaves have yellowed and the beech tree that shades my balcony has shed its summer foliage. Halloween has come and gone and we are all looking forward to the Winter Holidays.
 I'm planning on my winter being one of rejuvenation and creativity. My meditations will be on the seed planted in the darkness that bursts forth in the spring full of life and green and wonder.

Until Next Time--