Recharging

Every once in a while you have to take some down time and recharge, rethink and renew, and that's exactly what I did for a week at the end of this summer. I took my annual pilgrimage up to Georgian Bay, where the air is cleaner, though filled with ragweed, the beaches are long, Wasaga is 14 km long, and there are no commitments on me for a solid week.

The crowds on Labour Day weekend.

As the week went on, we had the beach to ourselves.

 I look forward to this week each year.  I give myself permission to eat a bag of chips for lunch, and not feel guilty, I bead on the beach under a big blue sky and make new creations for my fall shows, I drive to the top of the Niagara Escarpment to take in a lovely sunset view, I buy my favorite pumpkin fudge and nibble away at it, visit Holy Crow Beads, to get inspired with Beverley's use of colours, I pop into Masters Designs Studio in Thornbury and have a good chin wag with Deborah, one of three of the very talented trio of Masters who are local artists, talking about jewellery and art and life in general. All of these little events and rituals take up my full seven days — and they are full days. I want to max out this down time, strange as that may sound.

A sampling of work at Masters Designs by
Deborah, Jessica and Marian Masters.

 This getting away from it all inspires me to create new types of jewellery. I think of it as the start of the new school year, though it isn't for me. It allows me to rethink where I am with things in my world. It's a time to re-evaluate just what is working and what isn't working and what can be improved on and what I would like to do. 

Playing with different kumihimo knots.

My work tray for the week.

I had my usual parting breakfast at The Olde Red Hen in Collingwood, again, another ritual I have. It's nice to know, some things don't change, in this ever changing world. The Olde Red Hen Restaurant was a coffee shop my parents frequented in the 1950's, when they would do a day trip up to Collingwood, and the original counter and displays are still there. The Blue Mountain Pottery factory of my childhood has been gone for a few years now, but that hasn't stopped me from buying one piece of the green/blue pottery, just as I did, on our yearly holidays to Georgian Bay when I was a kid, though now I have to scour antique, thrift and consignment stores to find my little souvenir.

Your classic 1950's black granite store front for
The Olde Red Hen Restaurant in Collingwood.

As I drove back to reality yesterday, still grasping at the final moments of summer, I found a new appreciation for my home again. It's not until you've been away for a while, and then return, that you appreciate what Dorothy in ,"The Wizard of Oz," said, "There's no place like home."