Catherine Moore

T'was the afternoon before Christmas and all through the house . . .

For the last several hours, while everyone was enjoying an afternoon siesta, I put the final touches on our Christmas table.  This is when my office / library transforms back into our dining room once again. I arranged a vase of fresh cut flowers, all white,

and set the table.  This year I decided to celebrate the season with a little nod to the major design project that has kept me so busy for several months, She Sells Seashells.  It seems only fitting as my immersion also becomes my family's immersion, and everything gets put on the back burner until I reach my December 1st deadline to deliver illustrations to my manufacturer.  So, to honor that process and to savour the completion of yet another collection, I decided I would include a few mermaid decorations on our holiday table this year.

 

They are actually pretty simple, but all that I could manage with the marathon of activity leading up to this moment.  A marathon of shopping, wrapping, shipping, decorating, tree trimming, Christmas cards, baking, menu planning, cooking, cleaning, and all that on top of the day to day running of Character Constructions.  But, they look sweet alongside our Coquille china, and sitting here now at my desk on Christmas Eve, I feel a sense of peace and also of accomplishment knowing that everything is finally in place for our family Christmas.  

As I sat chronicling yet another Christmas Eve, the sun slowly set.  It's dark now, but here is the view from my desk just a short while ago.  I am off to the kitchen to prepare for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.  

Merry Christmas everyone! 

A Mermaid's Tale

But remember always, as I told you at first

that this is all a fairy tale,

and only fun and pretense; and, therefore,

you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true.

~ Charles Kingsley (1819 - 1875)
 

New Mexico Travelogue: Fall 2010

Just a short while after returning from The Assemblage Studio in DePere, WI, I accompanied my husband Dale to New Mexico.  He would be there on business and knowing how much I love the area, he invited me to join him.  We arrived early and had two blissful days in Santa Fe before his business engagement.  The weather was brisk but sunny and there is nothing that compares to that beautiful New Mexico sky.  Here we are riding on the Santa Ana Pueblo in Bernalillo, just outside of Albuquerque. Dale's conference was in Bernalillo, at Tamaya, which was beautiful beyond our expectations.  Dale was pretty busy most of the time, but on our last day there we arose early and took a hike along the Rio Grande, followed by a trail ride.

 

After our morning ride, we drove into Albuquerque and visited a few bead shops.  I first discovered beads while visiting New Mexico in the early 90s.  I don't think there are more bead shops anywhere else in the country, but my absolute favorite is Glorianna's in Santa Fe, where the mother and daughter proprietors are always friendly and welcoming, and oh the beads!  

While in Santa Fe, we visited several museums, among them the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, where we caught the Art & Materials exhibit.  On display were some of her brushes, paints, pastels and sketch journals, as well as the natural objects that she collected and represented in her paintings.  Rocks, shells, twigs and even bones were part of the exhibit.  After her death in 1986 I read about her many collections of natural objects and felt a strong connection to this earth-centered woman.

Outside of the O'Keeffe Museum.

In the museum shop I purchased this photographic postcard of Georgia O'Keeffe, taken by Maria Chabot. O'Keeffe was a woman with true grit.  On a previous visit to the museum, I caught another exhibit, The Poetry of Things, and brought home the exhibit catalog which was also a biography of sorts.  I remember a passage that described the simplicity of her home.  There was very little ornamentation but among those few items was a sculpture of a Bodhisattva right hand, the gesture which means to go without fear.  

The high desert plains and adobe architecture of New Mexico are very different, and why I had a difficult time passing up the opportunity for a visit.

Outside the Santa Fe Art Museum.

A courtyard inside the Museum of Art in Santa Fe, with just a glimpse of that beautiful sky.

 

Trying to capture a typical street scene in Santa Fe, shrouded by that exquisite blue sky.

A perfectly blissful end to a magnificent week in the high desert plains.