I was surprised at how many subdued fabrics I chose for the base layers in this piece. So I compensated by making most of the threadwork more intense than usual. Alice likes this one. I like Mt Warner there in the very background – a tiny hill anywhere except around here, where it looms over the very flat floodplain!

I seem to be developing a good habit, to my surprise. Frequently I get stuck and can't figure out what to do next. I used to sit and read for an hour or so, to let things in my head settle, and then try to go back to work, which wasn't very effective. Now I take a break and work on something that made me happy the last time I did it.

I loved the moonlight on the ocean the last time, but I added too much thread. So this time I tried it smaller, and have more clouds and some trees. I was thinking of Maine when I was working.

I know, it doesn't look like this now. But things change so quickly around here! And fall really IS coming; Alice and I, the polar bears in our family, have been enjoying cooler weather and snuggling into sweatshirts in the morning, paired with basking in the sun around lunch time.

I have a second fall piece in the works, possibly a third. Whatever is finished before September 20th I'll take up to Grow Gallery. The it's time to focus on finishing up work for the Crane Estate art show and sale.

Busy is good.

We had a week of sunsets like this while we visited my brother and his wife and their son. (In my opinion th ebest nephew in the world. Please don't tell me otherwise!) We rented a house on the hill, so we could see over Manana and into the west – the views were expansive, but the sunsets were particularly lovely.

Once we got home, it was time to get the big one organized across the river to college. It was easier this year, and will probably easiest next year, when we've had all that practice. She's carrying two orange codas and a bag of cookies to thank her dad for carrying her.

 And the day after that, school started for the other one. Alice is looking rather more awake here than is usual for this time of day. The excitement of the first day of school clearly got her moving more quickly than usual.

 I'm designing sets for the fall production at school. We are doing Skin of Our Teeth, the Thornton Wilder play that isn't Our Town. I spent a happy morning making 1/8 scale models of spiral stairs, turning triangles that I keep thinking of as trilithons, and people sized blobs. Since everyone works better with something concrete in front of them, I glued this together so the directors and I can talk about possibilities and exactly HOW big those spiral stairs are…

And that's what I've been up to lately. I'll talk more about the Holyoke show soon.