Mary Richmond Design

Making Decisions, Making the Leaps

Some days you can't see the forest for the trees. Everything looks and feels the same. It isn't until you sit and let the world around you quiet down that you see the wonderful beauty and singularity in every living thing around you.

Ferns are one of the oldest living plants and there are thousands of varieties found all over the world. I love ferns. They represent coolness and water and clarity to me. They are full of order yet also random. They at first appear shy and discreet but they are actually quite bold and daring. They go where they want but they make sure the conditions will support their efforts. I love how nature provides the metaphors and how it's just a matter of watching and listening to find them when I need them. Maybe it's not true at all. Maybe I just make up what I need when and how I need it. Whatever. It works for me.

This will be my last week in my day job. I'm a little nervous about stepping out once again completely on my own but I think my plan is a good one.

The most difficult thing for me is staying focused when there are so many temptations around me.

I will be dividing my time between writing, drawing and painting and my naturalist/educator work. It will all be nature based to some degree. I have several book projects I'll be working on, lots of illustrations and of course a tile installation here and there so the bills get paid.

And the biggest leap of all is going out on my own to offer educational programs for schools and organizations that will combine nature, art and writing. I will be creating the programs themselves as well as the website and starting a new blog. As part of this I will also be starting what I call The Green Lunchbox Challenge for area schools. More about that later.

I feel like these buds. Ready to pop. And there's so much beauty in the stages of preparation and anticipation. I think I like the planning and the strategizing as much as the doing.

There are two blog posts I'd like to offer you here. One is from Christine Kane's wonderful blog and is about tweaks and yammers. You'll just have to read it to understand the way she uses these words. You can read her posts here. The other is from Cynthia Morris's blog about her travels and the huge changes she has made in the last few months. You can read her inspiring post here. I also found her latest newsletter essay really thought provoking as I prepare for my own journey. You can link to that here. Scroll down a bit until you come to the main part of the letter. I don't know these women except through their blogs and yet feel like they are good friends with supportive and inspirational things to say to me each week.

Who and what inspires you to make changes and make those big leaps?

Etsy Questions

I joined Etsy just about two years ago. My first year and a half I had very few sales, my pictures were terrible and I knew nothing about promoting myself in the forums, etc. I almost gave up this spring but decided to give it one last shot.

My sales improved, my photos improved and I have just opened a second shop to separate my ceramic work from my works on paper.

But is it worth it?

Some people do really well on Etsy. My sales come in dribbles and drabs and I feel I spend an inordinate amount of time for what are really lack luster sales.

When do you decide enough is enough? Do I keep my work there to maintain an online presence? Do I keep things there and see how the holidays go before making a decision?

Newly listed work on Etsy is buried within minutes, sometimes seconds, of being listed. The trick seems to be to constantly renew your listing so your work continues to show up in searches done by customers but at 20 cents a shot, inexpensive items don't seem worth promoting this way, such as my cards.

Then there's the amount of time spent packing and shipping. Etsy sellers seem to think it's normal to ship the next day, wrap your item like a gift and send a hand written card and a free gift. Yes, this makes it nice and I do it. And, if you start to sell in any volume I can see this becoming a big, time consuming headache that really doesn't have much of a payoff. Does this make me sound like a customer service scrooge? I hope not because I really do appreciate my customers. I just also need to be realistic about time and costs.

Do you Etsy? How are you doing? What are your thoughts? Please share.....

You can find my shop Mary Richmond Design here and my new shop, Mary Richmond Tile, Etc. here.

True Confessions.....

I am starting on week number 6 of my better diet today. The first few weeks went great. I was strong. I stayed away from sugar, caffeine, red meat and dairy.

Last week.....not so good. I had two cups of coffee, some cheese and a handful of sweets....ok, maybe more than a handful of sweets.

I have to be careful not to beat up on myself too much. I am definitely eating better. The no caffeine and dairy seem to have the biggest effect and are really not very hard for me. It's the sugar....I always knew I was sort of a sugar freak but really noticing how often I want to snag a little sweet something has been very eye opening.

I have now lost 8 pounds and have quite a few more to go. Time to get back in the saddle and keep moving forward.

Any stories you'd like to share of your own habit changes? Would love to hear them.

Celebrations and Inspirations

No, this is not me. It's my birthday today but I'm not quite this old yet.

This is Dr. Shirley Cross, an incredible lady who passed away a few weeks ago and her memorial service is today. I knew Shirley because we shared a love of all things Thornton Burgess and nature and came together almost 30 years ago when the Thornton Burgess Society and Green Briar Nature Center in East Sandwich came to be. Shirley was a founder of the organization and worked zealously to create one of the most beautiful and diverse native wildflower gardens on the Cape. She had her doctorate in botany, ran cranberry bogs with her husband, read poetry, philosophy and biology as well as the classics on a daily basis and taught anyone around her about her beloved plants and flowers. She was 94 when she died and up to the last few weeks of her life was active and alert and weeding the gardens she tended and nurtured all her life. It will be sad to attend her service today but the reception will be in her garden and will be a celebration of her life and all she stood for. In a way it's a very cool way to spend part of my birthday honoring this sort of passion and dedication.

I've been thinking a lot about all the people that pass through our lives, and especially all those who have passed through mine. Over the years I have lost many people who were and continue to be dear to me. Some were old when they left, others were not. Each time we lose someone we love we also lose someone who loved us and our world becomes a bit grayer for a while. It is good to remember how lucky we were to have shared that time with our friend or family member, how rich and wonderful they made our lives.

Today marks another milestone in my life. Two years ago today I was lying in a hospital room having some sort of radioactive dye pumped into my lymph nodes under my right arm. Two days later I had a mastectomy and those dyed lymph nodes were examined to see if my cancer had progressed or mestastisized. It had not and here I am two years later, cancer free and also minus one breast. Oh well, guess you can't have it all. One would never choose to be lopsided but in my case there was no choice. I had multiple areas that needed to be removed and a lumpectomy was not an option.

Having met with surgeons and oncologists and having sat in waiting rooms with people filled with fear and remorse makes me feel humble and grateful that I am well and alive for this birthday. I am one of the lucky ones. For now. Cancer patients have seen the edge of the precipice and are very aware that it is there every day for the rest of their lives. With this awareness comes a responsibility to live each day in the best way possible and to appreciate all those that share our journey.

Today is a beautiful sunny day on Cape Cod. The flowers are blooming, my yard is full of birds and I will be with my family for a celebration that will include lobsters and clams later today. And as I prepare to celebrate the life of a woman who worked selflessly to bring beauty and joy to all I can't help but feel grateful to have shared in her legacy. Her life was a gift to all who knew her.

Thank you all of you who are sharing my life. You are the gifts of my heart.

Leaving My Day Job

I love my day job. I work as a naturalist and teacher and I interact with kids and adults all day long about, around and in nature. Sometimes I get to do a little art with them, too.

The problem is I am not on staff where I work. They call me when they need me, which is mostly in spring and summer, when I work for them almost full time. Then it's nada. Nothing. No work.

And I really can't afford this. And I don't have much left in the way of savings. So it's time to do something new.

Actually, I have something sort of exciting on my planning board. In the next few weeks I'm starting a new business called Cape Cod Art and Nature Adventures. I will be offering programs in the classroom that will integrate learning natural history with both art and writing, depending on the ages. I will also offer these programs to libraries and other organizations looking for something different. Teacher workshops, art and nature workshops and more are on the docket as well. Over the next week I'll be starting a new website and a new blog. The website will outline programs available and the blog will feature a picture and a nature and/or art fact each day for fun and maybe even a little education.

My goal is to have three income streams that are somewhat equal--my writing, which is already in place, my artwork, which is sometimes in place, and my naturalist/teaching work which is often the heaviest time consumer but the worst paying. By offering my own programs that balance should swing back around.

Any suggestions? Anything I should read? Anyone I should talk to? If you live in my area and know anyone who could use a program like this, please let me know!

In My Own Backyard

Over the years I've looked longingly at pictures of other people's idyllic backyards. Our house sits on a tiny lot (less than a fifth of an acre) and is smack in the middle of a busy neighborhood with streets on one side and in front of the house. We are blessed with many mature trees and bushes though sometimes when we have to pull and prune everything blessing isn't always the first word to come to mind, especially when we're up to our elbows in thorns from the ever growing multiflora rose bushes.

Over the years we have added a stone patio. The house and back door sit too low for a deck and often the yard turns into a brown over parched mess when we have a dry summer so we wanted somewhere nice to sit. This summer we bought this table that came with chairs and an umbrella. It's not very fancy but we love it. We can now use the yard even on sunny hot afternoons.

You can see our tiki lights, which we love, by the way. Makes it fun to sit out at dusk and into the dark without being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

You can also see the sunflowers and Queen Anne's lace that grow at the edge of the vegetable garden. The pots in the corner hold herbs, cherry tomatoes and cukes. There is also an herb garden that runs along to the right and another next to the shed.

This is not a great picture but if you click on it to enlarge it you will see a goldfinch feeding on the sunflower. I took it through the screen of the back door. The goldfinches come every day and are eating the seeds one by one out of the center of the dying blossoms. It's a gorgeous sight that never fails to make me smile.

In the early afternoon the only cool place to sit is really in the green chairs over by the holly trees. On this day it was almost 90 and I was sitting outside while one of my little grandsons played with some containers and some water. It entertained him for almost 2 hours!

He loved using my grandmother's old manual mixer and he became quite adept at turning the handle. I gave him cups and spoons and various other kitchen tools and he said, Gramma, you have good toys! How cute is that?

Last but not least, here is my faithful Vita, hanging out in a little dirt under the hollies trying to keep cool.

This is the first summer in years that I've felt like I have a sweet little oasis in my own backyard.

How about you? Do you have an outside place you'd like to share?

Paying Attention

What are you paying attention to?

Do you pay attention to the hurts and scrapes, the insults and slights? Or do you pay attention to the beauty and bounty, the compliments and attention?

I've always believed in the law of attraction but as I look at changing long held habits I realize that my attention has not always been on the positive or abundant things in my life. Often I have been attracted to the idea that I'm lacking something, that I am more than a bit imperfect and that I must constantly seek improvement.

I know we're supposed to walk around filled with self love, at least according to some. But I can't help but wonder if sometimes paying attention to that which is not perfect helps us bring that part to a better place.

Does it work better to just focus on what is good, to make positive affirmations about what is not so good (like the AA idea of 'fake it til you make it')"

What works for you?

Money Crunching....

Sometimes I think it would be nice to be a frog....you'd be green and you'd never have to worry about the other kind of green.

Do you worry about money? I feel like I've spent most of my years worrying about money in one way or another. After my parents divorced my mom worked hard to support us but she was always worried about money and so we did, too.

I worked and paid my way through a public university (which you could actually do in the 70's ) but I rarely had a dollar left over at the end of the week.

My husband and I were devoted hippies who were going to find our way in the world without working for The Man and became dedicated to living on the financial edge. We were actually proud of our abilities to make do, make something from nothing and to go without. Who needed it? Our clothes and shoes had holes, our furniture was mostly boxes covered with fabric and folding chairs and we had no car. Often the refrigerator had an egg, some mustard, some milk and there might be some rice in the cupboard. It was grim but we were proud and we were artists and we were not working for The Man.

Well, along came kids and cars and pets and a small mortgage and funny jobs that helped us barely make ends meet. And then there was college for our kids which strapped us to the banks and well, today we sit looking at a budget that will either make us cry or laugh.

We've decided to commit to being financially fit. We love "Your Money or Your Life"  which has been around forever and are dusting it off to help us get real. We will be carrying our little notebooks to jot down expenses and will be keeping a weekly record that will be added to a chart of income and expenses. We've been tapping savings for a while now and know they won't last much longer so we need to up our income.

And so I will be leaving my day job in September. Yes, that's right. I'll be leaving my job. The best way I know to make money is to be self employed and so I am going back to that. I'll be doing my writing, my tile work, my art work and my naturalist work. And to do the latter I will be starting a new business. More on that later.

Three weeks ago we committed to working on our finances together every Monday night and the end of all that money crunching has been a little scary, a little funny and a lot empowering. We have not really been money crunchers up to now. We've sort of just winged it....

What about you? Are you a money cruncher or a winger?

Changing Habits, Week 4

Here it is, the height of the summer with all these oranges and pinks, yellows and greens and I look in the mirror and feel like I just can't get my act together.

I commit to no caffeine, no sugar, no red meat, no white flour, no dairy.....and I think I managed to break every one of them this past week. After three weeks it is supposed to be easier but there I was just skipping along saying yes to things I was supposed to be saying no to.

And then I stopped to think about it. I had one cup of coffee in three weeks when I was out to breakfast. I've had an occasional glass of lemondade, a muffin and a piece of pie. I made both the muffins and the pie and they had way less sugar than usual because I used honey. I had red meat once at a cookout and I had a piece of cheese. The world is not going to end over this. In the past I have considered my lapses failures and have just given up.

The truth is, I'm not perfect with this and I probably never will be. But I have made some huge changes and will continue on this path. I think it's good to remember that moderation and good sense is what I'm looking for here, not an extreme. This is a self-made pledge, not a medical mandate. I think it's probably ok to be good enough instead of perfect. I think feeling guilty may be more harmful than a blueberry muffin made with hand picked blueberries on a beautiful sunny morning, eaten out in the backyard while listening to the birds.....

This week I am adding exercise to my habit changing plan. I walk a lot anyway but I will be adding yoga, stretching, a few weight training exercises and lots of ab work to my daily routine. I considered joining a gym but our recent three weeks of financial fact gathering as we have worked on our budget have put that idea on hold for at least a year.

Do you exercise at home? What do you do? Any suggestions?

One Studio Down, Two to Go.....

When we bought this house 23 years ago the little room off the side was used as an unheated greenhouse by the lady who lived there. The room is tiny, only 8 x 10' and is broiling hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. And it is my little place away from the rest of the world. It's my studio where I paint my tiles, draw many of my illustrations and other such things.

It is filled with light and bird song and books. It also holds many small treasures people have given me over the years like the little Chinese cat that is supposed to bring me financial good luck. The fact that I had to dig it out of a pile and dust it off probably says a lot about the last year or so, huh?

This is what is behind me and next to me when I sit at the drawing table. The top shelf to the right is filled with my sketchbooks and notes.

The bins, boxes and file folders are filled with reference pictures, photos, etc. that I have accumulated and collected over the years. I use them most often when teaching. I love to have my students do upside down paintings and my collection of pictures works well for those.

Here's what sits to the right of my desk. Paints, glazes, rulers, brushes, etc. The montage of pictures to the left is of those friends dear to me who have left the planet and those who are far away that I want to remember. The photo to the right is of my dear grandmother who thought I could do anything so when I get discouraged I can see her there egging me on.

This wall is mostly window and is what I see when I enter the studio each day. The piles of paper need to find homes but for the moment they are just homeless....

What I didn't show was the four drawer file cabinet stuffed to overflowing or the boxes of old financial records on the floor in front of it. Why ruin the mood?

The studio is attached by sliding glass doors to the dining room of my house.

Now it's time to go work on the glazing studio and shipping area down in the basement. That's a scary place down there....I will post those pictures tomorrow.