One Little Word: August

There were times last week when I wondered if I’d ever feel good enough to get back to work and enjoy my projects again. It was a long slog, but the very best part about being better (aside from being able to breathe normally and the lifting of my quarantine) has been getting back to some projects I started pre-Greece and finding a new energy for them. The One Little Word prompt for August was to get out into the world and write your word out, with whatever struck your fancy. Beach writing was an obvious example, but it took me a few months to collect the other ones I had in mind. This one is at Malibu, on the first of September. I love that you can see the shadow of my hand, and even of my rings, in this picture.

Some prompts move me more readily than others, and I always struggle a bit with the photo ones at first. They are somehow less immediate to me than writing or playing with paint. (I’ll eventually get these photos printed and put onto a page in my scrapbook–such is the delay of which I speak.) I often don’t see the full effect of them until the whole project is finished for the month, and that was definitely the case here. I guess part of it for me is being open to the prompts, even when they’re not my favorite. And then they sometimes become my favorite. It’s a pretty apt lesson, and one I hadn’t seen until I say down to write this post. One little word in action! In any case, the more I thought about ways to write my word, the more excited I got about it. But the surprise ones were the best. I set out for a walk one morning to collect pretty acorns, and I saw these landscaping rocks. I made sure no one was around, and then I reached right down and spelled out my word. I took a picture or two, and then I sent these little rocks right back into the pile.

These are the aforementioned acorns. I started learning a bit more about the different types of acorns while we were in San Diego with Eric’s dad, and I was just so taken with these little torpedo-shaped ones. I gathered a ton of them for making necklaces and earrings.

Aren’t they pretty? I love those little color striations.

I saved the best one for last. It’s written in the sand at Perissa Beach on Santorini, with a perfectly polished volcanic stone to its side. When I started this project, I never dreamed that I’d be there. When the opportunity came, I grabbed it and didn’t let go. And I’m so grateful for that.