bits & pieces from August
saying goodbye to summer
August is over. Days are growing shorter again and I don’t know how we got here. I don’t know how we got to the eighth month of this year and that it is almost over and fall is quickly approaching. I don’t know where the time went. I don’t know how we got here so quickly.
I don’t know how we got here is becoming something I say often. But I do know.
I am just bewildered by it. Bewildered by how time passes. Bewildered by life on this planet. Bewildered by growth. Bewildered by the connectedness of everything. Bewildered by news headlines. Bewildered by humans and their behavior.
I don’t know how we got here.
Anyways. This post is a whole mashup of things that have been happening for me over the past few weeks.
Most of my summer has been spent working in a hot warehouse packaging white powder. Weighing, placing into plastic bags, sealing with heat, and packaging into boxes that get piled high onto palettes and then moved around the warehouse to be shipped off.
Let me clarify — white powder as in sport chalk. As in chalk that people use for climbing, and weightlifting, and gymnastics and a whole bunch of other sports that I have nothing to do with.
I find myself in this hot warehouse in August heat because I am in the midst of a pivot. Or a career break. Or just a life pause.
Honestly, just a break and a change from the life I was living before as a graphic designer. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I needed a break from the constant screens and to get out of the house and be around people that I didn’t already know.
It has been oddly healing to work with my hands. To use my body in ways that I haven’t in quite a while. To shake off some stiffness and rust.
It has been a nice, soft — albeit hot — place to land. A welcoming pitstop, if you will. To regain bearings. To regain a sense of self in relation to others, if that makes any sense.
And I am in the midst of figuring out what to do next. The easy, flexible, manual labor job has thankfully given me the space to think on that and explore possibilities beyond what I’ve known.
I am grateful for the space and time.
But everything has a timeline. I’ve put in my two weeks and will be moving on to other things September 7th!
The other things being — I’m launching my own business!
This is something I have toyed with off and on for the past 6ish years and have finally decided to fully devote myself to it, along with my writing here on Substack.
I pretty much grew up working in a consignment shop — Aspen’s Susie’s Consignment and at the Aspen’s Farmer’s market making and selling things with my mom. So this is kind of a big returning to roots for me.
And it feels really dang good so far. I see this being something I can do so many different things with. I’ve always been a creative in so many different ways. An artist in so many different ways. But have always been afraid to step fully into that. I feel like with Brass & Bone, I’m starting something that can be a container for all the creative things I want to do, all the ways I am an artist.
At first, I am using it as a space to curate and sell vintage home goods because that has always been a huge love of mine.
But I plan on going in the direction of selling my own art, as well as others through Brass & Bone.
Ultimately, my goal is to champion other artist’s work, alongside my own. I want to create a community network of artists and bring support to all sorts of creatives. I have so many ideas for this and am so excited to start to mold and shape it into an outlet for good. Maybe you’ll want to follow along?
I’ll be launching the website on September 6th!
In the meantime, you can follow Brass & Bone on Instagram for more frequent updates!
On my way home from work last week I watched a man violently slap a sunflower. He put his whole body into it too — his torso twisting with the follow through as he walked down the sidewalk. The sunflower stood strong through, several petals drifting to the sidewalk as the man walked away.
I live for these little moments of seeing people do weird shit.
We have sunflowers popping up all over our backyard from fallen bird seed throughout the summer. It’s been a nice surprise seeing them grow taller, seeing their buds form, and then bloom. It’s only been 2-3 so far, but there are so many more that are on their way.
My grandmother sent me this photo of her sunflower in her backyard. She’s upset that it’s starting to bloom and that she wont really be able to see it because it’s so tall. Next year she will have my uncle plant shorter varieties that she can look at comfortably.
The Russian sunflowers can stay in their own country, she tells me.
We’ve been eating from our garden for months now, and our plants are still producing. There is something really special about being able to walk into our backyard and pull vegetables for a meal.
I have watched Ladd put so much time and effort into this garden. It has been so cool to watch him become fascinated with plants and growing things over the past year and a half. A knack for gardening and growing, seemingly out of nowhere.
His grandfather passed in the winter of 2021/2022. He was a farmer and had an orchard on a sunny California hillside. The best figs I have ever had, pulled straight from the tree.
We like to believe that he passed his green thumb to Ladd when he left, a beautiful parting gift.
I bought a cheap loom and some yarn on a whim recently.
Textile art is something I have been intrigued by for most of my life. I’m not sure why I am only now trying my hand at it.
It is meditative and there is something so soothing about working with soft yarn, pulling it through the warp strings and through your hands. Batting it down with the comb, moving to the next row. Over and over and over again.
I will admit though, I am worried about how it’s going to hold up once I take it off the loom. Any weavers following me? Would love any tips or tricks if ya got em.
Ladd and I have been antsy for travel lately but feeling a bit stuck in our circumstances. I have been itching to hop on a plane to anywhere but that’s just not a thing for us at the moment.
Soon though. 🤞🏻
Summer is almost over and Ladd just got our motorcycles running again. I think we had needed a break from them, our trip last fall burnt us out on them a bit.
But we got out on our motorcycles earlier this month and rode up to Rocky Mountain National Park.
We’ve lived in Colorado pretty much our whole lives but we just made it there for the first time.
We saw the largest elk we have ever seen. With its antlers, it was as tall, or taller than a sprinter van. I wish we had photos because it was the most majestic animal I have ever seen.
If you haven’t been to RMNP, you should definitely go check it out if you’re able.
The two year anniversary of my brother’s death is coming up next week. As I’ve mentioned previously, he died of an accidental fentanyl overdose.
Since then, I’ve pretty much carried Narcan and fentanyl testing strips with me wherever I go because I don’t want anyone else to face the same fate as him.
I honestly think everyone should have it on them, or at least have it at home because opioid overdoses are so common.
Many cities and states offer test strips and Narcan for free. Here is the site for the city of Denver where you can request those resources, free of charge and shipped right to your door.
I have been thinking about the frequency of this little newsletter of mine and what I want to do with it. I thought it would feel pretty daunting to post multiple times a month, but I found myself feeling antsy and motivated ever since I sent out the first one.
I found myself actually feeling excited about writing and sharing on a more frequent basis rather than dreading it. What a revelation after being so fearful of it for so long. This is a new feeling for me, and I am leaning into it.
So, my friends, I am going to aim for sending something to you 1x/week and see how that feels for me for the rest of 2023. And I’ll reassess at the end of the year.
I make no promises though — life often has other plans for us and things always take longer than we think they will.
How’s your summer been? Are you ready for fall like I am?
Thanks for hanging out with me a bit.
See you next time,
dins
<3 <3 <3