Collage of Curiosities No. 29
October 2025
The guttural calls of crows are mixing with the cries of gulls. Autumn has arrived here on the Gulf Coast. In my studio I’m letting the cool air blow across my desk. I love the slight nip in the air. It doesn’t bother me as I’m cozy beneath a woolen blanket (extra special as it's the work of a friend’s Montana-based textile business) and sipping hot lemon ginger tea.
I traveled a lot in the last month. One road trip clocked over 2200 miles and in total I’ve rested my head in five different states. I made new memories with both family and friends and you could say comfort was the theme of the trip. The last leg of it was a day spent at a cabin in the mountains outside Asheville. Here I reentered my usual monk-like state spending the day hiking, writing, reading, and watching clouds swallow and spit out the surrounding mountains.
Arrowhead I found hiking with my sister & mother.
That final morning I awoke to the cabin engulfed in mist. I stood at the expansive glass window gripping both pen and coffee. I said farewell to a spider that had clung to the eaves since I’d arrived, her abdomen swollen against the heavens. Colors shifted as the sun attempted to make itself known. Pale lavenders brightened small sections of the sky. I saw the forest around me transform into one of my paintings. The woods hung with gauzy curtains and trees disappeared into the fog. Moisture dripped from the changing leaves onto the waiting earth below. I reveled in every second of it, grateful to have the opportunity to retreat into the woods.
A few weeks have passed since I got that taste of Autumn but now I can say it has officially arrived. I await her every year, entering a mourning period filled with deep yearning for the sweet scent of wet, rotting leaves as soon as hints of Spring pop forth. While this season is one many consider the dusk before a long period of hibernation, it’s when I find myself feeling most alive. Perhaps that’s why I think of my work as living in an eternal Autumn.
Now that’s a lovely thought.
I spent time in Crozet, Virginia with my mother and two sisters. We were celebrating her turning 70 earlier this year and it happened to fall on my 35th birthday.
Pictured are the woods surrounding the lavender farm we stayed at and some of the many art books in our house.
Willowbrook Farm home of the Life’s Patina in Malvern, PA. This place was magical. Friends and I had a private farm to table dinner lit by candlelight. The table was lined with old sheet music and layers of antique books. The entire experience was absolutely enchanting.
The entrance to my friend and mentor Sarah Rafferty’s studio.
Taxidermy squirrel in the parlor of an Victorian Hattiesburg, Mississippi mansion where I attended a wedding.