So, it's been a while since I have posted here, while I have been in the process of retiring from my job in the real world, done a house search for my new retirement home in the Harford County area of Maryland, and gone through the extremely painful process of cleaning out a home that I've lived in for over 30 years.

In the process downsizing from a 4 bedroom-den-full craft studio in the basement-garage  crammed full of "stuff" from 4 generations on both sides of my family, I have filled numerous recycling bins, worn out 2 shredders, brought joy to a couple of homeless shelters, and I'm still not quite done. (Thanks again , Mom, I'm sure you're up there chuckling as I've been wading through the boxes that you religiously moved from Jamestown, NY, to Solon, OH, to California, then back to Andover, to Haverhill, up to Maine, and back to Haverhill, however, I do wish that you had kept all my French books and lost Dad's old accounting books from the 1950's and Aunt Evelyn's nursing books from the 1950's - what were you thinking?!). Right now, the house is full of boxes yet again awaiting the next pod south. And once that pod goes, I will need to rent another storage unit in MD until I find studio space and can move all the craft supplies and display units out of storage.

My younger brother, wisely, has decided to stay in California , until the "Grand Clean-Out" is completed before visiting, and cousins in Maryland are convinced that I'm never "really" going to move there permanently. Not that I can blame them. So far, two pods have gone south, and my condo is more than three quarters furnished. Only the really "good" furniture that I want a professional mover to handle remains "up north". Each month as I attend our condo association meeting I take another car full of  "stuff" that I want neither the movers nor the Pod to carry... like unbaked polymer clay, clothes, old family photos or my archive of slides and negatives of photos that I've taken over the years.

So this blog will be a bit different for the next few months. Instead of just sitting here with no change, I'm going to start posting some jewelry ideas that I have , drawings or prototypes, and as the final move gets closer, and I start looking for that ideal gallery/studio space in Harford County, I'll start posting shots of that , too.

My idea is to have a gallery/store in front , featuring primarily artists from the surrounding area (PA-MD-DE-VA) with a front window corner set aside so that featured artists can be invited to come in on the weekend and sit in plain view and create, hopefully drawing in foot traffic. Back of the house will be my work space and a teaching area. I hope to be able to employ veterans who are interested in the arts, to give back a bit.We'll see how things pan out.

I'm still boxing up the basement, wrapping up what feels like a ton of stained glass before the next pod leaves before Thanksgiving, and then hopefully the house can get a good cleaning and go on te market. One of the reasons that I'm pushing hard now is that I've got travel plans in the works for the summer coming up.

I just read a great article on the Afar website (actually 2 articles) about how to choose your travel mates that really struck home. More on that tomorrow. Dinner is calling. Pastitsio (Greek Macaroni and cheese) is one of those comfort foods that once you've had it, stays in your mind as crave-worthy. What can I say- the aroma of hot cheese, ground meat, tomato and cinnamon coming together is just so yummy, it's like a big warm hug from your grandmother. More later from the land of boxes
Judy