Getting Back To Simple

I'm working with pressed flowers today which is really calming and soft and peaceful and perfect considering I'm in one of my retreat moods.

A retreat mood, for me, is what happens when I am feeling particularly disconnected from the world in its current state.

I should be truthful: I'm almost always in one of my 'retreat' moods since I almost always feel disconnected from the world.

As a rule I don't generally care about the things that seemingly the rest of the world cares about.  I won't get into the particulars of that since I am not wanting to be on the receiving end of a barrage of hate mail or worse, so I'll just leave it at that because the world, in its current state, does not like it very much when you don't care about what it wants you to care about.

(I just re-read that paragraph and it sounds kind of harsh and unfeeling and that is not the truth at all.  In actuality, it is the exact opposite of harsh and unfeeling.  I should expound on that paragraph further by saying that that I do care - deeply -  but for the most part only about stuff that matters. About stuff that you might lie there thinking about when it's about the time you become living-challenged.  For example, I don't care much about granite countertops. Or open floor plans. Or the newest iphone. Or politics. You get the idea.)

Because of  the way I think and view things, it leaves me sort of in my own Private Idaho.

I am very, very aware that the more the world "progresses"...the more I seem to regress.

Pretty soon I might be Amish.  😏

I made the ornament pictured to the right in the above picture.  It was really easy.  You mix baking soda, cornstarch, water in a pan, cook until it's a paste, cool, roll out, cut out shapes, then bake in the over for an hour or so.  Easy as pie.

Actually, easier than pie.

There are a ton of recipes for ornament dough on the internet but here's one in case you don't feel like searching.

Also, the act of working with dough will soothe your soul a little bit if you, like me, need to retreat and get back to simple.

Stuck On The Delaware Memorial Bridge

Here we have a picture I took on Saturday afternoon.

It is a picture of us BEING BROKE DOWN 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐏 OF THE DELAWARE MEMORIAL BRIDGE!

I took this pictures because (a) no one would believe we actually got stuck there, and (b) when you are in the middle of a massive anxiety attack you have to find things to distract yourself from your massive anxiety attack, such as taking pictures with your phone.

For the record, I don't do well, in general, with bridges. That is actually a really big understatement.

For one, I get very dizzy on them and avoid driving over them unless I'm the passenger.

For two, I'm severely claustrophobic. Getting stuck anywhere is bad; getting stuck at the very top of a bridge is pretty much my worst nightmare, second to elevators, which I do not ever take.  (Fun fact: I believe the last time I rode an elevator was in 2009.)

So you can imagine how "happy" I was when, just as we started up the southbound side of the bridge,

Help Me Find A Shop Location

The other day I talked about how we are actively looking for the right location to open a brick and mortar shop.  Or a barn wood and plank shop.

I know exactly what I am looking for and sometimes it's hard for me to describe it but this morning I found it.

And very unfortunately it's in Kansas.
I mean, I've never been to Kansas and I'm sure it's probably a great place...but I live in Delaware and I don't think I can commute to KS or get JP to move there so I can open my little shop.

Also, even if I wanted to commute or move to Kansas, this place is sold.

But I'm putting it out there in case someone out there on the internet has a place very similar to this that they'd like to unload (cheap!) or knows of a similar place.
It does not have to be in Delaware but does have to be on the east coast.  Mid-Atlantic, New England-ish would be best as I do not do well in the heat of the summer in the south.

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1547-Road-17_Howard_KS_67349_M70140-73293#photo0

Help me find the perfect location for Poor Girl Mercantile!

The Globe Is Closing

Last night, on Facebook(!),  I found out that The Globe is closing.

For those of you who don't know, I mostly got my art start at The Globe in Berlin, Maryland.

It all started with one little postcard that I sent out to various galleries and places that sold art.
Jennifer, the owner of The Globe, got the postcard with the picture of my artwork on the front, liked what she saw, called me and - long story short - my artwork has been featured there since 2013.  I became the resident artist there about 3 or so years ago, meaning I went from having occasional shows there throughout a year to my artwork hanging there 365 days a year.

To say that opportunities have come my way as a result of my association with The Globe would be a gross understatement.  To this day, I get contacted regularly by people who say things like "I saw your work at The Globe" or "I regularly buy pieces of your stuff at The Globe".

And now they're closing.

Not gonna lie, the news stunned me.  And then I told JP and it stunned him.  Especially since we just installed 20+ pieces there a couple of weeks ago.  So we both sat there being stunned for a little while until one of us said, "OK, what's next?".

This would be one of those pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of things.

Oddly enough, just yesterday I updated the PGMerc.com website and wrote that JP and I are actively seeking  a brick and mortar location and that I think it really will happen in 2020.

Then - bam! - hours later I find out The Globe is closing.  I think the Universe might be at work doing some shifting and re-aligning here.

Truth is, I have never been comfortable having all of my artwork eggs in one basket because, well for example, out of nowhere the basket could decide to close.  There's a lesson in this...there always is.

JP says I need to have a presence in the Berlin, MD area because I have a pretty big following there.  I agree, but right now I have no idea what that means.  There are so many people down that way that became near and dear to me all because of my artwork and The Globe.  Maybe I can get everyone to start a petition on change.org for the new owners to keep me as the resident artist?  😉

I guess I'll have to start looking around to see if there is another suitable venue around there that I can send a postcard to while we search for our own shop.  I could also drag out the art show tent and be a vendor at the many different events held in Berlin throughout the year, but that tent thing is not my kind of thing really.

We'll see how this winds up playing out.

In the meantime, there's still a bunch of my framed artwork hanging on the walls at The Globe until around November 30th, their closing date.

Get 'em while the getting's good.