Greetings from typically speaking- beautiful Portland, Oregon. This is a personal post, not about personal jewelry. It's been a rough week for most of us living on the west coast- as the fires are raging. It feels trite to complain- considering that I'm writing from the comfort of my couch, whereas so many folks have had to evacuate, let alone the awful losses of houses, human lives, and countless deaths of animals, insects, trees, etc. Our neighborhood is enshrouded in smoke. No one should be leaving their houses, as the air is & has been reported in at "hazardous" levels. For several days & counting we've reigned supreme as the city with the world's worst air quality; a title we'd all gladly trade, but would feel equally as terrible handing off the torch (no pun intended). I've had to leave the house as a courteous & doting dog mother- to fulfill the needs of my furry toddler baby boy, & have dutifully dawned my stylish N-95 mask to walk the eerily quiet streets. I was unable to see my car from the corner that is no more than 20 yards away.
I decided to make the most of my venture by bringing my cutting shears & -with gratitude- harvesting plants with hearty volatile oils that I could find within a small radius from my home. I came back armed with cedar, rosemary, sage & lavender. Portland is really cool like that.
We have a 5 gallon pot on the stove of simmering water, filled with bathing plants- dispersing said oils, gently into our air, making breathing cleaner & more tolerable. We have a deal in this home during fire season now; whenever we pass that big old pot, we must pause & rest our heads on the lip, breathing in deeply for a moment before moving on. Highly recommended.
As much as I genuinely adore making jewelry, & the art of writing- for that matter- it has been historically quite hard for me to sit & write blog posts. I did research & found some key words to include in my post to enable my site to be more recognized in searches due to specific content. Is it cheating if I include these here & then continue on with the bones of the matter? Thanks for your forgiveness & permissibility. We're in this together, no?
personal jewelry
personal creations
jewelry box
artisan jewelry
beauty products
meaningful beauty
handmade jewelry
ethically sourced gems
American mines
turquoise jewelry
jewelry making supplies
growing my business
instagram growth
instagram influencers
ig influencer
rescue animal
I promise to write about much of these above mentioned topics in detail, but for now- my heart is heavy & I, like many people out west (you?) feel very anxious. It's very surreal to have to stay indoors, feeling nauseated & light headed from the horrendous air quality, worried about everyone & thing affected so close by, but seemingly a world away, etc.
Strange days have found us. I can't get that song out of my head.
Accompanying this weight is also an absolute sense of thankfulness. I'm so grateful to have a safe home, to not have to evacuate (hopefully!), a partner to laugh with, a darlin' doggy (even though he has inconvenient needs hehe), food, running water, time to sit & chill, & an infinite bank of movie options. Tomorrow I'll muster to work, but today will be indoors only. You can look forward to seeing a new website come out of all of this, so that's exciting too.
If you've read this far- thank you. I'm also grateful for you and I hope your lungs are ok, as is your home.
Signing off now.
xx
Lisa
