Where or where did the owl go? ... Where is she headed?

It's been WAY too long since I posted my last post. So much is happening!

The Susan G. Komen shop for a cure event went off without a hitch and Alice's Owl spread her wings and soared into yet another arena of the art and craft world! I am happy to announce that I did very well and was able to make a very considerate donation to the Coconutter Strutter's, and to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for a Cure!!! :-D. Thank you to everyone who came out to support Alice's Owl at the event and stopped by the booth to say hello! What an amazing group to work with! A special thank you to Just B-cause for putting the event on!!!

And now for more hoot-worthy news... I am moving!!! (Hence the posts have slid of the radar this past month...). To clarify, I, personally, am moving. Alice's Owl will remain at Etsy! The actual workshop/ studio space(s) of Alice's Owl will also be moving however!!! No worries, I move in a week and once I'm moved, posting will resume as per usual!

Moving... I'm not just packing the nest, I'm packing up the whole tree! I've moved a number of times in my life, but never like this! I've decided to move out of the state!!! The opportunity has presented itself on a few occassions and this time nearly everything fell into place. I'm headed to a smaller "land", but one I am excited to go to with fantastic inspiration and blog-worthy/ art-worthy inspiration! :-) (My first "trip" to explore resulted in over 260 pictures of a photo journal for myself if that says anything... and that was me being conservative with my photography!) In addition to moving out of the state for the first time (and doing it alone), I'll also be moving my entire art and craft enterprise/Indieprise with me! Anyone else done this recently??? I had NO IDEA how much inventory etc. I had!!! (Well I did, but packing it is much more real!)

I am excited. I am nervous. More than anything I've been so incredibly busy getting everything in one state settled and everything in another state started! I don't expect that to change anytime soon!

Another thing won't change... me doing what I love! It took me well over a decade to decide to do art professionally, to start Alice's Owl, and to find myself. I am headed out for wider space with just that in mind! The owl is here to stay, it's just time to find her a better home for her tree. This does mean additionally creative adventures in home decor and the like in the near future! (And more painting, but this time on the walls!!!)

In appreciation for everyone who has supported the beginning of my venture- thank you!!! In appreciation for all of those of you who have supported this next step, THANK YOU, you are appreciated and admired! And to all who come in the future... THANK YOU, you are what makes this great! I will see you all on the other side of all of these boxes and writing from a new home and studio!

~"They call me Alice"

The story of an owl who road a tractor to the ocean to make art... during a BLOG CARNIVAL!

Twice a month this owl joins together with creative, artistic, and imaginative bloggers from many near and far away lands and we go to a special place called the "Blog Carnival".  Along with us, we take our readers... so gather around, hold on tight, grab a flashlight ... this might be a dusty trip! 

Many moons ago (owls travel by moonlight...) the first public library was created, or built as some would probably say.  How many moons ago?  A lot.  For example, the first public library in the United States was built in 1833 in New Hampshire.  Libraries, and this feeling of history, are where our blog carnival gets its juices from this trip thanks to Deb, of Storybeader! 

For this carnival we were given the following two choices to write about:  1) what fond memories do you have of your public library and reading?  or 2) Peterborough is the town where the first public library opened.  What's your town known for?  Show us around!  I've chosen to go with option #1. 

As I said, this is going to get dusty!!!  My library growing up was, just that!  It wasn't that the librarians didn't take good care of it, they did!  I just imagine that being in the high school of a town that was a rural farming community, and where "Drive your Tractor to School Day" was still a regular event, the athletes would run laps around the building (circulating all the tractor and boot dust back up into the air), and... well you get the idea.

We (I grew up with siblings, and my mom) spent a lot of time at the library.  My mom loved to read and she instilled that same passion in us from the time we were old enough to look at a book... let alone read one!  March Reading Month was celebrated with the same rigor as any other federal holiday in our family!  (And... now that I know the first public library was opened in April, I'm perplexed as to how it is held in March... but that's a tangent in this trip...)  Our family was at the library at least once a week, returning books and checking out new ones.  I can remember the feel of the card catalog, the carpeting (which was brown and orange), and the order in which the library was organized. 

It was in that library that I first decided what I wanted to be when I grew up!  An Artist!... A scientist!... A COOK!... A Marine Biologist!  Haha... even at a young age I was open minded, and creative enough not to be stuck to one idea for too long.  I spent the most time reading about marine biology though, as I decided upon it at a slightly older age.  I learned what marine biologists did, I learned what sorts of schooling they needed, and the part I enjoyed the most, was learning about marine wildlife and "oceanography".  I still remember when I learned the word "oceanography".  In the latter portion of elementary and younger middle school my teachers probably wished I would learn a new word, and find a new interest... or that the librarian would show me a different section of our library. 


The other really cool thing about our library was that the mom of one of my very good friends worked at the library so I always got to visit with her when I visited the library.  I distinctly remember that she, and all of the other librarians always remembered my, and every other child's name.  When we walked through those doors it was if we were in a magical, quiet place that the world stopped and another world began. 

Thanks to my mom, and the library, I still love reading!  I love reading anything and everything that I can get my hands on.  I have not been back to that library in a very long time, but perhaps the next time I am home I will walk in, just to see what it is like, all these many years later.  ... ... ... Notice I'm still an artist :-)?  (I still love the ocean too!)