Omens, Idiosyncrasies and casual blessings

I can't tell you how many years I have been searching for this elusive thang I call "energy". Within 2 weeks on Fogo Island I met more creative people than I have met in the 8 years of living in Mytown. I would run into them in the grocery store, the ferry dock,a lecture, a restaurant, on a hike. I am almost certain I can name 20 people I became familiar with in those 2 weeks. Like all born Newfoundlanders, I too contacted a virus and want to return next summer. I had every intention of teaching my class on Fogo and then renting a car to see a bit of The Rock. No cars available and lucky me had Peggy and Sarah of Fogo Island Clay offer me a room to stay on Fogo for the week. A couple of students in my class Fraser and Lee offered up their Toyota PU for the week. We connected on many levels hiking,kayaking, dining, potting, and they took me to sea to Little Fogo Island a dreamy deserted island home to thousands of puffins. I really have never felt as comfortable in a place in my entire life. The air, the sea, the rocks,but mostly the people of Fogo. Everyone is a maker. A maker of food, of quilts, of nets, outbuildings, and ART. An omen is believed to tell the future signifying change. Was it an omen that I got stuck there or was it just another casual blessing that was sent my way via The Universe? I know this trip has changed me. Time will tell just how much. I haven't been home a day and I miss the smell of the sea, the physical space and the new friends I made. I have to go to my basement to make pots tomorrow. Wonder how much different would be my work if I looked out over the crashing waves on the rocky shore or the mirror like water on a windless day? Physical space is important. A friend asked me what my idiosychrasies were. I said I didn't have any! I lied!! I love people. I love creative people. I love smart people. I love

working people. That so many of these people opened their arms to me had my eyes sparkling and my heart full. I posted alot of pics on Instagram of the Island. This post will just center on my new quilt which will keep the memory of Fogo in my mind and heart until I return and I will. This papered pieced batik quilt I bought from Dale and her husband Abel the fisherman. It is made by Rita Penney of Seldom Come By Chance. It is a piece of Art that I can wrap myself in and dream of my return. Fogo Island is far from far away and hard to get to. It may be the reason it is fast becoming an Artist's Colony full of energy.