You know that moment when everything starts to feel like summer is on its way? The light lingers a little longer, the blues get deeper, and even the air seems to shift. This week’s color, Almost Summer, lives right in that feeling—the in-between, just before the season fully arrives.

WindHorse Arts features such beautiful jewelry that I remembered the place long after I returned to Pennsylvania. My earrings arrived promptly, in beautiful packaging. Alison’s artwork is unique - I always get compliments when I wear them! ~ Enza L.

Earth Day

On April 22, 1970, my mom, Sally Thibault, and her good friend Carol Anderson started Earth Day.

At least, that’s how I understood it.

I was seven, and we all went to the 16 Acres Community Library to celebrate the earth. I remember a raised platform, people speaking into microphones, and the flag my mom and Carol made. But mostly, I remember being with my friends, all of us outfitted with gloves and bags, heading out to pick up trash.

It felt important. It felt like something we were part of.

It wasn’t until college, when my world got a little bigger, that I realized Earth Day didn’t actually start in 16 Acres.

But in a way, it did.

Because that was my beginning—understanding that taking care of a place matters. That small actions add up. That showing up, even in simple ways, is part of how we belong to where we live.

And that’s something I still carry with me every day here on Vinalhaven.

“Hold your hands out over the earth as over a flame. To all who love her, who open to her the doors of their veins, she gives of her strength, sustaining them with her own measureless tremor of dark life. Touch the earth, love the earth, honour the earth, her plains, her valleys, her hills, and her seas; rest your spirit in her solitary places. For the gifts of life are the earth’s and they are given to all, and they are the songs of birds at daybreak, Orion and the Bear, and dawn seen over ocean from the beach.”

~ Henry Beston, The Outermost House

Island Notes

This has been a big week over here. I’m well into my kitchen remodel, and as with any old house—mine was built in the late 1800s—once you open up a wall, all sorts of surprises show up.

What started as a project has turned into a bit of an education. I’ll be spending the next week or so learning (in real time) how to frame in a new window and make sure everything is properly supported.

Grateful to have some good help along the way… and also learning that in an old house, “simple” is more of an idea than a guarantee.

WindHorse Arts store and studio are on stolen land of the Wabanaki people, a place currently recognized as Vinalhaven, Maine, nestled in the serene beauty of Penobscot’s Bay. I am grateful to steward this sacred land, honoring its deep roots and rich histories.

Handmade in Vinalhaven, Maine

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