While Erika has been playing in California and Lisa has been in deadline purgatory, I've been home with a sick kid over the past couple of weeks. We wait for blood tests to determine what has knocked her flat in these halcyon days of summer, keeping us from doing things that give us pleasure - meeting with friends, picking berries and fruit, swimming in the warm sunshine - and I am deeply frustrated. Not with her, poor thing, but with the abrupt change of gears that occurs when someone is sick. Summertime is when people in our part of the country gather over music at the community center, and meet up to play and hike at the area parks, and swim at the local pool. It is when we congregate outside.

I carry a mental list of things that I want to make or do when I'm at loose ends. Yes, my house could certainly use a cleaning and I always love to bake, but somehow those things are never priorities when I'm feeling disgruntled. I need to do something creative.

Yesterday, I made a work apron. When I started block printing I discovered that rolling out the ink is messy and that I have a tendency to get ink all over my hands and the table - pretty much everywhere. Somehow, I always seem to be wearing something I don't want to ruin when I decide to experiment with how a block will print, so an apron seemed like an easy solution.

This is no frilly apron. I found a source for Carhartt canvas and this gorgeous slate gray (I'm such a sucker for a good gray) popped up and I knew it would make great totes. But when it arrived in the mail, I immediately thought of my apron. Taking my measurements, assuring that the ties would be comfortable, and that the pocket would hold what I need it to, I sketched out a pattern, sewed, pounded grommets, and unearthed the last of a lovely chartreuse twill tape that I've carried around for years. I am thrilled with the finished object. This will be a great class project, making it a bonus that my day felt even more productive.

The light on my 6am dog walk has changed dramatically over the last week. It feels like fall is just around the corner, despite last week's brutally hot and humid weather. I listened to a fabulous podcast this morning called "The Good Life Project." In this recent episode, host Jonathan Fields has a fascinating conversation with Dr. Alice Wilder, one of the "creative geniuses" behind "edutainment" programming like Blue's Clues and SUPER WHY. He starts the conversation with a question that he posed to a friend who had a rather remarkable answer.

"What is the opposite of depression?"

His friend's answer? "Curiosity."

I'll be chewing on that for days.

- Robin xo

The Opposite of Depression