Come back in time with me....and just let me be a Milliner

     Bodie Ghost town and Laws Museum are two places in the Eastern Sierra that to me, are magical. The remnants left behind from days of old are stunning. And in these places, so close to my home, lay clear and beautiful pictures of a life gone by. In an old An train depot is a room with suitcases stacked up high. They tell me stories as I stand there and listen. And in the gold mining town theres a tiny house with a bef and a dresser, its windows dressed with  ragged and torn lace curtains still hanging in the window, and the Saloon still has the piano and the bar with a mans hat still sitting on it, the shelves behind it filled with bottles of booze. And Oh...do I imagine the things that went on in there.    

      These places thrived in the mid to late 1800's, and often when I stand and look inside these rooms, I close my eyes and try to bring it back to life in my mind. And when I do, I know who I would be if I lived in this town.l I would be a Milliner. 

     I am creative by nature. As a teen, it played out by learning how to play the 12 string guitar and singing. As a young Mom, I found myself painting jean jackets for a family of five. I had so much fun, I painted more. Some of you may have one that I gifted you. Im smiling as I say this, because it was a big and rather opulent thing to give someone, so I'm sorry if you didn't like it.

     In another season of life, I made flower arrangements and wreaths. I gave so many of these away that I truly lost count. After that, I had an, "Everything Homemade Christmas," which will forever be my favorite Christmas ever. After that, I learned to paint. That was truly a thing between Hod and me, and what He did in that place is nothing short of a miracle. And in the season after that, I became a Milliner.    

    The Arts council in our California community had tea parties once a year to raise money, and one year, I made hats. I had more fun than I knew possible making hats for a ladies tea, and I remember thinking at the time, I could do this every day, and be perfectly happy.  

     So come travel with me. Let's go back in time, and pretend that I'm a Milliner..
   

     And even as I know I would have been extremely challenged by such a difficult life as this,  I can see my shop if I close my eyes. It's right down the street from the Depot, and I watch as all my ladies walk around in their beautiful hats. Would I really have been happy there, with a rowdy Saloon and gunfights? Probably not, but I look into it quietly and deeply all the same with the eyes and a heart that yearn for a simpler life, and I truly do believe I could have been a very great maker of hats.