I am very pleased to welcome my neighbor, friend and mentor Dandy to this space today!
The day I stopped by to photograph Dandy for this piece was the first time I had been in her room since they did some remodeling and I just couldn’t resist photographing that as well. Without further ado, I give you Dandy….
Smiling My Way Through the Day
Living in the woods makes me wear browns and greens; it’s all that digging up of rocks and being still to observe wild life. It has been a delightful quiet existence, but hermit time is now over. 
I am leading an exercise class and dancing with a new troupe. It’s time to bring more color into my life. We all have so much beauty and uniqueness to share, and the gentlest way to mesh with others (aside from commenting on the weather) is to simply **present oneself**.
COLOR: What colors represent me best today AND do I want combinations that clash or not? Clashing is always an interesting statement- one that I rarely utilize.
FABRICS: I love rayon & linen. Wool, cotton, silk & synthetics are all there for us. Do you ever mix fabrics?
As a late adapter, I have at last embraced leggings! God, I love leggins. But then more attention needs to be paid to socks and shoes.
I LOVE socks! My current favorites are tan with worms crawling on them. More and more of us are shopping at “Sally’s” and “Willy’s” (Salvation Army/ Goodwill), but they can only sell new socks, of which they have so few. So I buy socks at the best-in-the-world little small town hardware/general store.
ACCESSORIES: People who live in the woods understand that dressing up to go out means putting on earrings, so make that jewelry perfect for you. I’ve taken to wearing a necklace that jingles an enchanting tinkling sound while I walk, sending it’s own pretty greeting.
I think if we spend maybe five minutes before we dress, checking in on our mood, life might be more fun. Do my clothes reflect me and my mood accurately, or shall I dress to bring in something I wish to feel- “bass ackward” as they say.
Either way, I find that if you are AWARE that you are presenting your self as a gift to your fellow passengers on this planet, it makes for more delightful interactions…..a wee butterfly just landed on my hand as I write this; she concurs.
Note from Melody: I asked Dandy to tell the story behind the sets of earrings that she made for herself and her daughters….
When I was in the middle of child rearing, I came to a point where I desperately needed something creative to do for myself that used very little energy. I went to bed one night asking/begging for help. In my lucid dream that night, I was on top of a huge rock behind our house – the rock abutted an almost vertical cliff, out of which grew a lovely hemlock with exposed roots. As I sat on the rock, a small man around 3″ high – very grave, serious person- came from the earth beneath the roots of the hemlock. His wife was right behind him. They showed me earrings made in a book form.
The earrings I made are what the small man showed me.
Dandy is a 63 year old happily married woman with four adult children, who loves to listen to 100 year old people; dance with a dance troupe; and water big pine trees’ bark in the hot sun. She loves seeing earth spirit images in bark, snorkeling with her husband in the ocean and making forest paths to enable fellow humans to walk in the woods without ticks dropping on them.
A huge thank you to Dandy for joining us today!
What’s inspiring you this week?
I love the part about presenting yourself. It’s true that so much is about just that – and how we are feeling about ourself in that moment. Thank you
What a lovely post! Such beautiful photographs and what a babe!
Dandy is lovely! Please thank her for sharing herself on this space. And thank you too for all you do!