Dear Constant Reader,
My first spotlight is on an artist I’ve never met.
There’s a community on Discord that began as an unofficial place for Patrons of Christine McConnell to gather and discuss her projects, but it’s evolved beyond that into a community of people who love the spooky side of life and creative pursuits. One of the things that came out of it was craft swaps. You agree to make a gift for someone and someone else, unknown to you, makes one for you. You fill out a little questionnaire so the gift-giver has some idea of your likes and dislikes. I usually join for Halloween, but last year I signed up for the spring swap. It happened to coincide with Albert’s final illness, but preparing my gifts was actually a good distraction.
Right after Albert died, Scratch went to New York for a long-postponed visit with his family (and my deepest gratitude to the friend who went with him so he wasn’t alone on the long drive). So that I wouldn’t be all alone in the house with my grief, Betty invited me to take refuge in her boudoir while he was traveling.
One of those mornings, as I was heading out, there was a parcel on the porch and I grabbed it without even wondering what it could be. Once at Betty’s I opened it.
At first the sender was a mystery — apparently a note failed to make it into the parcel — but she was soon identified. Lady Kathryn had taken all the little tidbits I had shared about myself (sailed on a tall ship, swam like a mermaid, had a white cat, &c.) to make this tray. When I thanked her, she said she especially wanted to make sure that Albert was represented. She would have had no way of knowing that when she made this that it would be a memorial.
I was so grateful that a virtual stranger (we didn’t interact all that much on-line) had taken the time and care to make something both useful and beautiful which was so personal to me. It makes me smile every time I use it.
These writings and other creative projects are supported by my 19 Patrons. Thank you so much! To become a Patron, go to my Patreon page. Or you can just tip me if you liked this.