Dreamscape Jewelry Design

June 28, 2020: A Gift of Serendipity

serendipity-noun [ U ]   formal the fact of findinginteresting or valuable things by chance https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/serendipity

This summer will be a dramatic change for us.  While we do move up to northern Maine each year, we usually spend the majority of our time in the studio designing and preparing for all the shows of the season.  Due to the pandemic, these have all been cancelled (with the exception of a possible one on Labor Day Weekend). While we are understandably disappointed,  we also have decided to take advantage of this gift of time to explore this beautiful, wild area more thoroughly.  

Our cabin and studio are located by East Grand lake,  which is 22-miles long with lots of quiet, secluded coves.  Surrounding us are acres of trails through the woods providing open invitations to put down our tools and head outdoors. Weather permitting, we head out each day on foot or in a 16-foot aluminum boat seeking out what’s blooming and “being” in the world around us.

There’ll always be serendipity involved in discovery.

— Jeff Bezos

Going out, there isn’t any guarantee of what we’ll discover, but we never seem to be disappointed.  A tranquil cove led to a pair of sleeping loons; the day following a rainfall brings new blooming wildflowers; quiet chirping leads to the sighting of a warbler.

Once again, we’’re reminded of a poignant comment from one of my former students, “the more you look, the more you see…..the more you see, the more you want to look”.

Sometimes serendipity is just intention unmasked.

— Elizabeth Berg

On each of these adventures, I bring my camera and have delighted in being able to capture the wonders we see around us.  I love the whole process of photography and have been incorporating the images into framed prints and cards.  This passion has led to future plans for creating Dreamscapes: Visions of Nature collection. 

So while the future for shows remains uncertain, we are taking advantage of activities we can do that restore our energy, rejuvenate our creative spirits and inspire us.  It’s been a exercise in positivity by simply changing our mindset from perceiving this hiatus as a dismal diagnosis to one as a serendipitous gift.

What serendipitous gifts have you discovered during this challenging time. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Inspirational Quotes to Inspire and Share

What people call serendipity sometimes is just having your eyes open,

— Jose Manuel Barroso

Serendipity always rewards the prepared.

— Katori Hall

I always leave room for serendipity and chance.

— Ken Stott

One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind is that you have to be looking for something in order to find something else.

— Lawrence Block

You can have the other words-chance, luck, coincidence, serendipity. I’ll take grace. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ll take it.

— Mary Oliver

Serendipity was my tour guide, assisted by caprice

— Pico Iyer

The universe is always speaking to us… sending us little messages, causing coincidences and serendipities,reminding us to stop, to look around, to believe in something else, something more.

— Nancy Thayer