I've not yet met my deadline -- and I was down with the flu for a bit, so this week I'll be scrambling to make up for lost time. I'll be back to this blog when my project is done. Soon...soon...soon...I hope!

In the meantime, please visit The Hermitage, a traveller's blog and website full of the gorgeous, whimsical, soulful, and thoroughly magical art of Rima Staines. Rima and her partner Tui are our Dartmoor neighbors at the moment, with their charming little house-on-wheels parked just a short walk over the hill from us. Tui makes music under the name Orla Wren, and I recommend his website too -- and his Myspace page, where you'll find some samples of his work (along with drawings and an animation by Rima). Tui spins threads of sound and weaves them together like fabric artists weave tapestries. The result is haunting, enchanting, and ... transporting is the word I'm searching for, as this is music that lifts you up and transports you into another world altogether. I've been listening to the latest Orla Wren CD as I sit at my desk in the early morning hours -- drinking strong coffee, waking up, getting the gears of the day in motion. Now my coffee is done, the sun is rising, I'm thoroughly inspired and ready to work . . . .