Patti Edmon Artist

The candy has been passed out, the lights turned off, orange and purple candles extinguished, and I'm packed. Our plane leaves Lexington in a couple of hours, destination Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, to attend the Sunday wedding of one our long-time best friends. They don't have kids so of course they didn't plan their big day around Halloween and the Thriller re-enactment that follows, which my son is played in for the first time (snare drum). So, it has been an interesting mix of last minute laundry, costume details, and packing, wondering what the heck I'm going to wear to a wedding on the beach. I'm leaving a horrendously messy studio layered with Christmas ornaments gessoed and painted, in a sea of found objects, buttons, ribbon, charms, piles of images and papers, glitter and trim to finish them, along with the cards, collages and jewelry I'm making for a Holiday Bazaar - in two weeks. That's way before I start my holiday preparation, so it has been a...

I don't think I need to tell you that October is the official month that we take action in the fight against breast cancer; we're surrounded by an incredible dose of evidence - on blogs, in magazines,  and the volume of pink ribbons that grow exponentially each year. At least I shouldn't have to. Wouldn't it be nice if the collective energy meant no more new cases, that the efforts to find a cure had been successful?  Five years ago, just after a friend was diagnosed, I ordered fifty  pink wristbands from the Susan G. Komen Foundation so there would be plenty to go around at an October school fund-raising event. They came in just in time and she was heartened to see so many women wearing them in her honor. She also looked great when I saw her in the grocery the other night, buying poster board for a college class project. I've had a number of friends endure and most all are survivors. The smartest thing we can do to honor those special ones is to take care of oursel...