I don't want to worry anyone, I'm taking a short break from this blog, but I promise to return.  I started the Jaunty Magpie five years ago as a personal blog to collect all the things that inspire or bring me joy, (above photo being a huge part of that, which I'm very grateful for!), but I'm sad to say a recent and sudden death of someone very close to my heart has left me feeling rather broken. Right now, everything is tinged with sadness and a bit of pain, and I don't want that to seep into a blog about good things. I do want to share about what's happened, I think that conversation could potentially be helpful to others going through something similar, but right now the hurt is too close, and I don't want to make announcements before close friends and family are fully in the loop. And frankly, I just need time to recharge, rejuvenate, and find Hope again. So, wish me luck, I promise I will be back soon! 


Jaunty Fine Print: Photograph by Denise Sakaki

Negative Space:  A term in the art world referring to the space around a subject, and not the subject itself, which forms an interesting or meaningful shape.  

These images were taken on August 20, 2014, while cleaning our house after we said farewell to our dog Indy the evening before. 



It's startling how the absence of something has as much impact as when that something was present. Going through the house and removing all traces of our dog Indy was a sad but necessary task. These everyday items took on a completely new meaning without Indy. We kept her toys in a basket, in the bedroom, so that they would be out of the way. You hardly noticed them before, but they looked so empty and out of place without her around.