ASHLEY BRYAN: A WALK THRU 1152

     From 3 Hadlock Street, Isleford Maine a hamlet on Little Cranberry Island to 1152 in my neck of the woods.....my home is filled with memories of AshleyBryan, 1923-2022.

It's been 3 weeks since Ashley passed away. In my book he is "dearly departed" though the euphemism doesn't make the sadness any less. I miss him so! 

It helps that upstairs or down or almost around every corner, I have Ashley reminders.

From his treasured words designating me as as dancing granny....

.....to the signed prints in the kitchen.....

.....and on around the corner to the entry hall....

.....up to the top of the stairs, where the grandkids have access......

 .....and into the computer room.....and downstairs again.....

....to my cherished  "Stand of Dahlias" oil painting, which Ashley said, "Rang out to him of Dotsy.' 

Ashley painted those dahlias outside his home in Isleford as he did many floral pictures. I know because I have stood and watched him at work there. 

My house glows at every angle with his work. Works which I love because he is so dear to my heart.

Tears well up as I type.....what a friend! So easy to love. A man with a big heart! 

"The heart of a man reflects the man."(Proverbs 27:19)

Just like my patio heart rocks he shared & some we gathered from the shore of little Cranberry when Molly and I visited him. 

Words that describe him best come straight from scripture---He was a man who personified love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Ashley not only knew that verse, he truly lived it. 

Ashley Bryan, a man who had my heart!

MONDAY: A DAY OF MISTY MORNING MAGIC & FOGGY FUN

Text to follow----have to use wifi when I have it  But weather did not put a damper on this "magical" day!!!

CHOOSE: ISLAND TIME

Last week's phone conversation with dear friend Ashley Bryan ended with an invitation to come, via the mail boat, to "his" island next year for his 95th birthday.  His island is Isleford, ME, a small hamlet, on Little Cranberry Isle off the coast of Northeast Harbor, Acadia National Park)

His invitation was delivered with the "Lord willing" caveat."

Having known Ashley for 28 years, I have seen first hand how he treasures his moments. He never seems in a hurry. He always has time to talk with a friend. He says its because he lives on island time---which always has enough minutes in each day for what's really important---relationships. 

But....in his "spare time" he writes and illustrates books. Freedom over Me, his most recently published work, (2016) won Newbery honor for Children's Literature, presented in June at ALA in Chicago. He also won the Coretta Scott King honor for both auth and illustrator of the same book. Quite a year!!

Dec. 2017, Ashley's work will be included in Our Story Begins and next spring his illustrations of Nikki Giovanni's, I am Loved, will be published. Plus, another one is in the works for 2019 publication---"Lord willing."

Ashley's studio clock reflects his comfort with island time---he gets up when he awakens, eats when he's hungry, paints outside when it's sunny, gathers sea glass for stained glass windows, creates puppets from the day's island "finds" and always has time for friends! (And everyone is his friend,)

Come now, you who say, 'Today of tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit'---yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' (James 4:13-15)

Ashley believes that his time on earth is in the Lord's hands---not in a morbid or fearful way, but in a God honoring way! 

Ashley Bryan chooses "island time" everyday----Lord willing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY BRYAN!!

Dear, dear friend, Ashley Bryan, is 93 today!!

We have been friends for 25+ years---a friendship that continues to inspire and bless me!!

A birthday kiss for Ashley as hubby and I went to "his island" 3 years ago for his 90th birthday!

Today's morning "birthday call" to him ended up, as always, being a blessing to me---a real cause for celebration, as he celebrates life daily better than anyone I know.

As I was sharing that his birthday card might miss today's "mailboat," but that is was on the way, he said to me, "Dotsy, we always keep in touch even without letters or phone calls.....because you are always in my heart."

Happy Birthday, Ashley---you are always in my heart as well!