Of Sketching, Gardening, and Painting

My painting has been sporadic these last couple of years, while I’ve gardened intensely at our new home (intensity is a necessity on a half acre of dirt). I’ve wanted to correct that (both the dirt, and the infrequent painting). Steadiness in character is a good thing, I’m told. So.  Just as spring began in earnest this year, I promised myself that I would paint steadily again. One day every week. Spring does that for me; it suggests bright plans, makes grand adventures feel attainable. Plus there’s something about gardening (of course gardening! it’s spring!) that energizes the painter in me. Gardening and painting are a blessed convergence. And I while I believe that I can do this, paint once a week…I haven’t yet. I think I’ve painted two days in the last four (or five?) weeks. Still, two painting days in a month are better than no days at all! [continue reading…]

Mothers And Daughters

Happy Mother’s Day!  I know it’s late.  And I don’t usually post on Sunday.  But I had to pay tribute.

When I was five, my mother went into labor early and delivered her first son prematurely.  He died three hours later.  These days, chances are he would have lived.  By current preemie standards, he would have been robust.   She was very young; 26 (yes, girls, 26 is quite young). When she speaks of it now, pain is still present.  At that time, her devastation must have felt infinite.  I imagine her holding him those three hours, and saying goodbye, and it is too much for me.  The people in her small university community were very kind to her, bringing food and treats and helping with her three little girls. Helping with the funeral. [continue reading…]

A Pobble Has Toes, As Everyone Knows

Hi there.  Sorry I’m late again!  Any idea what a Pobble is?  On a whim, with faint remembrances of a childhood rhyme, I Googled Pobble.  Yahoo answered.  Doesn’t that sound deliciously credible? Yes,  Yahoo answered my Pobble Google (via a contributor named Ray G, who’s been augmenting Yahoo’s credibility since 2008 and has more than 114,000 points, making him a level 7, whatever that means.). [continue reading…]

Late Date…But Wait!  Refashioning to Dye For

(I’ll get to the refashioning bit by the end of the third paragraph…hang in there).  Last week saw the longest empty stretch on this blog since…hmm.  Novemberish?  Octoberish.   Ah, Every Day Bloom… for days, you were often on my mind, but too far from my fingertips (sheer crazymaking, if you ask me).  Last week, I had to breathe deep and let go.   Of all the things I wanted to do, but couldn’t quite.  Mostly because my legs are approximately three and a half inches too short.  But also because the options of what I could or might do arise exponentially from the few joyous necessities. [continue reading…]

Remembering Beverly Jane, Prelude to a Series

(Remembering Beverly Jane)

This is Beverly Jane, my grandma. Whom I love. This photo was taken when she was in her 30’s, a rather revolutionary time in her life. Her boys were adolescents (she was married by fifteen, mother of two by nineteen). Her marriage was conflicted, though ultimately, she stayed in it until my grandpa died. Now, she is approaching 86. Though her small body is still trim and mostly healthy, her mind wanders, childlike and often confused, and frightened. She seems more frail, and more internal and silent, every time I see her. [continue reading…]

I Love My Town Best When I’m Out In It. Particularly When I’m Taking Pictures.

It’s good for me, getting out.

(It would be good for anyone, actually). Running or walking through now-familiar neighborhoods and country roads. I love the views, this pedestrian aspect of my town. On this particular day (I took these pictures several weeks ago, before willows greened up and daffodils bloomed), I could feel the promise of spring in the air. I happened upon these photos again, and thought I’d post them…both as a final goodbye to winter, and as a tribute to my town. I didn’t want to forget them…I remember the moment I took them. Exhilarated, grateful for spring. Grateful for the sometimes funky loveliness of my town.

Tangent: Today on a walk with Frank I noticed a sign for our town’s first annual Junior Miss pageant. I was a little surprised…I knew that there were still pageants for little girls, but I’d assumed they’d been grandfathered in. That the last remaining ones are a stubbornly entrenched habit, a rut society just can’t get out of? Apparently not, at least in my town. I wondered…who starts junior miss pageants? This would be fun to research I think. [continue reading…]

Family Stories: A Brother Visit

Daniel My Brother asked if he could visit a couple of weeks ago.

Well, of course! Visits from Daniel, specifically at our house but in general anywhere at all are too rare. I assumed we were just a stopover; a place for him to rest on his way back to my parent’s in Oregon. We are in a strategic stopover place; guaranteed to house frequent travelers.

But it turned out that Daniel drove up just to see us. [continue reading…]