What the ____?
Category: Things
The Mailbox- Decorated by Anna
Sun dropping in the sky, we’d just come from another cookout. Anna asked if I’s take her picture with the mailbox. This was taken just before the sparklers in the backyard, posted yesterday. Tonight is the last night in Columbus with the family. It’s been a happy vacation.
Their Eyes Looked at Me as I Walked By- I Had to Photograph Them
There they were, lying on the counter in the front hall of the school. Cleaned out of someone’s classroom, but it so difficult to pitch something with a face, looking at you. Each of these has stories to tell I know. Reminded me of Erika and Anna’s beloved BabyDoll (to see 30 year old Babydollclick for 10/21/09 post)
“Ice Sculptures Make Great Gifts”
Who knew? I admit I’ve never considered purchasing an ice sculpture as a gift. But seeing this truck made me think of ice sculptures I have seen up close. Plus, it’s hot and humid again so the idea of ice appeals to me.
Do-it-yourselfers? You’ll need to read “Ice Sculpting the Modern Way, Joseph Amendola’s Ice Carving Made Easy and Mac Winker’s Ice Sculpture: The Art of Ice Carving in 12 Systematic Steps.” (from Wikipedia)
Last summer I watched an ice carver/sculptor whir a chainsaw, spew ice and find a dolphin inside the giant block. Ellen’s daughter had an R2D2 at her wedding, and Donna’s son’s wedding had a giant heart with their engagement photo inside the ice.
You sit at a red light and there it is- the thought of the day. The company lists themselves as the coolest guys around- more info click Mastroice on Herron Avenue
Looking for Signs
A few years ago I wrote a poem with this title. And after the rainstorm I was stopped on Carson Street, traveling west. Before Station Square. The intersection under the trains. Looked up and saw this unusual sign. Seemed different from regular graffiti. Wondered about the person who got up there and wrote it and for whom did they write this short message? It’s how I feel sometimes, driving around. Trying to remember everything I am supposed to do. Feeling distracted. The retaining wall is dark with rainwater.
Sunlight on Sunflowers
From outside on the patio I saw the setting sun hit the sunflowers’ petals. I asked the hostess if she minded my photographing her bouquet. It was a few golden moments of sunlight on the sunflowers. To see Van Gogh’s Sunflower Series Paintings click here.
My Bookshelf
What books would you select for your bookshelf to be painted by artist Jane Mount? Her Ideal Bookshelf paintings (click link to see) featured in the New Yorker last August 11 inspired me to put twenty volumes together on one shelf and photograph them. Anne of Green Gables was a Christmas 1925 gift to my mother from her mother and the Gene Stratton-Porter book was my mother’s. C.S. Lewis’ Silver Chair is a stand-in for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Most of these books belonged to my sister Mary and got passed down to me. Longfellow was a gift to my brother David and me from Cousin Paul in 1961. In sixth grade I had to memorize, “Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands….. The Beatrix Potter in French was from my sister (who signed it Marie) and presented it to me on my half birthday one January fourth. The Tiny Golden Book in The Naughty Little Guest by Dorothy Kunhardt. The Sunny Sulky Book opened two different directions with the good children and bad children stories. I loved Fairy Eat-It-All who came in the night with a spoon for a little boy whose eyes were bigger than his stomach, and he had to eat his way through a mound of food he had taken and not eaten. So here are my books from growing up, all on one shelf.
My Bookshelf
You tell me my old books smell
like a Goodwill bin.
Old dust and stick your nose in,
breathe.
The weight of them
on the house’s foundation.
My hardwood floors sag.
You say I’m impaired
in technology.
Society will evolve without me?
All I need in my life
is an e-reader not musty books.
I like the feel of them in my hand.
Turn them over, slip off a dustjacket.
See the author peer back at me.
The opening of the first page.
Or a slender bookmark to hold my place.
I’m sad they’re closing the store.
My list of reasons to read
from a page (or your preferred screen)–
There’s escape,
entertainment,
information,
directions-
maps, cooking, and signs,
travel or how to put something together
take meds,
but for me
reason number one. Two and three.
There’s my mother’s voice
my dad’s, in certain volumes
reading to me-
the escape I mentioned before.
And enjoyment. Sheer enjoyment.
I’m sure you can think of more.
Bicentennial Baby Celebrates Birthday
He’s how I became a mother. 1976, Fort Knox Kentucky. And his brother Matthew had the idea to post something meaningful on birthdays. I found the dented engraved silver rattle in a tin. I used to make things. Giant needlepoint baby blocks with buttons inside, I stitched Mark a States Quilt with all fifty states to scale, (Alaska and Texas a different scale) using a National Geographic map for the templates. Mark knew all the state capitals at age 3 and used to go around saying Sac-ra-men -to! I stitched a little doll that was asleep on one side of his face, awake on the other and made a pillow with pockets to put him in. You can see Mark wtih his grandfather in Philly, he’s wearing the blue and white checked overalls I made. It was a different time. Now he is married to a wonderful wife. They have four children. He’s how I became a grandmother. I am so proud of him and all his accomplishments! Happy Birthday Mark Joseph McGrath. love, Ma
“Walking to the Sky”-Borofsky Sculpture at CMU
Weighs 7 tons! Press release says it’s controversial. It is almost four years to the day the release was issued. Stopped at the red light on Forbes, the corner of Morewood. Saw the tapes around a figure looking up and realized it was part of the sculpture. Jonathan Borofsky graduated from CMU in ’64. Looking at it cheers me. Not everyone feels that way. Or at least they didn’t when it was first installed. And thinking about it and other art installations that stir controversy, I went to look it up. Great topic and list — “controversial public art installations” (click here)for other art that created a response.
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