Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A Star is Born!

Looks like today was the day we'd all been waiting for.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a little yellow & black striped caterpillar feeding on one of the milkweed plants in our backyard. Every day, I'd go out to check its progress & watch it grow fatter & longer, until one morning it left its feasting grounds & was hanging upside down from a vine tendril nearby. Next time I checked, it looked like this:
I clipped off the bit of vine & set it up in its new mason jar home on our kitchen window sill. I could not wait for it to emerge.
This morning, the bright green, ever still, unmoving chrysalis had turned black & I could make out the wing markings of the monarch butterfly curled up inside. It was time to let it go.
Amazing! Godspeed, beautiful butterfly. I hope you have a long life & your journey goes safely & smoothly.

Baby M auspiciously wore her beautiful new butterfly dress today. What luck!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Itching for Completion

An evening at home, all to myself, and I had planned to continue with constructing some grey felt storage boxes. I started cutting the pieces & then hit some sort of mental block. It needs to get done. I want to get this done. But here I am, time a-plenty and not getting it done.

I'm thinking about felt, feeling itchy & overwarm and searching for images of Joseph Beuy's work with grey felt. Distractions.
Pictures here, here, here, and here

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Friday, April 10, 2009

Happy Easter

Off chasing the elusive Easter egg, with ego in full-bloom, as I finished sewing Baby M's rabbit just in the nick of time. Not too shabby.

Two bits

These past two weeks have had their ups and their downs. I've managed to have a few kicks & a few laughs, but more than anything, I feel like I've been endlessly toiling in isolation. I feel tired, bone tired, and the weight of all the unfinished things presses down on my spirit. I want very much to have more time to clear my head & work on the things that really move me & lift me up, but the window of time is often too short & the other more mundane necessities shout louder & drown it all out.

We are heading off to Dallas to visit the family this weekend, a very quick trip, but perhaps (hopefully?) a restful one.

Two things happened last week that really made me smile & blush. One, I won a trio of charming Ghost Academy cards from the excellent Crow & Canary. How cute is that bird card?
And two, Anna gave me a Kreativ Blogger award. Aw, shucks, Anna. Thank you! If you could only see me blush...

So, now I am to list 7 things that I love. How very good to switch gears & refocus on the wonderful things that sparkle & whizz & make me feel most alive. Not so easy to choose, but here goes.

1. Being quiet & alone, an all too rare pleasure. I think my best & clearest when I can get time like this.

2. Having time to get lost in intricate projects with no clear idea of how to do them, but to think them out as I go along.

3. Swimming laps is as close to flying as I will ever get. It's absolute, dizzying weightlessness.

4. Having fresh flowers in the house. I love bringing wildflowers & the humble flowers that grow in our yard & placing them in unexpected places. There is almost always a tiny, slightly tousled arrangement on our bathroom window sill. It makes the room so fresh & peaceful. 5. Watching a new episode of Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. Every Saturday night, we gather up everything we could possibly need & sit down to watch the newest episode on Hulu. I love all kinds of suspense/conspiracy films & this show is the nailbiting-est one of all.

6. My dear family. I couldn't imagine a more perfect morning than to bring our daughter into bed with us & all hunker under the duvet, lingering until hunger & the desire for a big cup of coffee lures us out again (well, not that the coffee lures Baby M out, the toy push wagon usually does that trick).

7. And finally, dear Internet, this one is for you. I love the Internet. I love how it makes the far, close & how it makes the flow of ideas become liquid-fast. I love how it has brought me together with people I had given up as lost & meet new people in places I have never been. My life is so much richer, brighter & larger for having this amazing resource.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Monday, April 6, 2009

Hungry heart, no more

My heart is full. We had the lucky, lucky chance of getting to see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band last night, and man, but they hold nothing back. I am out of words.

Will I have that kind of spirit, when I'm that age?

Images via Racing Squirrel and Mark Reuben Gallery