Shhhhh!

Sometime it is nice to have nothing planned and nothing doing. But is it okay to have a mind that refuses to think of anything important and a mouth that doesn't want to talk much. It makes me wonder what it would be like to take a vow of silence, just for a short while you understand. I'm thinking I will snap out of it pretty quick. Does silence include the written word? Oh, I hope it doesn't include symbols and drawings. I guess that depends on whether the vow is not to speak, or not to communicate. Hmmmm. I googled 'vow of silence' and found an interesting site called 43 Things. This site is a place where people have posted on things they want to do, and once accomplished, were they worth doing. I will think some more on this.

independence!

This letter opener belonged to a unique man, Edwin Stewart, my grandfather-in-law. If you look carefully you will see that it has been sharpened on one side so that it will act like a knife. Why is that? Well, Ed spent his last few years in a seniors home where he found life to be quite 'restrictive'. Each mealtime he was seated at a table with his wife and a woman who could not speak english very well, I'll just call her Queen Bee. When eating fruits or vegetables, Ed used to push his silverware aside and pull out a 6 inch hunting knife, cut his food and place it gingerly in his mouth. Apparently, 'the Bee' did was frightened by this action, so the staff took the knife away from Ed. Ahhh, but he pulled out another, and another. Soon all his knives were safely tucked away in a locked drawer in the nursing station along with various other household tools that he had been using in his room; his soldering gun, which had set off the fire alarms, his hammer, several screwdrivers, a glue gun, and some plyers. Determined not to be treated like a child, he sharpened this letter opener and used it in place of his knives and screwdrivers. We found it hidden in his chest of drawers after he passed away. I will always admire his independent spirit!

savin' the broccoli

Several days ago, the kids built a scarecrow for our garden. The deer have been helping themselves to our broccoli. They ate the tops off all my broccoli last year too. I'm sure they have low cholesterol and cancer rates as a result, but I was kinda hoping we could benefit from those veggies, rather than the deer. The kids have done a great job on the 'crow', now we will wait and see if it makes a difference. Watch for my photo of the deer right next to the scarecrow... I'm sure it will come!

art by Opie

The Native Art Gallery that I once managed has announced that it is closing its doors. I was sad to hear this after all the work I did there. Well, as most closing businesses do, the gallery is having a 50% off sale. I went in to get a little momento and came back with this print by Opie Oppenheim. Opie came in the gallery last spring and it was a pleasure meeting him. He is very funny and that is reflected in his work. This piece has a set of numbers in the top, left hand corner. Many people have speculated on what those numbers represent. It was suggested that they are a salmon count from the year the print was made. So I asked Opie what the numbers were for. "Oh, that's my bowling average." he says. Apparently this piece was never intended for reproduction, it was a scrap, a 'work in progress', but he loved the way the drawing and the casual 'chicken scratch' interacted so he had prints made. I now have this unintentional art hanging in my house. I am sad that there will no longer be a place where memories like this can be made.