goods and heroes

and now . . .

 . . . we're in Florida. Happily settling in at Grandma Franny's and Grandpa Bob's digs.

I went to the beach first thing this morning and it set the tone for the day. When your toes are deliriously happy and the rest of you is quietly zinging and you don't have much to worry about (even if it is only for 30+ minutes) well then, the tone is one to hold on to--one to go with, to carry around in the head and/or the heart.  I guess  this means I don't need much from the ocean (and I am not a snob, I will take any one that I can get to) just a little salty, sandy action and heels digging in and some shell bits and skittering shore birds. And toes in the water.

michigan magic

We spent the weekend up at Ted's parents' place in Michigan with friends. I've been so busy coming and going that frankly, I didn't put much thought into what exactly we would do and you know, I am beginning to learn that sometimes, that seems to be the best thing to do.

I mean, I certainly didn't plan on my friend Sarah waking with the sun to make a glorious batch of Swedish morning rolls. But there they were, all yeasty and warm.  They made every single person who ate one happy. And if you ate two, I came to find, it made you twice as happy.

I didn't even know that one of our guests is quite adept at a variety of "primitive" skills and that all of the older children would get to make their very own bows and arrows. Sam, who has been wanting to make his own bow for weeks, was speechless. Giddy speechless.

And I had no idea the weather would be so perfect that we could wander through the woods without a jacket or hat and lay around outside and make fairy and gnome dwellings. But we did.

Here's a close up to the entrance . . . Sarah purchased a bag of broken jewelery odds and ends when we had dashed off to the Antique Mall and so it was a riotous combo of the inspiring natural materials and the odd 1970's era hoop earring or 40's broach. We all agreed that the fairies would dig the shiny blingy/disco stuff since it was balanced with so many "cool" woodland details.

And here's the back-of-the-fairy-house "Gnome Tavern and Cafe" that Sam and I worked on, since he was having no part of a fairy house (notice the spent shotgun shells "legs" on the table, is that Michigan woodsy or what?)

To feed the sprite spirits, Lucy and Sophie made little acorns bowls and filled them with veggies and berries.

Oh man, for most of the weekend my kids were deliriously happy and I think the other kids were pretty tickled too. Wait--I think the grownups had a pretty decent go of it as well. We managed to nap, read, sew, imbibe various malted beverages, sketch, walk, gather around the table for simple but good meals, sneak in some apple cider doughnuts, and a run to the antique mall plus lots of time to laze and chat and just enjoy. Even the littlest of ones and the oldest in our midst (Charlotte and Daisy the dog) had no problem soaking in the sun and the ease and just enjoying the moment.

To me, that's the sort of magic that no amount of planning can make happen.  But you must know, I am sure hoping we can try it again sometime soon.

 

home now

I just returned from visiting my folks and my brother in Colorado. I didn't know what to expect since we had almost nothing planned. Well, sometimes things just sort themselves out in the nicest of ways.

My mom's health and energy levels were both better than I'd expected. One day I took her for some tests but the next day she was ready to go to her favorite thrift shop, called "The Arc." She spent more than 45 minutes picking out books for her grandchildren. I didn't rush her.

Then she explored the knick-knacks, then the children's clothing and then the women's sweaters. When our time at the Arc approached the 2 hour mark, which is about how long the oxygen in her tank was to last us, I had to play tough cop and get both of us out of there. She had a good haul (as did I by the way) and was certainly jazzed by the thrifty retail therapy.

My father, who has been "holding the fort down" as he puts it, was also ready to show me a few local gems. So he took me to an incredible show at the Sangre de Cristo Art Center, which was retablos, santeros and other carvings plus a collection of these gorgeous hand-embroidered "colchas" which depict scenes of ordinary life in the southwest. I loved the texture and the movement in them.

And my father knows very well how I love regional foods, so he took me for tacos one day and green chile the next at a tiny little diner over by the Steel Mill. Slurping up spicy, soupy green chile with homemade tortillas, listening to my dad tell me all about the Steel Mill and the neighborhood, well, that's just my kind of a meal.

Afterwards we hit up a local grocer, called Gagliano's and picked up some homemade sausages. I love this door.

Oh and did I mention we ate well at home too? The first night my father (my father who 6 months ago was only comfortable at the grill and occasionally making waffles) made chicken parmesan from scratch. From a recipe his buddy Louis "talked him through" i.e. he didn't have anything written down. My mother sat in her little room just off the kitchen and I stood at one end of the stove making pasta tossed with olive oil and garlic and my father did his magic with the bread crumbs and the cheese and the sauce. My mom later popped up and quickly steamed and buttered the asparagus. It all came together so well. So well for the three of us who have certainly never cooked before as a trio. You know how people are often drawn to the kitchen and just chat there while things are being prepared? Well, that's what we did. All three nights. It was by far, the most relaxing, most natural and satisfying part of the trip. The second night my dad broiled steaks and made baked potatoes, I made broccoli tossed with garlic and sauteed mushrooms. My mom, all 96 pounds of her, happily ate an entire steak, the entire baked potato and two helpings of broccoli. Oh and so did I. And on my third night my mother cooked a turkey and made stuffing and her famously divine and rich gravy.

My dad made mashed potatoes and my contribution was to steam some peas. We poured my mom's gravy over everything (it is that good) and ate till we could eat no more.

The trip wasn't without its challenges. Or little moments with things so completely mind-boggling that I just had to laugh or look away.

But it was a good trip. A really good trip. I am glad I went. I think my parents were glad I came. I am thrilled to be back home with my boys. But I am looking forward to going back.

family/tree

I leave tomorrow morning for a brief but anticipated visit with my parents and my brother in Pueblo, CO.  So I won't be posting for a bit, possibly even a week. But I am confident I will have stories and images when I return. My mother's one wish for an outing is that I take her to her favorite thrift store. I kid you not. And so, that is what we will do. I am hoping my dad will take me on a long drive up into the mountains and maybe we will see some bison or hawks. If anything he'll pull over at a little gas station and buy me a bag of beef jerky. It's just this funny thing he has always done. Maybe a bag of sunflower seeds as well. And I am hoping that me and my brother Rich can go amble along the river walk. Last time we were both taking photos of the boisterous late summer flowers like crazy and then we spotted a muskrat playing in the water. It felt like magic. For me, family isn't always easy but family is and will always be the most important thing. And the older I get, I am happily surprised at how family relationships continue to grow and change and put energy into new areas, and slow down in others, kind of like trees.

Take good care. Of your tree. Or trees.

little books from lovely design

Hey, check these wee notebooks out . . . aren't they fun? I discovered them over at lovely design.

They were created as party favors for a two year-old's birthday. It's basically a card stock cover with text-weight papers and a yummy strip of librarian's tape on the spine.

They remind me of Moleskines, which I was just talking about in my previous post. I actually prefer these because they have the library-tape binding on the outside--this makes them instantly more durable. The critters are cute as heck but I could see making a more grown-up version with just a simple image in the corner (maybe from a homemade rubber stamp?) or the recipient's name on a classy label on the front, maybe something like this.

Check out lovely design's blog further, she has a glorious space (you can get a sneak peek of it here) and creates some lovely prints. I am digging this Leaves of Canada poster. Oh, Canada!

eraser rubber stamps

I have a rubber stamp collection that is bordering on the obscene . . . and of all them only one is a stamp that I made myself. (It is a Catalpa leaf and I am proud of it and use it every now and again.) So this spring I am planning on going through the boxes of stamps (yes, plural) and keeping the ones that I use over and over again and setting aside the ones I hardly ever use to sell at the big Old Irving Garage Sale (at Sarah's house) in May.

That said . . . I am really digging this tutorial over at Geninne's Art Blog on how to make your own stamps out of simple rubber erasers.

In fact, I am just loving her blog in general. It's so refreshing to find a new blog, especially one that is about doing thoughtful paper crafts and provides simple and affordable gift ideas. How fun to make customized sticky pads?

And I have often thought that those plain Kraft paper Moleskine journals could be gussied up or personalized a bit to make sweet gifts--see hers in the lower left part of the picture below. Just put a little stamp in the lower right-hand corner and there you go. 

And of course, making your own wrapping paper by repeating a stamp is so charming and fun and easy.

I often use rubber stamps to make custom labels and gift tags. It's going to be fun to try them out in a new context. I will try this eraser action out. If it isn't too difficult, maybe I can host a crafty night (or crafternoon) where some friends can come together and we each make one. And then maybe play Bingo. Or watch the Andy Goldsworthy doc. Or make Joseph Cornell-inspired shadow boxes . . . can you tell I am craving doing something creative in a more collective setting? 

Oh well, back to reality, time to put Ben to bed. We are all going to the Oriental Institute tomorrow to do some research about Egypt for Sam's big presentation in May. We are even bringing along the video camera . . . so maybe we will have some video to share with you all. Or at least some still images of mummies. Hey, maybe I can take a stab at making a mummy rubber stamp? Hmmmmm.

atc, sam and me

One of the things I love about the creative/crafty blogs are the ever popular and free swaps that you can participate in. I have swapped candy, handmade books, vintage fabric, thrift store finds and kids' music cds with people all over the country. So I was thrilled when I stumbled across a swap just for kids of "artists' trading cards" (aka as "ATC") especially since I had given both Ted and my friend Sarah packs of ATCs for the holidays. You can read the history of the cards here (go ahead, it's a good story!) but basically they are tiny little "canvases" of archival-quality paper about the size of a business card and the spirit of them is that you paint, sketch, do whatever on them and then trade them for free. 

I came across the news of the swap and immediately signed Sam up. No questions asked. I mean, how could Sam not think it was fabulous and fun? How could he not want to tap into his own amazing love of drawing? How could he not? Well, I'll tell you how he could not. He could "not" because 1. it wasn't his idea in any way shape or form 2. he didn't get why he would be making pictures for kids he's never even met before and 3. drawing on tiny bits of paper because your mother says it is fabulous isn't necessarily so. So in a nutshell, he was NOT into it in any way.  But it was too late, we couldn't turn back, we had 6 kids across North America waiting for an envelope with a piece of art work in it created by Sam and each of these 6 kids would be sending Sam one piece of their own.

We gave him the blank little cards and asked him to paint something cool, something he was into. This didn't seem to be such a stretch-- Sam is into all sorts of wild things and he draws them daily: time machines, Ninjas, monsters, dragons, aliens, mummies, skate boarders, robots and so on. Sam grabbed the wee piece of paper, made a teeny face and drew in 2.7 seconds this and then shoved it at me, asking if he was done.

Hmmm. Not so representative of what Sam does (in fact, I'd never seen him draw a heart before, I think he was totally throwing me a bone and just thinking it might be the thing to do since it was on the heels of Valentine's Day). And in my mind, I was fretting, how would you like to be the kid in Idaho opening up your little envelope and you know, getting this? But wait, I muttered to myself, you Bonnie, are totally screwing up the process, not Sam, so just back off. We are talking about little cards with drawings or paintings on them, we are talking about 6 year-olds, it's not that big of a deal. So I decided (after Ted told me I was acting a bit like a maniac) to put it on the back burner for a week or so.

Of course over the next week I read several blogs where the crafty mamas went on about how their children were going nutso over the ATC swap and they posted glorious photos of their child's cards, awash in color and feeling and movement. Bonnie, I told myself, just chill out, even if Sam draws an X in the middle of card and calls it a wrap, that's what it is. And that is what it is. Duh, Bonnie.

We gave it a go again on Saturday night. Sam was still pretty chilly about the process but at least this time he drew in colors that he liked and speed drew some stick figures. Spending maybe more like 4.3 seconds per card this time. Progress, right? I gently asked him if he would like to add watercolors, use Daddy's brand new watercolor set and he said flat out "No thanks." So while he was taking a bath I carefully opened up the lovely blue tin tray of watercolors that I had given Ted for Christmas. I realized that I too have never really used professional watercolors and have always been rather intimidated by them. But I grabbed a little cup of water and the slender brush and painted a few strokes of yellow and red and blue on an extra card just so he could see how it looked on the paper. It was nice, I liked the way the brush flowed and the way the color and the paper worked together. I liked the transparency of it. When I showed it to Sam later and asked once again if he would to give it a try he said. "Hmmm," and grabbed the brush and painted a star on a few of his cards. On another he painted yellow into the blank space where the flames were burning. On another he dripped some red watercolor "blood." He wasn't going crazy for the watercolors but he seemed slightly engaged. Very slightly. He put the brush down, gently pushed the cards towards me and said as kindly but as wearily as he could, "Does this mean I'm done now?" and I said "Yes. Thank you Sam. Thank you." I then knew that Matisse or Picasso or even the Swiss guy who came up with the concept of trading these little pieces of art (ATC!) in the first place, never had an annoying Mom standing behind "just checking" on quality control. This is one of the six he made. It's on the minimalist side of what he usually does but at least this is a better representation of Sam.

I am sure Sam won't even remember this whole seemingly silly and boring exercise next week (at least I hope he won't) but for me, it taught me a lot about supposed good intentions that don't really take my own child's interests into consideration. You know, I did the "Sam loves making art and I love swaps and here's a kids' art swap so Sam is just going to love it and he will create something fabulous and he'll be so proud and I'll be so proud too . . ." math in my head. But the equation didn't quite work out how I thought it would. But it wasn't a total bust either. I mean, the six cards ended up being playful and colorful and sort of weird (is that a sun or a fire below him?) which is completely consistent with Sam's art. We tucked them neatly into little envelopes and sent them off across the country (including CANADA) on the very last day of the deadline, which was yesterday.

You know what this whole situation also helped me realize? That I have been wanting to play with watercolors for a long time now but was too intimidated by them.

And so today, while Sam was coloring happily on his own, with no direction or parameters or bloody "swap" pressure, I opened up my humble little nature journal and painted in a sketch I had made just yesterday (as part of a workshop I taught over at Kilbourn Park Organic Greenhouse). It was a blast, the watercolor on top of the sketches. The way the paper slurped a bit of the pigment and how the water mixed with the ink. Super cool!  Why haven't I tried this sooner? I wondered to myself. Hmmmm, maybe some insane grown up at one time tried to make me create some fabulous work of art and I just wasn't into it? Or maybe not. But now I know what not to do with Sam and now I know I am going to have fun with a whole new medium. Not exactly a win-win but not too shabby overall. Maybe I will even try my hand at my own set of ATCs! or maybe not  . . .