wet clay / wet paint / wet hands

i have been fortunate to be involved in a project over the past nine months that has challenged me to explore more deeply the ideas of inclusion, community, and creativity.  i can get really in my own head about these things, and it has been expanisve to work with others who live much better than i in their hearts or bodies.  this morning was no exception.

one of the artists involved in the project (not as a maker but as a consultant, like me) brought together several others (painter, singer, dancer....) to lead a handful of families (who each have a child with a disability) in an exploration of creativity.

 it was an organic process that started with some blank canvas

 

 and a menagerie of tools

 in a space full of past and future potential

for hearts, minds, and bodies

 my role was as a facilitator, but i mainly spent the time watching people's hands

 and taking pictures of those hands

 i heart these hands.

 both hands

 or just one hand

 and the result was perfect.

 a classic.

one potato . two potato

celery roses

 precision . satisfaction

 busy, busy hands.

 immersive painting

it's a whole body thing.

a sneak peek

stay tuned!

snow bolls

i like to go out the morning after a snow

to see what animals tracked across.

mostly, it's rabbits

hoppity-hop

 and birds,

though the evidence for those

is almost entirely

beneath the feeders.

sideways, so you can't see the terrible gash caused by a squirrel

 ready to help sustain

the cardinals, finches, sparrows,

wrens, tit mice, chickadees,

& random strangers.

my two awesome squirrel-buster birdfeeders ready for customers!

 everyone else in the house was banished from their school/work duties,

but it was a teacher workday for me.

i am perfectly fine with that.

gaining sustenance before seeing about road conditions

the snow was dry and crystalline.

nandina berries capture some snow

 i love the sheltered path

along the west side of our house.

exactly how snowy branches should look

 like i said,

we have rabbits!

it became very clear

which were active

den entrances/exits!

one was by the old tree stump

the others were side-by-side near the maple tree

this particular snow accumulated in nooks and crannies,

which made the dried seedpods from the Rose of Sharons

perfect repositories.

 to me, they resembled

cotton bolls.

 each little cupful of snow

artfully collected

to await the sun.

i have been nurturing

a blue spruce sapling,

which looked particularly fetching

under its dollop of snow.

a bit like a porcupine,

with its quills on high alert.

it's not bad, this north carolina life.

snow one weekend; sixty-degrees and sunny the next.

i'll take it.

now, where did i put my sweet tea?

y'all.

scrambled valentine

as i figure it, this is our twenty-fourth Valentine's Day.  so now we are free to argue about where we will go to celebrate this day of hearts and roses, with no particular fall-out from the disagreement.  we settled on breakfast out at a new(ish) joint in our old neighborhood.  it did not disappoint!

 it sits next to Hops Burger Bar

(which we have, yet, to try...always a line)

& used to be a restaurant called Josephine's.

~ now it is Scrambled ~

 apparently, the place is ideal to bring your toddlers & babies;

we were surrounded by young families.

and clinked coffee cups

to our teenagers asleep back at the house.

(we got them food to-go, like any good parents would.)

... mmmmm...

i got the fried green tomato eggs benedict;

he got the chicken-little eggs benedict.

...mmmmm...

fried green tomato eggs benedict

 a little fresh egg with your beer?

don't fret.

i had coffee.

& so did he.

Happy Valentine's Day

~ from my heart to yours ~