Lee Thomson

May 7
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

There is a new baby in the extended family, and I was thinking about him when I was working with these new leaves. They are very soft, and floppy and the veins are not terribly hard so I can’t take rubbings off them, and the printing didn’t work well until I rediscovered the fabric ink (thinner and finer grained than the fabric paint) and used that to print them. Then I found all the eraser carving tools and a pile of erasers next to the ink, so I printed the leaf on an eraser and tried to make a stamp from it. The fabric underneath already had the quiet maple outline on it when I started working with the birch leaves.

This is the birch tree I planted the day after we moved into this house 8 years ago May 2. Aerin was unimpressed with 8 years, since it didn’t seem to be a significant number. I was trying to explain that is the longest I’ve lived anywhere. It has been a pleasure to watch my trees grow. The birch tree came up to my forehead when I planted it. Now it towers over the house. I planted the dogwood the next year. When it first went in, Aerin could jump over it, and the bunnies nibbled all the buds off the branches the first winter because the snow was deep and they were hungry. Now no one can jump over it, and the bunnies stare at the buds wistfully. I toss them half-dead carrots when I am feeling kindly. They are wild rabbits – they are supposed to be able to fend for themselves.

My favorite brother-in-law is dying. He is one of the world’s wonderful people, and it will be hard without him.