hurricane weather

September 7, 2011

Apparently the last Hurricane (Irene) made an impression on my subconcious.

Last night it rained and rained, I heard it in my dreams, and about 4 am I woke up convinced the river was rising and we should get to higher ground. I peered out windows and saw nothing amiss, but the echo of 4 am haunted me in the morning. I convinced the kids to put things they treasured into the car, in case we had to run for higher ground, or in case I couldn't get back to the house later. So I spent the day with Aerin's bassoon and laptop, Alice's ancient and beloved bunny, and my computer and camera. 

In retrospect, I think I must have been listening to the neighbor's noisy gutters coping with the aggressive mist, rather than actual pelting rain all night. A tour of the local rivers showed them high: the Deerfield was well into the floodplain but not in anyone's basement, the Connecticut was over Elwell Island and up to the front porch of the marina on Rt 9, but not creeping across the fields to me they was I'd imagined. 

By the end of the day we'd returned the precious things to the house. But it was an interesting exercise. 

kids, bassoon, computers – what would you save? 

senior pictures

September 2, 2011

Aerin senior pictures

We have to pick one of these for the year book. I have to admit all my instincts are to go with the b&w one, because it catches her face and intellect, and will print well and hold up over time, but it is up to her, in ways the entire rest of her life is her, and I am working so hard on that.

first day of school

September 1, 2011

first day of school

Long time readers (and friends who have visited me!) will recognize this doorway, although the enormous children in it might be less familiar. 

Aerin, headed off to her first day as a senior, which thought makes her flinch every time, and more awake than usual at this hour. We can't decide if this is our last first day, or if college first days count too. They probably won't be taken here, unless she decided to commute to UMass. You never never never know. That is the only sure thing with kids. 

Alice is headed into 8th grade, finally getting a chance to be the oldest in school. We moved her out of public school before she got a chance to be big there, and then she decided to go back to public school before the end of the Montessori cycle, so she wasn't the biggest there either. Now she gets to see what it's like. Even if she is the smallest, lightest kid in 8th grade. Al says she has the highest IQ per pound of anyone he knows, and we all think that is hysterical. 

created in the path of Irene

August 31, 2011

We're fine, thank you! We had a very easy hurricane, and I am grateful for it. My heart, and some donations, go out to those who had a harder time, especially those in places that were not expecting anything much, like upstate NY and my friends in Vermont.

There were a lot of people in Irene's path, and many of them were inspired to write about it. Kate Messner invited people to contact her with links to the work they created as Irene went overhead, and she would collect them together. Her page is still being updated, but you should check it out now! You can go again later…

hurricane dreams (another poem)

August 29, 2011

I'll admit to hurricane dreams last night

the trampoline took flight, the metal frame shrieking
the central black mat like a bat's black wings, held captive in the center
the whole cartwheeling itself into the neighbor's yard before flying away downwind

it looks suspiciously smug, and quite stable this morning
after its adventures in the dark of my mind

 

hurricane poem

August 28, 2011

 

wind rakes the rain in lines 
pointing south and west
the trees thrash but do not break
the streets are coated with water
that hasn't time to drain

and yet, we still sit in lighted and refrigerated splendor
and yet, the wind moans not
and yet, the worst has not arrived

 

still not home

August 22, 2011

t'row it over the side

 

The big entertainment for this morning was throwing the goose and the gull (and later the coot) decoys over the edge of the porch, and hauling them in again. 

the eyeball

August 15, 2011

Rhode Island Red eyeball

Finished, finally!

I'm on vacation for the next two weeks; first around home, then visiting my brother and his family, including the world's best nephew. I am known as Aunty Gravity. I get to be the bad aunt. This is really much better than it sounds. It means I can feed the boy ice cream before dinner and give him loud musical instruments for presents, and generally spoil him dreadfully. Which is, of course, such wonderful fun because his parents have such a firm grip on him otherwise. Honestly, the world's best boy. Well, except for whichever one you are closest to!

in which I remember all over again how much I love fabric

August 14, 2011

IMG_0015

A set of coordinated brown and tan hand dyes reminded me of how much I love fabric. I am grateful to the people who color it, so that I cna use it to make things from. I like the interaction of weave and color to make this thing that drapes and stretches a little and lives. I have feelings about fabric (affection, wonder, joy) that I don't get with other materials like paper or clay. It might be practice, that gives me a feel for it and then an affection for it. It might have been the other way around, that I liked fabric and worked more with it than other materials, and now I am just busy liking my own mastery. 

Which ever way it goes, or if I am actually stuck in some kind of feedback loop, I love fabric.