Monet

Eyewitness: Monet by Jude Welton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first painting that touched me after my four-year incense-induced visual blur in the convent was one of Monet's Waterlilies, which I saw up close on a freeing trip I took all alone to New York City. I stood in front of Monet's dreamscape and, not knowing, reached and touched its texture with my forefinger. A guard zipped over and kindly let me know to never, ever do that. I understood -- this was a holy object.  But even now I am seared to Monet.

I got this children's introduction to the great Impressionist for a student I tutor. He was not impressed. But I -- and then my husband -- read it through and would be browsing still, but we've reached our nine-week library limit.  So much is here, all in snippets: sketchbooks, biography, artistic development. His glasses, with one lens green green and the other one blank for the blind eye.

I will remember how Monet dabbed with a wide brush to make waves, how he created a vertical grid of trees, how he brought to life the undulating underwater plants, how he created a pale rowboat with nobody inside.


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Silk Art at LeMoyne

I love painting on silk. I love how the silk takes color. But all I ever do is change color of fabric; I don't make pictures on silk. If you want to see that, head to the LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts, 125 Gadsden St., where there's a "mini-fisival of silk" through Aug. 31. See what you think.

Abstract Sparkle
detail
Karen Dungee

Visiting the Everglades
Edith Perman

Granola

Dear Stephanie,
I'm glad you loved the granola! There's not much of a recipe. You can play around with these basics. Here's a good online recipe,

and here's my recipe:

Granola

I use a rimmed cookie sheet, but I think a disposable aluminum roasting pan would also work. It just needs to be roomy and have sides, so nothing spills out.

Right in the baking pan, mix together:
4 C. old-fashioned oatmeal (not instant)
about a cup of sweetened coconut
about a cup of skinned, slivered almonds (I get them from Fresh Market.)
Add some sesame seeds -- I just sprinkle them over -- maybe about 1/4 C.
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together in a measuring cup:
1/4 C. canola oil
1/4 C. honey
1/4 C. maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Pour this over the cereal and mix well.

Bake at 350° until brown, checking and stirring every 15 minutes. Take it out when it looks good to you. I usually take a little over a half-hour. As soon as I take it out of the oven I mix in 1/2 to 1 cup dried cranberries, cherries or golden raisins. You can add any dried fruit. (If you cook the fruit it hardens.)

You can let  the granola cool in the pan, but it might stick, so I take it out of the pan right away and either spread it out on a piece of wax paper or put it into a glass jar. Let it cool completely before putting on the lid.

Every Love Story is a Ghost Story

Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace by D.T. Max
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I don't appreciate the novels of DFWallace. Maybe I'm too old, simple, or female. His work was/is cutting edge, complex, and -- to my mind -- testosterone-laden.  But I did enjoy the story of his life, even though everyone knows it ends with his suicide. That horrific fact haunts each page. Wallace was part of a team of rivals who mixed up fiction when it needed new life.  He was so intelligent that it literally hurt. His brain was always trying to best itself. He was self-centered and needy and addictive. He was mentally ill. It took him forever to grow up, but he finally did. I like that the book shows his dedication to 12-step groups, how he depended on them for stability and found meaning there. This despite his sophistication. This book also shows how hard he worked to produce a novel, describing how sometimes, especially at the beginning, pages would just flow, while other times he would  wrench each word, only to then trash wads of writing in the quest for his best work. It told his hard work teaching college students creative writing, reminding me of the three-layer response to student work, the comments for each in a different color of ink: first impression, style, proof reading. Worst and pervasively, the book shows the depth of destruction that mental illness can bring you down to, no matter how dedicated you may be to your own recovery, no matter how brilliant, hardworking, or even how in love you may be.

It made me want to write.


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Captiva Island

Early evening, looking east across Pine Island Sound
This is just off  Jensen's Twin Palm cottages, where we stayed last weekend.

In the evenings a manatee -- or maybe manatees -- came up for air in the water off the dock.

I think this is a spider lily. It's a huge plant -- at least 3 feet high.

The chapel
 Over to your left is the Gulf of Mexico, and behind the photographer's left  shoulder is the world's most peaceful cemetery, where mourners place sea shells instead of flowers on the gravestones.

Road to Florida: Deep Peace

Deep Peace
28" x 28"
cotton, silk, tulle, paint, machine applique and machine quilting

Road to ___ (fill in the name of a state here.) is a title for some classic quilt blocks. They say that quilters designed them along the way to a new home -- mostly going West in a covered wagon (like Road to Kansas). But this year Quilters Unlimited has challenged members to come up with a Road to Florida 12" x 12" quilt block. This is my entry. I knew no design of mine could convey the complexity that many experienced and are still experiencing as they make their way to a new home in Florida. This is my attempt to celebrate the peaceful beauty people seek in Florida. It's inspired by a Gaelic blessing:

Deep peace of the running wave to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining sun to you.

Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

Cedar Key weekend

View from Cedar Key's small beach

Storm approaching

Scallop season
Shells decorate a waterside sandwich shop
I heard a boater say scallops are abundant in the grassy flats offshore.

You've got to at least taste alligator, right?
I did. Once.
And that palm salad is the crunchy, tasteless heart of Florida's state tree, the Sabal palm.

Fish above door on vacant building

Fish can be ferocious.

Air boat on trailer on Cedar Key's main street