Trees and angels appear

* Dear Friends,

It was a quick trip to the grocery. Saturday.  On the way home, at a red light on P Street, I heard above Rosa’s head (and mine) sounds like birds cracking nuts while flying. In a second, a shower of shards bounced  off the roof over my head and my poor car Rosa shuddered.  Then, I think, the light turned green. But I couldn’t go anywhere because a large piece of tree had crashed down on us. (In dry weather they're brittle.)  Shocking to suddenly have a tree on your head. At least, that is what Rosa told me. But this is where the good part happens: 

I love how people come from nowhere just when you need them. 

Before I even got out of the car, a man and a woman ran from the apartment building on the corner and lugged the tree off my car, dragged it to the curb, and then solicitously questioned me.  Was I OK? Was my car OK?
And just as fast,  a car rolled up beside Rosa. The window went down. It was Jeremy from our building. He must have seen the whole thing from a block behind us. He stopped his car in the middle of the street and persistently questioned me. He would not go until he was sure I was OK, and that Rosa was also fine.
I didn’t have a second to feel alone. So I believe in angels and sometimes I even know their names. 

Love,

k

* I haven't been a faithful blogger lately. Blame it on those few days in San Francisco without my mac.  Next trip maybe I'll take mac with me...

A day filled with beauty

Dear Friends,
Yesterday was filled with beauty.
Mary Kaye picked Zing and me up at 6:45. We dropped Z at Wag Hotel in West Sac (Grateful Dog doesn’t open until 9), and drove the winding hills west to a farm in Solano County. It’s dormant now; the owners, a U-C Davis engineering professor and a wine engineer (That's my kind of engineer!) plan to grow apricots. They opened their farm to artists this week as part of the Yolo County Art Farm program. Every month artists go to a new farm to paint, draw, photograph, and soak up beauty. Such a simple concept!
While I hardly matched the skill of the others, I’m sure I outdid them in awe. Most of them were from around here, but I’m not used to these rounded hills and flabbergastingly blue sky.
I got to sit where golden hills meet brilliant sky and draw. 

Love,
k

 

This artist brought sun protection

Weeds

Don't forget to fly

"There's always a moment when you don't like what you're making." 

Mom would say that when I was sewing a dress and I got sleepy and frustrated and wanted to toss it in the trash. 

It happens a lot still ... when I'm making anything!

At the beginning of this piece, the bird was the only thing I liked. I stuffed the whole thing in the closet. But the bird kept calling me. So I pulled him out and painted big flowers, and hated them, and more flowers and hated them (Who hates flowers??). Then painted everything black, then dark blue-purple, then .... you get the idea. Now I love it. Thanks, bird!

Don't forget to fly 

(last line in a poem by Al Young)

Mixed-media on board

14" x 18" 

Just a bowl of cherries

Cherries from the farmers market

Honoring scientists

Dear Friends,

This is California State Scientist Jim McCall. Yesterday morning he introduced himself to me and Zing! at a CA State Scientist Day the Capitol. He said his job is to track the source of oil spills. (“What does a business say first when there’s an oil spill?” he asked. “It wasn’t us!”) 

We started talking when I asked Mr. McCall about that creature in the bottom photo. "Is it a bird, or a collection of trash?"

“Trash,” Mr. McCall said.

Scientists like Mr. McCall were swarming around the Capitol; students were getting off buses, lining up to learn about bees and water and what happens to a gold mine when it’s closed. Zing and I are thrilled to be in a state that honors science.

This trash creature puts a "face" on the problem of pollution

Boring but useful

Written last night:
Dear Friends,

Today's most exciting thing was the HOA meeting.

Have I got your interest yet? 

No! 

Boring or not, I’m going to the meetings because I want to know what’s going on where I live. If Clark were alive, he’d go and I could stay home, but now it’s up to me. I feel like a responsible grownup. I even volunteered to be on the communication committee. 

Tonight was boring, of course, but useful --  and I did draw faces.

Love,

k

Loose-blooming orchid

Dear Friends,

Yesterday I made this pencil and watercolor drawing of the orchid in the living room. It’s looser because I’m using a pencil, not black pen, and bigger sketchbook. I hope flowers are blooming for you too! 

Love,

k