summer of the sauna/ animals find ways to be comfortable

Deezel panted and I sweat all the way home from our 3 mile walk this morning. I vacuumed in a similar state of discomfort. When I got ready for a dip, it was around noon and way too hot to be outside. At this time (1:00pm) it says 94 in the sun. A quick cool shower helped me be able to focus on something creative.

Deezel and Buck Wheat are in the living room. I turned on the AC for them. Surprisingly, Buck Wheat seems to not like the heat. Zeek is sitting in here with me looking for attention. Zoey is out; she has several places she frequents. This time of year, they're all in the shade.

Saturday, I'm visiting Lowell to see Quilt Festival exhibits and some friends. We're going to have "Lunch with Sylvia" at the Auditorium. See http://nequiltmuseum.org/ or http://www.lowellquiltfestival.org/ . Fabulous quilts, particularly the art quilts, ( at the Brush and Whistler House) always inspires me even though my art has taken on new form.

DAILY HAIKU 2009

My entry for today celebrates my attachment to Lowell and my fondness for the time I worked at the Quilt Museum. I even got accustomed to the hour commute. I went to the Quilt Festival. I traveled quickly through "Images", The Brush Gallery, Whistler House and of course the quilt museum.

I used a postcard of this art installation to show the dragon. It consists of plywood and discarded cd's. It's probably 15' long. When I made the entry originally, I drew the dragon. I was very unhappy with it, so redid it by cutting the postcard.

I didn't make a note, but I think the Revolving Museum owns this image.They are closed now, so I can't contact them for permission. So I trimmed it enough so the dragon can be seen somewhat.

familiar paths are

seen again quickly traveled

memories return

It worked well to curve the text repeating the shape of the dragon. I added a few lines to suggest the buildings in the background.

August 8
August 15, 1909 was the day my father, Robert, was born. Although he's been gone since 1993, we got together on his centennial to celebrate his unique traits, many of which are in each of the 6 remaining "children", as well as, probably in the 9 grandchildren.

He worked very hard when we were kids to feed and clothe us. He also kept and collected stuff. Whenever we needed entertainment we could find whatever we needed to make something. This was long before all the entertainment toys available to kids today. And I think it's because of this we had to be able to work with our hands and minds to entertain ourselves.

Working as an artist, I've always had the need to figure out how to do something. I like the challenge of how to assemble a piece. He worked like that also.

As a woodworker, he made patterns from objects he had seen and liked. I have a chest he made.

We sailed many times in the sailboat he made before we were born. He used a pattern in a book that he enlarged from about 6".

I constructed this oversized shirt in his memory. It has mainly patchwork . The photos were printed on fabric. The poem on the left side was written by my sister, Elizabeth, and she read it at his service. The left sleeve shows Daddy as a young man. The right sleeve has a photo of the seven of us when we were very young- I must have been about 7. The photo on the right is of my father surrounded by his stuff and sleeping in his recliner. It was taken by my nephew Joseph. The pocket above this picture has the last clipping my father saved for me about a Great Dane.

The second photo shows the back. It depicts the giant maple that stood (and still stands) in the yard. We played in, on and under this tree. I could stand in the crotch of the tree with my best friends when we were smaller and agile enough to climb up there.

I constructed the tree in many layers, machine stitched them to a piece of muslin. I made it larger than I wanted it and trimmed it to work with the patchwork I had constructed.