week 27 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:

One day a huge hot air balloon passed over our house – very low – you could see the people and details of the basket and hear the whoosh of the  flames. We  all stood on the back steps with my mother and watched it float past. It terrified the cat.

week 26 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:

I finished my painting of the little depression era mini land fill next to gingers barn today. It was a do -over – after struggling for weeks with my original effort I scrapped all progress and started over. I’m happier. But not thrilled. I’ll take that though – progress.

week 25 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:

I remember wanting the dollhouse for a very long time. I remember getting a full sheet of quarter inch plywood for my birthday, the hours and hours spent with my father in the basement on winter evenings working on the house and the importance of having a plan and measuring twice and cutting once etc, etc.

It had real wood shingles and flower boxes under windows with a diamond lead pattern made from tiny and  precisely cut strips of black electrical tape on rectangles of plexi glass that fit  perfectly into each little window opening. It was carefully decorated and furnished with things either made by me, purchased with saved allowance or  acquired on birthdays and holidays – every bit of it  treasured and wonderfully fancy and precious and magic and small.

I still have much of he furniture and little things I made – I used some of it for the bird production of red riding hood.

And here are a couple things I made. The chair is made from a mini cereal box and an old bathrobe – I made it with my brilliant Aunt Rita on a summer  I spent with her that was largely devoted to creating things for the little house.

week 24 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:

I dreamed I was standing alone, at night,  by the stonewall  looking down the hill to the neighbors barn and the moon fell out of the sky, in a long arc, like a shooting star.

week 23 in my “this is where i am from” year long project:

A very little bit of  progress –  a tiny  thumbnail sketch – something I’ve been thinking about. I’ll be back later in the week I hope with more progress and to tell you about the image.  I’m having an extra busy day and an extra busy week.

week 22 in my “this is where i am from” year long project: My father was not great at occasions- birthdays anniversaries etc. But one year for my Mother’s birthday in January he surprised her with a number of small improvements – little conveniences and pleasures. A reading light over the bed and lots of others I don’t remember. I do remember the thermometer – installed outside the kitchen window. Placed, I’m sure, to factor in light and shadow to offer the most accurate reading. I watched the thermometer carefully in the last weeks of winter hoping for 55 F – when it got to 55 spring was a real possibility.

week 21 in my  “this is where i am from” year long project:

Pine trees have always felt like melancholy things to me, one that felt particularly so was a down on its luck pine that stood (and maybe still stands) at the top of the hill that led down to the near swamp. A big shabby affair that whispered and creaked and moaned as if it needed to tell you how tired it was.

week 20 in my  “this is where i am from” year long project:

(click image for a larger version)