I do love summer. I love that my girl is out of school and our time is free for the most part for her to play with her friends or for us to enjoy special time together. Time for the garden and to cook to meet friends at the park to ride bikes, free to hang out and make art.
Yesterday, we drove twenty minutes North to our friend, Auntie J's beautiful acreage and home and if you could see me I'd be drooling...new art/writing studio her partner built for her. This wonderful friend I've known for years. We worked together and used to dream daily of what we'd do if we weren't working a 9-5 job. We'd lost touch once I'd moved and left the college where we worked. But last year in the cracker aisle of our Food Coop, there she was and in an instant we reconnected. We have walked together miles now along the water here and up around her place and talked volumes I'm sure.
Though I always felt close to her then, I do more so now. She has gotten to know my girl quite well and between them is their own sweet connection. That I love. We poked through her gardens admiring beautiful flowers and vegetables on the rise and then lingered for awhile in her magical art studio drinking tea and looking at books on floorcloths. I never knew about floorcloths until yesterday. Our friend Auntie J asked my girl to design a floorcloth for her so that her beautiful wood floors will be protected from wet clay she uses for creating sculptures. I could see in my girls eyes amazement she was asked to design the piece. I could feel her inside thinking "me, you mean me?" My girl will draw a picture on square piece of paper and Auntie J will copy that and enlarge it and then reproduce the image onto the floorcloth. So excited for the task and opportunity, my girl got started drawing right away.
While at the farm, we also met Auntie J's partner's daughter Darby who designs candle holders made from reclaimed wood. This is the start of a piece:
Please check out "redbarnwoodworks.com" to see a line of finished projects. The site is under construction but you can still get a snapshot of her beautiful works.
Following our visit to the farm, we head to one of our favorite parks by the water to meet some friends for biking. The girls rode free for an hour or so while us mamas visited.
A great summer day this Monday was. We're off now for a couple of weeks to visit my family in Colorado. We're roadripping it there and back and as I am able to plug in I'll post a few short pieces on the journey or whatever else.
I love a roadtrip. I invest a few dollars or more in plenty of books and books on tape and art supplies for our days on the road. We have to drive fairly quickly there so that the Papa can attend a class on renewable energy but I hope for a slower drive back through Montana and Wyoming or wherever else we feel the pull to see.
Here's to the start of Summer!
Hooray for summer!!! We have one more week of school to go!
Posted by: Mary Smith | June 17, 2009 at 08:11 PM