6.30.2010: day 126

I've walked by this pile of bamboo several times (I like its textures and sturdiness and lightness) and every time, I think: I should make something with bamboo. There's a tremendous amount of it around campus. Maybe my 3D students could do a project with it... Hmmm...
Thinking of bamboo, have you see Big Bambú at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC?
I haven't yet, but would like to...

6.29.2010: day 125

The clouds! They've been knocking me out lately!

6.28.2010: day 124

Because my campsite was underwater, I decided to get a room last night. Julie's Cafe and Motel was right next to the park entrance. Simple and cute.

After I collected the waterlogged gear, I stopped by Eagle Tower to have a little look see around Green Bay.

6.27.2010: day 123

As we headed out to get some dinner and go to a drive-in movie, it looked like it was about to rain. The sun setting over the bay was beautiful. And then it started pouring. We decided to check on my campsite, about 15 min away. Before we got there, the rain stopped and we saw a rainbow right near Horseshoe Island (where we kayaked earlier). The cloud formations were amazing...The shift from white to yellow to violet stunning...
(Oh, and my tent was in the middle of a lagoon and everything inside was soaked... Oh well. Off to the movie!)

At the Drive In.


(p.s. This is what my campsite looked like:)

6.26.2010: day 122

Aunt Nancy and I went around the bend to get some breakfast before the festivities.
This was the view outside the restaurant.
A bit later, I practiced the poem I was supposed to read at the ceremony. By the time I stood up and made my way to the bride and groom, I could barely hold it together, let alone speak. So, I asked everyone for help, which they very kindly gave, and I umm...conducted...yeah... It was lovely, although unintended.

Here's the poem, by the way:

Coming Home
by Mary Oliver

When we're driving, in the dark,
on the long road
to Providencetown, which lies empty
for miles, when we're weary,
when the buildings
and the scrub pine lose
their familiar look,
I imagine us rising
from the speeding car,
I imagine us seeing
everything from another place -- the top
of one of the pale dunes
or the deep and nameless
fields of the sea --
and what we see is the world
that cannot cherish us
but which we cherish,
and what we see is our life
moving like that,
along the dark edges
of everything -- the headlights
like lanterns
sweeping the blackness --
believing in a thousand
fragile and unprovable things,
looking out for sorry,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping
barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me.

After the wedding, the photographer, the wedding party, and a few others, drove around for some photo opps. At one point, V set her bouquet on the rocks.

Celebrating with a little YMCA.

6.25.2010: day 121

I camped in Peninsula State Park last night. I woke up around 4am to the birds playing telephone (really loudly...) I went back to sleep until about 6:30am and laid there for a bit watching a daddy long legs skitter around on the outside of the tent. Lovely morning.

The view along Shore Road in the park. (This is Green Bay.)

Driving to the chapel for the rehearsal, I saw this ice cream place. Isn't the name cute?

Inside Bjorklunden chapel.

6.24.2010: day 120

I flew to Wisconsin for my friends' wedding. This is at the Milwaukee airport. It was quite a day, and the signage made me chuckle.

I was originally supposed to fly into Green Bay, via Detroit. When I arrived at DTW, I promptly found out my connecting flight had been canceled, and of course all remaining (4) flights were booked solid. I thought it was kind of silly to wait until the next day to fly out, like the airline tried to have me do. So, I convinced them to fly me to Milwaukee instead. Unfortunately, they wouldn't fly me to Green Bay from there (I do remember a time when they would book you on other airline's flights to get you to your destination...
no such luck today...)

So, then, ticket in hand for Milwaukee, I realized it wasn't quite as straightforward as I had thought to get to Green Bay. Changing my rental car was going to cost me $750. Renting a car to drive to Green Bay, an hour and a half away: $250.

And, the saga continues...
I flew to Milwaukee. When I arrived, I heard from my friends that one of their aunts was stranded there because part of the family was stuck on the tarmac in Philadelphia (for hours...) I ran around still trying to figure out how to get to Green Bay: Taking a shuttle or taxi: $250. A one-way flight: $61 incl. tax. So, there you have it. In the meantime, I paged Aunt Nancy to the information kiosk. When she showed up, I introduced myself and filled her in on what I was planning. So, she came along, and we flew to Green Bay, picked up my rental car, and drove up to Door County. Phew! Mission finally accomplished!

6.23.2010: day 119

It is H.O.T. here...we're hovering somewhere around 100.
I don't think these guys mind much, though.

6.22.2010: day 118

Bathroom bug.

6.21.2010: day 117

Up, up, and away! And so...summer 2010 officially began today. I celebrated this evening by relaxing on my porch with a rocket pop.

6.20.2010: day 116

Heehee... I went shoe shopping this weekend...

6.19.2010: day 115

Sing it with me... Color, color, coolooooorrrful bloooooms at the Faaaaarmer's Market.

6.18.2010: day 114

The deepening blue.

6.17.2010: day 113

Two things. I like how, as you pass by a puddle, you can see the sky reflected in it. It reminded me of the disorientation of walking around with a mirror as a kid, periscope-like, seeing what was behind me. Back is front, up is down is up.

And, this is what caused me to pause in the first place this evening: Noticing how at the end of a hot day, as I walk across the pavement the heat rises and is palpable on my feet, my calves, and then dissipates... a low-level heat wave. I am in two temperature zones at once.

6.16.2010: day 112

Bottled rocks...rather than bottle rockets...
When I was a kid, around Fourth of July, my dad, brother, and I, would shoot bottle rockets out over the water from my grandma's deck. Seems like we did that for years...
(These rocks are not quite that noisy, nor do they blast into space, at least not yet.)

6.15.2010: day 111

Oh...oh... what am I going to take a photo of tonight...oh...shoot...ok...me...
Here's lookin' at you.

6.14.2010: day 110

The world of styrofoam...is very.... squeaky...

Offended, Styromonster had no comment...

6.13.2010: day 109

Test in progress. The white ones glow the best, of course.

6.12.2010: day 108

Farmer's Market. Linen and straw hat pair talking to the lavender vendor, who was also wearing a straw hat.

6.11.2010: day 107

A lovely, temperate day. Warm, but not too humid, with a slight breeze. The little palm tree rustling lightly in the sun.

I've been considering getting a new tattoo, and think it will be a phoenix. And, when I looked at the palm shadows, saw one, right there in front of me.

6.10.2010: day 106

Pitchforks.

6.9.2010: day 105

Still life with apple.

6.8.2010: day 104

A little sgraffito under wraps.

One of the funky tiles I made today. Oil rig. (And I just noticed that the newspaper headline next to the tile states: Crowd Control. Unfortunately, catastrophically, true in oh-so-many ways.)

6.7.2010: day 103

I was looking at the dead things in my summer classroom again this morning--these little guys have been bottled up since 1962! I was inspecting all the amazing patterns on them. They remind me of the water from yesterday. Makes sense, I s'pose.

6.6.2010: day 102

It was hot, hot, hot. Taking a little dip in the pool was wonderful.

6.5.2010: day 101

Another sojourn to the Farmer's Market.

6.4.2010: day 100

Soupy self-portrait (upside down and headless, but that's my green shirt.)
I finally got around to making borscht. Yum.

6.3.2010: day 99

Mmm...cherry goodness.

(And, then I happened upon this poem.)

Ripeness

by Jane Hirshfield

Ripeness is
what falls away with ease.
Not only the heavy apple,
the pear,
but also the dried brown strands
of autumn iris from their core.

To let your body
love this world
that gave itself to your care
in all of its ripeness,
with ease,
and will take itself from you
in equal ripeness and ease,
is also harvest.

And however sharply
you are tested--
this sorrow, that great love--
it too will leave on that clean knife.


(from Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation edited by Roger Housden, p.71)

6.2.2010: day 98

This little guy visited my class this morning. He hitched a ride on a magnolia. We chatted awhile, and then he was released back into the wild. His shell was translucent on one side, and he had little knobbly feelers. Cute little guy.

6.1.2010: day 97

I look at this patched area on my bathroom wall and keep thinking I see a little face. But, maybe it's because it's right next to this fleur de lis shower curtain. I keep looking for faces in that, too... (and no, it's not a mental illness...) Can't you see eyeballs, a nose, and a mouth or moustache/goatee?