What have I been up to this last week? After I got back from camping I was home for a few days, mainly working. I attended a workshop about writing grant proposals, which was a lot more interesting and practical than I expected, so that was great. I went on a hike with my friend Julie, we did the same beautiful loop I did last weekend, around the MMWD land past part of Phoenix Lake.
On Saturday morning there was a No Kings protest at Tam Junction, the intersection where Highway One turns into our neighborhood. I went down to check it out and was pleasantly surprised at how many people were there. I would say there were at least 50 people, divided into 3 groups around the intersection, which is amazing for this one little neighborhood. It was wonderful to see people of all ages and races out peacefully protesting. I was happy that I got to see it and participate, if only very briefly. My sisters filled me in on the protests they attended in SF, Sacramento and other parts of Marin.
I spent 5 days cat and house sitting in Windsor. One day I took mom to go see a film about St. Peter’s Cathedral and the four papal Basilicas in Rome. I had thought it was going to be strictly art related, seeing all the beautiful paintings, sculptures, altars, etc. But there was actually quite a bit of historical background, which made it even more interesting. I could not get over the amount of gold in those churches! It was blinding. Also Michelangelo’s incredible sculptures, they just look so real, it’s amazing. Another day I met Emmy in Petaluma, we went for a walk by the river and then had lunch. It was good to have a chance to see her before I head out on my adventures. On a walk one morning I went by a field that was being mowed by a herd of goats. And one evening I saw a beautiful dusk reflecting on vineyards.
It was Open Studio weekend in Sonoma County so I went to a couple of studios on Saturday and Sunday, mainly mixed media artists working with fiber and tile. My favorite was a woman who does fiber arts, mainly wool, but also paper. She had some gorgeous triptych window hangings of tree branches and leaves that were made with wool and mulberry paper. They were way out of my price range – about $2,000! I loved just looking at all the fantastic creations, including some large hanging felted wool lights that were inspired by Ruth Asawa’s globe wire sculptures. Another really cool open studio was this woman who uses taxidermist clay to create sculptures of animals, and then pairs them with different old household items, like a discarded chair leg or an old metal container. It is really intriguing the ideas people come up with for creating art.
As I always do when I am driving past or staying in Windsor, I stopped in at BurtoNZ to get a sausage roll. I usually get a lamington as well, but since I was walking I decided to get an Anzac biscuit instead, knowing that it was warm and the lamington’s cream probably would not hold up for the walk back. It’s wonderful to be able to get a taste of New Zealand close to home. I also stopped at the local Tractor Supply Company near where I was staying, because they had a sign saying that they had baby chicks. I walked in the door and was going to ask the checker where the baby chicks were, but I didn’t have to, I just followed the peeping sounds. They only had two kinds of chicks, but there were dozens of each, and they were so sweet, just peeping away.
At one of the open studios, a mosaic artist told me that there were several tables at Cafe Frida in Santa Rosa that had her mosaic work on them and the cafe was a place that supported many different artists. So I checked it out on my way home and had an amazing ginger latte, very strong, just wonderful. There were photos by a local artist on the walls as well as other artists’ work for sale. I guess they also have regular music evenings, meditation time, and other events. It was a really cool place, I will make a point of going back there the next time in the area. It’s next to Julliard Park, which has beautiful weeping willows hanging over a man made creek and a stone arch bridge. It’s a pretty busy place – while I was there besides people playing with their kids at the playground, walking dogs and hanging out with friends, there were folks in the community garden, playing bocce, and an outdoors AA meeting. On the other side of Cafe Frida was an art alley. Apparently the area is Santa Rosa’s ‘Art District’. There were all kinds of great murals on the walls of the buildings in and around Art Alley.
Since then I’ve been working on grant reporting and a few other things for work, as well as preparing for my JNE meeting. I’ve also had time to do a bit of art work. Being inspired by the open studios I started playing around with felting wool and made a couple of creations.
I listened to a podcast the other day where the host mentioned that Mary Oliver always made sure to have a pen and paper with her wherever she went so she could write down any ideas that came to her, because if she didn’t capture them in the moment, they would disappear. I’m the same way and hearing that caused me to visualize all of these invisible ideas that are just zinging through the air around us all the time. If we happen to walk through them and we’re receptive they bounce around with the other things in our head and something is created, but if we don’t capture them immediately they are gone. Maybe someone else will capture that idea later, it could be the person walking behind us or someone on the other side of the world. Hmmmm