Home Again, YVR +++ 2012

George & I have this joke, on-going, about turning another corner, starting a new chapter. We have had, as many couples do, many of those epic [well, to us] landmarks.

Well, this trip to New Mexico had been in the works for a long time wanting.
We had been there last together in 2004, February when we were a brand new couple. We went to ABQQ, Santa Fe, Taos & San Cristobal, just as we did this time.

We retraced outr steps, but this time I had a big sense of actually seeing way more. That was wonderful.

New Mexico advertises itself as The Land of Enchantment. It's true. I was really struck with the esthetics of the place. So here goes. My favorite place images from the New Mexico 8 days. OH MY!!

You have to understand that this morning we ate out granola & milk in the patio of Los Poblanos @ 5:45 with moonlight caught in the big trees nearby. Trees fed by the Rio Grande waters very nearby. There was so much romance to the images. All.

 Oh, light & shadow, everywhere!

 This was really amazing: a place that specialized in old gas pumps!!!

 

....... clouds to die for  & textures or all kinds......

Here's another visual batch that I adore....

 

  sudden expanses

 

                                                                    sage & oldness

 

What a wonderful trip! I'm glad to be home, but also glad to have been there. I know I'll have to go back. Because really how can you ever get enough of this, or this or this or that!!!!

and       finally     you have to see     the pictures of us  THERE

I'd go again in a flash!!

That's it for now.

Textile work -- Doing New Things 2011

I read a book recently called The Happiness Project. It's written by Gretchen Rubin. One of the things she tried, during her year of trying various ways of making herself feel happier, was starting a blog about her project. This was a useful things to do because people who responded to her blog gave her new ideas and content for her book.

I thought this might be a good time to show a batch of my new work. In Maui, this winter, I did a fair number of striped quilts. All but one is quilted up by now. I haven't been a good record-keeper, so some of the images are before quilting. I don't have a good place to photograph here in my small apartment. Oh well....

These were the first three & were inspired by Michael James.

      

 

Russell in Maui helped me quilt these us. He set my quilts up on his huge machine & I "drove" it. 

He has a really big machine. When I operate it I feel like I'm steering a motorcycle. This one is for utility. I cozy with it at home. I quilted it up with Russel. We had to set the quilt up on his machine twice: once for horizontal lines, once for vertical.

This was the last one I did using all the scraps left ov er from all the other striped endeavors. I call this an ice cream quilt-- lots of white & pastel ice cream colors. In my life I have made 3 ice cream quilts in my life!

That's it for now.

 

The Sugar Mill

Yesterday Sal & Jobst took us to an old free library, the original library on Maui. It's no longer free: a book cost $.25. No membership cards.

The road to this place took me on roads around the sugar mill I had never been on.

Raw sugar roads, raw Maui roads, raw industrial site.

This is a zone of Maui tourists done want to go & don't go to see.
But I was riveted & asked George to drive the car while I hopped out when I wanted to take photos.

There's something terribly poignant for me about what we saw on this outing. The sugar mill is thriving, but its detritus is sad. All this waste!

So here's a sampling. Many trucks are red. These trucks are/look, I thought, functional.

 Since everything is Maui-dust-red-brown, any color really stands out. This #5 box is an excellent example of that. The truck behind it is covered with dirt/earth.

                                               

Wonderful buildings in corrugation.

 

 This is a good body of the mill. Lots of fresh air in it! Lots of dirt on it!

Quite a few months later, George & I make another visit to the mill. Now it is slated for closure & the whole zone has a deeper layer of tristesse!

Boxes, numbers & randomness & textures!! I love weathered corrugated boxes. Maybe it's the "quilty" texture of the surfaces. I'm sure I've talked about this before.

These boxes are now looking less red.

The Sugar Mill on Maui is closing. WHERE will all this stuff go?

That's it for now!!

Textile work & multiples

So I have been thinking of doing something about The Basics: color, shape, line, texture... and decided that MULTIPLES are. The paper rack shows a multiple of multiples!

 I love these yellow guys found in boat yards. 

They are used for holding boats when they are out of water.

A favorite collection of coffee & tea pots.....These flower kettles follow the theme&variation kind of multiple. Ah yes, these are like my eggbeater collection where each is different. This kind of multiple is more engaging visually, for me.

                                             This is a good example!

An array of circles. I've gravitated in that direction several times.

Multiples!! in variation. 

These are from a circle series I did one year in Maui. 

They are done with raw edge applique. 

There's one more in this series.

                                                                         That's it for now.

Neighborhood in Changes, ongoing

Since the Telling Stories show closed in December much has changed in my neighborhood. The Vancouver House project progresses busily & rapidly.

Most of the excavation of the pit is done, & now the pit is filling with the actual construction.

But first, some stories revealed & captured... looking down...

....a temporary home lasting 6 weeks or so....

...a lone singer with a mike under the bridge with no audience...

..someone had gotten into the vacant gas station & rearranged the hoses...why?

The fence had been forced open. I still want to know what that sign that is face down says!

I can see a new crane from my house. I have a clearer idea about what part of my view will be blocked by Vancouver House.

The site is whizzing. Every day I want to get out there & see new developments. I'm afraid I'm going to miss some drama!

Moving the rebar, several loads a day. I loved seeing that one of the rebar drivers looked like a perfect Rip van Winkle.

The Rip van Winkle driver... I saw him, you don't, so sorry. Too fast a glimpse.

There are also shipments of platforms/flatforms for concrete walling. (Plat in french = flat in english!)

New sewage or water tanks appear on Granville Street, for keeping the site "green".

Last some rough edges. Looking down from the bridge...a discarded sign from the project.

 

...trash around a bridge pillar & from the street level...one of my favorite graffitis = splat!

And this St George's School bus.... I'd love to know the story behind its presence here or the grey bus below. Someone suggested to me surveillance. Who knows! 

That's it for now,