The Colleen-oscopy

It’s that time of life: I have put off this life-saving diagnostic procedure for several years after my doctor started nagging me about it. Finally I gave in and made the appointment. Yesterday was the drink-gallons-of-laxative day. It was not as bad as some people made it sound. Today was the “procedure.” It was also not that bad. In fact, I don’t remember it at all. When I woke up, my friend Julie was there and (oddly enough) I was fully dressed. Don’t remember that part. (Julie also said I was repeating myself quite a lot, but I was in a high good humor.)

The only really bad part of a colonoscopy is the cost. And the fact that you cannot find out WHAT it will cost beforehand. But, as near as I can tell, this is going to run in the area of $2,500 or more. I keep telling everyone, “I’m having a colonoscopy instead of two weeks in Italy.” Sort of like, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy” or “I’d rather have a radical throw a rock at me than a radial keratotomy,” except  that, truth to tell, I’d rather have two weeks in Italy than a colonoscopy. But, there you have it, I did the prudent thing.

And, after spending $2,500 on my colon, I went to Goodwill and bought two fabulous tank tops for $2.50. One one-thousandth of the price of a colonoscopy!

Fabulous Reality

 

Mourning cloak butterfly superimposed on a wall in Charleston, WV.

One of my favorite back alleys in Charleston has this abstract “artwork” made of broken plaster and paint splotches. I took this picture of it on the same day, June 1, that I came across this mourning cloak butterfly while walking on the Sunrise Carriage Trail in Charleston. Later I noticed that the butterfly shape of the exposed bricks. It made for a fun Photoshop practice session.

Owl sighting

 

Barred owl, Sunrise Carriage Trail, Charleston, WV.

For more than a year, the Sunrise Carriage Trail has been home to some barred owls. I rarely see them, but within the past couple of days I have been lucky, twice, to catch sight of them. This picture was taken in late afternoon a couple of days ago. On the following day, in the morning, I heard the owl’s call as I ascended the trail. He/she has the same basic rhythm as a train whistle approaching a crossing: long, long, short, long. But much faster, and it repeats twice, ending on a sort of downward trill. Very beautiful sound.

Signs of the times

 

New Mexico

Vermont

Need I say more? VOTE!

Visiting Nellie at college

Nellie, Colleen, and Michael enjoying baked treats at Amy

This weekend was Parents & Friends Weekend at Mount Holyoke College, where Michael’s daughter Nellie is a sophomore. We really enjoyed spending some time with Nellie, and she really enjoyed our taking her up to Brattleboro to stay with friends Ken and Jane for a couple of days. We had some fun trips to thrift and consignment stores, great coffee, great food, and visits with other relatives and friends who drove to meet us.

Last day at Ghost Ranch

Rainbow over Orphan Mesa at Ghost Ranch

The weather changed, and a storm came up, on the last day I spent at Ghost Ranch this year. Most people were in the dining hall when we began to hear people saying, “Go outside! Go outside!” This is what we saw. It was the perfect ending for a perfect week.

Did I mention that my students wrote wonderful essays? I was so proud of them all!

Ghost Ranch in October

Hurray! I’m back in New Mexico once again, teaching a class in writing short essays as part of the Ghost Ranch Fall Writing Festival. Ghost Ranch, where Georgia O’Keeffe lived and worked, is one of my favorite places on earth, and also — as I learned from a large-screen film I saw recently — one of the world’s richest sites for dinosaur fossils. Here’s a picture of the top of Pedernal, the mountain O’Keeffe painted many times.

The Aurora Project: A new artists’ retreat

From May 1 to 4, a wonderful gathering took place in Preston County, WV. The Aurora Project, a new artists’ retreat center, sponsored a long weekend for eleven writers.

Michele Moure-Reeves, the visionary woman who has brought the Aurora Project into existence during the past seven years — nurtured an amazing dream, written grants, organized fundraisers — first proposed the idea of a mini-retreat for writers about a year ago. I had just come from my Helene Wurlitzer experience and was enthusiastic about the good things that can result from the gift of time to create. When Michele asked me to organize a long weekend, I agreed.

The First Annual Aurora Project Writers Retreat exceeded all my expectations and those of every writer who participated. We knew we would have time to write. We did not expect that we would have such beautiful living quarters as well as incredibly delicious, healthy food prepared by an inspired cook (Michele did that, too!). And, though I knew the retreat was near Cathedral State Park, I had forgotten what a beautiful, tranquil place it is: full of virgin hemlocks, wildflowers, and birdsong, the perfect place for a writer to walk and reflect.

Several of us stayed at Brookside (above), the Adirondack-style lodge Michele operates as an inn. (A few stayed in houses owned by Aurora Project board members.) We came together for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but otherwise went our solitary ways to read, write, and think. Some people curled up in couches or in cozy nooks at Brookside. Some settled on the huge wraparound porch. Some went to a picnic shelter at the state park. There was plenty of room for everyone.

In the evenings, we had informal readings and time to get to know one another.

During the days, we were invited to visit the Utterback Farm (you can see the barn in the background of the above photo) and the Old Stone Tavern, an historic building near the Aurora Project.

On Sunday, before we left, we had an opportunity to tour the buildings, all part of an 1880s resort community, that are being renovated to serve as studios for painters, writers, musicians, and photographers who spend time at the Aurora Project. The history of this place is almost as fascinating as the current project!

The Aurora Project will welcome its first fellows in 2009. More information about fellowship opportunities may be found at the Alliance of Artist Communities website: http://www.artistcommunities.org

Another bunny adventure!

I am off to Portland, Oregon to visit some dear old friends. A couple of days ago, when I realized that I was a few hours ahead on my preparations, I took time to create a new artwork. This is a collage of shibori-dyed silk (dyed by Michael Davis) on matboard. It is held in place by fusible interfacing from the fabric store. The artwork is about a foot square and rests on a larger (18-in-square) panel of matboard, only part of which is visible here. 

Hello, West Virginia

This is what Charleston looked like when we pulled in at dusk last night, after spending a lovely afternoon, night, and morning in Tennessee with my sister Michelle and her husband Scott. My town couldn’t have seemed prettier. Even before going home, I stopped the car at the base of the South Side Bridge, and Michael and I took my favorite Charleston walk up the Sunrise Carriage Trail. Dogwood and redbud are blooming. Daffodils are still decorating the riverbank. In my own yard, the trilliums are still in bloom, and lily-of-the-valley is just poking out of the ground. The red maple tree that Susie Wood gave me in the fall of 2005 has survived its second winter and put out many new leaves. It’s spring in West Virginia!

So, hello to West Virginia, farewell to New Mexico. And, for now, farewell to blogging. I’ll leave it up for a while, but probably won’t add to it after today. It has been great fun, and a great way to stay in touch with my friends, but this blog was never meant to be a permanent endeavor. Maybe I’ll begin new one in the future!

It has been a great adventure for me. Thanks for reading! Thanks for looking! Come and visit me in West Virginia.