I Dreamed

I dreamed I was bicycling by a red brick mill building that was on fire. I had a big stainless steel bowl full of water held between my legs as I pedaled by. The air was nice and cool when I woke up.

Family Pet

Yesterday I looked at the weather radar map and saw the heavy-rain red spots were an hour or two away, so in spite of the dark clouds I was determined to take Lily for a big walk. When I got to Turbesi Park the rain started up for a moment and then stopped. I saw two small kids on the other side of the field having fun chasing a little dog and the parents were walking calmly behind them. As I got a little bit closer to them I noticed the dog's curly tail, and then its not-very-dog-like face. It seemed to have serious jowls and a stubby snout. The family was still a baseball field away from me. I yelled across the field, "Is that a pig?" "Yes!" they shouted back. "He's a potbelly pig and he's very smart. He loves to follow us to the park."

Mod Cloth

Vintage inspired dressed and accessories. Visit.

Why Stagecraft?

Read.

Janet Feder

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I Dreamed

I dreamed I liquefied a paper calendar in my blender.

Piece of Paradise

Last night when walking with Lily my neighbor came out and offered me two dozen eggs from her backyard chickens. I was thrilled. Tonight when I was walking I saw two wild bunnies nibbling on grass in an open field, unafraid. Also tonight a lady who lives on the pond invited me to come swim from her yard anytime, even if she isn't home. I appreciated her generous invitation. Perhaps because I am so protective of my own boundaries and solitude I can't imagine doing it even though I love the idea. Often I wonder if the pond neighborhood would still feel like paradise if it were where I lived. Part of the special effect is that I am a visitor away from my city neighborhood. I enjoy this moment of paradise partly because it feels far from my home. I bring a piece of it back with me when I return.

Loving the Water

The past few nights I have been walking Lily to the pond to swim. After a few rounds of her fetching the stick I take off my sandals and stand in the water and dip my head in and then I end up jumping in wearing my shirt and shorts. The water is so refreshing and cooling that when I get out I have goosebumps. Lily and I walk the mile and a half home dripping wet. Along the way Lily rubs her snout and flops on her back on a few lawns which serve as her bath towels. When we get home I dry out her ears.

Denmark Commuters Pedal to Work

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Walking and Thinking

The more trouble people have walking, the more trouble they have thinking. Read.

Rebecca Solnit

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The SAIL Teaching Framework

The SAIL Teaching Framework created by Bill Calhoun.
Have a look!

Woonsocket and the Arts

WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) - The city of Woonsocket is getting a $50,000 federal grant designed to help the municipality employ the arts as an economic engine.

Woonsocket is one of 80 winners of the National Endowment for the Arts' "Our Town" grants being officially announced . . . Read more.

Richard Diebenkorn

I found this on Trevor Young's blog and loved it.
Check out Trevor's paintings.

Notes to myself on beginning a painting:

1. Attempt what isn't certain. Certainty may or may not come later. It may then be a valuable delusion.

2. The pretty, initial position which falls short of completeness is not to be valued - except as stimulus for further moves.

3. Do search. But in order to find other than what is searched for.

4. Use and respond to the initial fresh qualities but consider them absolutely expendable.

5. Don't 'discover' a subject of any kind.

6. Somehow don't be bored - but if you must, use it in action. Use its destructive potential.

7. Mistakes can't be erased but they move you from your present position.

8. Keep thinking about Pollyanna.

9. Tolerate chaos.

10. Be careful only in a perverse way.

-Richard Diebenkorn, from The Art of Richard Diebenkorn by Jan Livingston

Brian G Fay

I ran away to the circus, but only to see the show. I was too afraid to join the people down in the rings. The tamers of lions. The fliers on the trapeze. The painted faces of death. Sitting in the two chairs beside me was an enormous man. He gave me popcorn and cotton candy. He licked my fingers clean. In his pocket he carried the book of psalms torn from a bible. He read them to me in between acts. Told me I was beautiful. You can imagine the look in his eyes. But you can't hear his voice. I keep that to myself. But when the elephant rider appeared, he began to cry. Silently. Just tears and the image of breath catching in his chest. He stared at her. Hard. As she stood on the elephant's back, he patted mine. Go home, son, he said. Go. You must go home. And so I did, riding an imaginary elephant, imagining the man's voice, wondering how I would ever escape the world.
-Brian G Fay

From a comment posted on Nin Andrews' blog.

Happy Fourth of July!

Photos of me and Bill with our Munroe Dairy Band in the Bristol Fourth of July Parade.
Providence Journal links:
Emily
Bill

Frederick Douglass

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle.
―Frederick Douglass