Random Thoughts

I wrote a couple of years ago about being a person who STOPS. Stops for lemonade stands.   Stops for mariachi bands practicing unexpectedly in parking lots.   Stops for wicker love seats left on the side of the road that just need a little tender loving care and a new home. I am happy to be a person who stops.   It feels like who I AM.   It is an integral part of what makes me me . And look, I am not staying that ME is any better than anyone else .   It is just that I have been reminded all day today how the rest of the world, at least the people who pass the Big Yellow House, are not like me.   And I find it so strange. It has been months since I did a “front gate project” – a term I coined for “events” I plan and put up on our front gate.   (And it is literally now GATE and not gate S , because we still only have one front gate since the unfortunate “car runs into house” episode that happened last October…) Anyway, I h...

Inspiration, Beauty, and Joy On April 7, 2013 I began a project.  I don’t consider myself an artist really, yet this felt like art, performance art of a sort. The idea came to me one afternoon.  I wanted to see through other people’s eyes.  To narrow the focus, I wanted to see inspiration, beauty, and joy as other people saw it.  My method:  cameras.   I hopped on Freecycle and within a few hours I had two working digital cameras that I was not afraid to abuse.  A trip to Home Depot and we brought home long, thin wire and small metal ferrules (crimps) to secure them.  2 pieces of paper, some watercolor paints, plastic covers and voila – I was ready to go.  My system:  leave cameras out in the open with a provocation for people to use them.  Do not interact – leave the subjects on their own to explore.  Then sit back and wait.  And wait. It turns out not everyone is a person who stops (see ...