Easter in the garden

WEST TWIN:

Happy Easter All!

In getting ready for the Easter Bunny’s visit  we spent the last couple days in out the garden, raking, blowing and generally removing obstacles that might confuse little egg-hunters. Looking around me I mused at how much had grown and changed since I last posted about my garden’s progress,  so I thought this might be a nice chance to check in and show you what’s new.

Lilies and bluebells & the first of the lilac blooms - wish these pics were scratch and sniff!!

And there is so much to show! Spring really sprung after we finally got some rains in late February (more rain coming this week, fingers crossed) and so the bulbs that I was so excited about back when I was planning the spring garden really came through. This is the first time I’ve planted a lot of tulips. I was seduced by glossy bulb-catalogs (plant porn!) and put in almost 50 bulbs last fall.

The first tulips to bloom, the Orange Emperor, truly lived up to it’s name with it’s regal height and brilliant orange color. What I discovered this spring is that tulips almost break my heart because they are so beautiful. They come out of nowhere and rise up with this incredible saturated color and mysterious inner sanctum, protected by painterly concave  petals.

Orange emperors and pansies amid the carrot patch

I was so taken with how lovely tulips are that I revisited a book on my bookshelf called Tulipomania by Mike Dash, the byline of which sums it up best: “the story of the world’s most coveted flower& the extraordinary passions it aroused”. Trying to quantify what exactly makes the tulip so alluring, as I am learning in this book, is not an easy task given human’s obsession with them which led to, among other things, the  first futures market (and inevitable market crash) in history. Wow!

But I can relate. These bulbs have brought me bring such joy this season and yet at the same time somehow make me sad because they are just a one time event whose bloom will soon fade, unlike the more dependable and yet visually less stimulating perennials. I think that’s the attraction of them, like maybe  how a flashy new mistress looks so good next to a familiar old wife?

In defense of us old wives I had to counsel myself to proceed with caution when a new bulb catalog arrived in my mailbox this week, with it’s siren call to “reserve now for Fall 2012″. I tried to stay in the daffodil section and look only for varieties that would come back year after year. When I sneaked a peek at the tulips, imagine my thrill to discover that those Orange Emperors are listed as “best to naturalize”! Yay!! Maybe we’ll see a repeat performance from these beauties next Spring? I will surely report.

And what else? Well, the carrots came in strong and are mostly harvested by now. I left just a few to go stay in the bed unharvested so I can see their wonderful umbel of white flowers in the fall, and save seeds for a second generation planting also.

Calendula, self-seeded.

Snap peas and baby Fava beans

Can you see the honeybee?

We had a plethora of snap peas on those plants in the back bed by the fence. Reportedly. I didn’t get to eat that many because my kids sat along there and munched them as fast as they could discover them. Almost better than hunting for colored eggs I’d say!

Because I am equal parts lazy gardener and curious observer I also let the brassicas (which bolted in the early burst of spring) go to flower. They are tall flowers with delicate yellow flowers (see above) that remind me of wildflowers. Maybe that’s why the bees just LOVE them. Between the delicate pink flower of the arugula, and the kale which is just now starting to grow taller and bolt, the garden is just full of buzzing, flying pollinators. Excellent news!

I know very soon it will be time to pull up these plants and prepare the beds for summer planting. The garden is about to change yet again.  We want to put in a lot more edible crops this summer and have been slowly working on more new beds to get them ready. My goal (after talking with Sarah from Crop to Kitchen, a friend and fellow urban farmer) is to have my veggie crops planted from starts by the end of April. That’s if Mother Nature agrees.

Let the egg hunt begin...

But for now it is a garden alive with contrasting  colors and critters and sound. It is pretty and vibrant and is the perfect place for a bunny to hide some eggs.

Nestled in the culinary Sage....

Trying to capture it on camera is as fun and elusive as the Easter bunny himself but it is so wonderful to be out in the garden enjoying as a family the space s we’ve diligently worked on. It’s the satisfaction of the foot-work mixed, with the possibilities of what is to come.

Here’s wishing you all many beautiful and “picture perfect”  moments this Easter day and a wonderful time in your garden this Spring.

*

Five Books

EAST TWIN:

Awhile back I posted about six of my favorite inspiring design books. Truth be told, it was hard to pick out favorites, since each of the volumes on my shelves in the studio are beloved for one reason or another. So I thought I would bring you a second installment along a similar theme.

1. Wild Color

Years ago I took a course which covered natural dyes. I loved the process of extracting dyes from plants, and the beautiful color palettes they produced but the toxicity of the mordants (and that I had the honor of being her only student EVER to show an allergy to cochineal) kept me from experimenting too much with it. Still, I had to buy the book, for the day when I have some free time to do more research. (HA!) It’s a well laid out and comprehensive guide, and the first book I recommend to anyone trying out natural dyes for the first time.

2. Mina Perhonen 3: Print

Akira Minagawa is the Japanese designer behind the beautiful clothing line Mina Perhonen. This tiny volume is the third in a series of three books about the fabrics which Akira designs for his clothes, the first is Textile and the second is Embroidery.  His prints are quirky, spare, and generally genius. Make sure to check out his website, which has an archive of both his clothing and fabric collections.

3. From Mother Goose to Dr. Seuss: Children’s Book Covers From 1860-1960

A treasury of great graphic design and illustration. A few years ago my dad and I were talking about the difference between cd’s and vinyl, and he lamented the loss of the large format cover. Looking at the pages and pages of beautiful book covers (the scans don’t really do them justice) makes me feel the same about moving into an age of digital reading. It’s neat to see the progression of styles through the years, and I find the often hand lettered fonts fascinating.

4. How to Make Lino Cuts: For Profit or Pleasure

Published in 1935 as part of the publisher’s Easy Method Drawing Series. I inherited this from my mother’s library, and I love a. that essentially nothing much has changed in this medium in the 80 years since, b. the book itself is a pleasure to look at, and c. the quality of of the language. E.g. “Concerning tools: The next matter that concerns us is procuring tools, which should be an easy and inexpensive task. Whilst an ordinary pocket penknife is sufficient in expert hands, it is advisable to buy or make three other tools.” Whilst!!! Swoon.

5. Fashioning Felt

This is the newest addition to my library, a gift from Amy during her last visit. It’s divided into three sections: Felt Tradition (the ancient communal techniques for making large felted rugs, blankets and saddles), Felt Craft (contemporary hand made art-felt) and Felt Technology (industrial production and applications). Truly stunning photography; I especially loved seeing all the pictures of felt making in Mongolia, something I’d read about but seen few images of previously. Anyone want to make a rug???

What books do you find inspiring? Which ones are on your wish list?

P.S. Last Sunday was our 100th post, and Friday was our 39th birthday. Big smoochy kisses to my beautiful and talented sister, with whom I have the honor of collaborating with on this blog, and in life. Love ya!

100!

WEST:

I  can’t believe it folks but as I sit here I am writing the 100th post of this blog, our blog,  started in June 2010 at the urging of my twin sister. I think that’s super exciting!! Break out the champagne.  It’s our centennial…where’s the balloon drop??

It’s taken almost 21 months of each one of us posting every Sunday to get to this point. I can still remember the early morning drive to the Raleigh airport in March 2010. I’d been visiting Oami in celebration of our birthday and I was on my way to catch my return flight to California.  It was still dark out and rain was beating down when my sister brought up the idea to me: a weekly, bi-coastal ‘conversation’ between us in the form of a blog. “Blog?…” I said sleepily, “What’s that?”.

I should take a moment here to praise my sister and her deft design and organizational skills for taking on the behind-the-scenes work of researching our choices, setting us up on WordPress and putting the whole blog-thing together. Sounds simple enough to some of you but for me I’m like a deer in the headlights with this stuff (as evidenced by my reluctance to start a spin-off gardening blog despite repeated requests from y’all. I’m always like, “oh, I don’t know how to do that”).

In the beginning I couldn’t even figure out how to insert images or manipulate them if I wanted to show two side by side. Like a true troglodyte, I would email the pictures to my sis in North Carolina and she would add them into the post for me….duh. We are a little more streamlined than that now, and for the most part I don’t have to sit on the phone every other Sunday with Oami patiently acting as tech support. It’s only taken me 50 posts to get there people!

We acknowledged our one year anniversary in this post last July but still we weren’t up to # 100. For some reason 100 seems like a BIG deal. One hundred is a regularly honored cultural milestone as we know; a century, a centennial, a natural stopping point to stop and take stock. According to our friend Wikipedia, 100 is significant in many ways from being the number of Senators in the U.S. Senate, the emergency phone number for the police in Greece, Israel, India and Nepal, as well as being the number of episodes a television series generally needs to be considered viable for syndication. Yoo-hoo, Mr. Television Producer, we’re ready for our close-up!

But one hundred can also be seen as a small amount, if for instance you are this guy who blogs about the process of whittling his personal possessions down to just 100 things. Thinking of 100 in that light it doesn’t seem like much at all. Just a fraction really of all the posts that could be written.  Merely a beginning if your goals are lofty and involve coffee-table books, merchandising tie-ins and movie rights, as mine do.

Talking on the phone to my sister/co-creator about this newest milestone I remarked to her that I had heard somewhere that it takes doing something 21 times consecutively for it to become a habit. She told me that she’d heard that one is considered a master at something once they have done that thing 10,000 times. So here we are today somewhere between a habit and mastery, still going strong.

Does this 100th post represent a completion of some kind? ( job well done, we became bloggers). Or does it mark the beginning of a new era? If we go to 200 posts we’ll be writing to you from early 2014 and who knows what any of us will be up to by then??

On this particular Sunday we’d like to appeal to you and your opinions, dear readers and friends. We want to hear your voices. The biggest thrill of this whole experience has been knowing that people actually read this thing. Some are devoted fans who check in diligently each week (thanks Dad!) while others of you may just drop in once and a while just to see what’s new..and that’s great too! I love it when someone unexpected stops me in the supermarket and says, “I’ve been reading your blog” or the other day when a mama-friend at school came up to me and proclaimed “I read it out loud to my husband and we laughed and laughed”. Nothing could be more satsifying. Really.

So today is the today. If you’ve commented before, please do so again and tell us what you’ve liked (or didn’t like, but be gentle). Is there something you would like to see us cover in the future? If you are a usually-silent reader, now is your chance! We would love to hear from you, is there anything special that keeps you coming back? And if you just happened to have stumbled across us for the first time today, Welcome (you’ve got alot to catch up on, 99 posts to be exact!).

Me, I’m off to put up my feet and rest these blogging fingers, and maybe scrounge up a glass of that alleged champagne…

cheers!

Spring

EAST:

Two weeks of busy bee activity since last we spoke. Hot and sunny days for a week, and now spring thunder storms and grey skies have set in. All around things are blooming, birds in song and bugs are buzzing. Orders are shipping out, new fabric arriving on the door step, and I’ve started patterns for the fashion show I’ll be in April 20th. Our dear friend Amy came to stay and left again, and soon new visitors will be arriving, so there’s been much tidying, sorting and organizing in preparation. Today I have a tiny space of time to sit and breathe, and so I thought I’d share a few snaps and then go lay down on the couch with a beer, and listen to the sound of the world waking around me.

Shadows of azalea bushes on the louvered glass windows of our sunroom.

Organic cotton check from Japan.

Morning smoothie.

The beautiful bowl was a gift from my step mom, Michela, and we use it often. Perfect size for a salad for two.

Beet foam! While cooking beets, this little heart formed on the tip of the root.

Glass orbs, reflected in the window of the craft gallery I've been working at a couple of days a week.

Plates by Matt Jones of Jones Pottery in Leicester NC. One of my new design crushes since starting at the gallery.

Andree Richmond's beautiful ceramic animals on wheels. I heart.

Oh, and there’s been a lot of music happening too, so to see us out here’s a couple of songs from two shows I went to: the Bowerbirds, a local group and new infatuation (thanks Kelly!) and an old favorite, the Heartless Bastards.

xo O

Lite Reading

WEST TWIN:

I don’t know if this is a tacky subject matter but hey, it’s my blog (oops, I mean our blog) and I’m going to tackle it. The idea came to me just yesterday when I was cleaning my bathroom. I was home alone (a luxury) and had my playlists blasting in loud rotation from the other room. As I scrubbed and washed the one small bathroom that our family of five (plus the two cats) all share, I was writing a mental dissertation on what music is best background noise for this tedious task. Bjork = bad (too intense and brooding),Vampire Weekend =good (just upbeat enough to make one forget their domestic servitude).

I emptied the wastepaper basket and then came to the “reading basket”. This is the vessel which sits next to the commode with all the, well you know, reading material. I usually use cleaning day as a chance to purge through this collection, getting rid of all the old magazines etc. As I looked through our current stack I couldn’t help but laugh out loud because the eclectic mix was somehow such a picture of our family life; our interests, the articles we really want to get to even if in just the briefest snatches of time, the brain candy we reach for before the next family member starts pounding urgently on the door.

 Like a miniature time-capsule, this little basket seemed to me to capture this era in the life of our family so perfectly that I thought I would share it with you all. So in case you are looking of updating your own bathroom library, here’s my list (in order of appearance):

“American Lifestyle” (March/April 2012) This magazine arrives periodically in our mailbox with “Compliments of Colleen Todd” imprinted on it. Colleen was the realtor that helped us buy this home. She was a sweet lady and there is a beaming image of her superimposed  on the glossy front cover so my kids think they’ve met a super star, “I know her!”. I guess this is a marketing mechanism to keep her name, number and real estate office info fresh in our minds but I don’t mind it so much. The tag line says it’s the “magazine celebrating life in America” (whatever that means) but the quality is good, the photos are nice and honestly, it’s got some interesting articles. I’ve kept this issue around because I’m reading an article on the art of beekeeping, an interview with apiculturist Ted Dennard who turned his bee hobby into asuccessful business  the Savannah Bee Company. It’s a fascinating four-page article which has taken me so far about two weeks to read in, ahem, short increments.

On the way to the recycling bin, but preserved for posterity.

Another free periodical that rules the realm of the bathroom and which I find myself perversely looking forward to reading is the AAA magazine, Via (March& April 2012) . I happen to know that I’m not the only one of my friend’s who secretly enjoys Via (maybe it’s a sign of aging? ) but I have to say almost every issue there are some really useful information and tips that we actually use. This month I came across a piece on good places to eat in Oakland, a little glossified for my liking but with a useful “if you’re going” list of  handy numbers and deets on essential restaurants. I’ll cut it out and stick in the glove-box for our next trip to the Bay. More importantly though there was a short blurb about the wildflower bloom on the North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve. Located an hour north of Sacramento, I read (as I sat on the loo), the wildflowers are at their peak bloom usually in March and April. That’s it! I realized right then and there in my moment of repose that I wanted to take some friends and do a wildflower hike at Table Mountain to celebrate my birthday at the end of March. Perfect plan. Thanks Via Magazine!

Let’s see…what else is in the basket? There’s California Educator, courtesy of the California Teacher’s Association and a perk of my husband’s profession as a math teacher. So too are the newsletters of the math department at his alma mater UC Davis. Dry reading material for me, but I try to keep them around for a while so he can get caught up during his “office” hours.

This brings me to a very good point. When poking around the web with “toilet reading material” in your search engine you’re bound to get some rather interesting results to say the least but I did come across a couple of reports that I wanted to show you. From the UK, a study about whether “reading on the loo” is bad for you in this blog, and this news that men are replacing newspapers with smartphones  as toilet reading material. I admit, I’ve facebooked in there at times but somehow the hygiene of this habit weirds me out. But… if you do happen to be reading this from the comfort of your throne, enjoy!

And also (just because I can’t resist)  check out this classic ad for toilet paper I came across. This one goes out to all you Waldorf mamas out there…

Indeed!

Sometimes our goofy woven basket becomes the home for those important paper materials that don’t have a place anywhere else in the house, but that I simply cannot throw away… because I really DO want to read the article at some point. Currently in this category and still in my reading basket, unread since I last time I purged it, are:

Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and The Healing Arts (vol. 7, no. 4) from the Weston A. Price  Foundation, for that article on raw milk and cow-sharing  that I’ve been meaning to read, of course.

The Herb Quarterly (the name sounds shady, I know) for the  piece on gardening with native plants, and the recipes for herbal remedies for digestion.

The Costco Connection (a lifestyle magazine for Costco Members) with Jane Pauly in pleather boots on the cover. Chock-a-block with ads and retail suggestions,  ironically enough there on page 14 in a two-page spread in their “informed debate” section was the question, ‘should marijuana be legal?’. Can anyone else see 3-packs of bulk joints on the horizon?

A current copy of Sacramento’s own free weekly SN&R is always in the reading basket of course, as are a couple of articles on child development and positive discipline that I often return to again and again when I’ve locked myself in the bathroom and sat in parental defeat on a Mommy’s time-out.

And at the very bottom, there because I probably keep it with good intentions to read it’s daily reminders, is one of those pocket-sized books of affirmations. The entry for today, March 11th, included this quote from Ecclesiastes:

“Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him up”

To which I would add,

“…in the toilet.”

 xo

Production

EAST TWIN:

Since October I’ve been working on several wholesale orders for my Spring 2012 collection. This is the first production cycle that I’ve done since leaving modaspia in 2007, and it can be, well, a production.

Close up of the 'marker': a sheet of paper that has all the pattern pieces laid out in the most efficient arrangement. I was proud that the waste from cutting the Spring styles filled just one medium garbage bag.

Production requires attention to detail, excellent organizational skills and awesome time management. To wit, the simplest of my styles for spring has 5 pattern pieces and 3 trim elements, and is available in 3 different fabric options. Multiply that by 7 styles and you have the potential for countless sleepless nights.

But, as much as I dread it at times, it has made me a more tidy and organized person, and may even count as anti-Alzheimer’s exercise for my brain.

Today I thought I’d share some behind the scenes pics, and Oami’s Five Tips To Bring Order To Chaos Or At Least Not Lose Your Marbles.

1. Planning, planning, planning:

With the amount of work that needs to be accomplished in a very short period of time it can be tempting to jump right in. Don’t. The more time you spend thinking about and planning what needs to happen the better off you will be. Break the project down into individual tasks, make a list, and then sort by priority. When you start work each day, look at the list to set your intention for the day.

Left: Big box of tailors chalk on a 'cut sheet': a chart showing how many of each size in each color to cut. I make a separate sheet for each style. Right: Drawing out the marker. This is done by computer for larger production runs.

2. Write it down:

It may be crystal clear in your mind, but believe me, in a month when you’ve moved on to something else, it won’t be.

Left: Plackets for Inca dresses Right: Sugar Mountain dresses cut and separated by size into bundles, waiting to ship out to sewers.

3. Slow down:

Rushing is not efficient. You are more likely to make a mistake, which will slow you down in the long run.

Completed garments back from the sewers. I love how they tie each style together in bundles with whatever fabric scraps they have laying around. The garments still need to be checked for faults, final trims added (buttons, hook & yes etc.), ironed and tagged.

4. Too much is better than too little:

This one did not come naturally to me, but now I send my sewers extra bias tape, labels, zippers etc. It saves money and the headache of ordering just a little bit more when a zipper breaks or a label falls somewhere inaccessible and the sewers are less cranky. Worse case scenario you have leftovers. (This shift in attitude, by the by, has also made me a better hostess).

5. Something will always go wrong: 

Despite all your best efforts, there will be something that you forget, or that goes awry. Try not to panic. Usually there is a solution, it’s your job to find it.

Left: Piles of garments waiting to be put in the dyebath Right: Piles of garments post dye bath, waiting to be ironed and have labels sewn in. Notice the two different shades of moss green? Something will always go wrong. Luckily I anticipated that the two batches of dresses would not match exactly, and they are going to different customers.

Overall it’s been a pretty smooth process, though maybe it’s just that I’m better at anticipating potential problems, or less thrown off than I used to be by the wrinkles. There’s a huge sense of satisfaction when all the hard work and late mights are done and you get to see a rack full of clothes, just waiting to be shipped out:

Hooray!!

xo Oami

Found Art: weird and wonderful

WEST TWIN:

Photo: Associated Press

Found: past tense and past participle of find.

Find: 1. To come upon, often by accident. 2. To perceive to be.

Art: Creative or imaginiative activity, esp. the arrangements of the  elements within a medium.

*

I’ve been writing this post in my mind for ages, as every day it seems I come across some form of art in the world, on the street, some creative expression of elements with the World as it’s medium. I’ve been trying to capture a photographic record when I come across this kind of artistic human imprint on the world, be it deliberate or accidental.  I’m fascinated with both the art that was intentionally given and just waits to be found, and the art that simply occurs for a single moment, in the eye of the beholder.

And as I was recently reminded, when it comes to finding art: nobody is safe.

Found, railway overpass, Sacramento CA

Recently on her way to work one morning, my friend Caitlin discovered that sprites and fairies had come to occupy Oakland, California. In the park  the Occupy protesters had recently evicted, the wee tents suddenly appeared.

Fairies Occupy Oakland. Photo: Caitlin Sweeney

I have another friend ( who shall remain anonymous) who took up the art of yarn bombing for a time. Similar to the seed bomber we met just a few posts ago, this creative outlaw of a woman loved to go coloring her town with sweet little crochet pieces that would surprise people wherever they appeared.

I love the Eye keeping at bay the ills brought on by the envious and the greedy, and I LOVE how it matches the natural ‘eye ‘ on the tree branch next to it. Brilliance.

Yarn bomber!

I’d tell you her name, but I can’t. My yarn bomber is, as one of her fans describes her “  a bad ass mama! spreading love & happiness” but she denies a creative pseudonym or even a nom de plume,  so I just call her Octopus of Love.

photos courtesy of Nicole Stewart and Valerie Mitchell

I love the idea of yarn bombing, or art bombing or anything that involves creating something beautiful and purposely offering it as a gift for others to find. It brings some Magic, a new idea or vision, to the place around it.

Perhaps the thrill of others finding it is almost equal to the thrill of being the one who does the finding. I always feel I should be saying “thank you” to whomever left it.

Found on a in tree in Oakland , CA

Here’s a clip of my friend Liza discovering a strange creation in the park one day. I like her amateur archaeological commentary as she describes what she has found:

Walking in our own local park on a warm afternoon, my kids and I found a little twig house. Not quite an intentional art piece, it was all the more beautiful for perhaps just being someone’s spontaneous creative project.

We sat down cross-legged and looked at it and talked about where it might have come from. My boys (naturally) suspected the fairies and/or gnomes, and were thrilled to have evidence of their residency in Curtis Park. We told stories about who could possibly live within the little house, and watched it closely as the sun set on the day.

little house. Found in Curtis Park, Sacramento CA.

It was the way we interacted with this creation that I appreciated most about it. Our scale. It’s scale. The way it transformed the place around it into a lonely homestead. Someone else’s idea captured our imaginations and enriched our afternoon.

And it seems Inspiration or Imagination (or maybe just some Pixies and wee folk)  followed us home to our our house that day.

Sweet to see the natural imitative response of  my children, creating their own found art.

Found, at my house, a Fairy house.

Of course, it’s not just installations that offer the experience of found art. Graffiti is the  quintessential mechanism of street art, but I like to see here the mobile version which brings it’s friendly, colorful picture wherever it happens to go.

A pop of lovely on a grey day walking to the coffee shop is a welcome sight.

Found, Sacramento CA.

And sometimes, it’s just the coming upon something wonderful and unique that invokes a feeling within you; it’s simply that which makes it art.

Found, at College Cyclery Sacramento, CA.

The Japanese have a term Wabi-Sabi which “represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience” (thanks wikipedia). I’m not sure if I am completely correct it my understanding of this idea but I have always interpreted Wabi-Sabi to be, like the beauty of the moment. The seeing of  something imperfect and impermanent and how it speaks to your soul.

These moments to me are the finding of art.

Consider the random and comical beauty of these rain boots all travelling somewhere, together.

Found, at Alice Birney Waldorf methods school.

Or the disconcerting discovery of this lone pair of waders. Is there someone in there?

Caught napping? Found, at the Sacramento Zoo.

One very windy day, I spent a long time watching of the plastic flags outside a newly opened Dollar Store. I liked the sound they made, like the ocean and the way they made visible the rushing winds around them. I shot a little video which captures some of the feeling but I wish it was longer as I still find it mesmerizing:

But it’s not just these ordinary moments. Even the experience of unexpectedly coming upon public art (which is purposefully created with the intention of moving and engaging it’s viewers) can be a thrill in the way it transforms the every day.

The unexpected is the best gift an artist can give to it’s receiver. To be lifted, momentarily, above the ordinary. To pause and wonder.

Birdhouses? Alien mouse traps? Found, at Sacramento International Airport.

This weekend I dropped my twelve year old son off at the airport. He was flying solo to Colorado to visit his grandma, and I was battling parental anxiety over sending my child off into the big bad world. Travelling down the escalator at Terminal B, I came upon “Leap” the 56′ long red rabbit , that is suspended midair above the baggage claim area.

Down the rabbit hole, at SMF.

It was exciting and grandiose and in it’s freeze-frame leap of faith it seemed to somehow encapsulate the very feeling I was having after putting my kid on that plane. The act of taking the plunge, leaping forward into life even if the future is unknown.

The airport hubbub became muffled around me and Time seemed to stand still just for a brief minute. I suddenly felt reassured that All was well, and that we are all spinning down through this rabbit hole joyously together. It brought me right smack into the present moment.

And that to me is the mark of any good art, no matter where you find it.

***