Day: June 22, 2010

I’ve been married for nearly two weeks now. Getting married consumes one. So much planning, and it is a time when the world really leaves you alone. Returning to life is different, and we have been swamped in decisions about insurance, health care, computers, animal decisions,  checking accounts and the many details of life that add up to an existence in America, surely now one of the most complex places in the world in which to live.

Artists and writers and individuals used to be able to live simply and cheaply. No more.

You need a lot of money and technology, paperwork is demanded for everything, and there is this great illusion of customer service – everybody telling you how much your business means to them, which, loosely translated, means “bend over.”

Still, I don’t want to lose sight of my joy in getting married. I am a marrying type. I like to share my life with somebody, and I like to take care of people and have people take care of me. I love loving and being loved. I was frightened about getting married – only a fool wouldn’t be – but I see it is one of the good decisions of my life. I don’t want our affirmation of life to wear off. So we live it everyday. Each day we talk to each other, and listen to each other. We make the rounds of the farm. We show each other our work and art. We walk in the woods. We cook and clean for one another. Marriage takes work and care. I don’t want to get too used to it.

Rose, reporting to work at the office. Rose loves work. She loves what she does, and does what she loves.

I like the notion that each day is a choice. We choose what we listen to, the language with which we describe ourselves, and we tell our own stories, for better or worse. There are lots of stories to choose from. My camera chooses my stories, sometimes. It has good judgement.

More and more, I’m into breaking my own news, telling my own story. I guess in a way, this is the point of art. People using images to touch other people. Colors do that for me, among other things. Maria and I are excited about the Creative Union: Affordable Art show planned at the Redux Galley in Dorset, Vt., from 1 to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 24. Maria is on a tear, making e-book bags, potholders, eyeglass cases and fiber art cell pone cases. Also quilts, her main passion. I am loving the use of notecards as the way to use, show and sell my photographs. So we are celebrating love, marriage, fiber art and potholders with Christine Nemec at her wonderful gallery in July. Nothing more than $15. Dorset and nearby Manchester are beautiful places to walk, shop eat. There is a great bookstore (Northshire) a great Inn (The Dorset) and all kinds of outlets and restaurants. You can even meet Christine Nemec’s cute puppy Georgia, who may be as cute as Lenore one day. Maybe not.

We hope to explore new was of making and selling art in a painful economy, in which people want art but can’t buy art, and artists, in order to survive, need to find new ways to think about art, price and sell it. Thus the potholders and notecards were born. We would rather have people buy and use our art than have it hang unsold on gallery walls. Maria is now making a lot of classy bags for people buying Kindle’s. Ipads and other e-book readers. I love the notecards (the new stone wall series is now up and on sale at Redux.) Maria and I and a couple of dogs will be on hand July 24 at Redux. Come by if you can, or if you can’t, you can still order the fiberart and notecards from Redux.

June 22, 1010-  Big day for me. I am cutting back on therapy, with an eye towards stopping soon. Therapy has been an invaluable source of support and clarity for me, it saved my life, I think, and led to my opening up, finding love, managing my life, moving beyond fear and confusion. I am so glad I was strong enough to get help, and so lucky to have found a therapist to help me. I am grateful and blessed. A significant day. I get up every morning and give thanks for it.

Each morning Maria and I do the “rounds.” We visit all of the pastures and check on the water, the sheep and fences. During this time, the donkeys come rushing down to greet us, to be brushed, hugged, given corn, talked to. It is affecting to see the way in which Maria has connected with them, a relationship that grows and deepens. Me too. Maria is showing me how to love, and what it means. A valuable lesson.