THE GIANT MERMAID
It has been a fairly normal, but busy, summer. Essentially we have had a continuation of activities from our last newsletter. Rebecca and her sisters did have their planned get together the first week of June. At the end of June we went to Touchstone for the sixth time; we had a good time there as usual. The highlight thus far has been The Muse's participation in the Y-Bridge Arts Festival. You will read about that below.
Several years ago Dan and I traveled to the Mexican city of Oaxaca (We highly recommend it! -dt) and while we were there saw the giant puppets called los altos - the tall ones. I was enchanted. This summer I had the opportunity to take a class at Touchstone Center for Crafts to make a giant puppet. Thus was born Serena the Mermaid. After two strokes I am not as adept as I once was but I am still quite enthusiastic! Everyone from the incredibly talented instructor to my classmates were very helpful and supportive. We shaped the frame with cardboard. We formed the face and hands with paper mache . We painted. We sawed. We pasted. We cut. We sewed. And VOILA!! Serena took on a life of her own. Perhaps I should mention that everybody made different puppets. We had a bird, a wolf, a hamburger, a dragon, William Shakespeare, and several examples provided by our instructor. Of course Serena was the most beautiful. After we all made our puppets we learned a puppet dance. Everyone except me was concerned that I might topple over because Serena has a large head and the dance was rather vigorous and I am, I might as well admit it, a bit clumsy. I was not particularly worried but the others convinced me to dance sitting in a chair waving Serena's arms about.
Well that was quite satisfying. Now I had an 8ft tall mermaid. What was I to do with her? Serena reclined unconcerned on the chaise in my office. Wherever we had guests they peeked in to admire her. Dan suggested we ship her to our condo in Mexico to amaze and/or amuse our southern friends. I decided Serena should visit the local arts festival. Dan, who tends to be traditional and law abiding, pointed out that the deadline for entries was past. My friend gave me the phone number of the director who thought an 8ft tall mermaid would be just the thing. Saturday at 11:30 I paraded around the festival singing "I am a happy mermaid", having my picture taken with people. My friend Tori held one of my arms and guided me because I do not always see well in the costume. We had a great time. One odd thing was that the dogs who were walking by did not like Serena. They either growled or slunk away. When there was a breeze Serena's long purple hair floated behind her on the wind. The festival director has requested the loan of Serena for her gallery window, after that who knows. (By the time you read this Serena will be on display. -dt)
A month or so ago I went with my sisters Ruth and Rita to see the wild ponies that live on the barrier islands in Virginia (Assateague and Chincoteague islands -dt). We had a good time taking a boat and seeing them grazing about. In the fall the fire department guys herd them to the mainland and sell the yearlings and use the money to buy fire trucks. This way the islands do not get overgrown with ponies. They give all the ponies vaccinations and let them loose. We thought this was lovely but didn't buy any ponies. We all bought souvenirs with horse pictures and lighthouse pictures. Rita and Ruth went into a little museum to see the lighthouse light but I rested in the car. I had to rest up so I had plenty of energy to eat homemade ice cream at the emporium. We spent a lot of time talking about the good old days and the bad new days. We talked about all of our relatives. We talked about religion and politics. And then totally exhausted, we played Scrabble. Rita won. I guess I didn't cheat hard enough. Alas after all this cavorting Ruth recently had a stroke but is now recovering at home with Rita's support not to mention the help of her children and grandchildren. (There are many. -dt) I talked to Ruth and she seems to be doing well.
This has been a long hot summer. For one thing the dam broke. After the dam broke the top half of the pond flowed willy-nilly wherever it pleased. And then rapidly receded likewise. Fortunately most of the fish, turtles, and salamanders retreated to the bottom and were safe. The frogs hopped where they pleased and as for the snake I am not too concerned. The pond man has righted the dam and connected it to two sturdy posts which are probably serviceable but not really attractive. I am considering planting some cover, flags perhaps or pickerel or horseweeds but that will wait until next year.
This summer July felt like August. (Hot and humid -dt) Not only that but we received a lot of smoke from Canadian forest fires. This made it hard to breathe and hard to see. I didn't know they had forest fires in Canada, except that last year one almost burned Don and Judy's place at the lake. It makes me wonder if we are safe in our house in the woods. Every so often a tree falls in the woods. You hear a humongous thunk. A sycamore tree branch squashed Dan's little car like a bug a few years ago. And more recently a different tree chopped our shed in half. Wherever you live there are problems I suppose. I have been chopping little trees and shrubs, and branches with my new tiny chainsaw. I was too enthusiastic chopping away without stopping to stash the dead wood out of the way and so now I have stopped to clean up after myself. Sadly I encountered quite a bit of poison ivy in the process. I mostly spray it with Roundup which is bad ecologically, but I don't care! If you think I am bad, I'll bet you never had a bad case of poison ivy. Judge not that you be not itchy, I say.
This summer has been a rather disappointing one in terms of the sky. There has been a lot going on in the universe. But I seem to have missed at least most of it. I have always loved watching the night sky. When I was very young my father taught me how to navigate by the north star. He showed me some of the constellations and explained how they travel around by different times of the year. I don't know if I really understood then but I think I can still find the North Star. First you find the Big Dipper - well anyway. I do enjoy looking at the stars and there are three or four constellations I can recognize even if I can't remember their names. Orion; I think one is called Orion. In the beginning of summer there was a meteor shower and I saw a few shooting stars. Then things went downhill, so to speak. There were supposed to be two days when the northern lights would be visible in Muskingum County. I had seen them once when I was a child and was very eager to see them again. Alas no! It was cloudy both nights. Then we were supposed to view a super moon which came as close to the earth as the moon ever comes. Once again, clouds. There is scheduled to be, at the end of the month, a rare blue moon. If I miss that I will be blue! (Still cloudy and the trees blocked the view. -dt)
This has been a summer of diminishing returns. We have been saddened by the passing of several old friends and relatives. As we age the loss of contemporaries with whom we can share memories and points of view makes our very existence seem less relevant. The idea of a bucket list - things you want to do before you kick the bucket - appealed to me. I decided I wanted to go to Madagascar to see the Baobab trees. So being a modern woman (Hahaha -dt) I got on the internet and found many tours to Madagascar. I picked out two listed among the best tours and filled out applications. I explained that I wasn't interested in adventure tours. I did not want trekking - whatever that may be - hiking, or cycling tours either. I wanted a low key tour to look at the baobab trees. We both are over 70 and like to take our time. Can you believe neither of the tour companies even bothered to respond! Dan said I should accept the fact that I am old. (Just lacking stamina and mobility impaired -dt) Humph!! So I am trying to think of something interesting that I am not too old to do. It boggles the mind or what is left of it. (Plenty of things, like walking around as a mermaid -dt)
Here are a few pictures. The Amaryllis Belladonna have been particularly nice this year. And something for math and/or car people:
Hope you all are keeping cool.
Dan and Rebecca
www.Casa-de-Terrible.blogspot.com
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