Mostly Martha

Boca Grande

Between jobs, in July, I drove to Boca Grande to visit Aunt Chris and my cousin Diana and her husband Rick. It was a great visit. They are wonderful -- kind, generous, and incredibly talented and interesting. Here is their house. Diana has some great photos of what it looked like when they bought it, then the various stages of remodeling, including a cistern that Richard rebuilt, and various wonderful old pieces like doors and cabinets, that Diana and Rick collected and incorporated into the new interior.

And here is Aunt Chris. She's the sharpest, best-read person, most interesting person I know. The first photograph was taken outside, off the deck behind the house, at cocktail hour. The second is at the dining table.

And here is the lovely Di.

Diana and I had a great time fixing dinner, including Aunt Chris' ratatouille recipe and crab cakes overseen by telephone by David, for her friends from the bike shop, Windy and her beau. The night before, after dinner, Diana, Rick and I bicycled to feed scraps to the island pot-bellied pigs, then out to the pier to chat up the fishermen. It was so much fun. The next morning Diana and Rick got up early to play tennis, and I bicycled to the beach for a swim.

And this is Rick.

Rick is very quiet, but so interesting. I asked about the metal detector I noticed on the front porch and Rick started telling me about all this very cool Civil War stuff, like belt buckles and buttons, that he found using a metal detector when they were living in Virginia. I had no idea about any of this. It was wonderful to hear him telling these stories, and we were able to look up some examples on the internet -- really a great way to learn about history, and my cousin.

When I think of this visit to Boca Grande, the soundtrack is the Punch Brothers' new album, Antifogmatic, particularly their rendition of the Brandenburg Concerto. It's amazing.

I wish that everyone could have been there -- Sarah, and David, and Robert, and Richard -- but I was lucky to have a chance to visit and I look forward to returning soon.

Surf Kayak Weekend

Went to Little Talbot Island last weekend to kayak in the surf with Nigel, Kristin, and Nick, of Savannah Canoe and Kayak. On Saturday we played in surf kayaks. Here we are dragging the boats to the water. That's me in the front trying to coax my little boat (actually SC&K's Mega Bullitt S) through the soft sand.

How about the giant wheels the guy behind me has? Pretty cool, huh?

On Sunday we paddled in the surf in sea kayaks. Very different, but still cool. Nigel and Nick are using me to demonstrate a low brace.

I actually got the fellow on the far right back into his boat in a deep water rescue -- twice! I have the bruises to prove it.

It was a great weekend. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and can't wait to go back.

Alabama Chanin Weekend Workshop

I drove to Florence, Alabama May 21, to attend the Weekend Workshop. Here are some photos inside the studio. There are racks and racks of beautiful garments, but the photographs can't convey the feeling of being surrounded by them. We met and decided what we were going to make on Friday evening. We were able to choose from any of the designs on the rack below. After trying on the dress I selected in order to get the fit right, I had to decide what color I would like to make it in.

We were able to select from the many shelves of fabric around the back of the factory. All of the fabrics are organically grown and dyed in the U.S.

On Saturday I got there early to watch master seamstress, Diane Hall, cut out everyone's designs, and talk with Steven Smith while he airbrushed the various pieces.

Below is the table where we worked. You can see Diane (standing on the right) working with Gina, the woman whose skirt won the Burda sewing contest. At the end of the table are Sarah and June, both of whom also work with Natalie.

Here is one from the other end of the worktable. On the left is Helena, who came from Mexico to attend the workshop.

Here's a group picture taken on Sunday morning.

Since I've been home I have thought of a million questions I wish I had asked Natalie and Diane and Steven, but I will just have to make do with my memories and photographs.

A lawyer in the family

Christopher graduated from the College of Law at Barry University on Saturday. We are very proud of him. Here he is with Marie at the convention center after the ceremony.

And with us.

And in his new shades with his dad.

It was a great day. You can see how happy everyone is. We met Marie's parents for the first time Friday night. We all had a wonderful dinner at the Yellow Dog Cafe on the intercoastal waterway. Saturday after graduation we all went to a Lebanese restaurant where they shepherded us through the menu and helped us order a delicious lunch.

Mother's Day 2010

Here's who I paddled with today. Very friendly group of 5 manatees.

This is where I live.

Where do you live?

This morning I heard this on NPR, in a story about Dorothea Lange:

In fact, only once did Lange make a self-portrait. When she was teaching photography in the 1950s, Lange liked to assign students to bring in photographs of where they lived, something profound about what their lives were really about. One year, students challenged her to complete the assignment.

"What she brought was a photograph of her twisted foot," Gordon says.