Asher and I had a late afternoon date yesterday.  We drew pictures first.  First we drew one of Gaga and her curly red hair, and then one of Asher standing next to Gaga.  When it was time to draw Asher's blonde hair, I drew it curly.   He squealed, pointed at my hair, his hair and we both said "Curly!"  We played in the sand box for a while, but decided a picnic on the beach would be better.  He could hardly wait for Gaga to pack the stuff, but had me lower the sand pail with beach toys one more time so he could be sure I had everything he wanted.  We took each item out, like a checklist and added it back in.  Both of us nodded and we were on our way.

First things first.  We found our spot.  The beach was still busy from a beautiful weekend, so we wound our way down to the lake's edge.  We pulled out the sand toys and started finding rocks and digging for wet sand.  Asher made me a sand pie.  Now I like rocks in my pie, but he does not, so I had to agree to have them on the side.  That's ok, I think he will develop a taste for them later in life.  We built a couple of castle turrets, but he was more interested in the "GULLS!" and rocks this time.

We ate our snack, goldfish crackers and cold water, and watched the people and the waves.  It was sublime.





The time passed.  We moved from spot to spot as the rest of the beach goers left, one tired group at a time.  The breeze off the lake started to feel cooler as the sun started sinking.  He remembered that our jackets had pockets so we started filling up them up with one curious rock after another.  Gaga suggested we might want to start towards the car...

Now leaving the beach after a wonderful time like this is never easy.  There is always one more shovel of sand, one more rock, one more gull to chase and one more something that delays our departure.  "Wow," he says, "hole!"  He explored it, climbed in, out and all around.  Why do we have to leave yet anyway?  Bedtime?  Naah, Gaga thinks, we won't worry about that tonight.

Once more close to the water.  I wonder if he knew this magical moment was waiting.  Sun dropping, turning the lake into a silver mirror, warm brown sand and a little boy staring into that water with far seeing eyes.   I snapped several pictures and then I stopped and watched as he said "Bye, bye" to his favorite place to play and  laugh and learn.  Some times are special to a Gaga and her precious little boy, but this one was magical and will stay in the heart forever.

My Wee Folk

We write our thoughts in blogs.  Sometimes we write late at night, when it's quiet and safe enough to reveal our innermost feelings or suspicions.

I live in a woods.  There are very old trees, interesting rocks and hillocks of tufted grass and twisted briars.  I have planted flowers everywhere but I have kept the wildness as best I can.  And since it is late, and I feel safe telling you this, I think there are other small creatures living here besides me.  Mice, raccoons, coyotes, deer, possums, rabbits and wee folk.  This place is magical, so it doesn't surprise me to have things go missing and turn up in other places.  I grew up with an Irish / German mother.  I had Irish nuns as teachers in grade school.  So it follows that I believe in fairies, and being familiar with them, would want to make them.

I have sculpted a lot of animals, people, buildings, flowers, all kinds of stuff but the wee folk are a challenge.   The wings are the thing.  It is difficult to make them look transparent.  They must look like they can lift off at any second responding to any startling sound.   And boy fairies, or I mean elves, must be like curious little boys, full of mischief and turtles and dusty leaves.  I am really enjoying them.

Please let me explain something to you that I am sure you will want to know.  Animals, people, fairies, birds, um, well they hang around in my head till I make them.  I had a couple dance in my head one evening years ago making so much noise I had to get up and go sculpt them if I was going to get any sleep at all that night.  It is the same with these fairies.  I think that I have figured it out, though. Sometimes it takes me a long while to sort a sculpture out technically.  Often I can "see" it in my head, but I can't quite figure out how to make it stand up, or what it will be holding, etc.  It has taken me a many years to  understand how to sculpt a standing fairy.  But finally, the magic happened.

I am really pleased.  Her wings are folded down so she can stand.  She has a dragon fly perched on her head.  And boy she sure is smiling (and I suspect thinking) "Let me out of here, it is about time!"


So you see, wee folk do live in my woods, in my studio and in my heart.  It certainly pleases me  to help them cross over into this world.  They seem to be pretty happy about it too.