Thoughts and Things

7-5-2025

We took a drive north through the cornfields of Iowa. What a glorious orchestra along the Mississippi River. Bluffs and trees, empty roads, deer, unalive racoons, those fields of crops.The last time I was out there the fields had been tilled and the soil all dark and damp. The hot-air outside, the summer adjustment. Today I needed that. 

7-4-2025

When I was still living in Colorado we went to see the Jon Benet Rmsey house in Boulder.  It was not what I expected. It was just a couple of houses away from a fraternity house on the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder. The street sloped on either side, I suppose to handle snow runoff. It appeared smaller than I thought it would be. And the neighboring homes were fairly close to the Ramsey house. They could have heard something or saw something. Apparently the new owners had planted trees and bushes to obscure the view.  We made sure no one was behind us so that we were not stopping traffic. We slowed down and took a look. Then we pulled ahead, turned around and went back. There was an open space at the curb so we pulled over. I felt like this was a common attraction on the block, and indeed a car had pulled over going the other direction and they were looking. It was a place where a little girl was murdered. And no one has been accused of the crime still. So I said a little prayer for her. 

America's birthday. And it’s like the Meidas Touch Network said, America is “Red, White, Bruised…But Still Ours”.

6-23-2025. I’m working on one of the pieces for the exhibit at Overture. the “This Business of Pain” I have all the grids of pulp paper out on the table to try to find the right rhythms. It’s not going that well. Why? Because it’s not speaking to me. And I’m feeling there is something better to to be a Book as Sculpture

6-21-2025 Saturday morning - I’m having a piece of lemon pound cake. I remember when I made a pound cake. I used Lard because that’s what the recipe said to use. Only the lard I used tasted meaty. Not exactly what you want in a cake. I learned that I could use alternative instructions and ingredients.

When I started using plant fiber for papermaking I came prepared to make changes in those recipe components if I had to. The first time I made plant fiber for making paper I was working at the UW Paper Mill and I was using a Valley Beater. I had called my fried, Elyse, who lived on a farm. and asked if I could get some corn husks and stalks. I drove to their farm, near Belleville, WI and cut down a couple of stalks and had a nice visit with Elyse, whom I had met when I worked for an Insurance Company in Madison. Back at home I cooked the corn according to the cook instructions in Plant Fibers for Papermaking by Lillian Bell.. At the UW mill, I only had what they had available to make paper which meant a 20” x 16” mould and deckle. This was before I learned I could purchase smaller mould and deckles and use those because they don’t require a lot of pulp. And the pulp that you gather for paper making is usually broken down in the cooking process and can end up being just a small amount of pulp to use. But that first plant fiber paper was flat and green and not very strong; but it was beautiful. After I finished my paper making study with Hamady, I had to leave that paper making studio behind. But I soon found an outlet for making paper in the old Carriage House on Willy Street in Madison. As time and knowledge of plant fiber paper making grows I have tried a lot of different plants, including paper made from Milkweed sticks, Cattail, Lily of the Valley, Hosta, Straw, Cana, and more.

6-18-2025. The barrel boom of fireworks is in the air.  I remember going to Vilas Park to watch the fireworks. The park was also a Zoo. We’d park at our cousins house and walk to the park with our blankets in tow. Eventually someone brought up the fact that the noise was not healthy for the zoo animals. As kids we got sparklers, and those little hockey looking pucks that burned on the sidewalk. They were called snakes. And they looked like snakes while they burned. We had a few cap guns, and I remember the smell they made when they were shot.  But mostly it was sparklers, those wire sticks covered in a silver glob that had to be lighted by an adult. That was before disposable lighters, so we used matchbooks. We’d get them free at restaurants.