~:: New Buddies ::~

We’d planned a mad girls’-craft-weekend. And it just so happened that G had to fly to Nashville for a session at the very same time. So the mouses played and that house I’d spent two weeks cleaning up for this very visit? Yeah. We made a grand mess of it again.

First, Donna taught us how to make a basket. Basket Weaving 101, right there on the river deck. We had a kit full of already cut material. Here, Donna demonstrates the ease with which you un wrap all the supplies.

See? Easy Peasy.

Exciting easy peasy. You can tell by my arm, there, that I am standing clear of all this.

Then you soak your material.  But not for long.

Next step, you make mouse ears.

Then you set out your base strips, which sounds easy, huh? But those strips, even after soaking, are still curved and opinionated.

And then you start weaving. My basket is the one closest to the camera.

I’m not sure what brought on this face, actually, but the mosquitos drove us in closer to the house, and we just kept weaving like mad things.

Then we took a break and made little rattan reindeer. See mine? Standing against the basket. Donna knows how to do all kind of magical things.

This is what kind of people we are. A single, dogged pear hangs from the lower branches of the tree, and it becomes a seductive still-life—

while the dog-captain of the universe guards her from the picnic table.

Focus. On so many levels.

The pear does have character.  You have to admit that.

Yes, this is another picture of the pear. But I loved it. The pear and the hands.  The pair of hands.

Leaning dog of Pisa.

It got dark, so we repaired inside, turning the dining room into the basket finishing studio. While M, who had come to take away our very nice hand-made all wood drafting table, worked away in pink pants on the driveway, sanding the surface of it till it was perfect for his honey’s beautiful work.

I had a flash shot of the almost finished baskets.  But I liked this yellow/tungsten one better – mostly because of the warmth and the hug M is getting from his Other Mother Rachel.  Then I drove him and the huge drafting table home across town. And helped him carry the thing into his house.  Did I mention that it’s huge? And solid?  And heavy?  May I note that his house was built without doors that anticipated huge furniture? And on my way home, for the first time ever in my adult life, I actually got lost in my own town.  Well, it was dark, and I was way on the south side.

The next morning, Chaz hauled us off to our city’s very first renaissance faire (evidently, when you wear a costume to the thing, adding that “e” on the end of “fair”  is a cultural imperative). Here are Chaz in her renaissance elf ears, Dani in her renaissance forest spirit costume and Donna—who is a very correct Flemish merchant’s wife—and B, who is welcome to wear that armor around here any day of the week, and Chels, who is a sort of harlequin bandit, and charming as heck.

Donna is renaissance.  I am medieval.

There was a fine, brassy Irish band at the faire, complete with Uilleann pipes – which is how you know this band is the real deal.  That and the lovely Irish lilt to the piper’s talk.

And are these two cute as anything? In renaissance tartan, evidently.

Dani did a lovely job with her mischievous character, at once fascinating and terrifying small children.

There was fighting and all sorts of mucking about.

Chaz carried a blue dragon on her shoulder. It’s actually a puppet that she controls with – ummm – I don’t know how, exactly, but it moves and seems very life-like. The creature was a tremendous hit with pretty much everybody. Chels has one too, a griffin.

There were all sorts of vendors – stained glass, jewelry and clothing, food, wood working – all hand made.  We ran across our very favorite potter, working in bare feet.

Ed was giving demonstrations and making pots right there in front of people.

He is so very good.

And while we watched, random people would just come up and ask Chaz and Dani to pose for pictures.

Chaz, watching Ed make her a bowl.

Then he made one for Dani.

The children were sometimes brave enough to want to talk to the dragon, but few had the courage to pat him.

And there were madrigal singers. Here, they sing, “Now is the month of Maying,” without really understanding what the lyrics are all about. Yes. Yes, I DO happen to know what these particular Thomas Morley lyrics are about. I’ve read Shakespeare and Chaucer and am very well versed in what this period’s songs about spring are all about. Any period’s songs about spring, as a matter of fact.

Another request for Char to pose. And there wasn’t even one Japanese tourist in the place.

Afterwards, Chili’s. You are not seeing grace here.  You are seeing the application of  hand sanitizer.

That night, we had a girls’ night (G was gone, remember). We watched the newest Jane Eyre and ate sugarfree pudding that tasted like mousse. This was Donna’s elegant dish.

This was Rachel’s dish, butting in.

She’s made it just for me.

Another day, we turned our hand to needle felting. We were really, really good at it. As you can see. We were doing hippo-bunny-dogs.

Mine was green.

Needle felting was so EASY.  Simply a pleasure. Maybe we’ll do it again in five years.

Sunday dinner with what family we could round up.  That’s part of the tradition: rounding up family. Not so hard if there’s food offing.

Donna with her two new buddies. They spent four days hugging her and lying on her feet.  This morning, however, there must have been a squirrel. I got much better shots with Donna’s camera, but, since I don’t have her camera here, you’re getting mine.

On the way to the airport, we took a last-ditch run up the canyon to show her our hills. It was a dignified, mature sort of side-trip.

I didn’t expect to see much. I thought the leaves had peaked that day we were up there on the horses.  Boy, was I wrong. We looked up the canyon and began to  – umm – exclaim. Shriek, more like. The hills were on fire.  Out came the cameras, all three of them, and the image orgy began.  These first shots are Rachel, madly shooting my camera through the dirty windshield as I tried to drive and gape at the same time.

This is when I began shooting.  We’d made it up to Sundance. We pulled into the parking lot and jumped out of the car, cameras blazing.

Then we headed even further up the canyon. Yes, on the way to the airport.  But, you know, we’d left early.

This is a very narrow, winding, two lane road. We just kinda pulled off and hoped nobody’d run into us. Then we started jumping out of the car and running up and down the mountain.

The girls, demonstrating our dignified style.

This was a wonderful scene. But hard to shoot.  To get the canyon, I had to blow out the sky.  To get the sky, I had to lose the canyon.

So I decided to try a composite, but I was also running a rather wild party in the back yard (details at ten) at the same time, and I just didn’t have the focus for the job.  So here is the awfullest, slap-together composite ever:

Looks a little like a canyon being swallowed by a middle-eastern sand storm.

I give up.

You need to see Rachel’s piece about this visit.  It’s a lovely bit of writing punctuated by elegant shots she got by squatting in the weeds. We are still picking burrs out of the car upholstery. You have to hold very still when you are stalking wild mountain botanicals.

If you look very close, you might see the adorable little mountain stream tumbling down the hill in the shadows behind her.

We drove through Salt Lake City on our way to the airport – we’re maybe ten minutes from the runways here.  And stopped to take in Temple Square. It’s a beautiful place, draped in flowers, perfectly kept, like the garden of Eden.  But what are these girls shooting?

The door knobs. The door knobs of the temple. Rachel will show you.  If you go to her blog and look.

Obviously, the door knobs were the most interesting part of this boring little building.

The truth is that temples are all about relationships – about bonds of love that last for eternity. And this is a fitting place to end the story – with love and friendships that were proved true and dear, and that are going to last a long, long time.