Straddle the Turtle

Learning to slow down, because life's too short ~ ~ ~

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Darn!

02.11.2020 by Barbara Grant //

I sent this photo to my friend to thank her again for my favorite socks. “Rhonda,” I tapped, “I love these socks you gave me so much I’m darning the holes in the heels & toes to get a few more miles out of them.” 

“DARN!” she came back, “Your mom would be so proud of you darning socks!!!!  Do your grandkids know you do that?”

When my husband noticed me sitting on the couch with this basket in my lap threading a needle he said, “Are you crazy?!” He used to toss his holy socks in the trash until I found out. Now they get laundered and go straight to my studio. Can’t have enough studio rags.

The truth is, I find mending a soothing activity. It goes back to when my children were young. It was calming to sit on the sofa in the evening after they’d been tucked in. Just me and my basket of thread in this quiet space sewing up holes in socks and jeans.

These days I mend my dogs’ toys, over and over again – stuffing the fluff back in and using the strongest thread I can get through the eye of a needle. Very satisfying.

Categories // Just felt like sharing :) Tags // mending, turtle socks

THE workshop.

11.25.2019 by Barbara Grant //

This last weekend I finally attended “Writing the Unthinkable with Lynda Barry.”

These are some of the drawings that came out of this intense, jam-packed whirlwind of a workshop. What a blast! So much fun.

Feeling a bit more equipped to write the spin-off stories of Straddle the Turtle. So grateful. Thank you Lynda Barry šŸ™

Categories // Creative Process Tags // comics, drawing, Lynda Barry, writing stories

Art of Poetry

10.29.2019 by Barbara Grant //

This weekend I’m taking part in the Art of Poetry Soiree, a celebration and fundraiser for Milwaukee SCORES.* This is the fifth year I’ve accepted this invitation to choose a poem written by one of the soccer-player poets in this wonderful program. Area artists are asked to chose from a list of poems the children have created in hopes that it will inspire a work of art to donate to the auction.

I chose a poem by 8-year old Lily which touched me immediately. I’d recently finished reading two books about trees: a novel by Richard Powers called The Overstory and a non-fiction by arborist William Bryant Logan called Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees. Both are excellent! Presently, many trees in our neighborhood are needing to be cut down because they are diseased, which breaks my heart. I love trees… and I love what the America Scores program does to help kids get on the right path.

The title of Lily’s poem is “Trees”:

Trees are tall
Trees are short
Some are maple
Some are oak
Leaves are yellow
Leaves are green
These are the beautiful trees I have seen

Book of Trees
Book of Trees

*America SCORES is a transformational after-school program which educates and prepares 1st-5th grade students to lead healthy and confident lives. For more information: America Scores in Milwaukee

Categories // Art for worthy causes, Limelights on my friends Tags // books, children, poetry, soccer, trees

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