Looking for a Bread Baker!
In business news- we are in need of a baker- hit me if that is you. It's a tough job with lots of physical lifting in a small space. Looking for someone with strong kitchen/bakery (or farm) experience...
I tried to drive down Paragon Drive half a dozen times after the fire to check Kate and Scott's house only to be turned away from some military officers in Humvee's. From every vantage point on South Boulder Road it would have been lost I imagined. We've shared so many meals while in their gracious presence in that house and raised many a glass to the sky in appreciation of this fine life we have in this fine town. Turns out miraculously their home was spared. Here's Kate's email from last night.
I was working on a newsletter about folk art when we saw the smoke. A few minutes later we jumped in the car with our computers, passports, and a few beloved photos. During the next several hours we fled to one house, then another and finally a third that was completely out of danger. Updates and available internet images made us certain that our home was gone. It wasn’t until later the next morning that my daughter contacted a friend whose dad was in the fire department and who immediately drove to our street and sent a picture of our home. Thank you Victoria and thank you Victoria’s dad whose name I am still waiting to find out. Our neighbors on either side were also spared but almost everything South of us is gone. It looks like we have been bombed. Rubble, chimneys and burned out cars. That is the landscape. Today while driving around in the snow I saw a man in a truck staring at the empty remains of what was once his home and he was frozen in a daze, staring and crying.
So how do I get back to art? I’ve been thinking about that a lot over the last few days and what keeps flying into my scattered brain is Bill Murray (who coincidentally was my very first cover story subject as a journalist) and an interview he gave after the movie Monuments Men. My friend Stephie Lange, an artist, sent it to me. It was a press conference and Bill was questioned about the importance of art and he told a story about the beginning of his career in Chicago when he knew he was not a good actor and during his first performance he was aware of doing such a horrible job that he walked off stage and started walking toward the lake. He was thinking of ending his life but as he kept walking north he ended up at the Chicago Art Institute. “I walked in and there was a painting there I don’t even know who painted it. I think it’s called ‘The Song of the Lark,’ and there’s a woman working in a field and there’s a sunrise behind her and I’ve always loved this painting. I saw it that day and I just thought ‘Well look it, there’s a girl who doesn’t have a whole lot of prospects but the sun’s coming up anyway and she’s got another chance at it. I think it gave me some sort of feeling that I, too, am a person and get another chance every day the sun comes up.”
I was home in Pittsburgh on a break from college when my mother asked me to come with her to an art opening for a show of Robert Bowden's work. (Bob is not only a wonderful artist but also a dear family friend). I had always loved his watercolors and the room was a complete delight. When I saw this ironing board I stopped in my tracks and stood there mesmerized for what seemed like a long time. I remember that I had a lot of trouble walking away. A few months later, my mom surprised me with the gift of this painting on my 21st birthday. It has had a place of importance in the multiple apartments and homes I've lived in for the last 40 years. Every morning that the sun rises, I look to it as a daily reminder of the beauty of the everyday if only we allow ourselves to take a moment and notice.
There is a magnitude of beautiful meaningful art in our house. And when we ran out, I didn’t grab any of it. But if it happens again, I’ll grab this one.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!
Kate
“The Song of the Lark” Jules Breton - 1884
“Ironing Board” Robert Bowden - circa 1982
We are getting there for Will & Laura- almost half way....let's help them rebuild their business!!! You may recognize them as the ones who have played music almost every weekend at Moxie (along with other amazing friends) for many years, for FREE.
Here's the GoFundMe link: HERE
One of my favorite Joni songs - this one reminds me of growing up with my mother playing this song in the kitchen in Vermont.