August Wilson, that extraordinary playwright whose work I have always loved, once wrote: When the sins of our fathers visit us We do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness As God, in His Largeness and Laws. Yesterday was not a good day. A situation occurred which triggered memories […]
Long before the development of shopping malls, and long before the ubiquitous ear piercing locations within those malls, there were families with members, usually grandmothers or spinster aunts, with steady, clean (one hopes) hands and good enough eyesight to perform the singular task of piercing ears. Anyone’s ears. But not in my family… …in spite […]
Or when the past and the present collide in the most quirky of ways and I realize I have far more questions than answers and it pisses me off. Pun intended. Chamber Pots. Seriously? After such a lengthy break from stories? After an effing world-wide Pandemic? A post-election pre-inauguration Insurrection? A bleepin’ new, unprovoked and […]
Parents don’t live forever. As we watch them age, we begin to realize all that will be lost when they are gone. I treasure their stories and am compelled to share them in print. Myth or history, all the tales I had heard since childhood could not be left to my memory alone. With some urging, my […]
BOBBINGALONG is still here! WE ARE BACK! Not that we went anywhere, really. Well, there was that trip abroad last summer. I still am not completely comfortable eating inside a crowded restaurant, but “join us in Spain and Italy?” Hell, YES! There were also a few trips to visit grandchildren though a lot of our “together […]
My father was often called upon to speak at events–dinners and meetings and such. I was aware of this mostly because after he finished writing he would wander around the house muttering words until they were committed to his memory. Also, unless she was also attending the event, and if Dad’s commitment included dinner, Mom […]
E. Burl Randolph April 16, 1920-January 27, 2018 The walls of my studio are peppered with notes—all sorts of quotations from different writers and thinkers and people whose words I admire. This collection of thoughts began years ago, long before computers and their overwhelming access to information. I remember being in our local library […]
How I loved my mother‘s stories. They weren’t the usual fairy tales and fables. These were stories based on actual events with actual people, stories about her family, whom she referred to as “my people”. These hardy souls, who emigrated from England to Newfoundland in the mid-1800s, were her beloved aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins. […]
What keeps me occupied during times of Crisis? Chaos? Covid? Once I finally crawl out of bed, I head to my studio and busy myself with projects I have ignored for a very long time. Throughout the earlier months of Covid, I spent all day every day working on art. Having uninterrupted days to create […]
As my parents aged, I urged them to write their personal histories. My siblings and I had heard many tales during our childhood but I felt it was important to have those family stories written as each parent remembered them. I wasn’t the only one making this request, of course; other siblings did as well. […]
Old fashioned. Hand-written. On paper. In ink. Still creased from mailing and lovingly saved for decades. These are messages from someone long gone, written during times of great difficulty. The writer was my grandmother. The recipient was my great grandmother. They lived quite far from each other in an age when most families lived in […]
Over the phone I was told: more tests are needed. I wasn’t ready for this. Not ready to face this. Not ready to hear those words. Not ready at all. My studio is my chapel, my sanctuary… My work is my psalm, my prayer… It is in that room, with the tools that are so […]
Wonderings 2001 Mixed Media: Watercolor, Gouache, Acrylic, Pencil 9″ x 5.5″ York Art Association Juried Exhibit Olivia’s House “Healing Hearts Through the Arts” For more on this painting, click here.
This is another painting which burst out of me with stunning immediacy. I began working on it right after I had accompanied a friend to her final chemotherapy treatment. Later, for an exhibit, I wrote about the inspiration behind it: Late March, 2004 It was one of those days. A slight snow had fallen overnight, […]
Celebration 2004 Oil on Linen, with embellishments 24″ x 42″ Exhibited 2005: Olivia’s House “Healing Hearts Through the Arts” To learn more about this work, click here.