Aug8

prophet mary proctor.

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The Story of My Grandma Old Buttons

mixed media on door;

house paint, acrylic, buttons, liquid nails, mason jar, hot glue

no date

courtesy of laura lippman

—

Mary Proctor (1960- )

Mary Proctor’s store, Noah’s Ark Antiques, in Tallahassee, Florida is a wood cottage where you can still buy used records and faded photos. Her yard is a labyrinth of clutter, surrounded by a chain-link fence. She lives with her husband and four children in a mobile home behind the store. Mary Proctor began painting on doors in 1995, after her aunt and two other family members were killed, trapped inside their burning house trailer. Firefighters failed in all attempts to pry open the swelled metal doors. Mary says that God then spoke to her, telling her to “paint onto the doors.” Renaming herself, “Prophet Mary Proctor,” Mary’s doors are covered with her spiritual teachings and observances of righteous behavior garnered from everyday life and, especially, from her wise Grandma. Her doors range from cabinet size to large double garage doors on which Mary typically uses paint and a collage of buttons, cloth, and found objects. Mary likes to think of herself as a missionary rather than an artist. “I’m just a messenger and they (the people who collect her work) are the deliverers.”

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‘in a time of destruction, create something.’

-maxine hong kingston

 

—

American Visionary Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

 

Aug7

merry sunshine.

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this is not me,

but we do have a similar level of excitement upon waking up each day

just to see what is going to happen,

 as we’ve both discovered over time,

not everyone shares this same level of enthusiasm for the new day. 

when my children shared a house with me,

I loved waking them with a ‘merry sunshine!’ in the  morning,

which did not always go over as well as the spirit in which the greeting was intended. 

there is still time for it to grow on them.

here is Ralph’s take on the situation:

—

‘there is one topic peremptorily forbidden to all well-bred,

to all rational mortals, namely, their distempers.

if you have not slept or if you have slept or if you have headache or sciatica

or leprosy or thunder-stroke,

I beseech you, by all angels, to hold your peace and not pollute the morning.

-ralph waldo emerson

 

 

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image credit: instagram

Aug6

bridging the gap.

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From the Dumfries Agricultural Show in Scotland (source: bluesky) and kind of scary, but it could just be me, as I have a fear of dolls and that sort of thing. This was an entry in the Arts & Crafts competition several years ago. I do love going to these kind of local shows. A Veggie Baby perhaps?

 ‘food art bridges the gap between culinary traditions and innovation.’

-author unknown

Aug5

rainbow cat.

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1941 newspaper rainbow cat breaking news

—

oh, how I would love to write little articles like this in a community newspaper.

—

when I first moved to Ann Arbor, we had a person who wrote a ‘local crime’ column

where they listed the week’s ‘crimes,’ such as:

– a robbery of a university student on the street of 2 pencils and $2.41

-a police call of someone possibly being attacked, but what turned out to be the screams of two people watching a horror film

the crime reporter would read the police blotter each week and report out, excellent work.

—

in another community paper

in a tiny local town

I read ‘sandy’s corner’

where sandy would share her personal recipes

 the one I happened to read was for a

‘baked potato’

does not get any better than that.

—

if I had to report on unusual pets such as the rainbow cat above, well…

the sky’s the limit!

—

At the “Emerging Mind of Community Journalism” conference in Anniston, Ala., in 2006, participants created a list characterizing community journalism: community journalism is intimate, caring, and personal; it reflects the community and tells its stories; and it embraces a leadership role.

If you want more of a definition, I’m afraid it’s like when someone asked Louie Armstrong for a definition of jazz. The great Satchmo is reputed to have replied something like this: ‘Man, if you have to ask, it won’t do me any good to try to explain.’ You know community journalism when you see it; it is the heartbeat of American journalism, journalism in its natural state.” — Jock Lauterer

Aug4

chicken scratch.

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undecipherable address? the postal service’s handwriting detectives are on it

Snail mail carries a special kind of charm — you can see it in the unique handwriting, uneven lines, and occasional pen smudges. But when it comes to pinpointing the intended address of a piece of mail, these perfectly imperfect human touches can present quite a challenge for post office machines. That’s where a U.S. Postal Service team comes in to do what machines cannot: decipher chicken scratch.
​
In Salt Lake City, handwriting experts known as “keyers” work around the clock at the Remote Encoding Center to parse out illegible or hard-to-read addresses, usually sent to the center as digital images for human interpretation. Last year, the keyers processed roughly 1 billion pieces of mail, Ryan Bullock, the site’s operations manager, told CBS News.
​
While the Postal Service once had 55 remote encoding centers nationwide, the Utah center is now the only such facility left, making it an essential part of the efforts to ensure handwritten notes reach their destinations — personality-filled penmanship and all. As the service continues celebrating its 250th birthday, watch the handwriting detectives at work.

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The phrase “chicken scratch” originates from the visual resemblance between a chicken’s foot marks and messy, illegible handwriting. Chickens, while scratching at the ground to find food, leave behind marks that look like a series of haphazard, uncoordinated lines and dashes. This imagery was then applied to handwriting that was difficult to read, hence the idiom “chicken scratch”.

—

‘the only thing most people do better than anyone else is read their own handwriting.’

-john adams

‘

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source credits: cbs news, Justin Sullivan, Getty images

Aug3

resist.

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“to the wrong that need resistance, 

to the right that needs assistance,

to the future in the distance,

give yourselves.’

-carrie chapman chatt

 

*Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women’s suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and 1915 to 1920.
—
bandameer park, ann arbor, michigan, usa – summer 2025
Aug2

a hall of fame toy that costs $0.

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anyone who knows me well, knows that i absolutely love sticks, rocks, shells, leaves…..

and why I was thrilled to read this recently:

Curators at the Strong National Museum of Play branched out when they added the stick to their collection of all-time beloved toys. Among the most versatile amusements, sticks have inspired central equipment in several sports, including baseball, hockey, lacrosse, fencing, cricket, fishing, and pool. Humble twigs are also ready-made for fetch, slingshots, toasting marshmallows, and boundless make-believe.

Located in Rochester, New York – about 70 miles northeast of Fisher-Price’s headquarters – the Strong acquired the fledgling National Toy Hall of Fame in 2002.  To date, more than 70 toys have been inducted, including Crayola Crayons, Duncan Yo-Yos, and bicycles. The stick was added in 2008, three years after another quintessential source of cheap childhood delight: the cardboard box. Hail to the mighty stick!

—

‘some of you did not spend your childhood making potions

out of random leaves, berries, flowers, and twigs

tossed into a tub of water and stirred with a stick that you found….

and it shows.’

-author unknown

 

 

 

—

source credits: google image, nice news, strong national museum of play

 

Aug1

the first week of august.

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Watercolor by Conny Jager, Canadian Painter

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‘the first week of august hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. the weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of august is motionless, and hot. it is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.’

-natalie babbitt

 

*Natalie Babbitt 1932 – 2016, was an American writer and illustrator of children’s books. Her 1975 novel, Tuck Everlasting was adapted into two feature films and a Broadway musical. She also received the Newberry Honor and Christopher Award.

Jul31

bus, stop!!

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best ride in (and out of) town

after the tigers game last weekend

I planned to hop on the d2a2 bus

 take it back from detroit to ann arbor

best thing on wheels

4 dollars, always on time,

very friendly drivers

a/c, wifi, comfy seats

no parking, gas, traffic, getting lost, construction

45 minute drive

12 minute walk to my house

except….

when we walked over to find the bus

it wasn’t there

only thing there

 was an Indian trails bus

right in the usual spot where the d2a2 bus sits

we waited a bit and a bit more

finally checked my phone again

as the bus started to pull out

only to see

they were using Indian trails

for this time only

so I actually fully sprinted

(very rare for me)

put my hand up

stopped the bus 

(kind of like that final scene in ‘the graduate’)

stood at the door knocking

( a tiny sign on the door said it was acting as an a2d2 bus)

jumped on

the driver said

just take a seat 

pointing with his driving gloves 

giving the peace sign to other buses we passed

 we shot off down the road

back in Ann Arbor in 45 minutes 

very close call

who knew I could stop a bus?

but I was motivated.

—

‘when you are already in detroit, you don’t have to take a bus to get there.’

-ram dass

Jul30

weather report.

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the hot spell will continue a bit longer.

 

—

‘if it’s a regular day, I won’t wear any makeup,

just leave my hair down and head out to the car.’

-donna karan