Dear Artsmiths readers! Sarah here.
I realize I am more than a day late, and probably much more than a dollar short as the saying goes, but I did want to post some artistic snapshots illustrative of "What Summer Means To Me" for the recent Artsmiths challenge - that WAS the subject, I hope!?
I had several thoughts: First was arty and urban...
This is our recycled rubber doormat, which not only looks ubercool, but also, it smells EXACTLY like the rubber tire swings of my childhood, when they heated up, after a long, hard day in the Arizona sun.
Next was earthy and ecologically conscious:
We have been somewhat successful with our arid Colorado garden this summer, after many years of disappointment. This year we moved the garden to the FRONT yard - well, actually the side of the front, as (OF COURSE) we still had to leave room for croquet, and are sharing with our neighbors, and I want to tell you in our case, half the work really does = twice the food. We will expand further into the yard next year, since Colin agreed, "If we get even ONE tomato."
My third idea was an oh-so-subtley clever movie reference, a nod to my love for New Orleans, and a visual sigh at having to resign myself to going nowhere much further than "my own garden gate" this summer...
If you've seen the movie A Love Song For Bobby Long, you know the last scene includes a very quick, blink-&-you'll-miss-it glimpse at the house Purslane inherited from her Momma. Only, it's not REALLY the same house at all; she's totally transformed it into a home. And for a few seconds, a summer breeze catches and sends the curtains back into the cool shade of the house, and the scent of gardenia fills the air...
Well, I could go on & on, but in the end, I decided it's just like the Dalai Lama says - if we all could only spend a little more time having picnics, the troubles of the world would evaporate. That's a paraphrase, but I know you get the drift. So here are a few real old-school snapshots - there's nothing much to recommend them as art, but whatev, they are truly What Summer Means To Me:
