Summer 1999
Some days I can't stop working. I know this sounds almost un-American...we live for our weekends...but I get hooked on a new idea, a new way to solve an old problem and I can't stop, totally unable to decide what the last thing to do for the day is. I am still on a Bypass Bracelet thing. The most exciting one I've designed yet will have tons of finely cut, high color choice diamonds. It was truly a thrill to own it for a few moments......I still have its image floating through my gallery.
There is one summer thing that can tempt me out of my shop...the garden. Sitting in the grass with my hands deep in the soil is not just soothing but as addictive as a drug. Every day I find reasons to catch small pieces of time to pull out a few weeds and think about things...like what is a weed anyway but a plant that you have too much of? I have this ongoing love/hate thing with my Plume Poppy. It is so striking and lovely. With 15" grape leafed shaped leaves that glow with a dusty golden green translucence, at summer's end it reaches over 15' tall with feathery rosy plumes. From June, it takes center stage as it grows noticeable amounts each day. I really think I have seen it move on its own; a sentient being with a will. Possibly this is a symptom of garden addiction delirium or some exotic Minnesota bug bite but I really did see it move. And now there is another just like the first growing next to it. I swear that wasn't there a second ago. I can't just yank it out of the ground and throw it on the compost pile as if I don't care, but it's moving toward my back door and I am starting to feel threatened. So i get out all the little plastic potting containers I compulsively save and start tenderly separating baby Plume from mother Plume. Such beautiful little seedlings find homes easily, and I always mention-lightly-the hearty attitude of the plant. I worry what I will do when I run out of friends, neighbors and clients to take these orphans. Or if I will have any friends, neighbors or clients after a season or two with their new challenging child. Or if my mother Plume will resent her loss and replace them doubly by morning.
In this agitated state the only thing I can do to settle myself down and refocus is go back into the shop and sit at my bench. After a few calm moments I can pick up my project and do what is needed next. Soon I forget about my garden invasion and nothing matters but the bracelet and making it absolutely perfect. Some days I could work around the clock.....