Moth wing fairies

The first page, which is better, is by Hennie Mavis, and the second
page, by me. (not so great).

Sketches for the temptation of Eve

Sketches for the temptation of Eve, by Mary Stebbins Taitt

coming down from Lake of the clouds

literally and figuratively!

It was so gorgeous up there, OH do go if you can! WOW!

Skywatch: sunset over Pier Park

This was just a few minutes ago!

Italian window

YAY!  One of my paintings on D2's wall!  Wahoo!

The Smell of Sun, New Poem from the Geraldine cycle, Counting Fingers, Smelting Light

I have a reading tonight, and I will be reading this poem, which I wrote while we were on vacation in the UP. We were staying at the Bay Furnace Campground and had returned from the Pictured Rocks boat cruise and tour, and were taking a stroll along Lake Superior after dark. I had been struggling with the honeymoon poem for my Geraldine Chapbook and had made several false starts, but sitting in the darkness with BB, sitting on a log looking at the stars and moon and listening to the quiet ripples, I had a new idea for the honeymoon poem and wrote this in my tiny pocket notebook in the dark with no light.

The Smell of Sun

A swell of water rises, curls and falls to the sand,

tinkling like tiny bells, opening an "ah" in Geraldine, opening

a space inside, in darkness where once she was solid like a rock,

opening an internal ear horn that listens for a sound like bits of ice

dropping into fragile glass. She watches as another

wave follows, as soft and sweet as the first, and then a third.

In shining darkness, waves angle against the shore. The quiet

singing of their touch passes along the sand from right

to left. Ricky's hand warms Geraldine's in the cooling night,

and she squeezes it, laughing aloud at the quick squeeze back.

The full moon the guardians teased about ("perfect

for your honeymoon") casts a single shadow on the sand,

echoes Geraldine's body leaning into Ricky's. Fireflies

blink on and off along the sand, in the bushes, and out

over the water, mirroring a wilderness of stars. Wisps

of mist, lit by moonlight, drift over the lake, thicken and gather

in the bays and between the hills. Down the beach, a lone boat

stands out in silhouette against the moon path.

Geraldine wiggles her toes in the sand and snuggles closer

to Ricky and says "oh" and "oh," again. She breathes

the smell of sun from his skin, the clean, sweet smell

of his body. His arm, circling her shoulders, draws her

yet nearer, presses close. Then, a moment later, he tugs

her to her feet. They walk barefoot down the beach

to their honeymoon cottage, to the bed turned down

and waiting for them, scattered with daisies,

to the sheets that smell of cedar and lavender,

like sunshine, like love. After they drop their clothing

to the floor, after they pull the sheet cool to their chins,

before they turn toward each other, they watch a star fall,

blue and flickering over the water, steaming

into the ripples like misted flame.

Mary Stebbins Taitt

---

-----this line and everything below this line are not part of the poem------- 080729--1533--2d; 080718; 1^st Written 7-18-08 at Bay Furnace Campground on the shore of Lake Michigan near midnight in my pocket notebook without a light. Details from our own experience. The reading copy has the names of Jake and Luisa, Al and Lily removed

another use for cameras

We had a great time on our trip, but . . .
. . . there WERE a lot of mosquitoes there!

near our campground in the Porkies

We saw them several times!

sketch ("Sissy, age 14") in Moleskine

This is a quick sketch--I was experimenting with gessoed pages, this
one with water color pencil.

Sunset on Superior

Here's a mole painting from our vacation. We spent some time on Lake
Superior. We loved the sunsets (and the lightning!). This is water
color on gessoed Moleskine. Of course, the sunset tonight over Lake
St. Clair was pretty nice! Not this color, though, it was pink,
purple, grey and black.

You can see two more vacation mole sketches here.