On the Beauty of Not Working

After a seemingly endless winter, summer has finally come to the Peninsula in September. Last Sunday I introduced Mercy and Anita to the wonderful beach at Port Williams, seemingly miles north and south, and usually very few other people, although that day 30 made a crowd...a very quiet and respectful and friendly one. We kept meeting people at least one of us knew, collected beautiful rocks, and shared a delicious picnic. As long as one is always kind, there is no drawback I can see in living in a sparsely-populated area.


I spent my free time last week stitching on this banner, WATER OF LIFE. It's for the celebration of the tallest dam removal ever in the US, on the Elwah river. I always volunteer art work when needed for town events...I love stitching and watching movies, and when I can do it for a worthy cause...is it Work? After polling a group of my patients (captive audience) about how they feel about this huge project, I'm not sure about Reasons and Results, but nevertheless, water is going to be a bigger and bigger issue in our world as we just keep growing in our demands, and from what I've heard, the amount of water available does not increase...important thing to ponder: In our climate of All Rain, then No Rain, I have a gravel-covered yard.

I talked with Mom yesterday. She spends so much energy avoiding tasks she doesn't really
want to do, I told her to take the weekend off.
What is this Calvinist super ego that insists
we MUST be "productive" every second
of every day? Play often leads to Creativity.

If we can enjoy the beautiful days thoroughly, the friends, the stitching and watching movies when they come, we'll have more energy for the
deadlines. As long as I have at least one painting in the works, I know I'll get back to painting. (these are the endless conversations I have with myself)

This is Kiki Smith, artist. This is the third version and good enough to stop here. Skill in Art making...and probably everything else...accrues by Practice. So by all means, keep the Practice going, but stop to enjoy the other things and people, too. If you love what you're doing, it
won't seem so much like work.

Blessings to the people touched by floods, by wars, and by the 10th anniversary of 9/11/01.