The Interwoven Heart: May 2014

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

NORTHING

“A kind of northing is what I wish to accomplish, a single-minded trek toward that place where any shutter left open to the zenith at night will record the wheeling of all the sky’s stars as a pattern of perfect, concentric circles. I seek a reduction, a shedding, a sloughing off.”

-Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Dearest Readers,

I’ve arrived in Peacham, population 350. I touch a rock outcropping in this corner of my heartland that is called the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont…about an hour’s drive from the Canadian border of Quebec, and 20 minutes or so west of New Hampshire. This is my annual summer migration north, extending this time for a full year, and right through next summer 2015. This will be an adventure in simple living, clearing time for painting, meditating and what Mom called “lapwork”– needlework done by lamplight in an armchair after supper. The latest selfie entitled “Day 42-Healthy again” on a vintage linen family hankie is pictured below. (The H within the design originally stood for my mother Hazel.)

Kane_"Day 42-Healthy Again"_laser print, glass beads, embroidery floss, thread and batting on vintage linen family handkerchief May, 2014

Thanks to, discipline, dogged perseverance, and help from friends, I packed up my condo in Georgia, and closed the door on a 10x10 climate controlled storage unit that I’m sure I will not miss in the least. This big box contains a motley crew of objects that stand between me and radical simplicity. Freedom is another word for leaving it all behind.

Me, Etta and some beer in my empty Georgia condo

Tony Martin with Etta and I after packing the car

The little toaster-shaped Scion got packed last week thanks to friends Tony Martin and Ruth Schowalter (behind the camera). I practiced loading it up using two sizes of empty boxes, with sections of precious space left open for tubes of canvas and paper, plus odds and ends like the dog crate, vacuum and sewing machine. It all fit like a sloppy jigsaw puzzle. I was amazed.

Day one. Double lines of semis and RVs from Atlanta into the Carolinas. Arrived Friday May 23^rd Raleigh, NC at the home of Ann Cowperthwaite and Mike Parker. These kind artists and wood designers of home interiors and furniture provide me with a place to stay on my annual pilgimages north and back again.

Wood sculpture by Ann Cowperthwaite in her Raleigh home

My feet are covered in the seedpods from their stately pecan tree. Spring is here.

Etta remembers to check their dog Missy’s bowl for leftovers (no luck).

Day two. Saturday, May 24^th. Motel near a small landing strip off I-95 in New Castle Delaware. Etta lives the good life with me and a bag of Wendy’s highway food.

We negotiated the twin whirlpools of snarled interstate around DC and Baltimore. Hoards of motorcyclists were streaming into the capitol vortex for veterans' memorials on Sunday and Monday. Dodged that Gordian knot.

Day three. Sunday, May 25^th. Etta my co-pilot, and I skirted New York City this trip instead of plunging inside. Missed seeing my daughter and grandson Roman this time. Too much stuff to leave visible while parked on the street in Brooklyn.

Crossed the border into southern Vermont near Brattleboro, then on to the home of friends Gordon Faison and Eleanora Patterson in East Dummerston, Vt.

No one there, but they left me a key and an invitation to raid the refrigerator. (So nice!)

Bought a quart of pure organic maple syrup from Miller Farm up the road...my annual rite of Spring.

Day four.

Morning breaks with some rain and more clouds threatening. Time for the last leg of the journey to Peacham. Made a stop in Lebanon, NH on the way to visit x-Atlanta friend and artist, Julie Puttgen and her husband Timothy for lunch and sweet conversation. (Forgot to take a picture!)