Thursday, October 11, 2007

A Little of This and a Little of That

The last time I left you I spoke about doing this collage but I did not have a picture. Here it is....done on a gallery wrapped 6 x 6 canvas. I love the layers I achieved with this. I am really beginning to get ideas for doing this with fabric...all I need to do is to stay home long enough to do it!

Then last week I walked out the front door and saw these beautiful clouds...just for inspiration.



Wednesday I left home with my father for an all day trip to Norfolk, VA. Getting through the maze of security now adays is pretty hard but even harder when you are trying to get your low vision father who won't wear his hearing aids through the process, especially since he hasn't done this for years. And then changing planes in Atlanta and finally arrived in Norfolk where it was in the 70's at 11 pm and the humidity was pretty thick and I had to turn on the air conditioner in the car which caused water to form on the outside of the windshield from condensation so I had to use the wipers so I could see roads that I had no idea of where they were going...and navigate freeways and streets that have a very different way of doing things than we do in California.


But we got to the hotel and this morning woke up too late for the free breakfast. My dad's sister lives in Chesapeake and there is a ship's reunion here so this brought my father out here and I came to help get him here and around the area.


After talking with lots of talking and sharing stories in the hospitality room, we took off to go find the house we had lived in Norfolk when I was 13 years old. We lived there for 18 months between two tours of duty in Japan.

One of the guys at the reunion loaned us his gps and I am now hooked on that as a way to find your way to someplace you have no idea of how to get to. Since my dad can't read the map nor can he see much outside the car I couldn't navigate strange freeways and get there without this help...guess now I will have to get one for my husband... When we lived in this house ( a very long time ago) this porch was not enclosed and we would sit out here on Sundays in the afternoon and the barbecue was here so my dad could cook.



This shows the house with the front door and the back laundry room which opened onto a small concrete patio. When I got my very first dog, this is the house she lived in.
And here is my dad standing at the front of the house. This is the man who weighed 115 pounds in August, 2006 and had given up on life.

After looking at the house, we called my aunt and made arrangements to go over and see her. It was incredibly touching to see the two of them together, my dad at 84 and my aunt at 91 and still very much the older sister. She just kept looking at him and was so happy to see him. We will be getting together with her and her son and daughter on Sunday. What a family reunion.
I have been doing some work on fabric but I can't share it with anyone...sorry about that.

5 comments:

jane dávila said...

I *love* your new collage - and the story about your trip to Norfolk with your dad.

TALL GIRL said...

What a wonderful gift you are giving to your Dad by accompanying him on this journey. A gold star for you, Liz!

Anonymous said...

I so agree. What a lovely trip for your father. It brought to mind that piece you did in Niki bonnet's class.

I know what you are working on! I saw Terry's work, yesterday, but, I will not say another word.

Rayna said...

So good to see a picture of your dad looking happy and the picture of health. Incredible! What a great reunion.

Pallas said...

What a touching story about your dad and his sister. I loved the photo of them.

Pallas