Day #40: Revisiting Other Story Collections

#40: Bill Frey's Heron

 

This sculpture is one of two that were done by an old friend of the families', Bill Frey.  Today, locked up for another snow day I decided to look for Bill.  Now I figure he's older than my eldest brother, 70, but younger than my ex-sister in laws mother, 90.  OK so that makes him anywhere between 75 and 85 and does that mean he could be not alive any longer?  Life just throws me these curve balls, like people get old at the same rate, how dare they?   I do love these herons and I photograph them often.

 

My fascination in peoples' stories has brought numerous gifts from friends who have found collections in different places.  One such gift was from my oldest friend, Annie, who a few years ago gave me a book called Hidden Kitchens which is a collection of stories and recipes from The Kitchen Sisters from NPR.   This is a wonderful book copyrighted in 2005, it is a collection of fascinating stories of kitchens hidden in corners throughout the country, run and frequented by fascinating people doing interesting work with food and hunger.  I love it.  There is a story of an Ojibwa woman who has helped build a wild rice economy in Northern Minnesota.  There is a story of a woman feeding civil rights activists in the late 50's and 60's.  It is worth finding and reading, the book in itself feeds your soul.

I interviewed my 5th original Mom today.  Everyone's stories are very different; they have common elements, but they are very different from one another.  They illustrate love and pain so well.  They illustrate that the pain is separate from the love, but we all just mash them together and make love the cause of so much pain.  I wish I could invent a way to untangle peoples' emotional knots, like one does a favorite chain.  That would be so cool, and it would smooth out so much of the pain.  I'm so in awe still. 

I still have a couple to finish up and one left to actually interview.  Then I need to reach into my contacts and schedule another set of them.  I also want to post an Indiegogo fundraiser in the next couple of weeks in order to support a travel budget.  I really want to meet people and I really want to get some photographs, I think it will make the whole project complete.  If you are interested in being a voice in this book, please e me or comment on this blog for me to e you.  I look forward to hearing from people.

think we've had enough, yet?