Around this time...

Every year around this time, with Coastal Cleanup Day (September 16) on the horizon, many opportunities to show and share our work wash in. 

We are forever grateful to Doug Woodring from Ocean Recovery Alliance for his efforts to promote our beach plastic project. These pics just in from his  Big Why Talk at UBS Hong Kong about his Zero Waste Initiative .

In conjunction with our exhibit at the Fairfax Library, we are presenting an evening discussion with colleague and friend Michael Stocker from Ocean Conservation Research.

To enrich the Tidal Response exhibition, the Petaluma Art Center is presenting a variety of related programs and activities, including a panel discussion on the relationship between art, science and the environment; a book signing of the newly published A Life Among Fishes; and demonstrations of both Gyotaku (Japanese fish printing) and 3D modeling of undersea coral samples. 

Bay Day, October 7 is the official day for residents, businesses and community organizations to celebrate the beauty and diversity of all San Francisco Bay life. We are working with Save the Bay to provide beach plastic supplies for art activity tables that will be set up at Jack London Square and The Yard SF. 

On Coastal Clean Up Day, September 16, there is someplace for everyone — be it a watershed, creek, bay or beach. Check the map and find a nearby location. For more about how to participate: https://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/cleanup/#/map

Free

The byline for the Marin County Free Library is My choice for leisure, learning and living. On Saturday when the thermometer in the car topped out at 111° cooling should be added to that line up.

Just to be sure that you know that you are welcome, the library has posted this sign on the front door.

We say that when we go to the library that we are shopping for free — books, magazines, videos, even a seed exchange — the range of free resources is vast. Especially now that we are clued in to the Link+  service that extends our reach throughout California and Nevada, it seems like almost any book on the planet can be borrowed. Need a special book? Wait a day or two and it will be delivered to the library and available for use  — free.

When the grands come for a visit, tops on their things-to-do list is a stop at the library where they can load up on picture books and youth-friendly videos. Hey, kids fill your bag we are shopping for free!

We are thrilled to present re:Purpose Bricolage in a such a cool and welcoming place. Big thanks to Marcia Steiger, exhibits coordinator, for the opportunity to show our work September 5-30. 

On Tuesday, September 19 at 7 PM we will talk about our devotion to Bricolage. The term comes from the French, Bricoleur that refers to a jack-of-all-trades, a handyman who is able to "fix it" or "make do" with what is at hand. We will join forces with Michael Stocker from Ocean Conservation Research who will talk about sound, ecology, sense of place and his recent book Here Where We Are. 

Unaccountable Proclivities, a series of photographs of beach plastic arranged on Fiestaware plates, on display in the meeting room.

On the wall behind the librarians desk Richard presents 20 bricolage repurposed pieces of "junk" dug up in the garden or found on the grounds of Rancho D.

On the back wall behind the bank of computers Judith displays After Cy an homage to the humble library pencil and to the obsessions of artist Cy Twombly.

Which story?

Tending the grandkids on a 104° scorcher of a day means it's time for a dip in the pool. 

We discovered the prefect alternative to plastic beach toys — ZUCCHINI.

Who knew that zucchini float???
And could be so much fun???

As avid bloggers about our garden at Rancho D and our beach plastic adventures at Kehoe Beach we sometimes find that there is a crossover so we are unsure about where to post — is it a plastic story? or a vegetable story? Either way we are filing for a patent on this squash — when we think about the boxes of plastic beach toys we have collected — imagine if those had all been vegetables washed ashore!!!

We are just back from a stunning trip to Oregon to view the total eclipse. Our blog post about that adventure touches on many of the themes we frequent - the play of serendipity, the importance of daily practice. 

We began our journey with a stop at the reception for Tidal Response: Coastal Marine Environments from Above and Below at the Petaluma Art Center. Thanks to curator Carin Jacobs we were pleased to be in the company of the fine group of artists who use a variety of media (3-D modeling, printmaking, ceramics) to respond to the complex ecosystem of the ocean.

We were amazed by the crowd of art enthusiasts and the vitality of the community support for the center. If you missed the opening there is still time to see the show, until October 21 with upcoming events.

The Logan Visionary Conference

Our presentation, our song and dance, our Punch and Judy show, (guess who is Punch?) at 2017 The Logan Visionary Conference: FOOD, From Crisis to Innovative Delight at the American Visionary Art Museum  is now available for your viewing pleasure. We are happy with the expert editing of our slide show and are grateful for the opportunity to spread the word to the AVAM community and beyond. Please take a look:

World Environment Day

World Environment Day, June 5 is a day to reconnect with nature and celebrate the places that matter most to you. This year the theme is #WithNature so everyone, everywhere will be sharing pictures of how they are connecting with #WithNature. In that spirit we are pleased to offer our love of nature at Kehoe Beach with this video produced by ARTE TV a French/German network with US crew Virginie Goubier, producer and Alexis Orand, camera. We are grateful for the stunning footage that captures the breathtaking sweep of the beach and grandeur of this place where we are #WithNature. You can watch it here:

http://sites.arte.tv/invitation-voyage/fr/video/californie-kehoe-le-secret-de-judith-et-richard

We have been reminiscing about 2005 when San Francisco was host to the United Nations World Environment Day. The city stepped it up for five days, June 1-5. Some 50 mayors from around the world pledged to act on energy, waste reduction, urban design, urban nature, transpiration, environmental health, and water. We were pleased that San Francisco was taking the lead and we were especially proud to be included in the Environmental Art Expo at Fort Mason.

We were totally star-struck when Daryl Hannah and Julia Butterfly Hill heaped praise on our beach plastic display.

On June 1 President Trump decided to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord. Hundreds of nations have expressed their dismay and across the US there has been a rallying cry. California's Governor Jerry Brown, acting as a defacto climate ambassador is on his way to China to invite dialogue and promote green growth. Mayors and cities across the US have committed to following the Accord guidelines. Top CEO's are proclaiming, He's wrong. Although we may be devastated by Trump's decision there is a ray of hope in all of this: 

If President Trump won't lead, the American people will.

44 North Coffee

44 North Coffee on the 44th parallel on Deer Isle, Maine opened on Monday for the summah season. It gets darn cold up there so they close for the winter. Here in the Bay Area, we know nothing about cold, only as Poet Antonio Machado says, "The cold is a good advisor, but it is cold." And there is nothing like a good cup of coffee or some fresh roasted beans to rêve up the day.

So glad that marine biologist Abby Barrows introduced our work to proprietresses and coffee roasters par excellence Megan Wood and Melissa Raferty. Although we have never met Abby, we are excited to learn about her work researching micro-plastics in oysters, clams, mussels, mackerel and lobster. Yep, she has found plastic everywhere, in everybody.

We were surprised to discover in a fewer than six degrees of separation, chain of friend to friend, Megan and Melissa went to school with Lila Roo, daughter of painter Tom Lieber. We are big fans of Lila Roo and her amazing work with plastic and have joined with her in support of the Plastic Pollution Coalition. We recently were featured with her on the PPC blog. The connection goes on...Lila and daughter Amelia were tots together right here in the San Geronimo Valley.

Lila Roo is now based in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were she has founded New Roots a youth program that uses creativity as a model for empowerment and respect for self. culture, and nature. 

This summer if you are Down East stop by 44 North Coffee for a wicked good cup of brew and join the conversation about plastic and what we all can do to reduce the amount of trash that ends up in the ocean.

-- 

44 North Coffee

PO Box 511

Deer Isle, ME 04627

Roastery Phone: 207.348.5208

www.44northcoffee.com

Leitmotif

Anticipating a visit with students and scholars from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley we went on a rampage cleaning and clearing. There is nothing like company coming to quicken the pace and motivate to get things in order. As sister in-law Mona used to cajole, "Time to lick the house, the folks are coming!"

As we decided what to show that would be of particular interest to students from Yohana Junkers "Visual Arts, Spirit, and Place in the Americas" it was Richard's book Bright Moments on the dining table that focused attention on the Buddha's final instruction — Make of Yourself a Light.

These days with the dark news from Washington DC (with climate denial, FBI Putsch on our minds, etc. etc. etc. etc.) we are keen to embrace the light and join with others who want to illumine the truth. We often think of Anthropologist Mary Douglas and her idea of pollution defiling the temple. Isn't this gorgeous planet our temple?  

The expansive and lively conversation spun near and far. The meaning of place was a recurring theme — from what it means to move from one home to another to the importance of a touch stone or work of art that one can return to again and again. And how subtle variations are discernible — when, like a drawer of beetles or birds in a natural history museum, the individual character (oil splotches, Bryozoans, bleached by the sun) of each of these cheese spreaders (or the lightbulbs) can be compared to type.

Although the prospect of finding plastic on the beach is always unpredictable —it's a leap of faith to promise a "mess of plastic." After all of the blah, blah, blah about the problem of plastic pollution, it was disconcerting when, from the top of the dune, the beach looked clean. 

Undaunted by the thought that we had made the trek all the way to the beach and there was no plastic to be seen, everyone was enlivened by the brilliance of the day and took to the task. Although there were scant few big pieces of plastic, with keen eyes and deft hands, in just a few minutes handfuls of tiny pieces of plastic and nurdles were collected. How to ever clean up this mess? The smaller the pieces = the bigger the problem.   

Whether it's off-shore oil drilling, tanker loads of crude spilling and spoiling our shores, or war maneuvers at sea, this toy soldier is poignant reminder of the true cost of plastic. Isn't it time for a war on plastic? The United Nations says, YES!

What gets us out to the beach over and over again? Is it an heroic act? Not really, it's simply the thrill we get from "being on the case," to do the tiniest action that ignites some vague inner thrill—turning on the switch. After all is said and done, we take Buddha's instruction seriously — Make of Yourself a Light.