R and R Time is Food for the Soul in a Busy World

(Outside Paulsbo, WA)

We made it to SeaTac Airport in beautiful Seattle, Washington on Thursday, June 11. The mid 70 temps brought a smile to our faces and a car waiting for us at the airport brought us the second. Our driver was originally an immigrant from (sounded like Malovia -- near Russia) and spoke excellent English. We shared stories and experiences as he drove us to my daughter’s house. Along the way, we enjoyed the many flowers and trees that were in bloom, many I couldn’t identify.

We got off to a great start except for some concern that one of the grandchildren was having some day-long dental work and her pulse rate had plunged to 20. The next day they had to call 911 and apply CPR. She was in the ICU for three days. The diagnosis was pericardia. She had fluid in the cardium sac around the heart. Apparently some damage was done while doing CPR. Pretty scary ordeal!

The first day I was here adjusting to our new “digs,” I took a bad fall. The living room at my daughter’s house is sunken. The wood of the hallway blended in with the wood on the living room floor, and I failed to remember the step; fell hard flat on my face. I was lucky that I only got a fat lip and a bruised elbow out of it.

(Me and my Fat Lip)

The next day we drove to a small Norwegian village called Paulsbo. Nestled within the tall cedar and fir trees were small shops, art galleries, and bakeries. We browsed, made a few purchases, and then headed to lunch for some tasty fish and chips and poached salmon sandwiches. Yum!

People naturally stared at my odd looking mouth. When they did, I said “Yeah, he beats me.” They’d look shocked and then laugh which gave me an opportunity to tell what really happened.

Met some wonderful artist volunteers from two co-op galleries and shared business cards. I purchased some cool earrings from one of them. We also browsed in a Scandinavian gift shop and I bought a plaque to give to my husband on Father’s Day. The message says: “You can always tell a Norwegian, but you can’t tell them much!” Perfect!

We visited my great granddaughter, Kayla in the ICU that evening. Here is what we learned. Pericardial Effusion is an abnormal amount of fluid between the heart and the pericardium, which is the sac surrounding the heart. Pericardial effusions are associated with many different medical conditions. Most pericardial effusions are not harmful, but large pericardial effusions can cause problems by impairing heart function.

The pericardium is a tough, layered sac that wraps around the heart. When the heart beats, it slides easily within the sac. Normally, only 2 to 3 tablespoons of clear-yellow pericardial fluid are present between two layers, which lubricate the heart's movements within the sac.

In pericardial effusions, significantly larger amounts of pericardial fluid accumulate. Small pericardial effusions may contain 100 milliliters of fluid. Very large pericardial effusions may involve more than two liters of fluid.

Viral infections are one of the main causes of pericarditis and pericardial effusions. She may also have picked up a viral infection during the long hours of dental procedures she had to undergo.

After three days in ICU wearing a cap with sensors underneath, they decided it was a “heart” event and not an epileptic seizure. Between my fall and Kayla’s scrape with death, we all breathed a sigh of relief with the outcomes.

Yesterday we went to Northwest Trek, a nature preserve where one of my grandsons, Christopher, works. His major was in Zoology and he is working here during the summer. He plans to go to Indonesia to join his step-brother, Bryce, to study and work with a Thailand zoo on the Snow Leopard, an endangered cat species.

(Here is where Chris weighs the small animals and keeps them out of their cages while he cleans them)

Chris coaxes a badger from his hole to hand feed him.

Bryce traveled to Bogota, Columbia to research the coffee beans in that area and make connections. He will also work in Thailand with some coffee growers and network before going back to Washington to run his own coffee shop. He is hoping to create his own distinctive blend.

We will be traveling back to MN on Wednesday of this week, and then homeward bound to Fort Myers where I have some gastric procedures of my own to go through. It has been a wonderful vacation. We have enjoyed the cooler temperatures and the love of family. The great Northwest is one of my favorite places to visit. Audios amigos and I’ll write again when I get back home.

Chris talking to the audience, and feeding the beavers.

Sensory Encounter -- Access to Museums and Galleries for the disabled

Every grade school usually has a time for experiencing the arts. Most of us can remember the fun of finger painting: how it felt, slimy and cool to the touch; how it smelled, and some of us even how it tasted. We learned the basics of creativity and how to cover the slick white paper with fingerprint smears in less than five seconds flat

Learning is always enhanced when we stimulate our five senses with color, sound, smell, taste and touch. For hundreds of years, the art experience has only been for the few.  It has only been in recent years that museums, art galleries and nature have been made available for the sensory impaired and the disabled.

My first exposure to a tactile garden prepared specifically for those who were blind was in Minnesota. Here the seeing impaired visitor was able to touch and smell the leaves, petals and stems without fear of being pricked by a thorn. Some plants were there specifically for the tasting. Walkways were kept unobstructed and safe so people could walk, use a wheelchair or sit down to rest.

Unfortunately, most museums don’t allow touching of sculptures and galleries discourage the touching of paintings because the oils from our skin may eventually leave a soiled mark that promotes disintegration. People are generally curious and want to touch areas of sheen and smoothness or patches that look rough even though it may be an illusion. Today more and more cities are opening sensory gardens and museum areas where disabled children and adults may enjoy acoustics, music, fragrance, light, and texture.

(Seeing impaired students are allowed to feel texture)

 From "Magical Gardens for the Blind, Deaf, and Disabled" The Daily Beast, by Elizabeth Piciuto

 “When I walk into the Stephen Knolls School’s greenhouse, cheerfully bright even on an overcast day, the humidity frizzes my hair into a delirious halo. The school’s principal, Kim Redgrave, is explaining the school’s gardening program to me when three boys who are maybe 10 to 12 years old join us. Two of them are in wheelchairs. The third walks unsteadily, led by a grown-up holding his hand. I try to catch the eye of this third boy, but he plops down onto a stool and avoids my gaze. I turn to one boy who rewards me with a giant, hammy smile.

“They are here to measure their plants,” explains their teacher. From the looks of the seedlings in their plastic pots, the boys have planted their seeds just a few weeks ago, and they are growing vigorously.

“Just a few years ago, I hate to admit that in my total ignorance of disability, I would have assumed that these boys were barely aware of their environments. More attuned, I now see how all three boys become absorbed in their plants’ progress.

“Reams of research demonstrate that gardens and plant care can help students with disabilities develop crucial knowledge, skills, emotional regulation, and self-reliance: those with less intensive disabilities, more intensive disabilities, cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities. Even children without disabilities, for that matter, experience the same benefits. 

“Spending time in gardens can reduce the need for medication in children with ADHD,” Sachs pointed out, even after walks that last just 20 minutes.

“As a result of this research, there has been a growing movement to include what are known as “sensory gardens” in many schools for children with disabilities, as well as many botanical gardens in children’s hospitals. Sensory gardens are gardens that are designed not only to be accessible to people with disabilities, such as having winding paths appropriate for wheelchairs, but to “systematically and sensitively nourish the five basic senses,” says Amy Wagenfeld, professor of occupational therapy at Rush University and one of the authors of the forthcoming bookTherapeutic Gardens: Design for Healing Spaces. Such gardens provide opportunities to see, smell, touch, listen to—and sometimes taste—plant life and garden fixtures, such as scented herbs, smooth river rocks, or velvety lamb’s ears.” 

“In a workshop using scent in art, I learned that the same scent can smell differently if given a different label, such as cheese or vomit; or by changing the color of lights in an olfactory art sculpture from red to blue. In the round table "Putting Theory into Practice," several museum curators and educators, spoke about personalizing the museum experience and creating multisensory exhibits. John Bramblitt, an artist who lost his sight, had to find new ways to do his art again by using other senses and art materials. He brought in some of his paintings, where I was able to feel the contrast of a smooth plastic background and the raised ridges of his acrylic paint.

“The last day of the conference, I went on a verbal description and touch tour at the Whitney Museum, led by Danielle Linzer, where we viewed an abstract painting, "The Magnificent," by Richard Pousette-Dart, which we were able to touch after donning silk gloves. I was amazed by the amount of texture I could feel on the painting, which I was unaware of when I just looked at the piece.” 

 Japanese sensory museum http://youtu.be/pCcIbL0AyCo 

Opening of the exhibition "Sensory Journey" , conception and paintings by Silvana Di Martino, photos by Michel Versepuy and music soundtrack by Denis Barbier. in Paris 2011 the 13th of October. at the space Altura near La Bastille.

The exhibition presents a new concept, "the synaesthetic exhibition". What is a synaesthetic exhibition, you might ask? Well, it is a physical experience of sensory signals interacting with each other (visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and gustative). 

By simulating sensations, other senses are awakened and brought to life. The paintings were meant to be touched and observed.   http://youtu.be/5-f9m40qhlQ

 

Most museums and art galleries have “do not touch signs” everywhere. Try it and you’ll find a docent or guide looking over your shoulder “Do not touch the paintings,” they warn which is why these sensory gardens, galleries and museums are catching on everywhere.

You’ll enjoy this video. “Good Mythical Morning” “Don’t Touch the Art.” \Gotta’ love these guys! http://youtu.be/IbT7xNf9zXQ 

Exploring Downtown Fort Myers

In my last blog, I told you I was going downtown to visit some galleries and to take photos of street scenes and buildings. An artist never knows when he or she is going to use these as background in a painting.

Urban paintings are a hot item right now, so I’m hoping I’ll find something in these photos that will inspire me. One young woman coming through a brick alley was striking in black boots and white tunic. I asked her if I could take her picture. She declined. You can barely see her walking toward me in the scene.



Fort Myers with its brick walkways and streets is probably classier than most, and on a weekday there are fewer people except on the lunch hour when they exit the buildings and stores like ants and flood the nearby restaurants.

The Caloosahatchee River is a short walk from First Avenue, so we were able to get some interesting photos of piers, bridges, and pilings (a must for painting pelicans and seagulls). Boats were churning through the water and under the bridge. A few fishermen dangled their lines from the wharf, and a group of teens gathered after school to roller blade and exchange gossip.



Some homeless men had ridden their bicycles into Centennial Park and were swapping stories with one another as we passed. We waved and said hello. By the sound of things, perhaps we made their day.

Doorways make good subjects for paintings, and my friend, Annie, took many more than I did. I’m a people person and would have liked more scenes with people, but that just didn’t happen.

Will I use any of these photos in a painting or will they just be filed “reference photos.” I’ll never know until the muse strikes. I hope you enjoyed seeing a tiny part of the Fort Myers I love. It is unique, memorable, and has ten remarkable art galleries within walking distance, theatre, and fifteen plus restaurants from white linen bistros offering fresh seafood and wine to pizza parlors and Chicago style hot dog cafes.

I don’t know about you, but if this is “small town” living, I’m lovin’ it!