Portals

Two openings in places you wouldn't expect them.  The top photo shows a portal boring through the up turned roots and stump of a tree in the woods at Crouse Run Nature Preserve, and the bottom photo is a hole in the wall of Allegheny Cemetery in section 30.  The hole does go through the cut stone wall, but not straight through, it angles upward where light pours in.  
 

Human Kindness

 Caty and I went to the birthday party of a former colleague in the south hills, and on the way back home we drove through the neighborhoods instead of bypassing everything by jumping on 79. The first time a guy was on a corner asking for human kindness (on his signage) I didn't get a pic, but the second time I was ready. Looking at the photo now, my heart hurts. What's worse: Averting your eyes, taking a picture, or giving an addict money?

Pre-Antibiotic Era Death by Eczema

In the last week I've come across some firsts in death certificates such as death by rabies (11 year old girl, bitten by a dog in 1922), but today's death was surprising, a 10 month old male infant, primary cause of death was eczema, 1889. I looked it up, and sure enough, there was a medical article from The Journal of Pediatrics written in 1934 discussing sudden infant death from eczema. It was not common, but it did occur, and they didn't understand why a case that did not present as dire led to sudden death. Had to be infection going systemic, right? Prior to antibiotics any kind of infection could kill you. I had a 3x great aunt die from a needle prick on her finger going septic. Her death certificate listed as an attributing cause of death: slight indigestion.

New Work For The Gallery

                                                 Bubble Koi Blocks, 2026

 I've been very busy creating new artwork for the gallery, Bottlebrush Gallery of the Arts, which I delivered last week.  And I've been working a lot on writing.  This summer my short story, The Cabinet of Kimber Lee was published by The Writing Disorder, and I have a lot of other stories floating around out there waiting to hear back.  I'll be honest - rejection is really difficult to process.  You can't take it personally, and every writer has been rejected, but it stings unlike anything else I've ever experienced.  When my art is rejected I'm able to let that roll off me, but with writing, that cuts to the core.  

I have to have lunch with my mother tomorrow, so any fragile feelings I have about rejection should somehow be reinforced and validated all in one fell swoop.