Freecycling and the circle of life

The art I've been free cycling is part of my end of life planning, as you probably observed, seeing the winnowing around here to make it easier for Handsome Son after I die. The art falls into a different category, though, since free cycling is a way of getting good original art into new homes. 

The latest round went to the same person who took the last group, and we had a great exchange about it. Here are the pieces, from my black gesso, handmade paper and copper wire period.

it's a series of faces, where you can change the narrative by hanging them differently. Here it goes from realistic to abstract. Hung in reverse order, it brings the realistic out of the abstract. 

The recipient is hanging all my art on one wall, very happy with it. This series was bought from an exhibit, and I found the buyer left it to me in their will, so it eventually came back again! I hope it will stay put in its new home. The new owner has been an art docent at MOMA and the local art museum, so, good hands.

I'd far rather my work go out like this than have a  scramble to get it out after I've gone. People might as well be enjoying it. And I have three floors, so the upper stairwell, where these pieces were hanging, isn't a daily view. I won't feel deprived.

I'd offer choices to local friends, but I've found they're very reluctant to take pieces they like because it feels bad, pushing me off the stage! I don't mind, but they feel a bit weird. 

Meanwhile, the Izzy gang is growing

And the Christmas/Thanksgiving cactus is happy

While the rain has finally stopped, after days of downpour, leaving the Japanese maple wearing diamonds

Hard to see here, but a lovely sight. Take my word.

Finally there seems to be enough water in the ground, but I've been frugal with water ever since I learned from Jane Goodall about the lives of women and girls in Africa spending most of their days carrying  water for daily use. Girls can't get to school because they spend hours daily just securing and carrying water.

I don't live where this happens, but I understand why digging wells is important work for incoming helpers in those regions, how life changing it is to have water here, literally on tap. I assume the planet's supply must be finite, so I economize. 

I quit using running water to rinse dishes and wash fruit and vegetables, a bowl uses less,  finally started taking my doctor and a rehab nurse's advice to shower less frequently, and briefly. The showering is about aged, delicate skin, rather than water economy, but it fits into conservation.  I can see from my water bill how it's working.

I'm listening to the audio book of

Where Tey's detective Alan Grant, temporarily out of action from injury, detects a historical puzzle instead of current crime.

It's about the bad rap Richard III, the last Plantagenet king, has had, showing that the depiction of him as a villain is largely based on  hearsay and the writings of a later regime. 

The Tudors, with a tenuous claim to the throne, and much to gain by blackening Plantagenet memory, were the main perps. Shakespeare gleefully fell on the popular myths because -- more dramatic. More clicks. Sounds  familiar in this age of disinformation. And it's surprisingly timely to read this now, when people are still credulous and willing to believe what suits them.  

Happy day everyone, don't believe everything you hear, well, you don't, this is a self selected thoughtful group.