Earth Stories, Part Four

Earth Stories, Part Four


The exhibit catalog/book came in the mail yesterday.  The photos and stories are so inspiring!  I feel so honored to be a part of this amazing project!

Earth Stories, cover by Marion Coleman

Our first venue is: Michigan State University Museum, Lansing, Michigan.  
Dates are: May 11- November 30, 2014.

It reminds me that I still need to finish my blog about my project.  Not only was the project difficult to do, especially the counting, it is also hard to write about.


Journal entry from 28 April, 2013
"The tedious nature of this task grows ever more so.  I find myself resisting the count, guilty of my over consumerism.  Perhaps if I avoid it, it won't be real?  Yesterday, I find my focus and method of counting changing significantly.  I have shifted from 'what' to 'where'.  I count objects in a drawer instead of organizing the objects by type and counting.  It is easier and faster."

Journal entry from May, 2013
"The counting is a big time suck.  However, not that bad as I thought it would be.  Definitely an emotional voyage, one that I was not prepared for.  It takes me back to the better days when the kids played with toys and created things-clever things that I could see.  And that time is gone now, and I am left with piles of useless toys.  Memories of the past feel exaggerated, both positive and negative."

I am curious as the count grows.  Would it be interesting to count or list the things that I actually use on a daily basis? (because none of the stuff below would make it...)
Counting the garage:

Counting the garage is much like counting my daughter's room.  It is hard to jump in to the piles of stuff and chaos.  I leave a wake of cleanliness and order behind me as the garbage and recycling bins fill.  It also creates a pile of donated items, better to give stuff away while it can still be useful to someone.

Counting LEGO's.  Yes, I counted the individual pieces.

Where have the days gone when LEGO was about building bricks?  Now LEGO is about LOTS of very specialized shaped pieces, that the toy cannot be built without, and 80 pages of instructions ... really?
And we BUY it...sigh.

I finish the count in early June.  It gives me about 3 months to make the quilt.  Photos are due on Sept 1, 2013.
Spoiler alert.
Yes, I finished on time!  :)
Next blog post....the quilt.