An Artist’s Rigging

We have wonderful new neighbors.
My studio mornings are brighter these days as Sue and I talk over the fence
while her daughter Zola waits for the school bus.
With backpack bigger than her own 8 year old self,
and coordinating animal print outfit,
Zola sparkles and her energy makes my heart smile.
While Sue and I spend our days filling and refilling bird feeders
and squirrel feeders
and mowing the lawns…
Zola brings me nests and feathers and, the other day,
her Mom brought me a treasure of a different sort.
She saw some of my teacup paintings and brought
me this teacup which had been her Grandmother’s.
For my kitchen collection, she said.
So it quickly made it’s way in and amongst the rigging
which was being tethered on the workbench.
In the center of all those warm colors,
the thin porcelain reflected the blues and purples that were just outside
the studio windows. A cool resting place for the eye.
An elegance in the midst of all those weathered edges.