mantua

bird placemat c/o queen jane
and my badges, before they were anywhere close to being...well...badges

I had a definite out of body experience last night. The mantua badge art festival, exposition….show.
It was most humble, more human, more real feeling then I had anticipated…thank God. The last thing I wanted to land down to was a stuffy, pristine gallery space with people sipping wine and talking about the state of the country or some rubbish…instead it was a house party…an all singing, all dancing, welcome at the door for the artists and anyone else who was there..everyone was super friendly…we were offered a place to crash the night if we didn’t want to go home…and I nearly would have stayed if I knew that was an option going down there…because it was the type of place that you don’t want to leave in a hurry…I think there is something that really attracts me to living with large groups of people…it felt very boarding school-eske…the common room with the fireplace…the big warm kitchen with the massive range and kettle…two dogs and an uber friendly cat…an owl calender in the kitchen clinched it for me…not to mention the cranes in the main common room…I wasn’t quite sure who lived there or who had just come for the party, but the atmosphere was amazing…we arrived just when the first singer was wrapping up…she sounded amazeing though…the second was a guy whos songs were stories, brilliantly orchestrated, in a very subtle eye-fluttering, mouth twitching way…I was mesmerized…he has either seen the world, or like Emily dickenson, has a fascinating imagination…I am thrilled to have had the pleasure of listening to him for the short set that he did…
From little acorns…as jane says…and the web of connectivity…the chart if you will…becomes ever clearer…I never thought that my badges would be in the same room as dominic stevens’ children…or even jane o Sullivan for that matter…what a privilage

I arrived home to have to take my clothes off the line…thanks to my brother not doing what I told him to do, as usual…then he arrived home…its strange to see him drive down the lane…hes growing up…I guess I am too…
Then we stayed up till about 3 talking, as we do…