my home is in the blue ridge mountains

I'm keeping the old world alive, folks. This Sunday I took a class on cyanotype printing, which was invented in 1842. It's a really fun & easy process & anybody can do it. I took this photo along Hwy 395. If you look hard enough you can see the watermark from the watercolor paper I used in the corner of my image.

In a similar vein, I found this photo of a big eyed baby & a young mama in an antique shop in Bishop and was immediately drawn to it. maybe, because my sister is a young mama who keeps popping out big eyed babies.

my four year old niece, Anna, took this photo of me and my nephew Nicholas, so it's a bit blurry. She made me hold the doll. She is a bossy photographer. Wonder where she got that from. ahem.

Also on my recent road trip, I purchased a 1940's book, "Mr. Red Squirrel" for Anna & I just love the illustration. Here's my favorite image.

To conclude this rather desultory post, I leave you with a song that I've been playing and singing over and over again: Townes Van Zandt's "Blue Ridge Mountains."

Ciao for now,

Crystal Lee

three generations

My mother always watched me from a distance or just out of her peripheral. I was pretty much free to do my thing. Every endeavor, she encouraged, no matter how wacky. I used to contort my body like a pretzel on our front porch while my mom watched from behind the screen door, smiling, and cooing like a proud bird. During her last days, her body swollen from kidney failure and barely able to walk, she came to my roller derby games and watched me get knocked violently to the infield, get up and race around the track. My dad couldn’t bear to watch, but my mom remarked afterwards “My, you’re so fast.” She was an eccentric, and she didn’t care what others thought. The best piece of advice she ever gave me was “What do you care what others think of you?” She watches over me, and I will continue to do just as I please, and I feel so fortunate for the freedom I have.

My great Aunt Anna is watching over both of us in this photo. Everyone in my immediate family is named after Aunt Anna because my mom was so fond of her. She used to travel all over the world with my mother. When my mother was in an abusive relationship, before I was born, my Aunt Anna got her out of the situation. She is fearless, patient, and stubborn. I’m going to visit her this Summer. If I try to help her too much, or even vaguely suggest that her age is slowing her down, she will snap and me and say “ I can do it myself.”