The non-Traumatizing News of the Day

There are thousands of Sandhill Cranes here now and people are swarming to see them. Bear and I took a walk today where I knew we wouldn’t encounter cars or tourists. I knew Bear would find a lot of great things to smell, I might find cool feathers (there is a row of cottonwood trees where owls and hawks like to hang out), there would be copious elk poop, and we would see a lot of cranes. It all came true. I returned home with my face burning a little from the March-wind. It was the road from which this drawing came:

I’ve finished reading and evaluating four of the six categories of books I judge for the contest. Some of the books this year are absolutely wonderful. One I worked with yesterday was a cypher until suddenly I understood what the authors were attempting. It made me think about books in a much larger sense than just the way they might be written or even illustrated, but what they ARE in their entirety. This book is one of the very few books I’ve seen EVER — and maybe the only one — that attempts (and mostly succeeding) at actually BEING what it is written about. I know that sounds pretty abstract but there’s an element of the abstract to the book. I ended up loving it. I can’t tell you what it is at this point — and it might never matter — but I am so happy that it came my way. I think when I have time to really experience it as “Martha” not as a judge for a book contest, it could have a big effect on my understanding of art — even my own work. That and it isn’t even an art book per se. It’s about a building material…

As for the news of the world…I have thoughts as we all do but they don’t bear mentioning.