OF G-MA.

Today has been a super G-ma day. I got some mothballs and though I put them away the scent still lingers in my apartment. This totally reminds me of G-ma's house and all MANY places there that smell vaguely of mothballs. For supper I made a rice and vegetable dish and she always uses Jasmine rice that she buys from the Asian market in Fort Wayne. When I left my apartment and came back it smelled so much of Jasmine rice like her house always does as the family begins to gather. Her contribution to the pot-luck is Fried Rice as only she can make it. It's always good but we are never quite sure if the pork hasn't been around since the gathering, stored in her massive basement freezers. But the Fried Rice is always gone first and never have I found any that is quite as delicious.

I may have mentioned this before but recently I realized G-ma is my greatest inspiration and artistic influence. This is of course beyond those innate immediate family traits. I've always known she taught me to see like an artist - I still remember the moment when she opened my eyes to it - riding in the car with her she told me to look at the grove of trees in the distance and to admire the shadow created on the field by the low setting sun. She explained it was the duty of an artist to notice these things. I was no artist then but I always remembered what she said and still do. Oh, G-ma. It will be weird to come home for a visit and not see her. She really always has had such a commanding presence in more ways than one. Anyway it was not until a few months ago that I really saw her influences and the environment of her house really surfacing in my own choices for my home decor and project styles. One example of this would be the velvet down pillows I purchased that reminded me of her. Now all I need is a scratching green wool couch. That green of that couch is my favorite color. I think it was her dad's favorite color and then she bought that couch and so this color is now four generations in passing.

What an interesting aspect of life. All these things I share with her are learned and environmental. They were gathered over time and repeated exposure.