New thoughts on bridges...

A few photos before I run out the door to set up my Miche purses at The Orlando Home and Garden show. What a wonderful labor day, with laborers stopping by all weekend to help me on this last leg of my project. The  photo to the right is misty because it is so muggy my camera fogged over, but I think the image looks so pretty with its accidental filter.

My friend Sherri and her sons stopped by with bottles and worked for a several hours, leaving with a to-go bag of bottles for her oldest to cut to fulfill his high school community service hours. He probably doesn't realize that he is serving a community of art enthusiasts of up to 400,000 when the project reaches ArtPrize 2014.

A husband and wife, a friend on her day off from work, and a mom with her eight-year-old daughter put in their 'two snips,' cutting from the mound of bottles that mysteriously appear on my doorstep on a regular basis. We sit and chat, conversations ranging from new appliances, curly hair care, to more serious topics like grief and loss. I imagine quilting bees had the same quiet atmosphere, eyes focused on the work, hands busy, and our minds in a state we rarely experience while in community. Words  flow comfortably into an  odd mix of topics that ranges from the mundane to the eternal, and we get to know one another not only better, but deeper. I thought that  "bridging communities" would entail gathering a diverse group of individuals working toward the same goal. Now I am thinking of bridges in a new light,  not only bringing together two sides of an expanse, but as architecture. Suspension wires, hardware, concrete pilings dug deep into the

ocean floor, combined with labor and  engineering that, if done right, creates something not only functional but strong and beautiful as well.