Up to the mark, or nothing

Motion study at Birdshill Park; October 2016. Photo thanks to IDP.

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"Brahms conducted and composed for the Hamburg Ladies' Choir. According to Bella they rehearsed in the garden; Brahms climbed a tree and conducted from a branch. Bella adopted the choir's motto as her own: 'fix oder nix!' - 'up to the mark, or nothing'. I imagined Brahms carving a line into the bark".

- excerpt from page 137 of Anne Michaels' "Fugative Pieces".

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I woke early this morn and listened to a Bob Dylan record in the front parlor. I moved down to the darkroom to work at the light table and chipped away at a mountain of negatives and slipped them into sleeves. I drank coffee and listened to Barna Howard and Ladies of Soul on tape. I thought about the present state of the world and I thought about the chores that need tending to. I thought about this strange, sad doozy of week and decided to move forward. Hi Marj, I miss you but I am doing well. Me and hundreds of others; we all miss you. I found some nice muslin and made a floral print from an old stencil for a new photography project. Now it is hanging on the line in the backyard and the house smells of spray paint.