Bonjour!
Please forgive the re-post, but some of content shared in my original post is no longer available (see Author Update below).
As I have been sharing, I’ve spent a lot of time at home over the last five months and had the pleasure of spending extra time with L’Husband and Le Chien. We are adjusting to our new home in Vermont and working from home in our home office spaces.
Despite the uncertainty and stress of the pandemic, we are trying to stay positive and also trying new things. In my previous posts about life during quarantine, I featured pictures of L’Husband learning to bake and baby bunnies in the backyard. Today’s post shares pictures of public art I’ve seen popping up in and around my Vermont neighborhood.
But before you read any further, please take two minutes to watch America Wake Up featuring the late, great George Carlin. (Author Update: the video has now been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim, but you can read about it here and here and listen to Carlin’s original bit on the American Dream from 2005. I would also watch Childish Gambino’s 2018 music video This Is America). And take five minuted to listen to what AOC had to say this week about human decency. These videos punched me right in the everything and are must-watch material for any American and, frankly, any world citizen right now.
Grassroots Folk Art
“I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them.” – Pablo Picasso
Outdoor folk art is a creative outlet for those bored in quarantine, spreads joy, and creates community for all of us stuck inside. Even with many stay-home orders being rolled back, this new grassroots creativity reminds us we’re all in this together.
In April, I was lucky enough to take a long, socially distanced walk in my old neighborhood in Essex, Vermont with my neighbors. We discovered this fun gnome campsite around the base of a tree in someone’s front yard.
On our hike through the neighborhood, we also many new, hand-painted birdhouses hanging from the trees lining the sidewalks. There were around two dozen of them in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
Sidewalk chalk affirmations keep popping up in my old neighborhood as well as my new on in South Burlington, Vermont. I’ve seen lots of inspirational quotes and happy drawings of smiley faces, rainbows, and hearts. This reminder is my favorite: “A mask a day keeps the ‘rona away!”
This spring, my Aunt Marti painted and decorated this pole in her beautiful garden in central Illinois.
What is your creative outlet during quarantine?
Merci for reading and please subscribe and share!
À votre santé,
Katie
Joie de Vivre 