Sylvia's Journal

Today is Easter and our 29th wedding anniversary. The picture is of our first one, in Dakar. Easter has always played a special role in our life as couple – most of the dramatic events in my life have happened around this time of year. They were almost all about new beginnings except for one, my mother’s passing, now exactly 10 years ago.

Easter (sprint time) is also when I started writing a diary, now 32 years ago; by hand and in spiral bound notebooks for the next 30 years and electronically ever since. So this is also a journal anniversary.

Instead of flying I accompanied Axel and Sita on a tour of the murals in Gloucester’s public buildings. These were painted with funds from the stimulus package, especially earmarked for artists, the Works Progress Administration, that was one of the more remarkable (and courageous) legacies of the Roosevelt administration, issued during the Great Depression in 1935. The docent, an artist herself, took us to the Sawyer Free Library and the Town Hall. She was a passionate interpreter of both the artistry and the history of this unheard of (before and since) government patronage of the arts. As it turned out, Gloucester is one of the premier places to see and learn more about the murals and the WPA history. I put the photos on my Flickr site. They show how, both at the library and the town hall, art is entirely integrated in daily life.

After the lecture we spent some time browsing in the bookshop of the Cape Ann Historical Museum which had organized the lecture tour. Sita bought a bunch of children’s books. One brought on a gasp of recognition (Leroy Lobster and Crabby Crab), a treasured story from her childhood.

The book we all liked was a biography of Virginia Lee Burton, founder of the Folly Cove Designers a group that produced the most extraordinary linocuts. The group ran out of steam and membership when the last member died in the 60s. There is (was?) a small shop that is nicely described and photographed by a Cape Ann blogger.

We were so inspired by the tour and the books that Axel and I wanted to go home and do art. Sita might have joined us if it wasn’t for her commitment to participate in a protest march at the Commons in Boston. I made two tiny signs for her, one saying that she was for and the other that she was against. We teased her about the protest because we did not quite understand what it was for or against. I think it had something to do with capitalist banking. When Sita got to the Commons there was no one there. Apparently the protesters did not want to get wet.

Instead of art, Axel took a nap and I continued my knitting project until it was time to go to Ipswich and celebrate Carol’s 60th birthday. And while we were away Sita, Tessa and friends decorated the Easter eggs.