I decided to do my 2017 GEE at home on the soothing moss that covers much of the yard. I have been sharing physical, emotional, and environmental traumas of people close to me in such rapid succession that it has felt like fireworks, and we need some soothing of our wounds.

I gathered up some twigs, broken ceramic garden ornaments, (my creations), our long departed old dog’s toy, bamboo husks, ferns, Kalmia blossoms, and a strip of plastic from the yard. I thought about how the earth provides solace as I laid the materials out on the soft moss.

This year I wanted to make my bird more like a phoenix, to rise above all the problems. I gave it a Kalmia flower crest and a long, cilantro-decorated fern tail. Lastly, I found some violet leaves, and they are heart-shaped, so I placed those on the wing tips and at the end of my bird’s tail, to symbolize that this project of living is all about loving, and expressing love. I left my bird, thinking that a quilt made up of GEE bird images would be a wonderful thing to create sometime.