Day with Helena

Helena and I spent the day together. It happens to be the big race, Ski to Sea, in Bellingham today. The place fills with participants and the race is on, starting on Mount Baker and ending in the Fairhaven District of Bellingham. I have lived here 27 years and have managed to avoid this race the whole time I've lived here. I did march in the Saturday parade a couple of times with the KZAZ radio station where I was a volunteer host of classical music, but that is all. So today was no different.

I met Helena at La Fiamma for breakfast and then the two of us took off south down Chuckanut. We got as far as the Chuckanut Bay Gallery and stayed there for over an hour. The folks there have become friends over the years and so asked after Arvin. Of course I shared the news of his passing and they were very kind about that. Helena and I were planning to buy ourselves some presents as an award for taking care of Arvin and sharing so much love with him while he was alive.

I picked out a comical small raven sculpture and a pretty scarf. Helena found lovely soap and a book she wanted to read. We explored the store and the lovely gardens that are full of beautiful garden art.

As we walked around the store I noticed some really fine aquatint etchings that reminded me of my brother's work. The gal came over and said, you should see the wonderful new work we got that goes so well with these. I looked over. And there was a group of my  brother's work. She had purchased them from a new source that Steve had just connected with. So his work went from Bellingham, to the source, back to Bellingham. I was happy to see the work.

The gallery has lots of art based on crows and ravens. I noticed a really wonderful new etching of a raven standing in a pile of all kinds of trinkets and stuff. I loved it and then saw it was by Yvonne Davis, a wonderful local artist whom I met when she and Steve were in a show together in Gilroy, CA where I used to live. I loved the work and it reminded me of Arvin so much. His totem is the raven and he was a collector of all kinds of stuff. It was much more expensive than the things I had picked out so I thought I'd give it a miss. The more I thought, the more I knew I had to buy it. So I put back the other things and bought the etching and now it is hanging next to my bed in our bedroom. It is a reminder of my sweet guy and his love of gathering and collecting all kinds of interesting stuff that might be of use some time. (I'll blip his study one of these days and you will get an idea of what he was like.) I am so glad I saw and bought the raven.

Helena and I went for a lovely walk on the Lake Whatcom Trail after our visit to the gallery. We walked over three miles and talked to folks and petted dogs along the way. On our way home we stopped at The Fork for a light lunch. We had such a great day together, much of it spent reminiscing about Arvin. We both did a lot of laughing and talking. It was a great way to share our love of Arvin.