my visiting family enjoys the Marvin Finn group near Slugger Field one hot July 

welcome to Louisville 

On the same sunny April Sunday that his mother returns home from her visit to Kentucky, through Buenos Aires, Juan dives into cold water at Bernheim deep along a trail... Susana, whom I gave one of Alma's stitchery teaching booklets of samples, would show Maria and Ana, two of Juan's three sisters, how to practice embroidery stitches... my idea of cultural activism. I too would fly American Airlines to visit them at the bottom of the planet in Jan-Feb 2004... for summer! 

nearby Bernheim Forest made Juan feel 'at home' reminding him of Argentina's natural beauty... something he want to protect in his future (where he fears WALMART thinking will encroach) 

the beginning of the bamboo grove which will need many years to become established surrounding the koi pool 

witch hazel, now growing in the back yard 

Alma and Ted's table at which they ate dinner for over 30 years. 

Christmas at Alma's 2002, passing my own global test in welcoming the world into her home, two exchange students; Leo (from Germany) and Juan (from Argentina), enjoy a rare white Christmas in Kentucky cooking a post-skiing adventure dinner for us. They had two questions about the USA as a war was about to be launched: "Why does the US always have to have an enemy?" and "Why does the US want to dominate the world?" When they watched broadcast news they often called it "infotainment"... talking heads but no NEWS. Alma would have loved this. She and Ted would only watched the evening news on TV and some ball games. Then I recently learned that half of our founding fathers in Philadelphia (which we visited during their school year) were bankers writing the constitution and protecting their interests. 

Autumn view in Indiana of Ohio River from the Overlook Restaurant off I-64, Alma would stop at during trips to Evansville Museum of Arts and Science in Evansville for annual 8-States Exhibitions. 

view at front bay window, pine shelf I made to hold cobalt collection (books removed), and is designed without nails to be knocked down and removed if necessary... 

originally installed by Alma and Ted, light remains 

cabinets remain, doors will be retored and rehung in future... 

detail of fiber work of Kathleen Loomis, awarded the first Alma Wallace Lesch Memorial Award in 2002, at The Kentucky State Fair (see KET/ MIXED MEDIA program info) 

wall behind the kitchen stove area with kitchen door swung open into the livingroom...2002 

ceiling fans are added upstairs in the north bedroom, the main bedroom on the first floor and in the kitchen...photo 2002 

bathroom walls, south window, before I stenciled Shaker tree motif as border pattern in dark gray paint, subtle effect that merges with the blue... it too inspired by Shaker color... 

front entrance, early 2002, at Alma's 

South Union, Shaker Village, KY 

The ultimate basket, the nest, inspires me in a view from a south window at South Union Shaker Village... and the robin's egg blue color may have inspired the Shaker craftspeople in their interior work as well. 

South Union interior, Shaker Village