My amazing Mom

I'm on holiday, and want to spend my
time reading and laughing. That's why for the next few
days I may feature the art and words of other people.
Of course one of the people who's influenced me more than
anyone else is my Mom, who has lived alone on a couple of
acres of land, on the Ottawa River since my Dad died more
than 20 years ago.

Isabel Muir
by Christopher Muir
from a photo of the work
in our March show at
the Skylight gallery

My son Christopher took a spectacular portrait of her last
fall. The portrait seems to capture much more than I
ever could in words. Mommy is brave and determined to
be cheery no matter what. I hope that I have inherited a
tenth of that spirit.

Christopher is an artist at almost everything he tries.
He's a great actor, super musician, has composed music to
accompany Shakespeare's As You Like It. So when he
turned his hand to photography it wasn't that surprising
that he had an eye, and talent. My own father was a very good
photographer, but just too shy about his work to go pro. When
he set up a little darkroom in our basement he had
a good job, and four growing children and a wife to
feed and clothe. He hand printed hundreds of 8 x 10 black
and white images before we moved to Toronto and he
lost his darkroom.

I got a third cast today - my second in a week. The last
cast cut off the circulation to my toes, and had a nasty
ridge over the top of the foot that hurt. Today -- relief
-- Stacey, the best cast sculptor ever, cut off the bad
cast. Sure enough there were dark bruises where I
said it was hurting. On went a new lovely cast,
with layer upon layer of soft batting under the hard
fiberglass and I feel human again.

Have a casting-life-in -a -good-light day!