Into the garage and some touching drawings from the past

 Sam sleeping, or Sleeping Sam

black marker on long writing paper

8 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir ©

(This looks like baby Sam, our 

youngest son might have fallen asleep

on the couch with his pet Kangaroo -- Kanga.

He must have been very new because he

was a big baby). No doubt his mother was 

trying to write something while she watched him!

Our garage is in rough shape, and going to be repaired
in a couple of weeks,  so we've slowly and
reluctantly been emptying it out. The last thing you need
in a small house is to bring more stuff in, but the time has
come to sort it.

To my surprise there is some treasure in the creaky
structure.  Old letters -- so thorough and descriptive.
People used to write one another long, long letters.
8 pages hand written in a fine hand is almost
standard in the these letters from friends and relatives.
And the writing is astonishing, fresh, intelligent,
funny and vivid -- bringing back those moments as
dramatically as a video.

The Boys : van Schaik-Moo Moo

(My sons Christopher, on the left, and

Sam, the baby, were called van Schaik Muir,

a combination of my husband's name and mine.

Both now both just use Muir professionally.  My brother,

the writer and I call ourselves Moo Moos, 

affectionately)

black marker on long writing paper

8 x 16 inches

Barbara Muir ©

Another treasure is a stack of drawings of what life
 was like then, being sent back and forth by Fax.  I
know people who still use Fax machines, but they
seem almost historic. And these long drawings on
the kind of paper we used years ago are
interesting.  I'm showing you two tonight.  My brother
in Ottawa and I have been working on writing and
editing assignments together now and then since
we graduated from university.  These drawings of
my children were meant to catch him up on what we
were doing.

Have a finding art memories from the past day.