Memories of a small town

My Dad grew up in a small town in southern Illinois.  I know very little about it except that my grandfather was the Postmaster there and my father and his friends enjoyed hopping on moving trains. 

Recently I have been going through boxes of my parents that have long been packed away.  I had several of my Mom's things.  Nothing of my Dad's until now.  What a treasure trove!  And the ideas for stories have been whirling in my head after reading some of the newspaper items that he kept.

My Dad left this small town in 1924 and never went back.  Am not sure of the date but I know that the town burned down at some point after he left.  I have photos of people and buildings.  A few of the people I recognize the name and think, "So that's what they looked like."  For the first time I see an adult picture of my Dad with hair!

I see a road trip in my future plus a new book. 

Lines in Nature

While in Florida traveling with my sorority sisters I picked up a book called, Mark Making by Helen Parrott.  Why a whole book on lines?  Why buy a book about ordinary lines? 

It's a different way of looking at everyday items (although the reason I bought it was because I liked the holes punched in the cover and THAT gave me an idea). I have only looked at a few pages so far but one of them showed pictures of sketches the author had done of a tree scar.  My immediate thought was, 'Yeah, I'm not going to be drawing any lines that I see.'

What did I do today?  I drove into town to the library, picked up an audiobook from an author I've never heard of (but I need to take my own advice of trying someone new) -- and sitting in my driveway listening to a few minutes of it I looked up to see -- really see -- the tree in front of me. 

This tree has been growing there for probably thirty years or longer.  I have pictures of it from when it was just a sapling.  Have I ever really looked at it?  Sat under it for shade but no, have not paid much attention to it otherwise. 

Is it a W? A couple of Y's hanging out? Or V's? 

From here I clicked pictures of various leaves in my garden. Snapping them only for their lines. 

 Reminds me of the Zentangle movement.  Just lines.  But look what they can do. 

I need to revamp my Willowrose Publishing logo.  Maybe I've found the idea for W.  Maybe I've found something new to quilt.