• Home
  • About

reverse threading

the path back is the path forward

Tag Archives: lake michigan

February 26, 2021
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

thirteen seconds. [k.s. friday]

even the lake moaned in answer to the cold. waves pummel the ice from below, desperate for release, anxious to swirl and crash, and we can hear the sound of cracking, of squeaking, of water begging to be free. we stand and listen, transfixed by it all, this symphony in a frozen-solid world, a bit of music in the stillness of sub-zero.

for thirteen seconds we record the song of the lake, feeling a little like mother-nature-copyright-infringers. we marvel and watch, up over our knees in snow on the edge of the giant rocks that line the lake shoreline. ice, for as far as we can see, is shifting and the groans signal to us that, soon, water will win over ice, flow over stasis. soon, a lake that appears unmoving will reappear in all its moody glory and the suspended moment-in-time will pass. in the meanwhile, the lake will appear as a tundra, vast and flat, the horizon meeting the clouds, a straight white line of demarcation. the fury, the passion, the tides are hidden below the surface, furrowing their brows and incessantly working to break down the ice.

we stand there inside the song of the lake and take note of this measure of transformation.

we know in a day or two the ice will be broken up, the waves will return and the lake’s song will resume a cacophony of crashing, a minuet of quiet lapping, wild some days and gently calm others. just as we ourselves seem in suspended moments, we, too, trust the return of movement, of purpose, of the tides.

the sub-zero song of lake michigan.

*****

download a little music from my little corner on iTUNES

read DAVID’s thoughts this K.S. FRIDAY

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: art, artist, kerri sherwood, ks friday, life, music, Uncategorized, yamaha | Tags: artists, artists making a living, cacophony, change, composer, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, flow over stasis, frozen, frozen lake, ice, in these times, in this moment, inside the song of the lake, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood friday, kerri sherwood yamaha artist, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, ks friday, lake michigan, lake music, lake song, life, our life's work, presence, recording artist, singer-songwriter, stillness, story, sub-zero, suspended in time, symphony, the tides, thirteen seconds, this moment, tides, transformation, trust, trust where you are, trust where you are going, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists married, writers, yamaha, yamaha artist, yamaha pianos | Permalink.

January 21, 2020
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

hold on for dear life. [two artists tuesday]

ice

i’m sure the tree held on for dear life.  perched among the big boulders on the shore of lake michigan, these trees have held on through many a storm, waves crashing past them, wind howling.  only this time it was too much.  it didn’t have a chance.

we could hear the lake from our house.  the winter storm was raging and the intermittent crashes and booms were clearly devastation-in-the-making.  when we drove big red over to see, it was astounding.  the wind, the waves, ice had torn up and thrown entire chunks of sidewalk.  boulders were thrown twenty feet.  waves pelted the gazebo that sat back from the lake’s edge.  trees were uprooted, glazed in thick shrouds of ice.  the storm came and the storm left and the lakefront was forever changed.

in the littlehouse on island we watched the shoreline fade – many feet – over the course of a few months.  waves from the south pounded the shore, eating away at earth and trees, demolishing the new dock.  what it looked like when we first lived there is not what it looks like now, merely six months later.  it is forever changed.

we aren’t big sitcom-watchers.  but we are earth-show-watchers.  it’s astounding to see how our good earth is mutating – through no fault of its own.  profound.  fires destroying ecosystems, displacing and killing wildlife, changing the horizon forever.  glacial ice melting, challenging the arctic.  earthquakes and tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis.  toxic air forcing the use of face masks, and even of oxygen, the prevention of carbon dioxide in an environment less protected by photosynthesis and more consumed by greenhouse gas emission.

i have lived a couple blocks from the shore of lake michigan now for thirty years.  the storms in the last ten years have been fierce.  each one erodes the coastline a little more.  walking along the water’s edge the-day-after made it all feel apocalyptic, these changes.  ‘less is more’ the saying goes.  then it alludes that more is even more, perhaps too much.

the tree held on for dear life.  and lost.  are we holding on for dear life?  how are we long-term helping our good earth?  how are we long-term hindering it?  do we have a chance?

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

 

aftermath

please consider following this blog.  thank you kindly! xo

snowheart website box

ice ©️ 2020 kerri sherwood & david robinson

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: climate change, conscience, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, earth-conscious, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, hold on for dear life, ice, ice storm, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, on island, our good earth, snowstorm, the aftermath, the environment, the littlehouse, the storm, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists on an island, two artists tuesday, winter storm | Permalink.

October 23, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

24 hours. [not-so-flawed wednesday]

24 hours

every morning on island i grabbed the phone and, usually still with pjs on, walked outside, to water’s edge, to take a picture.  in this way i have an amazing collection of the moody displays of our little bay-of-lake-michigan during the months we were there.  living right on the water was a gift…it balanced out all the other-ness of our time there…a collection of life and work and its challenges and joys from back at home as well as on our new little island.

we continue to be grateful to deb, who is generously sharing the magic of this sweet littlehouse with us as we live there. many times this summer and early fall we would get a text message from her house around the cove, pointing out the moonrise or the glittering of sun on the lake…gentle reminders of what was really important.

as fall rolls into winter i will miss sharing that bay and hog island with d and with deb-just-around-the-bend.  i will miss the lake as it greets the day and lingers at day’s end.  i will miss the sound of gentle waves and deeply unsettled surf.

i know that each tide brought with it new hurdles, new hiccups, new pitfalls.  provocation is alive and well.  but each tide also brought with it new triumphs, new delights, new joys, new learnings.  inspiration is alive and well.

24 hours of breathing, living, seeing.  looking outward 180 degrees.  perfection.

read DAVID’S thoughts this NOT-SO-FLAWED WEDNESDAY

flipflops on the deck website box

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, Uncategorized | Tags: 180 degrees, 24 hours, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, each new day, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, hog island, inspiration, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, life, not-so-flawed wednesday, photographs, presence, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, story, the littlehouse, the tide, this moment, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists on an island, washington island | Permalink.

October 8, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

windsong of the flags. [two artists tuesday]

windblown flags

“So welcome the wind and the wisdom she offers
Follow her summons when she calls again
In your heart and your spirit let the breezes surround you
Lift up your voice then and sing with the wind” (john denver – windsong)

the ferry raised up on the crest of the wave, angry sea all around us, the wind howling.  then, just as smoothly as it rode the way up, it trounced down into the trough between the waves.  the water rose over the ferry, splashing all the cars and running down the deck toward the stern.  the wind kept howling.

it was a day like that.  flags at 90 degrees, parallel to the ground.  our prayer flags have seen many like that; the wind has tattered them.  prayers have been released into the universe with gentle breezes; prayers have been thrust into the universe with forceful winds.

i tend to prefer the days without tempestuous winds.  the lake has an uneven surf on those turbulent days, the rhythm as they hit shore not intuitive or familiar and one that i find unsettling.

yet i am reminded that this same wind i face down at the shoreline is also the wind at my back.  it is the wind of wisdom and movement.  the wind that carries me away, the wind that surrounds me with those who have gone before me, the wind of growth and courage.

and so, i welcome the wind.  i watch as so.many.prayers. are freed to fly.  i give thanks for the gusts, unfettered dreams and wishes, each step aided by the wind.

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

windyHHwebsite box

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, itunes: kerri sherwood, john denver, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, prayer flags, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, the breeze, the wind, the wind at my back, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists on an island, two artists tuesday, washington island, washington island ferry line, windblown, windsong, windsong of the flags, you're the wind | Permalink.

September 24, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

best-laid plans. [two artists tuesday]

dock.jpg

what is it they say about the best-laid plans?

we loved the old dock on this property.  the old dock and the canoewith the exception of the spider webs that formed in-between the metal tying posts and the snakes that took to sunning on the warm old boards of the walkway,  it was charming.  the old bench at the end of the dock invited us to sit.  it stood stubbornly during rougher waters, its weathered patina and rusting pipes.

******

they decided it was time to refurbish the dock and two strappy island guys came in to do the job.  they took a few days over the period of a couple weeks to re-construct, to lay new boards over the old, to eliminate the spider-web-gatherers and to build a new bench. then they were done and the new dock was open for business.

less than a week, only one brief sit-on-the-bench moment and probably-before-the-bill-arrived later, the storm blew in.  the waves crashed on our shoreline, eroding away a good two to three feet, throwing debris onto the grass.

the dock tried.  it stood firm against the waves, larger than they said they had ever seen them in twenty years.  but it didn’t last.  the bench blew apart into the water, the new boarded walkway listed, listed.  and finally, gave way.  pieces of the new dock were angrily tossed to shore; even still, wood floats in the bay, riding the waves ever-closer to our little beach.

the best-laid plans, carefully schemed and financed.  much thought and choosing, each angle pondered.  solid weather-proofed wood purchased, big wood screws that could withstand stress chosen.  yet, the storms come.

read DAVID’S thoughts this TWO ARTISTS TUESDAY

flipflops on the deck website box.jpg

the old dock and the canoe © 2019 kerri sherwood, david robinson

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: best-laid plans, cdbaby: kerri sherwood, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, life, rebuilding, riding the waves, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, steadfast, storms, story, the dock, the old dock, the storms come, the things you don't count on, this moment, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists on an island, two artists tuesday, upset, washington island, wood | Permalink.

March 5, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

it’s all how you look at it. [two artists tuesday]

THIS from the ferry copy

the ice-breaking bow of our ferry made its way across “death’s door”, the strait that connects lake michigan and green bay.  the windchill below zero, you could hear the hardy vessel crunching its way through the ice.  it was other-worldy.  no one else on the ferry appeared to be as enchanted with it as we were; clearly, they were big-I islanders, unmoved by this half-hour jaunt across frigid waters to washington island.  unfamiliar vs familiar equals enthralling vs mundane.  it’s all how you look at it.  and where you start from.

when i moved to wisconsin 30 years ago (kicking and screaming at the time) i stood in the pasta aisle of the grocery store – a local piggly wiggly.  there was no mueller’s pasta.  none.  the brand i had grown up with on long island, the brand i found in florida publix grocery stores…it was not here in wisconsin.  i felt instantly lost, instantly homesick.  i sensed people moving around my frozen-in-the-spot-trying-not-to-cry body; they were choosing boxes of spaghetti and penne with no problem.  for me, it was a telling moment.  it was an indicator of change, despite its seeming insignificance.  standing in that aisle i can tell you it’s all how you look at it.  and where you start from.  (*for an update on this incident, please see below.)

the ferry docked on the tiny island, a mere 35 square miles.  we disembarked and met our friends.  they drove us around, on snow-covered roads, through canopies of trees, past glimpses of water between the pines, their limbs bowing to the snow.  at one point they said we could go to the house if we were bored.  “no,” we answered.  how could we be bored, we wondered.  the quiet, the stillness, the solitude was compelling.  it’s all how you look at it.  and where you start from.

it was quieter on the ferry ride back with fewer people.  we were just as enthralled.  the ice pieces broken by the bow skittered along the ice plate on top of the water.  lines cracked through the sheet, paths drawn by nature’s etch-a-sketch.  some large slabs of ice raised skyward.  we looked at each other and quietly let out a breath.  we couldn’t imagine how this trip across open water could ever become run-of-the-mill.  but around us were people who acted like it was piggly wiggly brand pasta and they were in the aisle racing to get to the next aisle.  it’s all how you look at it.  and where you start from.

lake ice copy

*(the rest of the story) i called my sweet momma when i returned home from ‘the pig’ as they say.  she answered and i instantly recounted my no-mueller’s-pasta story, i’m quite sure teary in the telling, yearning for the home we had left.   four days later the UPS truck pulled up at the end of the driveway and the driver lugged a very large box to the front door.  in it i found every shape and size of pasta available…all made by mueller’s.  moms are wise beyond words sometimes.  by the time i finished using the boxes-in-the-box, the unfamiliar had begun to be familiar.  the crisis (yes, fundamentally not a physical crisis, but definitely an emotional one) was over.

zigzag through ice website box

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: artist, kerri sherwood, life, two artists tuesday, Uncategorized | Tags: adjustment, change, crisis, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, death's door, door county, door county wisconsin, emotional crisis, etch-a-sketch, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, familiar, florida, green bay, homesickness, how you look at it, ice, ice-breaking, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, life, long island, moving, mueller's pasta, my sweet momma, perspective, piggly wiggly, publix, run-of-the-mill, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, society6.com/twoartists, story, two artists, two artists living together, two artists making stuff for humans, two artists tuesday, unfamiliar, UPS, washington island, washington island ferry, wisconsin | Permalink.

March 1, 2019
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

when the fog lifts. [k.s. friday]

when the fog lifts songbox copy.jpg

“…the other end of the process of living through uncertainty…” (liner notes)

sometimes when we drive along third avenue, right around the corner from our house, the fog totally obscures lake michigan.  you would never know it was even there.  you can’t see where the shoreline is, you can’t see the expanse of lake.  further down the road, you can’t see the beach, the waves, the jetty.  it is as if, for this time, the lake and the sky are one; neither exist and both exist.

this duality, this co-existence…is what this piece is about.  the presence of clarity and the presence of haze.  when i read my liner notes this morning, i sighed.  i wrote them in 1997 – (a shocking) twenty-two years ago.  i was 38.  i must have thought there was an “end” to uncertainty then.  and, at the time, i must have interpreted the fog, the mist, in a somewhat negative way, as something to get “through”, relief at the other end.

and then the fog lifts over the lake and there is differentiation of planes.  the sky becomes sky; the lake becomes lake.  until the next fog rolls in.

this month i will turn 60.  it takes me a few seconds for that to sink in each time i think about it.  were i to re-record this piece now, i would slow it down.  i would linger in the fog a little longer, not so afraid of it, of its mystery.  i’m still learning to embrace the fog, still learning to watch for the sky when it lifts, still learning that both can co-exist:  clarity and uncertainty.  nothing is really clear in life.  nothing is absolute.  we keep stepping. it is truly all a little foggy.  i now think it’s supposed to be that way.

purchase the CD or download on iTUNES or CDBaby

read DAVID’S thoughts this K.S. FRIDAY

if you'd like to see kerri sherwood.. copy

birdy feet website box

WHEN THE FOG LIFTS from THIS PART OF THE JOURNEY ©️ 1997, 2000 kerri sherwood

 

 

 

 

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: kerri sherwood, ks friday, music, Uncategorized, yamaha | Tags: age, clarity, co-existence, david robinson, david robinson paintings, davidrobinsoncreative.com, duality, embrace the fog, facebook.com/kerrianddavid, foggy, instrumental music, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood friday, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, ks friday, lake michigan, life, new age, piano, piano music, recording artist, slow it down, society6.com/davidrobinson, society6.com/kerrisherwood, story, third avenue, this part of the journey, this part of the journey cd, time, when the fog lifts, yamaha, yamaha artist, yamaha pianos, yamaha recording artist | Permalink.

August 23, 2018
by kerrisherwood11 Leave a comment

sunrise. sunset. [d.r. thursday]

sunrise, sunset copy

we often walk at the end of the work day.  we go inland to a lake trail and walk a couple times around the lake, somewhere around 6 miles or so in total.  we mostly hike around the lake clockwise, which means that we are watching the sun come down across the lake at the beginning of our walk, a time when we are still processing the day and haven’t yet gotten immersed in the trail.  sometimes we are so engrossed in talking or thinking-silence that we have to remind the other to appreciate…”look at that sunset,” one of us will say.

sometimes we will get up early and, with our coffee mugs, go sit on the rocks and watch the sun come up over lake michigan.  every time we are witnesses to the beginning of a new day this way i think we should do that more often.

sunrise.  sunset.  it makes me think of the song from the musical fiddler on the roof.  it’s truly a beautiful song, simple, sung with great heart.  the passing of time.  so fast.  wendy wrote to say it was time to bring logan back to college – for his second year.  i could so so feel how that felt, remembering times i had brought My Girl or My Boy back to college.

“Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don’t remember growing older
When, did, they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they, were, small?
Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as we gaze
Sunrise, sunset, Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears.”
(Sunrise, Sunset – by S. Harnick, J. Bock)
life somehow fits in between these sunrises and sunsets.  and somehow, some days, we just seem to miss it.  too many things to do, to worry about, to perseverate over, to check off lists.  every time i vow to honor the sunrise and exhale with the sunset, somewhere in between i realize i forgot.  i’ll try again tomorrow.
SUNRISE. SUNSET. a morsel from the painting A DAY AT THE BEACH
sunrise sunset products

ADayAtTheBeach copy 2

A DAY AT THE BEACH, 38″ x 52″

read DAVID’S thoughts on today’s D.R. THURSDAY

D.R. THURSDAY – ON OUR SITE

Screen Shot 2018-08-07 at 12.27.50 PM

please visit our kerrianddavid page and like us on facebook! thank you! 🙂

sunrise. sunset./a day at the beach ©️ 2018/2017 david robinson, kerri sherwood

 

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories: art, DR thursday, kerri sherwood, life, Uncategorized | Tags: back to college, back to school, beach, beginnings, david robinson, david robinson thursday, davidrobinsoncreative.com, des plaines river walk, DR thursday, endings, family, fiddler on the roof, hiking, itunes: kerri sherwood, kerri sherwood, kerrianddavid.com, kerrianddavid.com/the-melange, kerrisherwood.com, lake michigan, life, love, moment by moment, moments, motherhood, presence, quiet walks, reminders, society6.com/davidrobinson, story, sunrise, sunrise sunset, sunset, the boy, the girl, the melange, the passing of time, try again tomorrow, we forget, zero mostel | Permalink.

Post navigation

Categories

  • art
  • artist
  • chicken marsala monday
  • DR thursday
  • fallow
  • flawed cartoon wednesday
  • flawed wednesday
  • kerri sherwood
  • kerrisherwood
  • ks friday
  • laughter
  • life
  • love
  • merely a thought monday
  • momma
  • music
  • not-so-flawed wednesday
  • performing
  • piano
  • prints
  • recording artist
  • relevance
  • sisu
  • story
  • two artists tuesday
  • Uncategorized
  • yamaha

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog at WordPress.com.

Top
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×
    %d bloggers like this: