may 13
the sleepy & dark garden
(w/bsl interpretation)
It was quiet at contact when I arrived on saturday. I had hurried, invested in a cab. It was rainy & dark & queer up north had invested in the services of a sign language interpreter, Siobhan Rocks (& she did really rock -- for me and @ armistead maupin as well later, signing words like cock & sphincter as well as the more literary passages with grace & ease) and I wanted to be there to greet her.
No one else was around but I got ready, turned on all the lights and picked up around the shack. There's always vestiges of visitors from the night before, candy wrappers & footprints. Yesterday I found a Jedi fighter on the lawn.
My first appointment was late and I asked Raph, Elle's son, if he would help me with some gardening. I had salvaged some teapots and assorted vessels from the prop room. He got all excited. Then Borhan showed up, so we all got our hands dirty. Elle & Siobhan & Salina helped too.
This was such an important thing to have done. This was the first time we'd all been together that Raph hadn't clung to me; while you were planting he grew beyond being my toddler. It seemed that you two weren't doing something new: you were reminiscing.
It felt right that I was on the outside taking pictures.
Posted by: Elle | May 15, 2006 at 04:32 PM