Kitty on The Keyboard or (Cat Wisdom)

I came in from an afternoon walk with Music to find that Pearl had fitted herself perfectly among objects representing my creative life. It was too good not to get the camera out. This moment couldn't possibly happen again.

There is the portrait of the young ballerina to the right, and beyond her a poster from my "Isadora" days for a performance sponsored by The Repertory Theater of New Orleans. On the keyboard with Pearl is a wire sculpture of a dancing angel, and a pottery chalice from the time when I was seeking to merge Airth with Christianity. Pearl leans easily and gracefully against a bronze dancer that began life as a sculpted clay dancer done when I was still teaching, while behind her is one of my recent conte drawings of a dancer. The base for all of this lovely interconnectedness is the keyboard on which my fingers channeled the mysteries of my mind and heart when my body needed yet another way to dance. Eventually these recordings were the background for many a dance: visual and also of the returning physical dance.

Pearl, of course, is the best and most marvelous part of this photographic dance. In her innocence, she ties it all together. She just is, but she delights my soul with what she reveals. That the life as it happened (doubts and disappointments aside) is still a lively, happening reality, and I need only be. Like Pearl... Just be...

Extra...as Pearl continued her dance.