Labor Day

Just wanted to capture one of my favorite moments in time these days, playing with my friends on a Sunday afternoon. Anne (viola) & Martin Pierece (cello), I will boldy advertise, are furniture makers (see www.martinpierce.eu) a lovely couple from England who make incredible hand crafted pieces, one of which will soon be the kingsize bed for Muhammend Ali, and Gaudi-esque hardware. John Swanson, the violinist is an amazing artist (www.johnaugustswanson.com) who combines pointilism and firey colors to depict scenes blending his faith and Mexican roots. Albert DeRosiers, at 80- plays viola and violin, taught French and collects/represents' Johns' art as well as berber rugs, moroccan trays and tea services and kilims. And then there's me, go figure.

I have always loved wood working; my father had a wood shop in his basement where he taught us how to use tools and fashion chess boards and whatever else he was working on. I was lucky in grammar school to have shop as well, which was made even more exciting by a ventilation shaft opening the older kids discovered made a perfect hideaway for making out. Getting to work with one's hands regularly is a gift and I loved teh smell of sawdust, the splinters we'd pick out of our fingers, the small crafts we would fashion out of a simple block.

Art is a more mixed bag for me as a seminal moment in high school turned me off forever when a crippled old bag of a teacher critiqued my very hard work (a full size pilgrim girl) one day by painting a huge red cross through it (had I saved it, I'm sure it would sell as some message on anti-colonialism). I will hand it to my mother who did protest on my behalf, but I never got over the shock of someone's vehement dismissal of my work. I never attempted anything artistic again, but did pick up the flute, which sailed me through many years until the dear cello slipped under my door in the form of a flyer from a nearby teacher.

So on this day of remembering our Labor Force, and I get prepared to take on a new job, I think of the importance of work that makes us feel vital, creative and engaged. Whether it's a music hobby or a full time career as a brain surgeon, we do need these moments of sheer human expression. Sharing it with friends only makes the experience richer and for this I am ever grateful. (It also helps when they bring figs and manchego as appetizers, and the chef makes grilled corn salad in buttermilk dressing, accompanying the pork with mango salsa, all of which adds a layer of oral pleasure to the aural.)