Does everyone have boxes of children’s art, old letters, and other paper memorabilia they’ve saved over the years? I have at least half a dozen of them that I haven’t looked at in decades, and this week I tackled the first one, labeled “Calendars.” From 1976 through 1980 friends and I put together and sold “The Whole Woman Calendar,” a wall calendar with quotes and art by women. It also had little drawings in ink in the margins by my children. The first two years, Simone (a frequent commenter in these pages) did intricate line drawings in black ink.
The next two years were black and white photographs (mostly by my friend Maureen), and for the final year, the calendar was picked up by a NY publisher, and had full color photographs by a variety of women. The box contained make-ready from various years, ideas, calligraphy, and some original photos. This snow woman is one of my favorites, and I think it went with this poem by David Montfort (we didn’t discriminate against men…don’t they hold up half the sky?).
As I was in a ruthless mode, almost everything (except a few copies of each year’s calendar) went to paper recycling. I did keep this one of the children’s drawings, but mostly filled envelopes to send to the children to put in their own boxes.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the pile:
“The horror of that moment,” the King went on “I shall never, never forget!”
“You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.”
Too much of a good thing can be wonderful. Mae West
For an actress to be a success she must have the face of Venus, the brains of Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros. Ethel Barrymore
I somehow lost all my copies of our calendars. Did any of our first ones survive? I have sharp memories of some of the drawings, but they could have been altered over the years. That whole project was exciting and hair raising- strewn as it was with emergency rooms and…….I am still so glad that I met you and we worked so close back then.
Sean and Miss Vicky and that wonderful press, the Coffee Bean, and your house on the outskirts of that small College Town.
Yes, a couple survived from the first year, Simone…and I’ll post a few copies of your drawings in the days to come. Didn’t I meet you bc you had a show up at the Coffee Bean that I liked?
Yes, you left me a note in the pouch I provided for comments. It was very exciting to me!
and so it began.