I have a fondness for this time of the year. Seems like a little wind starts blowing around the end of September and picks up as October slides in to place. That wind brings certain smells, feelings, and memories for me. I also, usually... get a creative boost of some kind.

I recently finished a piece for a Tree themed show that opened yesterday. I'm pretty sure I like it. I call the piece Dwellers. A simple group of big headed fellas who live in the trees. They eat from the tree, drink from the tree, and hoot and holler from the tree.

I spent a lot of time in trees when I was a kid! I remember this amazing treehouse the older kids built around the corner from me. I was 5 years old at the time so I had to act tough and say a few curse words just to get a seat on an outer branch, but they let me in! After that I just started climbing trees of all shapes and sizes. I'd usually head for the top and then just sit there for and hour or so taking in the sights from above. I felt safe up there. Something about looking down on the world made me feel comforted.

Of all the trees I climbed with my friends and set up camp in, no bigger were the huge Fir trees about a block from my house. first we needed to nail in the step ladder one piece at a time until we got to the first branch. Then, we'd all scramble about 3/4 the way to the top and start nailing in seats. We could easily climb to the top from our base and take a bit of a ride when the wind blew......just holding on for dear life, but loving it all the same! As cool as this all was, the fun ended when I accidentally dropped my portable 8-track player on my friends head from about 10 feet up. Danny would always climb down first, look up and say, "READY"! I'd drop the music box and he'd catch it. It was this time when I thought he said ready and he took the 8-Track straight to his head. When people talk about things like this going in slow-mo...it really does! After that, Danny and I couldn't play together and the blood trail to his house remained well into the winter. I continued to go up that Fir tree by myself, with my 8-Track, until we moved to Texas later that Summer. I still climbed trees, but got into sitting on the roof to escape the world. Give me a roof to perch on, or tree to sit in, and I'll do just fine! A true Dweller!