On the Sunny Side of the Street

In these incredibly divisive times, there appears to be one thing we can all agree on: the weather in the United States is absolute bananas this summer. From early hurricanes to repeated excessive heat waves to major flooding, everyone is talking about the weather and its impact on our daily lives. Here at the Quiltunes headquarters in the heart of Washington State, our summer has been brutally hot. What started out very mild and chill quickly became a raging oven on broil mode. Every morning our phones greet us with weather warnings for excessive heat and fire danger. Air conditioning  and inside time are absolute necessities. Speaking for myself, I am worn down and it is only July.

I LIVED for summer as a kid, especially the no school part. It was so important to have months with no schedule and days full of play and possibility. I grew up in a neighborhood full of kids who formed a roving pack that bounced through backyards, the playground and the pool. We were always outside and up to something. Back then we were allowed to be feral and had so much freedom to be kids. Our endless days involved bike rides all over the ‘hood, hours and hours at the community pool subsisting on PB&Js and Jolly Rancher sticks, sunsets on the trampoline and backyard sleepovers. I reminisce about a favorite season of pure joy mixed with some wild. It was a beautiful time full of simple, easy fun and twinkly magic. And I imagine that many of you have similarly fond memories of summertime fun and adventure too.

As an adult I continue to seek that elusive feeling I had as a child in summer. Of course a big part of the summer affection was time off from responsibility, which is more difficult to achieve as a grown up. But that aside, I now struggle to embrace summer so wholeheartedly because of the extreme weather. As a lifelong resident of the western US, summer is now full of unpredictable heat waves and wildfires. There is no longer a “fire season” as wildfires can happen anytime of the year, yet are certainly worse in the summer. Fires have become so frequent that it is no shock to see a newly charred hillside or hear the air support fly over the house. I feel stifled by the combination of smoke outside and the endless string of 100+ degree days. Oh and did I mention that our air conditioner (apparently an absolute necessity) has been out of commission for the bulk of this time? Ugh, my crankiness is turned up to 11. Summer is just so different now.

In an attempt to turn my despair around, I decided to focus on all of the things that, weather and air quality be damned, I still love about summer. So here is a list of summer loves, in no particular order:

1. Fruit! Big love for the super ripe pieces you have to eat over the sink. Bonus that I live in a fruit growing valley. 
2. Our gargantuan vegetable garden. Unlike me who wilts in these conditions, the vegetables are thriving. Communing with my plants is a highlight of my day. As is the peek-a-boo search for ripe vegetables ready to harvest. And the exquisite joy of eating backyard to table.
3. Iced coffee — the good, strong cold brew stuff. 
4. Longer days
5. Sandwiches and salads 
6. Sundresses
7. Afternoon naps — ain’t no shame in the siesta game.
8. Outdoor concerts
9. Plopping my camp chair in the water while my husband fishes.
10. Farm stands and farmers’ markets. How I cherish the folks that grow our food.
11. Sitting in the shade with bonus points for cushy grass.
12. Beach reads
13. Linen – especially my new $7 garage sale score lime green caftan.
14. Frozen treats
15. Flowers
16. Hearing kids playing outside and being kids — the squeal of a cold sprinkler, etc. 
17. Grilling 
18. Library reading contests for adults
19. Painted toenails
20. Getting to practice my latest hobby — cyanotype!

A very rudimentary description of cyanotype is using sunlight and chemicals to make a  photographic print. I was instantly hooked on the craft after I took a class at the local Maker Space last year. It is a fairly simple process and always a delight to see how your print turns out. Like working with natural dyes, there is only so much you can control with cyanotype. I’ve collected specimens on my nature wanderings expressly for print making, so cyanotype has become an overlapping hobby of foraging, printing, and creation with the prints. When I’m out wandering, I continually think about what natural materials could make an interesting print. Cyanotype is also a perfect summertime project when the sun is nice and direct. My latest prints were made in the extra heat and took mere minutes to expose. (Which beware, you are working with hot glass, so safety first folks.) This new endeavor allows me to stretch my creativity in a new direction and experiment with making my own printed fabric. Gotta love that!

This little wall hanging/art quilt highlights some of the shapes found in the flora and fauna of the local shrub steppe landscape here in Central Washington. The bold cyanotypes are paired with the more subtle hues of my naturally dyed fabrics pieced together in shapes that mimic the landscape. I enjoyed making a somewhat literal interpretation of a geographic area in fabric. The shrub steppe is a local endangered landscape that, thanks to our open space conservancy, we are able to enjoy patches of in its undeveloped glory. The trails are our favorite local escape and we are forever grateful for the folks whose stewardship keeps wild lands wild, even near cities. In honor of the conservancy’s work, I will be submitting this piece for consideration in their annual art showcase. 

This post is named after the ever popular jazz standard song “On The Sunny Side Of The Street” because paying attention to the positive is my saving grace this summer. My energy is directed toward the sunny side and not the blazing side, to be quite literal. Louis Armstrong has a beloved and popular rendition of this song, which we’re all familiar with. Recently I was tuned into (pun intended!) a playful mash-up version called “Medley: On the Sunny Side of the Street/ On the Shady Side of the Street” by the band The Tin Men out of New Orleans. My thoughtful friend Black Mold highly recommended this song because it also features a musical saw, played by the talented musician Dr. Sick. I adore a good musical saw and the song is just as awesome as promised. Long live the musical saws! I also love that this band took a classic, that is somewhat overdone as a cover, and made it entirely their own with their clever twist on the shadier elements of the street. This tune is definitely not your great-grandparents plucky version. As always, from the bottom of my heart I have the most sincere love and gratitude for all the musicians that make the world a sunnier place overall.

As summer plods along in its current state of hot smokiness, I will refer back to my list as a reminder that there are 20 things I do love about the season. As an analogy, the list is a bit like arm floaties when you need a life vest, but hey, at least it is something buoyant! It is going to take effort to look on the bright side when working on my garden requires an N95 mask and our house glows an eerie orange from outside.  I am not a Pollyanna and I do believe that toxic positivity is a real problem, yet throughout all of my challenges, I have found positive glimmers in tough situations. It may be something small or it may be large, but there is goodness to be found. Some days may require subterranean deep digging to find it, but it IS there underneath all the debris and goo and ash, a little sparkly gem of lightness. So I will continue to seek out the good and acknowledge it, even when it’s a hard thing to do. Oh and make pretty quilts with cyanotype prints while I’m at it. Stay safe out there.