 Goodbye SAT Prep, January 2020 Photo by ERSwett At some point in 2020, I lost my way.  Winter Citrus, February 2020 Photo by ERSwett The turmoil went to my head and to my heart and I froze.  Late Winter Bouquet, March 2020 Photo by ERSwett Thankfully, though, the compost pile beckoned.  Soup's On at Umpleby's, April 2020 Photo by ERSwett The colors, textures and yes, the pungent odors kept things real and reminded me of the beauty of it all.  Good King Henry & The Valley News, May 2020 Photo by ERSwett I am grateful for extended time with my family and with my thoughts.  Early Season Watermelon, June 2020 Photo by ERSwett Light emerged on the other side of dark, and we just kept showing up for each other.  Mid-Summer Feast, July 2020 Photo by ERSwett The dailiness of watermelon & houseplants that needed trimming invited calm in the midst of brewing storms.  Discarded Housevines, September 2020 Photo by ERSwett And I voted. We voted. Hope.  I Voted, November 2020 Photo by ERSwett And the Christmas Cactus bloomed at Thanksgiving as it does every year.  Houseplants, Early December 2020 Photo by ERSwett And we finally bid farewell to my mother-in-law's pressed leaves and rhyming dictionary she used to write holiday poems.  Post-Holiday Clean-up, December 2020 Photo by ERSwett It was a messy, smelly and uncomfortable year, but it will be impossible to forget 2020 and the good that will emerge from the all of it.  New Year's Eve, 2020 Photo by ERSwett
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 Pam's Pressed Leaves, 2020 Photo by ERSwett Pressed leaves - - so easy to collect & so simple to compost.  Pam's National Geographic Collection, 2020 Photo by ERSwett National Geographic, not so much. Each year, eleven pounds of images from around the world. But last week, it was time for this collection of stories and images to move on, to mix and mingle with holiday wrappings and old bills.  Photographing the Photographs, 2020 Photo by ERSwett Our children did not plow through them, as I once did, and no library wanted them. This 450 pound collection was, in fact, a burden from another era.  Goodbye, 2020 Photo by ERSwett When I returned from the recycling center, I was not surprised to experience an increased flow of fresh air in my studio - - The shelves, lighter and more open, an invitation.  Bread & The Rhyming Dictionary, 2020 Photo by ERSwett We were managing the clutter we brought home from my mother-in-law's house, which we had cleared out three years ago. It was time to say farewell to her pressed leaves, National Geographics and her dog-eared rhyming dictionary.  The Rhyming Dictionary & How to Build a Better Vocabulary, 2020 Photo by ERSwett The compost absorbed all of it, including the expectations of creating the perfect turn of phrase in a gift card, thank you letter or speech at the garden club. In our pile, the leaves & this book will nourish new growth in a new year & maybe even inspire new ways of thinking post 2020.  Composting Expectations, 2020 Photo by ERSwett  I believed & it was true. Wear a pair of black leather boots & you, too, will feel powerful & confident. It's been five years since I first purchased these on consignment, polished them up and faked it till I made it. They worked their magic.  After wearing them a few times, I started to actually believe in my power - - not in a dominating way, but in a deep visceral kind of way that flowed from my fascia and radiated outward. These boots lead me to the edge of my known world....  If I step off the path, I might harm this ecosystem, but if I stay on it, I may never come to understand it. What if it's not even a binary question. Maybe it's about stance and learning to tread more lightly.  And maybe there is more power in a backward glance made with curiosity, wonder & the core of who I am, than there is in a pair of boots & a projection of false confidence.   Black Boots on Wood, Sharon, VT Fall 2020 Photo by ERSwett Sometimes a gal has to shake things up a bit.  Embroidered Moccasins by Sarah C. Swett sometime in the 1980's. Photo by ERSwett If, for example, she can't actually walk in other people's shoes, she can at least experiment with wearing her own in new & different places. Or, perhaps, not wear any at all.  Barefoot in Fall Self Portrait, October 2020 It turns out, for example, that feeling cold wet leaves beneath your toes while staring at your camera is quite luxurious.  Self Portrait at The Land, October 2020 Photo by ERSwett I've been needing these experiences this past week, because while those in power continue to belittle women's voices, & the voices of those without power, I struggle to find mine.  The Dress - Blowing in the Wind, October 2020 Photo by ERSwett The dress, like so many past beliefs is gone, blowing in the wind, beautiful but not useful anymore.  Reclining on a Wood Pile - Self Portrait October 2020 And I recline on a wood pile, wearing those cool black boots from The Pink Alligator & a black shirt dress from Revolution. It all feels quite liberating...  Hydrangea at The Landfill, October 2020 Photo by ERSwett Each step in my own shoes brings me closer to what I love -- finding balance & power at the landfill & in my compost pile, each photograph transforming the discord & pain I feel in the world around me into something else entirely.  Now the demitasse, filled with coffee, sits on the coffee grinds from which it came, connected and real. In times like this, it helps to stay real.  Self Portrait with Panels, Fall 2020 Photo by ERSwett And then I remembered how powerful I felt when we first installed our solar panels in 2010. For less than the cost of most new cars, we could actually generate power - - 56,000 Kwh to date, in fact. So I created this self portrait, wearing those same black boots & holding a mug of coffee made by a good friend. This is real.  2020 Ballot Photo by ERSwett And this is real too. So after the photo shoot at the panels, I filled in my ballot & delivered it to Town Hall, feeling very very powerful. I hope that on November 3, 2020 you will vote as if your life & the lives of your children's children's great grandchildren depended on it.  Self Portrait - - As a Tree, October 2020 Because here's the deal. If you can, do. If you believe in your power, you can generate power, not just with solar panels and your vote, but with the very core of who you are. I'm a mover & maker, so I learned to embroider so that I could share Whitman's poem, This Compost, and the oh so powerful final stanza...  This Compost on a Jacket - - Self Portrait, October 2020 Now I am terrified at the earth, it is that calm and patient, It grows such sweet things out of such corruptions, It turns harmless and stainless on its axis, with such endless successions of diseased waste, It distills such exquisite winds out of such infused fetor, It renews with such unwitting looks its prodigal, annual, sumptuous crops, It gives such divine materials and accepts such leavings from [us all]. -Walt Whitman, This Compost (From Leaves of Grass)  The Connecticut River at Dawn, September 2005 Photo by ERSwett Renewal is the operative word. Like all this stuff about demitasse & cotillion dresses & going deeper into who we are & what we believe. It's so much easier to explore when feeling powerful.  Self Portrait - Being a Tree in the Fen, October 2020 in Sharon, VT Afraid of what might happen this week? Be a tree & remember, if you can, do. Connect with the earth. Stand tall. Be Real.  Self Portrait - Being Real, October 2020 in Sharon, VT |
Evelyn R. Swett
reframing the narrative in community and with myself, finding transformation and joy in the mess of it all 
compost re-imagined
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**Let's ReFrame is a weekly viewsletter about this and that.
It includes links to recent blog posts, updates about my work, and when relevant, inspirational action prompts
for you to explore your creativity and passion for the world you love.
It includes links to recent blog posts, updates about my work, and when relevant, inspirational action prompts
for you to explore your creativity and passion for the world you love.