mountain to hankerchief

each stitch locates me
this is where she stood
where she collected
where she reach out to grasp
what she wanted to hold

from Mom's diary: first trip to Mount Rainier

July 26, 1935
Tonight we did quite a lot of preparation for tomorrow. I can hardly wait! Margret showed up about 9 o’clock tonight. Of course she is going. We got a letter from Ruth. They’re coming about midnight.


July 27, 1935
We have a cabin. Is sure cold! The girls got in about 12:30 this am. We got things all packed and started for Rainier about 9:45. It was a beautiful drive up here. After much dilly dallying around we got here about 1. It was quite foggy. We went for a walk, gathered flowers we weren’t suppose to, and got pictures of deer! About 5 the fog lifted as we could see the mountain - so big and beautiful. After dinner we went to the community hall and heard a lecture. We got some cards and I sent one to Dorothy and Edna.

July 28, 1935
It was raining this morning! After breakfast and much lying around, we (all but Dad) got started on a hike. We went a long ways, about two miles going up always on the mountain. We saw glaciers and so many flowers. We got back around 12:30. We had dinner and got packed up to go. On the way home we saw a bear and deer. Got pictures of both. I fed the deer cookies! We got lots of pictures. Got home around 7 or so. The girls left about 8:30.

whose obsession?

125 photos
125 handkerchiefs

inheritance is most often an involuntary affair

Amy Lee Davis thought often about what she would leave her children. She made lists and speculations, but she never guessed at what she was really leaving. Opening her files and boxes and drawers after she was gone revealed a life of collection, a devotion to particular topics and finally perhaps an effort to not forget the things she loved.
She took hundreds of snapshots focusing on three themes: her family, flowers, and Mt. Rainier. I grew up with these photos and never thought anything about them. But as I unwrapped the envelopes, opened the scrapbooks, and found duplicates tucked in-between everything, I discovered her obsession.
Amy Lee worked in libraries. She couldn’t help cataloging. As her collection revealed itself, I was pulled in. I began making stacks and re-stacking. It was the photos of Mt. Rainier I couldn’t leave alone, perhaps because she talked about it so much before she died. Or perhaps it was because the mountain was her longest enduring topic. I started putting photos together that held the same silhouette, searching out where they were taken from. Was that an obsession? What had I really inherited?

obsession in a box

125 snapshots of Mount Rainier
85 of the surrounding area
brownie to 35 mm
1935 and 2006