A while back, Lloyd was doing some work at the art gallery and noticed a painting by local artist, Lois Smith. He really liked it. He came back a while later and it was gone. He was sad and asked the owner it it had sold, but Lois had just entered it in the state fair. (It won.) He realized that if he felt that strongly about its loss, he should probably buy it.
Lois painted it after reading a poem by Ted Kooser. (Ted was the U.S. Poet Laureate and lives in a little town near Seward. How ‘bout that?) Here’s the painting:
Isn’t that beautiful? Lloyd says it reminds him of his grandma and mom.
Here’s the poem (transcribed below, after reading Brad’s comment):
This is a core sample from the floor of the Sea of Mending,
a cylinder packed with shells that over many years
sank through fathoms of shirts – pearl buttons, blue buttons –
and settled together beneath the waves of perseverance.
an ocean upon which generations of women set forth,
under the sails of gingham curtains, and, seated side by side
on decks sometimes salted by tears,
made small but important repairs.