Ruth married her husband in the late summer sun of July 1931, in the backyard of their new home in California.

Among the wedding gifts was a simple wooden Dragonfly, sent anonymously. Perhaps a symbol of her new beginnings, or a totem of her free expression.

The two legs at center entwined in a lover’s embrace, a remembrance of their new love. Exotic wood, imbued with Tahitian symbols, tells a story of their nautical honeymoon voyages through Hawaii, Tahiti and Asia. It was her first adventure, but certainly not her last.

Tonight, the surface lays silent in warm north light, it is the work surface for her study. Atop it, some fossils, and a series of half-finished poems, set aside for just a moment, sitting beneath the glow of a cast iron chandelier.