Friday, October 8, 2021

odds and ends

We have three wifi connections in our house via two different routers. I generally prefer to use the oldest as it's the fastest even though one of the new ones is supposedly 5G so you'd think that when I wake up my computer (it disconnects from the wifi when asleep) it would reconnect to one of those in the house. And you would be wrong. Often it connects to my sister's wifi across the street (I have her password from back when we were staying with her right after the Harvey flood), skipping our two routers in between my desktop and my sister's house. And that one is very slow.

I get notifications on my tablet. The two were Amber alerts and Severe Weather alerts. I finally turned off the Amber alerts because they always came in the middle of the night but I still get the Severe Weather alerts though at some point they segued into...

So is it going to start hailing stolen children?

Learned Wednesday that the birth of my first great grandchild has been moved up from October 13 to this Sunday if the doctor, who is concerned about her feet and sugar levels, can get an appointment.

Across the road that the west end of my street ends at is a railroad track, a corn/cotton field and then a county road that parallels that road and then the highway. Yesterday evening set fire to four big piles of trees in that field that must have been cleared from somewhere nearby. They were flaming up when we drove by on the way to yoga but never really caught as they were still there coming back and smoldering smokily. When I set out to walk Minnie it was hazy and smelly from the smoke that was drifting into our end of the neighborhood. Thursday morning it was even worse so I guess they smoldered all night.

Another mostly sleepless night Thursday night but boy did I have some weird dreams in the hour or two of sleep I got before I had to get up to get ready for my day at SHARE, part of which involved people milling around my house while someone, the maid/cook was fixing breakfast that these people had been invited for. When we were called to eat, a big table had been set and another table was laid out with a big spread of different food buffet style. I fixed my plate (can't say what it all was except for scrambled eggs, some bread kind of thing, and everything else was sort of fluffy sweet stuff) and decided my place at the table was too crowded so I stood/sat? off to the side and my mouth started watering for real while I was asleep and I woke enough to to know that while I was swallowing all that saliva in my dream, I was swallowing it for real. There was another one that involved some kind of animal, a dog that turned into a tortoise kind of thing later and a swimming pool and feeding it some weird snowflake shaped crustacean like things.

Also last Wednesday, I filled in the rest of the background color even adding a little more, if it's going to turn out darker then I might as well go with it but I don't think it will really be that dark, and then started back filling for the clear layer but ran out of time.

Finally got over to the studio this morning and filled in the last of the clear and then the final white layer and now it's ready to go in the kiln.


I'm sure everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that they don't have to listen to me moan about it, at least til it's fired and I see how it came out. The gallery in Dallas has already contacted me about having these two pieces for the Botanical show in February.

Another sign of the end of summer and the somewhat cooler weather, the Philippine lilies are starting to bloom. They can get to be a good sized shrub though this one is a volunteer I put in a pot and the single stem has shot up at least three feet. I have a white version too but it's not blooming yet.




22 comments:

  1. Not at all tired of following your process, puzzling as some of it is to me. I'm glad you're working.

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  2. Those lilies are beautiful!
    Something is going on! I've sold half a dozen towels at the gallery this month and it's only the 8th! Not complaining; they don't know there are only 25 towels left on the shelf! I feel success in the air for your molds.

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  3. You must have gone to bed hungry!

    Those Philippine lilies are unusual -- I don't remember seeing them before. (Except maybe here?!)

    Hope the trumpet flowers work out well. Keep us posted!

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  4. Can't wait to see what the trumpet flowers end up looking like. So much work! I bet they'll be worth it.
    I really am sorry that you're having trouble sleeping.

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    1. someone suggested lavender oil on my temples at bedtime. I might try that. though I've had bouts of insomnia before and usually wake up around the same time. it's rare when I can only manage a few hours of sleep.

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  5. I'm looking forward to seeing the Trumpet Flowers after their trip to the kiln.
    I'm also looking forward to the news about your first great-grandchild.
    The lilies are beautiful.

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    1. today's the day, waiting for word that she and the mom are well.

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  6. I agree with Robin. I'm awfully glad the weather is changing there. No one should be as hot as you all have been this year.

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  7. I am looking forward to see your Trumpet flowers completed. I really like reading about each of the steps you take to create your projects. I hope all goes well with the birth of your great grandchild!

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    Replies
    1. they got the call early this morning. waiting for word.

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  8. What a vibrant color on those lilies! Wow!
    Can't wait to see how your Trumpet flowers will turn out. Exciting!

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  9. What you said about your wifi sent me back to your earlier comment today, where you said the message included this: "When Chrome tried to connect... the website sent back unusual and incorrect credentials. This may happen when...a Wi-Fi sign-in screen has interrupted the connection." I have no idea how that could be the problem, but I suspect it might be. I did leave some suggestions on my blog, and I sent all that info to WordPress.

    In the meantime: look at those lilies! and look at that wonderful bit of art that's emerging, day by day. I have a feeling you're going to be the one who's most surprised by how gorgeous it is!

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    1. I did see your suggestions on your other blog but I'm kind of reluctant to empty my cache as I'm not sure I would remember all the sign ins. unfortunately I can't just delete Lagniappe from the cache. it's all or nothing. I don't understand how a wifi sign in screen interferes since I never see that (or even what that is). I also get this error message: NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID. when I clicked on the link to 'fix connection errors' I got this: "Your clock is behind" or "Your clock is ahead" or "NET::ERR_CERT_DATE_INVALID"
      You'll see this error if your computer or mobile device's date and time are inaccurate.
      To fix the error, open your device's clock. Make sure the time and date are correct.

      but I checked and my date/time on my desktop is accurate. so what the fuck? then I had a light bulb go off and I checked to see if I can get to it on my phone and yes, no problem. so it's definitely my iMac. I guess I'll just have to visit on my phone.

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    2. I got a response last night from the WordPress gurus. I'm not home right now, and Im no good at cutting and pasting, etc. on my phone, but when I do get back home tomorrow, I'll send what they said. The short answer: my blog is fine. They checked everything out on the back end to be sure everything was working properly, etc. and it was. They did have a couple of suggestions. I didn't know about the wifi issues when I emailed them, so I'll send what you just posted back to them, with that info.

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  10. Ooh - very excited to see the final result of the lilies! And that last flower is also lovely... (and what the heck on the combined amber/weather alerts!)

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    1. you got me. I have no idea how that even happens.

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  11. How utterly weird a dream that was!!! LOL And here I thought I had the corner market on weird dreams! LOL I'm excited to see your trumpet flower piece once it gets fired. It's going to be gorgeous!! And that purple lily IS absolutely gorgeous. You have such a talent with plants. Ten green thumbs, for sure! Thanks so very much for sharing. I love seeing your work and your flowers.

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    1. I didn't remember my dreams for the longest but the last couple of months I've been having doozies almost every night and remembering at least parts of them.

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  12. I do love your glass work. Does it have to be botanical and have you ever thought of doing a Monarch butterfly? My dreams are too vivid these days due to medication. But they are not nightmares, at least.

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    1. thanks and no, it doesn't have to be botanical, it's just what I tend to though the two pieces zi did before I started on the trumpet flowers were sandscapes with a feather and rocks on sane and a dried fern frond and rocks on sand. I've done butterflies before but not a monarch. and I'm working on designs for a luna moth and maybe a swallowtail though I haven't decided yet.

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    2. you can see the sandscape pieces here: https://ellenshead.blogspot.com/2021/08/eight-drowned-feathers-and-one-drowned.html

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  13. Can't wait to see the finished piece after it's fired! Everyone's dreams seem to be so vivid and chaotic lately, I think it's because our waking lives are so surreal, and we're trying like hell to make sense of things, which simply will not make sense.

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.