busy start to the week

Saturday’s sunset.

Another weekend of working outside in the yard. Not on the wild space though. Saturday I finished weeding the area around the Chinese fringe flower tree on the front east corner, dug up some of the easter lilies and planted them closer to the tree but kept others to plant elsewhere where they will get more sun, got the tomato cages cleared of vines and hung in the barn, drove the truck over to the burn pile and Mikey and Eric emptied it for me, pruned off the low hanging branches off the crepe myrtles along the side of the barn. Sunday I set up the sprinkler moving it every thirty minutes. Even after all that rain we got in June and early this month the ground is already dry and cracking. I mowed the little backyard, finished putting bricks around the fringe tree, still have a couple of holes to fill where the pine tree stumps rotted away and spread pine needles. 

Monday I hardly went outside. I had an early appointment at the lab in town to get blood drawn for my upcoming PC appointment next week. When I got there there were three people waiting outside and the place was closed. One of the people waiting happened to have the tech’s phone number and learned that she was going to be out until Thursday, that she had told them so but no replacement had showed up on Monday. Well, damn. Went home and got another early morning appointment for today (Tuesday) at the lab in Richmond, about 30 minutes away. So I got up early, again, jumped in the car and now I’m home having my coffee. No time to fill the empty bird feeder before I left and a cardinal just came and fluttered in front of the window right in front of me. So, yeah, now the bird feeder is full.

What I did Monday was work on resizing all the images I had previously sent to my friend who is writing the book on pate de verre. Turns out the ones I sent previously while they were all 300 dpi and big enough length and width they were all in the kilobyte range and she needed megabyte range for publishing. Don’t ask me to explain any further because I can’t. I had to find the raw images from when I took the pictures and figure out how I could crop/resize them without dropping in the KB range. I won’t go into detail but I did manage to crop and save most of them between 1.2 MB and 1.6 MB which she says is big enough. I had Photoshop Elements 11 but my new computer doesn’t support it and it would cost me $80 to upgrade. Worked on more today so hopefully she has enough the right size to pick from.

Today the faucet in the kitchen finally broke completely. It was one of those one handle things that swivels from side to side and back and forth for temp and flow and it’s been leaking for a couple of months getting worse and worse and last night it was gushing water from the swivel part but I could still turn it off. This morning it could no longer be turned off. Marc took it apart to see if it could be repaired but, nope. The weld that held the pin (that the handle attached to) to the ball completely broke so we went out and got a new set and Rocky is supposed to come by in the morning to install the new one. 

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As usual, I wrote all this off and on during the day yesterday and never got it posted. Rocky is in the kitchen, head buried in the cabinet under the sink getting the new faucet installed. Yay! New faucet.

One last picture. The pinecone ginger, also called shampoo ginger, that Mary Moon sent me the roots for is blooming. Later when it’s done sending out the small creamy little flowers the cones will turn red. 

drawing and doing battle with the wild space

I did another drawing of a woodland violet. That makes four. The first two I drew on a separate piece of paper and then thought what the heck am I doing? I have a sketchbook. So I transferred those two over. The other two I drew in the sketchbook. Now that I have the small sketches, longest dimension 3", I’m less than enthusiastic. I think that I’ll do at least one in colored pencil after I enlarge it  maybe to 4” and then see how I feel about doing a watercolor.

      

I have my paints back out, did a little touch here and there on the pomegranate and zucchini even though I had considered them done. Not sure it made any difference and so yeah, they are really done now. I have small frames for them that give a small margin around the paintings but I think, for originals, I want bigger with a mat so I need to see what I can find online. 

Yesterday at SHARE was busy, 22 food orders in the first hour and a half. We open at 9 and when I got there shortly before that the little waiting area was already full, all seats taken and people standing. By 1 PM, I think we had 43 food orders alone. I don't know how many people came for clothes or other assistance. We're expecting it to get even busier with all the cuts to food assistance perpetrated by this administration. We are fortunate that we have grants that allow us to buy food at retail prices since the regional food bank is offering less and less. We still have to pay for the food from the food bank but at a reduced price.

I spent another hour and a half or so outside today, got the rest of the big limb transferred to the truck and then started back on the area behind the big cedar at the back corner of the property. 

There’s a small wooden shed behind it, which you can barely see, that we abandoned after we built the barn. The wild space between properties is behind that, and back in that wild space is poison ivy and wild grape, virginia creeper, and a bazillion rain trees and other trees growing unrestrained all of which I am trying to keep from taking over the shed (a lost cause), the cedar tree, and from it the big pecan tree. Back when Montreal owned the property to the east of me, the guy who mowed it for Montreal kept that corner pretty much in check but the woman who bought it last December has had the property mowed only once and the grass is almost waist high right now on the half acre to the left of the tree. The woman who rents the house has had just the area around the house mowed only twice. Needless to say, where our two properties meet on the SE/SW corners is quickly being swallowed by the wild space. 

Mainly what I’ve been doing is pruning all the low hanging small cedar branches and trying to cut all the grapevines that are growing into the tree. You can see at the top in the picture of the tree where the grape vines have turned brown from what I cut last week. I’ve cleared it out enough to be able to walk under the tree back there, cutting more vines today, but the plan is to prune back the cedar branches away from all that wild growth.

You can see what I’m dealing with here. The marker for the property line is behind that shrub like thing in the middle.

I know it’s a losing battle but I really don’t want the grape jumping into the pecan tree.

 

more of the same and this is what finally got their attention?

It’s currently 86˚ with the ‘real feel’ 20 degrees hotter at 10 AM (this was yesterday). I’ve been working outside the past week but only for an hour or hour and a half at a time. Have I spent that time on any one thing getting it done? Hell, no. I’m jumping around leaving little piles of debris all over the yard. I’ve pulled up all six tomato plants and only cut up three of them and tossed on the compost pile and put away those three cages. The other three are still laying on the ground as is the cucumber which finally grew like gangbusters and bloomed profusely all male flowers, except for two that didn’t get bigger than an inch before they disappeared. I deadheaded the zinnias for seeds for next year. I tackled the completely overgrown area under the big Chinese fringe flower tree that turns in a glowing torch in the spring on the northeast corner of the property getting the grass and weeds out of only half where the gerber daisy and easter lilies grow and bordered part of that with bricks (you can see the part that didn’t get done bottom right). 

I cut the water sprouts off the fringe tree and two of the crepe myrtles. I’m slowly cutting up the big limb that fell off the pecan tree one wagon load at a time and tossing it in the truck for eventual dumping on the burn pile. I cut some of the low hanging branches off the big cedar tree in the back. And Monday I discovered the ants had invaded the garage and the bag of bird seed, building nests under the foam mats, two big piles of eggs, so all the mats had to be taken up, the garage hosed out, the mats hosed down, the concrete swept after it dried, 

swept again yesterday morning because the ants weren’t completely discouraged, and the mats laid down again. 

A pain in the butt but the mats are absolutely necessary because while the concrete apron where we park the car and truck has a texture, the concrete floor in the garage is smooth and very slick when condensation gets it wet, dangerously so, slippy slidey so. Just as well, that whole area under the mats and against the wall needed to be swept out.

I’ve had no AC in the car for a week but Mikey looked at it Sunday and it’s leaking in two places. Seal kit is being ordered but in the meantime it’s all windows down.

That’s about all that’s going on around here and no political commentary because it’s all horrible and seemingly unstoppable and every time time you think that’s it, that’s the bottom we discover that no, no it isn’t. I’m a little heartened to see the rift in MAGAtland over the Epstein files/client list but confused about why that. It’s not like we didn’t know Trump is a rapist and sexual abuser since he’s bragged about it and we know he raped 13 and 14 year old girls on Epstein’s island because those grown girls have told us so. Trump was big buddies with Epstein and plenty of video to back that up. Of course Republicans and Pam Bondi were never going to release any of that because of who is on the list but they made a big mistake during the campaign promising to release it and bring all those 'pedophile Democrat liberals' to justice. And that’s why I believe the cultists are enraged, not necessarily because girls were raped (apparently rape is fine in MAGAtland as long as the women are grown) but because they believe it’s liberals on the list and now Trump is protecting them. We can only hope that this is the rift that allows some of his base to abandon him, something bad enough to let them save face, because obviously kidnapping and cruelty and loss of freedom and rights hasn’t been enough.

So I guess some political commentary. Anyway, here’s some random photos that have been piling up.

I enjoyed the Hamish Macbeth series so much that I thought I would read some of the books so the next time I went to the library I looked to see what they had and thinking I would start with the oldest that they had and work my way forward I picked this one. Think it’s been around a while?

Haven’t posted a pic of the prisms that the crystals throw on my walls and everything else in the mornings for a while. The summer canopy of the tallow tree prevents most of the direct sunlight but there is one little opening that allows a ray or two between 9 and 9:30.

Sunday’s sunset.

The rangoon creeper in full bloom.

The spider lilies are also blooming.

And the porterweed (was, it’s between bloom cycles now).

FYI, I didn’t answer comments for the most part for years but this year I’ve really tried to start doing that. You know, in case you haven't noticed and are interested.

easy money and general stuff

White orchid tree flower

More rain Friday but not too much (the new crop of mosquitoes are tiny but they still bite and their small size makes them harder to kill). As soon as I loaded up the trunk of the car with all the plastic containers it started sprinkling but I went ahead hoping that the rain I drove through would not be happening on the other side of town where the recycling center was and it wasn’t so I got that taken care of without getting wet. It had already stopped by the time I headed back through town. On the way home I stopped at the Easy Lube to get a pound of okra. Weird, I know, but one of the guys that works there sells it from his garden. 

And believe it or not I finally got all the accumulated metal taken to the metal recyclers. When I got home from taking the plastic I loaded up the truck with three tubs and one cardboard box of aluminum beer cans, one tub of other aluminum cans and containers, two tubs of miscellaneous steel cans and containers, an ironing board, and two rusted out wheelbarrows. Came away with $11.41. Should have loaded up my rusty old bike which is never going to get refurbished. Next time. I’m so glad to finally get that taken care of.

I stopped by the Hesed House market Thursday afternoon to get some local honey and they’ve already sold two packages of the note cards during the one week they’ve had them so that seems promising.

Not much else going on. The sky has been white and hazy the last week or so from the Saharan dust that blows west every year. Joe returned the next day to finish mowing the shop yard. Paisleigh came over for an hour or so until her Granny got home from work and helped me fix dinner until she got bored and then entertained Marc or he entertained her or both. The corn has turned completely brown in the field across the road so I guess they will be harvesting soon. I slept for an hour or so after I went to bed last night and then woke and could not go back to sleep so I read until 3 AM, a kind of strange book that I’m nearing the end of and can’t imagine how it will end. Another very big branch fell during Wednesday’s storm from the one pecan tree that last summer’s hurricane did not damage. It’s the only one of the three that has developing pecans as nearly as I can tell.

I have yard work to do outside but I may stay in today and finish that book or draw or paint or both or all three or not. I’m moving very slow on four hours of sleep.

Per Codex’s request, here are some close-ups of the Mexican bird of paradise flowers. 

more rain, yard work, rainbow at sunset, and other miscellania

The Mexican bird of paradise growing next to the shed over at my sister’s house.

We’ve been getting more rain. It rained Tuesday and again today but the rain today came in with some very high gusty wind and lots of lightning and thunder. Unfortunately, It started about 20 minutes after the guy who cuts and trims the shop yard had started so he retreated to his truck and will have to come back later in the week to finish.

I worked in the yard some Sunday and then did the lion’s share of cutting back all the dead and gone by purple coneflowers in the back and front yards on Monday after I doused myself and my clothes with mosquito repellant and came in after almost two hours hot and sweaty and peeled off my sweat soaked clothes.  Hauled it all over to the burn pile this morning.

Later in the day, I got an email and a phone call from a friend and early pate de verre mentor, Delores Taylor (link to her website), when we were just starting out trying to work out the technique and problem solve. She lives in the PNW and we ‘met’ via an early glass art related internet group. We’ve traded work and I was her teacher assistant for one of the classes she gave at a conference. She’s also the person who sent me all the professional watercolors I’m using now since she no longer uses them. Anyway, she’s writing a very comprehensive book on the subject and has asked me for some images to help illustrate some sections of the book as there are various techniques that fall under the pate de verre umbrella so I’ve been going through my images and sending them off to her with a document  with details for her to choose from.

Yesterday I went with my friend to her doctor’s appointment in Angleton an hour away. We haven’t had time to visit lately so it was a good opportunity to catch up. She’s had so much to deal with just fighting cancer and then her mother passed away so she’s had to handle all the affairs that go along with that. Then we stopped by the farmer’s market on the way home.

Tuesday night, my night to cook dinner, I fixed a one dish meal, blistered broccoli pasta with walnuts, pecorino, and mint only I used pecans instead of walnuts and parmigiana instead of pecorino. This is an easy and quick dish and it’s very good. I sliced up one of the tomatoes I got at the market earlier to go along with it.

And then last evening at sunset there was a double rainbow in the east. By the time I got my phone out the second fainter rainbow had already mostly faded but my daughter got this picture standing in the shop yard, a better view than the one I took standing in the street. 

This is what the sky looked like in the west from where I was standing.

I was listening to a segment on NPR coming home from yoga Monday evening on whether or not listening to a book is the same as reading a book and the conclusion reached was that it didn’t matter if you read a real book, read it on a kindle or phone, or listened to it, the result was pretty much the same though you don’t have to be able to read in order to listen to a book. But it turns out what they were referring to is a study that determined there was no difference in comprehension between reading or listening if, and it seemed to me a big if, the person already knows how to read. It also determined that not knowing how to read did affect comprehension when just listening especially if the material was complex but also that it was beneficial for auditory learners to listen to the material as well as read it. Being able to read has the advantage of going at your own pace, being to reread sections for better understanding, and developing attention span and focus while listening had the advantage of auditory clues like tone and emphasis. I prefer to read because I find it’s easier to concentrate on the story or content. If I’m listening my mind will tend to wander and I will have missed part of the story. My mind will wander sometimes when I read as well but then I just have to go back and reread a page or two. Pretty interesting really, the different ways people learn. 

 

a post just about art

At the risk of seeming like I am fishing for compliments (I’m not, however don't let that stop you if you feel so inclined) I'm going to post individual images of the art of the notecards and framed prints. I should have done that last post I guess but there was just too much other stuff weighing on my mind. But not just those. I’m posting all the colored pencil drawings in my sketchbook in the order in which they were done. I'm showing them on the page in my sketchbook so you get an idea of the size of each drawing. The pages in the sketchbook are 5 1/2" x 8 1/2".

First, I think I have finally admitted to myself that I am not going to be doing any more glass sculpture. While I have several unfinished models and ideas of what I might create I seem to have lost any desire to do that work. It is time consuming, it is labor intensive, and while I did enjoy the submersion in creating in 3 D form, of sculpting the models out of blocks and sheets of wax, I’m just not feeling compelled to get in there and do it because the rest…the mold making, filling the molds (tedious and also time consuming and a process that really needs to be done in one sitting taking an average of five hours to complete), the firing, the finish work with my very old worn out expensive to replace equipment…was just work. And to start again would involve having to go into the city and get fresh plaster and silica flour and moving the kiln over here to our garage from the shop since Mikey is using the bay with the appropriate plug. I look at my shelves of frit and wonder what the fuck am I going to do with all this.

I suppose I could post on the glass SM groups to sell it all, first come first serve, but I’m not quite ready to do that. As for the sculpting part, I could switch to ceramics but again no kiln, no glazes though there are a couple of people here in this town that I might possibly be able to get to fire my pieces for me. So, something to think about.

In the meantime I’ve turned to colored pencil drawings and watercolor paintings but I’m not very productive with the drawings or paintings. After 40+ years of making art every day I’m finding time for other things like gardening and yoga and reading and sewing (again, some).

So here are all my colored pencil drawings. The ones with two drawings on the page was just because there was space. 

Blue Jay Feather

White Orchid Tree Flower and Bean Sprout

Poppy Seed Head and Wren Skull

Morning Glory Bush Flower and Acorn

Green Pecans

Amaryllis Bud

Zucchini Flower and Zucchini

Iris Bud

American Lotus

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory

Yellow Trumpet Flower

Chinese Tallow Tree Leaves in their Fall Colors

Buckeye Butterfly

Honeybee (I don't have the original anymore and I seem to have deleted the picture of the whole page but the bee itself is 3" square)

I have even fewer watercolors so that can wait.