Month: July 2021

I am thinking that if I am going to spend time chewing over the rest of my life then I had better take small bites. Notice the details of what might come next and not the entire picture. So yesterday I zeroed in on the small bits…parts of something bigger.

And I found this reminder tucked into a tree…

I came home and drew in my journal…

I finished the short story The Blue Collector and posted it under short stories on my website. Now somebody else can come to me with all their words needing to spill out. As yet no idea who that might be…..

And this morning back at the dam I am looking at parts in bright angled light.

When I returned home from the walk and grocery store (getting mostly cat treats for the ‘missing Lee’ cats and a few more Corona for myself) I drew again.

Yesterday I also met friends for lunch and put on some jewelry for the occasion. We sat outside and chatted and laughed. I have not done that in awhile. It was good. I live in an area where trump ignorance has a bit of a hold on some and until more snap out of it and get vaccinated for themselves, their families and the safety of others, I am not anxious to eat inside restaurants.

Patches was back at the vet for the second time in six weeks with nasal congestion issues. More shots, x rays, some claw trimming and she came back home. I showed her the bill and the stack of soft cat treats and food that makes my stomach lurch when I open it. I told her she should be grateful and not claw me to bits when I need to put her in the carrier again. She just gave me that look that only cats are capable of.

Finally my long term care insurance checks have caught up with Lee’s care and will be deposited monthly. I don’t know what people do without it except to lose whatever assets they have to get the government to take over. We were talking yesterday that being prepared for the future is so ingrained in us at our age because our parents survived the great depression and made sure we knew the steps necessary to be prepared.

Now I am going to have a bit of lunch and head to the studio to start planning on how to tackle those three men who have been waiting for wood block prints to dry.

Til later…..

 

Amy, Ben and I had some lovely walks at the river and dam this past week. They went birding….

while I just walked along and looked.

When back home Ben decided to work more on his white line printmaking.

With these results! Love that kingfisher on the block.

Amy helped me rethink the Night Critters Bat before cutting it up, and I ended up making alterations and framing it like the rest of them.

She also made a comment about the living room space which ended up with us taking the large Indian textile off the wall over the Bali chest and hanging my first Lost Peaces artwork.  I also got away from thinking the chest had to be in the middle and therefore crowding my African Mountain Laurel chair so made it all more open looking. Ted Cooley’s crow keeps watch over the dead and dying peace doves in the artwork and his charming surrendering men sit on the table to the left with an African basket. That wall now is not so oppressive. And like Amy pointed out, we can actually see there is a window there!

They left for home this morning, leaving me the last of the sangria that I am sipping now.

Another friend comes in August to go down to Greenville, South Carolina to look over the area for possibly moving to in a year. By then I may have decided my time here in this house Lee and I built is over. Reminders of him are everywhere and maintenance will become more expensive as I simply give up trying to keep up with it all. It gives my family time to make the choices of what they would like to keep after I make selections of what I will take with me. Anyway, that is the plan so far.

Friends from St; Louis come in September to visit, work in the studio and take a trip to Asheville. It will be two years since I was there and I look forward to showing the town to them. Suggestions for what not to miss are welcome.

In October Amy and Ben will return and then Patrick if he can fit me in his busy schedule. I like when he shows up because I can load his truck. Ben limits what I can put in his car but at least he did take two cases of Lee’s honey from our old beekeeping days. He also left me those wonderful drink recipes and his bottle of rosemary simple syrup. Amy only drinks hot or cold tea so I really did not need those recipes.

That is it for now. I am still working in my journal. Several new stitched pieces but a very complex bug eaten leaf is taking a long time to complete. One of these beauties.

Til later….